Welcome to my blog. I am a former local journalist who now works in PR and a Conservative and community activist in Woking and Horsell. This blog will keep updated on local issues as well as my interests and quirky news stories.
It's all peace and tranquility in the council tonight
The executive committee tonight was a relatively tame affair and it will be interesting to see whether any sparks fly at the full council meeting on December 10. The fees and charges are always a contentious issue and there were a few murmurs tonight but I thought the most interesting part of that debate was something that won’t catch headlines like parking or leisure centre charges.
Section 4.16 of the report talks about provision for Looked After Children. These are of course the children in Surrey County Council care - either directly or via Foster Carers – who become so for a variety of reasons including abuse, illness or disability but all whom are taken into care because their families - who so many of us take for granted will always be there for us - are unable to fulfill their normal function of nurture. For obvious reasons, their opportunities are reduced compared to others, despite the many good efforts of foster carers and social workers.
Liberal Democrat leader Ian Johnson pointed out the provision that the borough council currently makes to children in this position. Even though social care is a Surrey County Council responsibility, Woking Borough Council is a partner in the Surrey Children and Young People’s Plan and offers free swimming, Key Cards and gym inductions. But these benefits only last until young people reach 19, at which point they considered adults and no longer under the care of the local authority.
Cllr Johnson said:
“I would like to think that in areas such as housing we can extend the care in this paper. These are people who have had a pretty rotten start in life and we ought to be supporting them in other ways and not just cut them off at 19.”
I’m delighted to say that his sentiments were shared by deputy council leader David Bittleston, who said the point was important and needed to be looked at. It is vital that if we are to promote opportunity and real equality in this country that rather than simply capping the aspirations of higher-performing children or creating a huge gap between the independent and public schooling systems, we must give children from inauspicious background the opportunity early to understand they can take control of their lives in a positive way.
Too often the cycle of abuse, neglect and care home childhood is replicated in future generations. We need to break that cycle – and we also need local politicians who understand that government will give them the tools to do so but can’t actually do it for them. It’s nice to see that the Conservatives in Surrey County Council understand that with their plan and it’s nice to see the Liberal Democrats in Woking putting issues of concern before a political opportunity to grab a headline.
I hope that we can work together will the Lib Dems on this to achieve better lives for some of the least fortunate in our borough.
