Rotherham Council Branded 'Not Fit For Purpose'

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By Mike McCarthy, North of England Correspondent

Rotherham Council has been branded "not fit for purpose" and "in denial" about its shortcomings by an independent government inspection.

The report was set up to assess Rotherham council's ability to handle revelations that 1,400 girls were subjected to sexual abuse over a period of 16 years.

The inquiry found that: "In particular, it is failing in its duties to protect vulnerable children and young people from harm."

Louise Casey's report was published as it was claimed a police officer and two local politicians have been accused of having sex with underage girls in Rotherham.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission would not confirm that it had received an allegation of sexual abuse by a police constable but said that so far there had been 20 complaints against ten South Yorkshire officers in relation to their handling of the child sexual exploitation investigation in the South Yorkshire town.

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Gallery: Who's Who in The Rotherham Abuse Scandal

Roger Stone - Leader of Rotherham Borough Council from 2003 to 2014. Resigned when the report was published in August last year.

Shaun Wright - Former Police & Crime Commissioner and Cabinet Member for Children's Services until 2010. Resigned following intense pressure, three weeks after the report was published.

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Joyce Thacker - Former Head of Child Services for Rotherham Borough Council. Resigned from her post just days after Shaun Wright stepped down.

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Jahangir Akhtar - Former Deputy Leader of Rotherham Borough Council. Quit before the report was published, following claims he knew about a relationship between a 14-year-old girl and a suspected abuser.

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David Crompton - Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police. He initiated an independent investigation after the report was published.

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The National Crime Agency also refused to say if it was investigating two councillors.

The report described an "unhealthy" culture within the South Yorkshire authority, with evidence of sexism, bullying and suppressing bad news.

It also cited difficulties within the council when dealing with issues of race and said it has been damaged by "misplaced political correctness".

The report blames those difficulties for fuelling racial tensions and support for the far-right.

Rotherham Council is "incapable of tackling its weaknesses without a sustained intervention", Ms Casey concluded.

The inquiry also endorsed the findings of a previous investigation carried out last year by an expert in child care, Professor Alexis Jay.

That report made headlines around the world after finding that girls had been beaten by groups of men in Rotherham and in some cases forced to witness the rape of other victims.

She wrote: "In just over a third of cases, children affected by sexual exploitation were previously known to services because of child protection and neglect.

"It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered. They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten, and intimidated.

"There were examples of children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone.

"Girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of male perpetrators."

Most of the men involved were of Pakistani origin.

Professor Jay also said that the collective failures of political and administrative leaders had been "blatant."

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