"The Best Interests of the Child are Paramount" - B*llocks!

We always hear the above quote from politicians, social services, police, lawyers, Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all, whenever yet another child has dropped out of view and become the victim of poverty or abuse.

Well "the interests of the child are paramount" does not apply with Labour Sandwell Council and Ofsted despite previous reports on the dire state of Labour Sandwell's Children's Services and the lessons from places like Rotherham. Remember here that we are dealing with the MOST vulnerable kids locally and the ones you would think an allegedly "caring" party like Labour would be bending over backwards to help. But not Labour in the perverted dictatorship that rules Sandwell and when there is an election just around the corner.

In 2013 Ofsted slammed the Labour Council for its grossly "inadequate" Children's Services and the cunning comrades duly made Cllr Bob Badham the fall guy and passed him the pearl-handled revolver. The homelessness charity worker, Cllr Simon "Two Homes" Hackett, then took over (see further below) since when Labour and their propaganda department in Wolverhampton, the Express and Star, have been boasting massive "improvements".

Here is a picture of Cllr Hackett in the "racing colours" of the real power behind Sandwell Labour:

Ofsted started further inspection on 28th January, 2015. That is THREE MONTHS AGO! The report has still not been released. Why if the best interests of the child are truly "paramount"? The answer is, of course, political, but surely Ofsted are supposed to be apolitical and act on the principle that, er, THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD ARE PARAMOUNT! What is going on here?

Let us take up the story as put forward by Labour's propaganda machine, the Express and Star. On February 26th Labour asked them to give them a, er, blow job  and The "Editor" and his team were happy to oblige. They reported - remember the date - 26th February - TWO MONTHS AGO - that the Ofsted had finished their inspection a week beforehand. Clearly the report would have to be prepared and then a draft was to be submitted to Sandwell Labour.

Despite the propagandists printing a gushing piece  that Labour "hoped" they would be graded above "inadequate" the whisper is that the inspection still found numerous failings. Whether the grading is improved there are still MAJOR issues that need to be addressed and NOW to protect and safeguard these vulnerable kids.

The rumour is that a draft report has been supplied to Labour but that they sent Ofsted a whole host of comments and representations to deliberately ensure that the issue of the report is delayed until after the election. It is even alleged (and I put it no higher than that) the report is ready for release but Labour are saying they cannot release it by law as the Council is in pre-election purdah. So "the best interests of the child are paramount", eh? No, they are not.

If the report is finalised I call upon Ofsted to publish and be damned as we know Labour won't but I also call on the Sandwell "socialists"  to publish anything "pre-purdah" which may include the draft report and any representations they made to delay the issue.

At present, Ukip have just one Councillor, Phil Garrett, ranged against the 70 (!) in the Labour dictatorship but he is the ONLY Councillor who has highlighted this scandal. As I understand it, he has now written twice to Ofsted and, unless there is something very recent, they have not even bothered to acknowledge his correspondence let alone deal with the substantive point! This is a disgrace.

I wonder if Labour know there is a major problem coming since on 21st April their big friends in Wolverhampton ran yet another puff piece saying that Sandwell was going to watch those in charge of protecting children more closely to ensure that something like Rotherham doesn't happen locally (assuming it hasn't already, of course). You would have thought that with an "inadequate" Ofsted rating from 2013 Labour might have worked this out for themselves and not needed the Rotherham scandal to highlight this ghastly issue but there we are.

This propaganda piece quoted Labour Cllr Steve Eling. Now that Mahboob Hussain has stood down he is the sole, current, "Deputy Leader" of Sandwell Labour. Besides probably being the most boring man on the planet, he lied to the Express and Star about the costs of the casino debacle (they printed it regardless and have NEVER amended it in the light of the facts) and he was, seemingly, the sole "brains" behind the disastrous "unlawful and discriminatory" (the words of a High Court Judge not mine) Council Tax Benefit legal case disaster that has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds (as a result of Eling's plan Sandwell lost a grant of £675,000 plus had to pay huge legal costs etc).

Here is what Eling told the propagandists:

"The council's deputy leader Steve Eling said all councils had a responsibility to ensure the Rotherham scandal could not be allowed to happen again.

He said: "Because of what happened there is now heightened attention around the issue and making sure it doesn't get repeated anywhere else.

"Everywhere else wants to make sure it's not going to be repeated on their patch." 

Express and Star - 21/04/15

What the joke "Star" neglected to tell folk, of course, is that "Mogadon Man" Eling has been employed for a number of years - whilst the sickening abuse was happening - as a "Policy Officer" (though not apparently in a politically-restricted post) with - yes, you guessed it - that paragon of rectitude, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council! Not that he know anything about it, natch....

(Incidentally, if you live in Abbey Ward and are a moron you will have the opportunity next week to re-elect Steve Eling for another disastrous term. Good luck!)

Labour are making sure that we, the public, don't get to see the report this side of the election but I wonder whether its contents are now well-known to the useless sheep in the Labour "Group" and whether it was this that sparked Hackett's recent revolt? Last time around, the woman-bullying "Leader", Cooper, managed to deflect the flak from himself by scapegoating Badham but this time his own position must surely become even more untenable than it already is, with his other antics. If the report is "inadequate" or still discloses major faults then, given all his comments about the "great improvements", you would think he was a dead man walking. Equally, Hackett knows full well that Cooper will attempt to knife him in the back to save his own skin. Was this why Hackett tried to get the first punch in with his (allegedly Watson-supported) rebellion at the recent Labour Group?

Of course, Sandwell Council have an obligation by law to safeguard at-risk kids whereas they have no legal obligation to spend shed-loads of money on The Albion Foundation. I pointed this out some time ago and was attacked by some who wilfully tried to twist what I was saying. I appreciate that the Foundation do some amazing work and I truly hope they will continue to grow and prosper. The charity gets some considerable help from the likes of the super-wealthy Premier League but the thrust of my argument was that the Club should pick up the lion's share of the remaining costs and not the taxpayer. Sandwell are not protecting the vulnerable kids they are required by law to protect and so Labour should not be spending huge sums on the masturbatory fantasies of the ludicrous Leader, "Baggies-mad" Cooper, like the Foundation and the "Three Degrees" statue. (I do appreciate that some of the Children's Services kids also benefit from some Foundation schemes, of course).

But Sandwell Labour are obsessed with spending our money on sport (even with BORROWED money) at the expense of everything else. As far as the Foundation is concerned their latest accounts are now available (but only to 30th June, 2014) but the Council's own "payments over £500" list (which obviously does not include payments under £500) shows that in its last financial year (when it axed services and people) it still stumped up AT LEAST £95,636.34p of our money by way of an enforced "donation". Did Labour ever ask you if you wanted to pay this?

As with most things in Sandwell, Labour try to get their sweaty palms on the levers of control and have put a placeman on the board of trustees - ironically, in this case, "Two Homes" Hackett. But unlike most of Sandwell's prostitute organisations at least the Foundation are not bending to the perverted political will. The moronic Cooper constantly rails about the Tory "free schools" and yet this little gem appears in the Foundation's accounts:

"We are in the process of applying to become a Free School which will enable us to improve the quality of our teaching and learning and the number of pupils we can support". Oh dear!!!!

So whilst the taxpayer is stumping up nearly one hundred grand via Labour what are the Football Club doing? The accounts show the Club as a "related party" and three of the trustees are also employees of the Club in the last accounts. Of course, many of us love The Baggies but at the end of the day the Club itself is very far from being a charity and is a hard-nosed business organisation.

I understand that the Club used to provide facilities for the charity but stopped this and the latest accounts show the Foundation spending a substantial £44,752 per annum on "property costs". It is said in the accounts that the Club provide facilities for "meetings and lessons" etc but it is not clear whether this is free or the Charity has to pay WBAFC for this "service".

The Club get all the economic advantages of the Charity using the Club's colours & logo etc to add valuable goodwill to the WBAFC "brand" and the Charity also acts to some degree as a scouting tool for the team. Bizarrely the accounts still show that one of the Charity's "strategic principles" is "to add value to West Bromwich Albion Football Club" - a commercial entity! How this is allowed by the Charity Commission is beyond me but Sandwell Labour are happy to hand over our dosh regardless.

Last year, I pointed out that whilst the taxpayer was forking out in a period of austerity, the Club was not. In the previous financial year the donation from rich Premier League WBA was just £20,000! And so what of the last financial year - well read it for yourselves:

"During the year, The Albion Foundation received £nil by way of donation from West Bromwich Albion Football Club".

Shame on WBAFC! Come on you Baggies - you did a great job for Jeff Astle - now let the Board know what you think about this scandalous situation!

And we ALL have a responsibility to those kids being let down so badly by Sandwell Labour. Let us see the Ofsted report and clear out the dead wood NOW.

Now don't forget to vote Labour if you want this sort of crap to continue in the socialist "paradise" of Sandwell.....

Remember the police Regional Fraud Team still want to hear from you if you have evidence of potential wrong-doing at Sandwell Council - speak in confidence to DS Wayne Haynes & Team on 0121 251 2176

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