Council vows to be transparent over UKIP fostering case

The council at the centre of a row over the decision to end three children’s foster placement with a couple who are members of UKIP has insisted it will be as open and transparent as possible about the case.

Cllr Roger Stone, Leader of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council said he had today (26 November) received a report of the immediate investigation ordered by the authority’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.

Cllr Stone said: "We have been able to establish the facts in this case as far as is possible over the weekend, and I can confirm that the children are safe and in very good care.

"However, this remains a very complex case involving legal advice relating to the decision in question, particular features of the children's background and an external agency responsible for finding and providing the foster carers concerned.”

The councillor added that Rotherham had already acknowledged that membership of UKIP should not bar someone from fostering.

He said: "The council places the highest priority on safeguarding children, and our overriding concern in all decisions about the children in our care, is for their best interests.”

Clrr Stone said Rotherham welcomed the Education Secretary’s call for an inquiry relating to the case.

“We will work very closely with and give full cooperation to the Department for Education,” he said.

The council revealed that its chief executive had invited the senior officials making the enquiries to meet with him and other council officers in Rotherham “as soon as possible, so that this information can be rapidly reported to the Secretary of State”. 

Cllr Stone said: "In order to help the investigation further, we will also make all the facts established so far available to the Secretary of State's officials.

"The investigation will focus on the information, advice and evidence gathered before making this decision, the nature of the decision itself and how it was communicated.”

But he added that this was “a sensitive child protection case”, involving both vulnerable children and the foster carers, “so the information the council is able to release publicly is limited by law”.

Cllr Stone added: “At all stages, however, we will seek to be as open and transparent as possible as we cooperate with the Secretary of State."

But his statement was criticised by UKIP’s Leader, Nigel Farage.

He said: "Councillor Stone's statement says nothing in six paragraphs. The council have simply pulled up the drawbridge and refused to discuss 
the issue. There is no apology to the foster carers for the slur on their character, nor any indication that their situation will be reinstated.



"It is not acceptable for the council to prevaricate on this, we want to see action now. Rotherham Council should apologise immediately, and heads should roll.

"

Farage also demanded an independent inquiry on a national scale, “to find out the extent to which this is happening elsewhere”.

He said: “From evidence now emerging, it would seem that Rotherham may be the tip of an iceberg of politically-motivated discrimination in children's services."