Sir – In its coverage of the Bullfinch Serious Case Review, The Oxford Times reports (March 12) that the former leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell, “insisted there was nothing he could have done differently during his time as leader to help the victims get support sooner.”.
I would encourage people to read paras 5.104 through 5.106 of the document on the county website labelled “Children A-F Overview Report March 2015” and see whether they agree.
It tells a story of phenomenal management staff turnover – five directors of the children’s social care service from 2004-11, plus three periods of interim directorship; and, working under them, four different heads of service (and at least seven spells of interim leadership) during the same period.
They must have been passing like ships in the night. No director from 2006-2010 had a social work background. It seems (from 5.106) that three of those directors were quickly disillusioned, got no top-level support, and got out. And CSC was the “poor relation in terms of resources”– 132nd lowest of 150 authorities nationally (5.110).
When senior managers regularly leave after just over a year, and you struggle to recruit replacements, I think you have to ask what was going on at the top of the organisation that Mr Mitchell and his chief executive Joanna Simons were responsible for.
Dick Wolff, City councillor for St Mary’s Ward
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