CSE – Saddleworth Liberal Democrats

31Oct 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Final IICSA report lays bare the scale of abuse across the country

Borough news, domestic abuse and violence

Lib Dem Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani has insisted that the final, damning report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) is on the agenda for the first meeting of Oldham Council’s steering group tasked with tackling child sex exploitation in the borough. Oldham’s senior leadership team have already agreed to Liberal Democrat requests to ensure that any relevant recommendations from the IICSA reports are put into place in the borough. Councillor Al-Hamdani said: “This report shows that child sex abuse is a national problem that has been catastrophically under-reported, and the failings that were seen in Oldham have been also seen in cities and towns all across the UK. “We need to support those incredibly committed social workers, who we do have in Oldham, to really make changes that…

26Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Liberal Democrats write to Home Secretary demanding public inquiry into CSE failings

Borough news, CSE

Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has written to the Home Secretary – Priti Patel – calling on her to open an independent public inquiry into child sex exploitation in Oldham and Greater Manchester. In his letter to the Home Secretary, Councillor Sykes said: “I hope you will use your position to show people in Oldham that failure to protect children can never be accepted in our public institutions. It is only through meticulously investigating these failings that we can have true accountability and begin to earn back the trust of the people of Oldham.” The issue of child sex abuse has dominated Oldham council meetings since the report was published, leading to heated council meetings. But so far Labour have blocked calls in council meetings to call…

23Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Burnham must face further questions

Borough news, CSE

Liberal Democrats say Andy Burnham must come to Oldham to answer questions on Greater Manchester Police special measures Liberal Democrats call on Andy Burnham to come to Oldham to answer questions on Greater Manchester Police special measures. At a meeting of Oldham’s Full Council, Liberal Democrat councillors called on Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to come to Oldham to field questions from councillors on the state of Greater Manchester Police. Liberal Democrat Councillor for Saddleworth West and Lees, Sam Al-Hamdani said, “Politically accountability has been lacking throughout the time that Greater Manchester Police has been in special measures. Will the Leader of the Council write to Mayor Burnham asking him to come to Oldham to field questions from councillors on the ongoing situation affecting Greater Manchester Police – as he…

23Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

GMP ignore Council warning that DBS checks no good

Borough news, CSE

Oldham Liberal Democrats have discovered that despite Oldham Council warning Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in December 2018 that the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS check) wasn’t good enough for taxi licensing, the Council still haven’t had a promised response. The recent Assurance Review into historic CSE in Oldham found that GMP initially ignored the Council’s concerns about the working of DBS checks for taxi licensing submitted in December 2018 but the new Chief Constable of GMP, Stephen Watson, had responded to the Council’s concerns set out in a letter in December 2018. The report did not detail when Stephen Watson replied or what his reply contained. Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: “We’ve quizzed Council further and they’ve confirmed that whilst Stephen Watson was appointed…

18Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Calm during Council chaos

Borough news, CSE, health and social care

In another extraordinarily chaotic Council meeting last night, councillors from all parties managed to put aside rancour for a few minutes to support a Liberal Democrat motion on child safeguarding. Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: ”The recent report into CSE in the borough is a challenge for the Council to do things differently. My motion, which was passed last night, is a straightforward response that we can do straight away – it will mean that every single time council makes a decision, it’ll be explicitly weighed against the potential risk to children and on the level of Council spending locally. “A lot of the time politics in this borough seems to be a pantomime and last night’s meeting was no exception. I’m appalled with…

08Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

50 questions for Burnham and council bosses

Borough news, CSE, domestic abuse and violence

Liberal Democrat councillors have said that the report into historic safeguarding and CSE in the borough is just the start of a rigorous investigation into what went wrong for Sophie and other children. They have submitted 50 questions to Council Chief Executive Harry Catherall, Greater Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham and to the authors of the report, Gary Newsam and Malcolm Ridgway. Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: “The report raises more questions than it answers. It was intended to give us all assurance that CSE was and is being targeted effectively. While these questions are outstanding, none of us can have that assurance.” Questions being asked include: why the reports authors weren’t allowed free access to GMP records, why only half of the 104 people…

02Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Out with the old – what about the new

Borough news, CSE, domestic abuse and violence

At this week’s [27/06/22] meeting of full Council, GM Mayor Andy Burnham said that former Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was replaced because of a lack of progress in providing information to the CSE inquiry in Oldham. This contradicts the statements put out at the time that he had resigned because of the police being put into special measures. It also fails to address the subsequent 11-month gap between his resignation and ANY information being provided to the CSE inquiry, and fails to explain why information was only provided on one of the 11 cases under review – with that one showing serious failures on the part of GMP. Liberal Democrat spokesperson Sam Al-Hamdani said: “This is an absolute failure. “GMP has been warned about failing victims of domestic abuse repeatedly…

20Jun 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Oldham’s Child Sexual Exploitation report to be released Monday – reaction

Borough news, CSE, domestic abuse and violence, fairer council

Oldham Liberal Democrats have said that due care must be taken with responses to the independent inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Oldham, to be released on Monday, and it “must be viewed in the knowledge of the terrible and lasting impact CSE has had on the lives of many of this borough’s most vulnerable young people”. The report is being released with a background of serial failings of the senior management of Greater Manchester Police, including the botched introduction and inadequacies of the now-abandoned iOPS computer system, and the force being placed into special measures. Liberal Democrat spokesperson Sam Al-Hamdani said: “People must know that Oldham Council, the police, and the services that they rely on have changed, and will continue to change, so that others will not have…

13Jan 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Final national reports into child sex abuse released in time to be included in Oldham joint workshop

Borough news, CSE, domestic abuse and violence

The final two reports of the Home Office-sponsored Independent Investigation into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) are due to be released on February 1 (Child Sexual Exploitation by Organised Networks) and March 1 (Residential Schools). Following conversations between Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani, senior Council management, and the Managing Director of Children & Young People, it has been agreed that following the publication of the report into CSE in Oldham at the end of this month, the Oldham Children’s Safeguarding Partnership will undertake a joint workshop with the Adult Safeguarding Partnership, which will include learning from IICSA, and inform the development of Oldham’s Complex Safeguarding Strategy. Councillor Al-Hamdani said: “The Council must be ready to accept the outcome of the report into CSE in Oldham. This is just one of the ways…

29Nov 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Further delays to CSE report ‘a breakdown of trust’

Borough news, CSE, domestic abuse and violence

The news that the independent report into child sex exploitation (CSE) in Oldham has been delayed until the new year is “further undermining the trust that needs to be rebuilt” according to Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani. GM Mayor Andy Burnham has announced that the report will now be released in the week commencing January 24, citing both delays with Queen’s Counsel Advice, and the wishes of victims of CSE not to release the report in the run up to Christmas. Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani said: “The most important people in the whole process are the survivors of violence, and I absolutely respect their wishes not to see the report published at this time of year. “What I then question is why we had been told previously that the report would…