For the uninitiated this is a scheme to tackle alcohol related problems around known troublespots.
Whilst we all applaud this pilot scheme (and the results of a similar pilot in St Neots had a dramatic effect of local alcohol-related problems), it is just a shame that we have had to wait for Home Office funds to pay the £8,000 cost of a part-time Project Officer for the 6 month trial period. Other areas in
So its the end of Cllr Ruheman as the Chair of Childrens Services in Reading. Having been in post for more than 10 years he still refuses to take any blame for the findings of the Ofsted JAR report which found that child protection was inadequate in Reading. In spite of all the press cases over the last several years it was on his watch that one poor child died from methodone poisoning after the council failed to intervene. It was on his watch that he ‘suddenly discovered’ that 10 social workers were seriously underperforming. It was on his watch that the turnover of social workers became a crisis. Worst of all, it was on his watch that the council budget was set perilously low last year, starving frontline services like Child Proctection of funds in order to bribe the voters of Reading with a low council tax rise at last May’s local elections.
According to Cllr Ruheman, he was in control of the situation and working hard to improve it – which must be why the government sent its hit squad in !
The arrogance of this Labour councillor knows no bounds. If it was not for their defeat in last May’s elections he would still be in post. He resigned before a motion backed by the Lib Dems and the Tories called for his dismissal.