Calls have once again come for Croydon Council's leader and cabinet member for children, young people and learning to resign, after a damning report by Ofsted found children's services in the borough to be inadequate.
The call for resignation of councillors Tony Newman and Alisa Fleming came from opposition Councillor Mario Creatura at an extraordinary meeting of council to discuss the recent Ofsted findings that eventually saw children’s services in Croydon put under government control.
Mr Creatura said: "However you cut it, a change of leadership, the resignation of both councillors Newman and Fleming is the only way we can start to move past this tragic situation and begin to sort out this crisis."
Mr Newman responded by saying improvements were already underway.
"I take my share of responsibility head on for this Ofsted report," he said.
"Going forward this has got to be about not just certain measures that we’ve heard about before tonight, but how we achieve a sustainable improvement for this service notwithstanding the budget pressures this council is under."
The final part of the evening saw councillors vote on a proposal to improve its standards in regard to children's services.
The proposal was: "This council regret the failure to operate as effectively as possible for our children and family social services and has apologised to the residents of Croydon for the recent inadequate Ofsted report. This council pledges to deal with all the weaknesses and failures outlined in the report and notes the progress report at cabinet of our improvement plan has begun to address the issues raised."
The proposal was passed by council.
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