New damning report into South Ribble taxi licensing released
A new damning report into how South Ribble Council handled the taxi licensing scandal has been released by its own scrutiny committee.
A new damning report into how South Ribble Council handled the taxi licensing scandal has been released by its own scrutiny committee.
It found there were 20 key failings which include a "major corporate governance failure" which has led to significant damage to the council and says that "problems were made worse by weak political and senior management leadership."
This comes after an independent report published in June found the authority hadn't carried out proper background checks on taxi drivers and allegations of child sex abuse weren't handled sufficiently
The new Scrutiny Committee report also states that the interim report which was compiled back in December 2015, should not have been kept secret.
The new report has issued 16 recommendations for the future including calls for strong leadership to stabilise the authority.
Margaret Smith resigned as the leader of South Ribble Council due to ill health back in July, just weeks later Mike Nuttall stepped down as Chief Executive to pursue other opportunities.
Councillor Mick Titherington, Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, said: “There is no doubt that this has been an extremely challenging exercise, and this report is the result of a lot of hard work undertaken by the members of the task group who were determined to establish the full facts.
“While it may prove uncomfortable reading for some, it is important that the Task Group was able to unravel the sequence of events and produce an evidence-based report for the council to learn valuable lessons and move forward in a positive way.
“The findings in the report are all based on evidence collated throughout the review, which was supported by a highly qualified independent expert - well versed in dealing with these issues and ensuring that investigations like this one are done right and to an extremely high standard.”
“Scrutiny plays a vital role in holding the Cabinet to account on behalf of our residents – it is a job we take extremely seriously.
“It’s now important that our findings and recommendations are taken on board and implemented at the earliest opportunity to help re-build South Ribble’s reputation as an excellent council delivering first class services across the borough.”
The report will be presented to council next week. You can see a copy of the draft report here