Birmingham children’s social services are in “meltdown and at crisis point” following the departure of strategic director Peter Duxbury, a senior city councillor has warned.
Scrutiny committee chairman Majid Mahmood took the unusual step of writing publicly to children’s cabinet member Brigid Jones warning her that vulnerable young people were being placed at risk by incompetent managers who he believed were incapable of delivering improvements to the service.
Mr Duxbury left the city council last Friday by mutual agreement after 15 months in charge of Birmingham’s children’s social care and schools. He had failed to move failing services for children at risk out of government special measures, where they have been for four years.
In his letter, Cllr Mahmood also claimed that the children’s services department is operating in a “culture of secrecy, suppression of information and defensiveness”.
Cllr Mahmood’s outspoken comments expose concerns among Labour councillors that Birmingham’s social services debacle will rebound politically at next year’s civic elections.
There is a possibility that the government may remove control of children’s social care from the council and hand responsibility for delivering improvements to an independent trust, an outcome that would be an embarrassing blow for the city council.
The tone of the letter with its fierce criticism of council officers is likely to alarm council leader Sir Albert Bore, and it is likely that Cllr Mahmood will find himself having to account for his actions in a sticky meeting with the chief whip.
