Latest news with #StarHobson
Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
We are in danger of going backwards on child protection
The roll call of vulnerable children who have lost their lives as a result of serious failures in child protection is a long and shameful one. It includes Sara Sharif, ten, murdered by her father and stepmother; six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, murdered by his father and father's partner; and toddler Star Hobson, who endured months of abuse at the hands of her mother and her mother's partner. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, being debated in the House of Lords, is an attempt to prevent such appalling cases from recurring. It contains some broad but welcome thinking about empowering those who work with children, including teachers, to break the cycle of late intervention, a repeated failing identified in child neglect cases. Welcome too is the pilot
BBC News
18-03-2025
- BBC News
More funding extends Wolverhampton and Walsall child protection pilot scheme
Two councils are to continue working with the government on a pilot programme to improve child and Wolverhampton councils are two of 10 areas in England trialling the Families First for Children (FFC) programme, introduced after a major child care review in 2022 along with reports into the murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson in Department for Education (DfE) confirmed extra funding for the £45m decision means the two authorities can carry on working on the scheme for another year. The pilot was aimed at making sure targeted early help was available for families experiencing domestic abuse, addiction or poor mental health before issues escalated and children were put at risk of harm, ministers 2022 review found tens of thousands more children could end up in care without radical changes to child FFC scheme is aiming to keep more children in stable family homes and to try to prevent cases of councils have been working with partners, agencies, voluntary and community sector and local communities while evaluating the work as it was carried model would be rolled out nationwide in the future, a DfE spokesperson was selected to pilot the programme in 2023 with Walsall joining through a second wave of funding announced in April 2024, a Walsall Council spokesperson areas taking part in the programme including Dorset, Lewisham, Lincolnshire, Luton, Redbridge, Warrington, Warwickshire and The Stacie Elson said staff had spent a lot of time listening to families and organisations "to really understand how we can design a better model of family help together". Arthur Labinjo-Hughes died in Solihull in 2020 after being tortured by Thomas Hughes and Emma Tustin, who were jailed for manslaughter and murder Hobson, from Keighley, died in September 2020 after enduring months of abuse at the hands of her mother, Frankie Smith, and her partner, Savannah Brockhill. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
17-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Bradford Council making 'good progress' on finances
An independent review of Bradford Council's finances has said the authority has made "good progress" – but financial pressure is "likely to be in play for a number of years".Last year the government agreed "exceptional financial support" for the council, meaning the authority can borrow money to fund its came at a time when the council faced bankruptcy due to its huge budget part of this process, the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) carried out a review of the council's finances, and issued a "best value notice". This notice meant there were concerns with how the authority was operating and required Bradford Council to act "to assure the government that the authority is making arrangements to secure continuous improvement".The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that this notice has been lifted following the latest inspection by report said: "The council has made good progress towards the key recommendations and the addressing of key risks since the 2023 review." It highlighted the appointment of Dr Lorraine O'Donnell as chief executive as helping to reset the "fractured relationship" with the Bradford Children's and Families Trust, which was set up after Bradford Council was stripped of control of its children's services in the wake of the murder of Star Hobson and consecutive inadequate Ofsted ratings."It is without doubt that the underlying characteristics of the council have changed in the last 12 months," the report read."The new CEO (and interim S151 Officer) have brought focus, rigour, pace, attention to detail and a formalised set of programmatics that have set the organisation on a different course."There is a laser focus on addressing the underlying aspects of financial fragility in Bradford."The report said that Bradford, which is one of the largest metropolitan districts in England, needed to downsize to best serve the it commended the council for changing its culture since its last CIPFA review in 2023 - as well as becoming the UK City of Culture 2025 and securing the investment that came with "a good awareness of the drivers and financial challenges, these factors are likely to be in play for a number of years", the report followed the council voting to raise council tax by 9.9% as it faces rising costs and debts which are expected to reach £1bn by has also approved cuts worth £42m in the next financial Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said: "We're still in a very challenging financial position following 14 years of central government funding cuts coupled with the growing cost of children's and adult social care." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
