Conclusions
37. The Jay Report sets out in chilling detail how
the authorities responsible for protecting children in Rotherham
against sexual exploitation failed at least 1,400 children. On
the basis of this inquiry it is clear that, although there was
convincing evidence of organised child sexual exploitation in
Rotherham, none of the parts of the system designed to scrutinise
or challenge had any perceptible effect in identifying or challenging
the prevailing insensitivity to child sexual exploitation within
the Council. It was the press which stimulated action. One of
the lessons for local government from the Jay Report into child
sexual exploitation in Rotherham will be the need to improve scrutiny
and challenge within council governance. Our concerns about the
effectiveness of scrutiny within local government were underlined
on 4 November with the publication of the Best Value Inspection
of London Borough of Tower Hamlets Report,[53]
which revealed in the words of the Secretary of State for Communities
and Local Government "the breakdown of democratic scrutiny
and accountability" within Tower Hamlets Council.[54]
It will, of course, be a matter for our successor committee
in the next parliament to determine its own programme but we see
a case for an inquiry into the operation of scrutiny within local
government in England.
53 PWC, Best Value Inspection of London Borough of Tower Hamlets Report,
16 October 2014 Back
54
HC Deb, 4 November 2014, col 663 Back
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