ANOTHER 'LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNED' PLATITUDE

Sometimes readers need to indulge an old Dame. 
Not always does she write about affairs in our Royal Borough.
At times her beady eyes will alight on other councils-especially when they need a Dame Hornet to keep them in order.
The brutal death of a three-month-old little boy should sicken us all.

STANLEY

Stanley Davis was just three months into his tragedy of a life when ended by his mother and father with a combination of multiple bone fractures, a bleed on the brain and fractured skull.

Death must have been a sweet release from the brutal treatment meted out by his parents now serving wholly inadequate ten-year prison terms.
Hampshire County Council was supposed to be safeguarding the Gosport born baby yet failed disgracefully. 

And nothing has been heard from the baby's ineffectual MP Caroline Dinenage....

Brutalised Stanley died from a fractured skull and a brain bleed with 32 rib fractures and nine more to his arms and legs. 
And this, despite police and social services intervention and hospitalisation.

HCC spends millions of pounds on children’s services so how on earth could this have happened?

Its seriously useless PR department will doubtless come out with the useless platitude, “ lessons will have been learned”!

One lesson it should learn fast is this... 

Do not allow Derek Benson, the chairman of the Hampshire Children’s Safeguard Board, to undertake any investigation into Stanley’s murder.

MULTI JOBBING BENSON

Derek Benson is a retired policeman. He lives in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire.

Benson, in his CV, wrote boastfully and idiotically: 

"I balance chairmanships of three children’s safeguarding boards.... Worcestershire, Isle of Wight and Hampshire"

As if he was engaged in some sort of juggling act.

The three boards are located over 100 miles from Benson's Hertfordshire home so how can he successfully ‘balance’ these incredibly important roles paying him, with allowances and expenses, around £73,000 a year?

Aside from these three jobs, he is a director of Key 6 Group. 

Key 6's apprentice training schemes were described by Ofsted as " NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE"

But the real question for all three council chief executives is this....

Why choose a chairman with no knowledge of your area and who lives hours away?

In Worcestershire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, there are highly qualified candidates able to perform the chairmanship roles.
Even superficial research reveals at least several retired High Court judges far better qualified than Benson for reasons of skill, experience and being local.

Each council chief executive should also ask Mr. Benson why he rapidly edited his CV when he knew that questions were being asked about his background. 

Within the space of just days, the ‘balancing’ of jobs had been removed and the reference to his directorship of Key 6 Group.

Without doubt, Benson's solicitors will attempt to hit out at the Dame. 

They will be wasting their time....like all the others who have come before!