Church leader blasts ‘ineffectual’ scrutiny of children’s services

A senior Herefordshire church figure has quit in frustration from the body which oversees children’s services in the county.

Sam Pratley, the diocesan secretary and chief executive of the Diocese of Hereford, was a co-opted (external) member of Herefordshire Council’s children and young people scrutiny committee, predominantly made up of elected councillors.

With responsibility for 78 Church of England schools in Herefordshire and beyond, the diocese has a direct involvement in young people’s welfare in the county.

Mr Pratley said his five years on the committee led to him becoming “a lightning rod for families’ concerns” – some of which he was “horrified” by.

Yet when he raised these issues with fellow committee members, political leaders and senior officials, he felt fobbed off by their response.

“You are told, ‘it’s all being taken care of’ but nothing changes,” he said.

In a letter of resignation to committee chair Coun Toni Fagan, Mr Pratley said he was “absolutely sick of the way the CYPSC operates”.

There is “rarely any genuine discussion” in meetings, with and outcomes from them “almost non-existent”, he claimed.

His attempts to pass on families’ concerns and complaints to the committee “have generally made the situation worse not better”, he added.

“I won’t be recommending a replacement from the Diocese until I am satisfied that there is any point in someone attending,” his letter concluded.

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said: “The children and young people scrutiny committee plays an important role in reviewing and scrutinising the council’s children’s services, policies and decisions.

“It has been, and continues to be, instrumental in holding the council to account for the effective implementation of children’s services improvement plan.”

They added: “We would not comment on the reasons why a committee member may choose to resign.”

A report for the government last month by children’s commissioner Eleanor Brazil, appointed to oversee improvements at the department in the wake of its receiving an “inadequate” official rating in August 2022, said that despite some progress over the two years since, “everything has taken too long”.

A full Ofsted inspection of the department is now likely within 18 months, she added.