At the County Council meeting last Thursday, Martin Vye, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat Group expressed his concern about Councillor's ability to check how the administration is using taxpayer's money, and running services from them.
Martin Vye said:
"The new arrangements that the Conservative administration are bringing in are deeply flawed. The committees which are there to call them to account should be independent, so that searching questions can be asked and any waste or ineffectiveness exposed.
Lib Dem County Councillor Malcolm Robertson has backed a new Kent initiative, 'A-board Aware', which is being launched to encourage businesses in Maidstone to show that they are responsible advertisers.
Shop keepers, café owners and firms that use advertising boards - so-called 'A-boards' - can demonstrate they display signs on the pavement in a way that minimises obstructions to parents with pushchairs, the elderly, and those with sight difficulties or mobility problems, following a change in policy.
Trudy Dean, Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition at Kent County Council, has called for an independent inquiry to discover whether information about dangerously low levels of staffing in KCC Childrens Services were the subject of a cover up at County Hall.
On 1st June Trudy tried to get the data into the public at the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee she chairs at Kent County Council. Conservative members voted against this, saying it would be a waste of time and money. The webcast of this meeting is available at http://connect.kent.public-i.tv/site/player/pl_v7.php?a=58169&t=0&m=wm&l=en_GB#indx.
Trudy finally received the information in August and has been discussing it with officers since then. On Radio Kent this morning Trudy said:
"The more information I see the more I wonder whether there was a cover up at County Hall. The data tells us that social worker staffing levels were seriously low way back in 2007, leading to soaring case loads for social workers then, not later as we were told. We also now know that a month before councillors were told there were no concerns about professional standards, in 7 of the 12 Kent Districts staffing levels were at 'High' risk level for the majority of the year.
"We were continually being told that there was a national shortage of social workers making it impossible to bring the teams up to full strength, and leaving case workers swamped with work loads of over 120 cases when 25 is the norm. But in the last year we did it, recruiting 60 extra staff who have dealt with the backlog of 2,700 cases in under a year. Why didn't we do it at the right time. Why did it take an unannounced inspection from OFSTED to catch us out?"
Trudy is writing to the Leader of Kent County Council, Paul Carter, to ask him to set up an independent inquiry into whether there was a cover up. She is suggesting that it should be done by Martin Narey, the previous head of Dr Barnados, who is currently working for KCC on a report on Adoption to be presented to the Council in November.
In her letter she wrote:
"This is a serious matter. Either the information was kept from Members by officers, or they only shared it with the senior councillors and together they kept it away from backbenchers. The result of that was that the council failed to vote the necessary money to provide adequate social care and 2,700 children were placed at risk of serious harm.
"In addition the Council's reputation has been damaged, losing its four star rating, and the council taxpayer is footing the bill for over £5.5 million this year and next to clear up the mess.
"Up to 2010 KCC was telling a story which wasn't true, and we are still doing it in our press coverage today. It has to stop. Unless we address this problem of accurate, candid and transparent information, the public can have no trust in what we publish."
Is your child due to start primary school in September 2012?
If so, you have until Monday 16 January 2012 to apply for your preferred schools. The easiest way to do so is online at www.kent.gov.uk/ola, where families can register all their details and select up to three schools.
Paper copies of the application form are available from primary schools or by calling Kent County Council's Admissions Team on 01622 696565.
At the County Council on the 20th of October Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Education, asked how many children with special educational needs in Kent had to travel more than 20 miles to attend their special schools.
Martin said:
"Cases brought to my attention cause me concern. Children with special needs in every district have schools specialising in their disability allocated for them. But from casework we know that journeys in excess of 20 miles there and 20 miles back are being made every day which is tiring and time-consuming for the children, and costly to the taxpayer."
"In 2010, government inspectors judged KCC's care for it's looked after children to be inadequate. A year later it seems little has changed. Kent is near the bottom of the league tables announced today. A large proportion of these vulnerable children are doing much worse in Kent at school than other children, both at the end of primary school, and at GCSE.
Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Canterbury, is angry and concerned about the proposed cuts in the Kent Youth Service. Youth Service cuts were discussed at a meeting of Kent County Council on 20th October, with the Conservative run authority seeking to cut Youth Service funding by almost one-third and "outsourcing" much current provision.
The Annual General Meeting of the South East Region Liberal Democrats will be held on Saturday 22nd October 2011 at 12:45pm at The Community College, Whitstable, CT5 1PX.
In his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference, Party Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has outlined his goals for the Government and the country over the coming years. He reiterated his commitment to liberal values on the environment and human rights and his determination to ensure a fair chance for every child, saying "every child can do good things, great things, if only we give them the opportunities they deserve."
