Council ‘Ignored Warnings On Potential Sex Offender’

Social work staff in Midlothian claim they warned management a teenager in care was at risk of committing sex abuse, but their concerns were ignored and the boy has since been in court for a string of sex offences.

The claim, made in an e-mail to MSP Christine Grahame, comes as council chiefs are reeling from a damning report into the authority’s child protection services.

Ms Grahame said she had been contacted by children’s services staff complaining their efforts to highlight failings in the service had been dismissed out of hand by social work management.

And Unison, the union representing Midlothian social work staff, said it had lodged a grievance nearly two years ago, raising concerns about staff shortages.

One e-mail sent to Ms Grahame said: “You might also want to look at the case of a local young man who recently appeared before court on a string of sexual offences. This young man was recently in care and identified as being at risk of perpetrating sexual abuse but again senior managers did nothing to address this.”

A highly critical report by HM Inspectorate of Education, published yesterday, said youngsters in the district had been left in high-risk situations and others in care were not seen regularly by staff.

Depute council leader Danny Molloy and social work director Malcolm McEwan both quit after the report said there was a lack of leadership, poor communication and councillors had no clear vision for keeping children safe.

Ms Grahame, SNP list MSP for South of Scotland, said she understood some middle management were moved out of the service and others made scapegoats as the council considered draft versions of the report late last year.

She said: “The great concern here is we have the grassroots social workers telling management to look at something and senior managers doing nothing.”

Meanwhile, Unison said staff had been put under increasing pressure.

The union’s Midlothian branch secretary, Lesley Greig, said: “Social workers deal with the most vulnerable in our society. They know that risks of a tragedy are always going to be present, but in this case Unison is well aware that the risks were increased by problems of recruitment and retention, which have meant sections working under-staffed and pressure increasing.

“Indeed, social work team leaders in Midlothian raised a grievance in April 2005 alerting management to the seriousness of the situation, and in July 2006 basic grade social workers also wrote to the management raising their concerns.

“The grievance was not pursued as staff were promised solutions would be forthcoming.”

Midlothian council leader Adam Montgomery said he was taking over responsibility for social work, health and housing.

In a statement, the council said: “No staff have been made scapegoats, but to implement the improvement plan two managing staff were redeployed to ensure the right skills were available to take the plan forward.

“There has been turnover in staff since the inspection was carried out but the staffing complement stands at 97 per cent.

“A number of these are qualified locum staff but this reflects the national and recognised social work recruitment situation. As part of the improvement plan the council is recruiting 11 full-time qualified staff who will join over the next two months.

“As part of the interagency action plan a new training officer employed by Midlothian Child Protection Committee will deliver specific child protection training across all the agencies.”