Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 17 October 2017.
You’ll be aware that, under that law, the Minister today had to issue a statutory warning following a social services inspection of the children’s services in Powys. That report, published at midday today, makes very disturbing reading. If I can just quote a key paragraph for me:
‘There was a lack of assessment in child protection cases, a lack of a sexual exploitation risk assessment framework (SERAF) assessment and review contrary to statutory guidance, an absence of care and wellbeing assessment and a lack of management oversight of these cases.’
It then concludes:
‘The lack of assessment…is placing children at considerable risk.’
Considerable risk. Your Minister has given Powys local authority 20 days to come up with an intervention and improvement plan, and external people are in place, I understand, to help them to do that. But what assurances can you give to me and the people I represent that, in those 20 days, this considerable risk will be removed and that children and young people in Powys will be properly looked after? And what are you doing as a Government to ensure something else that’s in this report that is extremely disturbing to me, which is the lack of political commitment to children’s services in Powys?