Bishop ‘praying’ for troubled child services department

Last week, Education Secretary Michael Gove said that he would be taking the responsibility for protecting children away from Doncaster Council and handing it to an independent trust.

The move, thought to be the first of its kind in the country, was the main recommendation in a report which warned children’s services in the town “are unlikely to get significantly better without a radical change”.

Now, Bishop of Doncaster Peter Burrows has said, in a statement released on behalf of Doncaster Faiths Together: “In light of the recent report issued regarding Doncaster’s Children’s Services we, the faith leaders of Doncaster, are praying for all those involved and we hope for an outcome which is for the benefit and wellbeing of all children and families in Doncaster.”

The Government first intervened in Doncaster Council’s children’s services department in 2009, following the deaths of seven children in five years.

Less than a year later, a serious case review found the attacks in the Edlington area of the town, in which two young boys were tortured by two brothers, aged 11 and 12, had been “preventable”.

An Ofsted report last year then described arrangements for keeping children safe in the district as “inadequate.”

The inquiry ordered by Mr Gove has found that there was a “culture of failure” that “serves to obstruct every attempt at reform” in Doncaster’s children’s services requiring radical change.

Children’s services will now transfer into an independent not-for-profit trust, as recommended by the inquiry panel, to start work in April and run for 10 years.

In his statement, Bishop Burrows also spoke of the tensions between different faiths in the town, and said that communities in Doncaster should “stand united”.

He said: “Doncaster Faiths Together deplores the recent incident near the Binfield Road Mosque, Tipton, West Midlands.

“We are relieved that no individuals were seriously injured.

“We urge the communities of Doncaster to stand united and together in the face of such atrocities.

“We stand with the Muslim community of Doncaster in this holy month of Ramadan, for justice against those regardless of their faith, who commit acts of hatred in order to divide communities and spread fear.”