Nottingham City Council says it "remains constantly vigilant" about children being abused in its care after the end of a seven-year-inquiry which found both it and the county council failed hundreds of young people. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published its final report on Thursday (October 20), featuring a list of 20 recommendations for the protection of children in care.
The inquiry carried out several investigations during its seven-year run and the report into children in the care of Nottinghamshire councils was first published in 2019. That report found 350 people in Nottinghamshire made allegations of child sexual abuse from the 1960s onwards and that for five decades, the city and county council had failed to protect them.
A full report spanning all the inquiry's 15 investigations has now been published and it has made 20 recommendations. The list includes a new law placing a duty on those who have witnessed or been told about child abuse to report it, a new scheme to compensate victims and the establishment of new child protection authorities in England and Wales.
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There are no new recommendations specifically for Nottingham City Council or Nottinghamshire County Council, both of which had already received tailored recommendations in the 2019 investigation report. But reacting to the inquiry's final publication, both authorities reiterated their apologies to victims and said they were already making improvements.
Councillor Cheryl Barnard, the portfolio holder for children and young people at Nottingham City Council, said: "We are sorry that we let survivors down in the past and remain committed to ensuring they get the support and help they need. We remain constantly vigilant to the potential harm that children in our care can be exposed to and while we are satisfied we have improved and strengthened our safeguarding arrangements, we can never be complacent."
Councillor Barnard added that it was vital for Nottingham City Council to have a "transparent and self-challenging approach" in the future to ensure the safety of children. The inquiry's hearings in Nottinghamshire took place in 2018 with the three key areas of focus being the Beechwood children's home in Mapperley, foster care, and child-on-child abuse.
At Beechwood alone, the inquiry heard there were 136 individuals who alleged they were sexually abused as children whilst at the facility. One man, who was born in the early 1960s and who was sent to Beechwood at 14, told the inquiry about a member of staff who would touch him sexually most days.
One night, this man wet his bed and was told by a member of staff to take the wet bedclothes down to the laundry room in the cellar. Recalling events, he told the inquiry: "I was stood there in the cold, damp cellar laundry room. Then out of nowhere he spun me round, put me over the table, and he raped me."
He said his abuser died in 2006 and there could therefore be no prosecution. The inquiry also heard evidence of abuse received by children in foster care, including by Patrick Gallagher, a former Mansfield foster carer who had been banned from fostering in 2006 for watching pornography with a child.
The Nottinghamshire councils report in 2019 recommended the county council should assess risks posed by current and former residential care staff and foster carers. It also said the county council should ensure that current and former staff provided by external agencies were assessed by those agencies and that any concerns should be raised with the appropriate body.
Reacting to the publication of the inquiry's final report, the county council says it implemented this recommendation "swiftly." Colin Pettigrew, Nottinghamshire County Council's Corporate Director for children and young people, said: "The publication of IICSA's concluding report is a reminder of the courage of the victims and survivors who came forward during the seven years of this far-reaching national inquiry and I thank the inquiry team for its commitment to making sure their voices were heard and their experiences told.
"We have apologised unreservedly to the victims and survivors who suffered abuse whilst in our care. Ensuring they can also access help and support is vital and the county council and its partners continue to fund and commission support services, which are available seven days a week, for those who have been a victim of sexual abuse.
"The safety and protection of children in our care remains our highest priority at all times. As such, we are determined to support the inquiry's overall findings and to listen and respond to any recommendations for local authorities which may be set out in the concluding report."
For Nottingham City Council, two recommendations were made by the 2019 report. One of these was the same as the recommendation made to the county council, whilst the other one said the city should commission an independent review into how it deals with child sexual abuse and create an action plan.
The city council says it has undertaken a "great deal of work" since the Nottinghamshire report and that it commissioned the NSPCC to carry out the independent review. Catherine Underwood, the director for people at the city council, said: "Survivors told us that services weren't meeting their particular needs, often waiting too long for support that didn’t adequately address their traumatic experiences.
"We have helped to establish, with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and other partners, specialist sexual violence support services which survivors themselves helped to shape. This provides specialist therapeutic counselling, practical support and access to mental health services which survivors tell us is a great improvement on what was previously in place."
Catherine Underwood said a review was also carried out jointly with the county council to go back over the last decade and look at any concerns. The city council says the NSPCC review recognised "some local strengths" but also helped to identify "areas for improvement" and that procedures have now been updated to ensure "robust oversight."
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