Sir Bob Kerslake on Trojan Hoax, December 2014
There is a lack of a shared vision for the future of the city and of a citywide partnership needed to create it. The Trojan Horse Review Group recommended the creation of a civic leadership group chaired and strongly represented by credible independent voices. This has not yet happened but in our view it is badly needed. Page 12
It is February 2015 and there has been no progress on this. This is because Birmingham City Council has no intention whatsoever in addressing longstanding problems or setting up a forum where parents can express legitimate concerns about poor quality leadership and teaching and learning; and racial and religious discrimination in some of the city's schools. The City Council is in denial and does not even wish to acknowledge there are serious longstanding problems that need addressing.
39. The Trojan Horse incident demonstrated that BCC did not sufficiently understand what was happening in its communities and did not have the confidence to act when the issue surfaced. Our view is the bottom-up engagement and partnership working the council are seeking will happen when councillors are an effective link between their communities and services. To do so councillors need to have regular and direct engagement with residents and the organisations represented in their wards (see chapter 4) not be sat in formal committee meetings in the council house. Page 25
Well, are the said councillors literate and numerate?
Do they understand Education law and the legal rights of parents?
Do they know what the purpose of education is?
Are they aware of the shocking levels of failure taking place?
Do they have the knowledge and confidence to challenge service providers?
10. However, too often we heard that deep rooted problems have been swept under the carpet, by successive administrations, rather than being addressed. The response to the Trojan Horse incident is one example but there are others, for example, while other local authorities managed equal pay claims efficiently, BCC deferred until the scale of the problem became almost unmanageable. Also despite the woeful track record of failure in children’s services, the council failed to address the need to recruit and retain sufficient frontline staff. Page 34
32. The significant risk is without allying the numbers to a deeper sense of how services are performing on the ground, and what the emerging big issues are, an illusion of management control is created. Trojan Horse is an example of just how serious the problems can become as a result. Page 50
Birmingham City Council does not care about reputational damage to the city. The main objective is to create a permanent underclass in the city that is beset with multi-faceted problems and represented by lacklustre and woefully ineffective political leadership; and towork against the rule of law and parental and community aspirations.
22. The Trojan Horse Review Group recommended the creation of a civic leadership group both chaired and strongly represented by credible independent voices. This has not yet happened. But we agree with the Trojan Horse Review Group that a forum for ‘collective civic leadership’ is needed. Page 55
It is February 2015 and there has been no progress on this. This is because Birmingham City Council has no intention whatsoever in addressing longstanding problems or setting up a forum where parents can express legitimate concerns about poor quality leadership and teaching and learning; and racial and religious discrimination in some of the city's schools. The City Council is in denial and does not even wish to acknowledge there are serious longstanding problems that need addressing.
45. We were told that one reason why the council did not tackle the issues in some of Birmingham’s schools effectively prior to the publication of the ‘Trojan Horse’ letter was because despite, on the surface having a plethora of committees and meetings, the system for engaging with communities was not working well. As a result, they did not understand their local communities sufficiently to have the confidence to act. Page 62
Birmingham City Council understands everything but has taken a position to create a permanent underclass in the city that is beset with multi-faceted problems and represented by lacklustre and woefully ineffective political leadership. In addition the Council has taken a position to work against the rule of law and parental and community aspirations.
The shocking levels of deprivation across the city without any councillor complaining about it has not come about by accident.