Thread by @MarkWatts_1

Day 7 of Janner hearings of #CSAinquiry: three witnesses from Leicestershire county council...

John Sinnott, chief executive, due to begin at 10.30am in open session before going behind closed doors.

Then Robert Parker and Brian Waller – each behind closed doors.

John Sinnott, chief executive of Leicestershire county council since 1994, is first witness to testify in open (at least, partly) in FIVE days of Janner hearings at #CSAinquiry.

John Sinnott accepts that in the past there was no oversight by senior managers at Leicestershire county council’s social services department of complaints of sexual or physical abuse of children in the council’s “care” homes.

John Sinnott continues on failure to address complaints of sexual or physical abuse of children in the council’s “care” homes: “Complaints were simply not listened to.”

Senior managers did not “take a grip of a problem.”

John Sinnott says that Leicestershire county council in the past (up to around 1990), so far as he could see from the documentation, allowed adult visitors or “befrienders” to access “care” homes to visit children.

John Sinnott says that there was no proper vetting system at Leicestershire county council’s “care” homes to vet these “befrienders”.

John Sinnott explains that since 1991 Leicestershire county council has run a system of “independent visitors”, who are vetted and supervised, for each child in its “care” homes.

For example, these visitors should never take a child home – unlike in the past.

John Sinnott explains that practices and policies for Leicestershire’s “care” homes have been totally overhauled since 1991.

John Sinnott’s evidence in the open, lasting around half-an-hour, is largely taken up with reassuring the public that it is all very different now, before continuing to give evidence about more interesting matters behind closed doors.

John Sinnott has supplied a 130-page statement to Janner investigation of #CSAinquiry, but we barely dipped into it for the short session of his open testimony before going in camera.

This afternoon, Janner hearings of #CSAinquiry due to hear from two more witnesses from Leicestershire county council: Robert Parker and Brian Waller – behind closed doors.

They were “driving forces” behind reforms of county’s children’s homes in wake of Frank Beck case.

Returning to John Sinnott’s testimony this morning behind closed doors, Leicestershire county council has already told #CSAinquiry that it DID have knowledge about then Labour MP Greville Janner’s association with a child in one of its “care” homes.

Leicestershire county council has already told #CSAinquiry that “a number of LCC employees were concerned about the association [between Greville Janner and a child in one of its homes], and there is evidence that they raised these concerns with senior management.”

Leicestershire county council “accepts that it failed to take adequate steps in response to those concerns,” it has told #CSAinquiry.

We can be sure that John Sinnott would have confirmed all this, if asked at closed session this am, matters that are already on public record.

Robert Parker, according to Leicestershire county council, established the “Children’s Rights Service” at the local authority, one of the first in UK to adopt it, seeking to ensure that the child’s voice is at the centre of children’s services. He is testifying in closed session.

Brian Waller, Leicestershire's ex-director of social services, also speaking behind closed doors this pm, said in 1993: “Residential care has been a Cinderella service for more than two decades. It has become a backwater which is used as a last resort when everything else fails.”

Brian Waller said in 1995 that cases of alleged child abuse in Islington “demonstrates once again our ambivalence about the protection of children.”

Brian Waller is on record as saying: “As a result of the extensive investigations carried out by the police in [Frank Beck] case, we were presented with concerns – falling short of evidence that would justify criminal proceedings – about some 30 [former] members of staff...”

“With the advice of our lawyers and in consultation with the police, I wrote to every social service authority in the country with a list of names to advise them to check their files and to offer to share information that had arisen during the investigation,” Brian Waller, 1995.

Brian Waller added: “I can report that a number of other local authorities have taken up the offer of information. I have not been sued by any ex-employees.”

He wrote about this in 1995 and, no doubt, testified about this behind closed doors this afternoon at #CSAinquiry.

“Summary” by #CSAinquiry of evidence in closed session for Day 7 records that John Sinnott, chief executive of Leicestershire county council since 1994, set out the authority’s knowledge of contact between Greville Janner MP and a complainant of child sexual abuse...

But “summary” by #CSAinquiry of evidence in closed session does not go on to provide even the slightest detail of Leicestershire county council’s knowledge of contact between Greville Janner MP and a complainant of child sexual abuse. #SecretCSAinquiry

John Sinnott said that evidence from the time suggested that Leicestershire’s then director of social services was aware of contact between Greville Janner MP and children, but not that she knew of any allegations of sexual abuse – “summary” by #CSAinquiry of closed session.

Leicestershire county council did not investigate allegations against Greville Janner MP, John Sinnott said, according to #CSAinquiry “summary” of closed session.

Senior officers viewed it as a matter for police, but the authority “certainly” should have investigated, he added.

John Sinnott, chief executive of Leicestershire county council, regretted that it did not take steps to investigate Greville Janner MP or to notify other child protection agencies, says #CSAinquiry “summary” of his testimony behind closed doors this afternoon.

“Summary” by #CSAinquiry of closed session for Day 7 says that an unnamed former senior manager at Leicestershire county council – but who was identified in published timetable as Robert Parker – said that taking any action against Greville Janner would have been “controversial”.

Robert Parker: there would have been “more caution” about reporting a person of prominence, according to #CSAinquiry “summary” of closed session.

He recalled a colleague’s comment that Greville Janner had “very powerful solicitors and he would not hesitate to employ them…”

Robert Parker accepted that this comment suggested that officials were hesitant about making a complaint against a person such as Greville Janner “as opposed to the man next door”, according to #CSAinquiry “summary” of his testimony behind closed doors.

Robert Parker: a group of ex-residents of Leicestershire children’s homes approached County Hall in 1993 with a journalist from Leicester Mercury to raise concerns about their time in care and Greville Janner MP.

“Summary” by #CSAinquiry of closed session for Day 7 of Janner hearings: an unnamed former Leicestershire director of social services – but who was identified in published timetable as Brian Waller – said that he took over from a predecessor a “dysfunctional” department.

Brian Waller said that he set up a special division called, Children’s Services, appointing an officer to head it, according to #CSAinquiry “summary” of evidence behind closed doors.

He also introduced, from 1994, a complaints procedure for children who wanted to complain.

Brian Waller: if there had been a complaints policy for years before 1994, “children would have been listened to, there would have been action taken and we would have gone to the police,” according to #CSAinquiry “summary” of closed session.

Linked here: iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/…

Note: John Sinnott’s statement is long, but not quite as long as I stated in a tweet on his testimony in open session this morning.

I heard counsel refer to a “130-page statement”, but the transcript shows that she said that it was only 113 pages.