Bradford Council boss tells MPs she considered resigning following children's services failures and Star Hobson death

Kersten England said she has “thought about resigning” and “considered [her] positon frequently” when questioned by the Education Committee on Tuesday.

Star was killed in September 2020 aged 16 months by her mother’s partner Savannah Brockhill, who is serving a life term of at least 25 years for her murder.

Her mother, Frankie Smith was convicted of causing or allowing the toddler’s death.

Earlier this year, Bradford Council was stripped of its control of children’s services after a review found the council “lacked the capacity and capability to improve services at pace on its own” and an “alternative delivery model” was needed.

When asked by chair of the committee and Conservative MP Robert Halfon why she had not quit, Ms England said: “I have thought of resigning.

I have considered my position frequently.

“I have reflected [...] on all of the actions I took and things that could or could not have been done.”

She added: “I take responsibility, this happened on my watch.

“I am deeply sorry for the fact that this happened on my watch.

“But taking responsibility is also about staying in position, taking responsibility for putting it right.”

The hearing at the House of Commons was hearing evidence in relation to the killings of one-year-old Star and six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes in the West Midlands.

It comes after the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel said the way child protection is approached in England needs to “change fundamentally.

Its national review, published last month, found that the fatal abuses suffered by Arthur and Star, “are not isolated incidents”, but reflective of wider problems with poor information sharing and weak decision-making.

Concerns raised by their wider family members were “too often” disregarded and not properly investigated, the review said.

Professionals were increasingly kept at arms length by those perpetrating the abuse, and they failed to identify a “pattern of parental disengagement and avoidant behaviour”, the report also found.

It recommends dedicated multi-agency teams staffed by experienced child protection professionals be set up in every local authority area to investigate allegations of serious harm to children.

MP for Keighley Robbie Moore said: “I find it incredibly worrying that despite such a shocking track record of safeguarding and delivering Children’s Services across the Bradford District, no one has been held to account on this issue. Perhaps even worse, key people in positions of responsibility at the Council seem to be backing each other up.”

He added: “We simply cannot have yet another situation where leaders of the Council simply say; ‘lessons will be learned’. I am fed up with hearing this - especially when nothing happens.”