By Tom Barton

8 Aug, 2002

Page 13

COUNCILLORS accused of failing vulnerable children in North Wales admitted last night they were unaware of a rota to carry out vital checks on care homes.

Council members in Conwy are allegedly failing to comply with one of the key recommendations of the Waterhouse Report into child abuse.

But Coun Paul Marl, who was chairing a meeting of the authority's social services and children's panels yesterday, said that he did not know whether there was a rota for the visits.

Andrea Roberts, the service manager for children's homes, said that she, also, did not know whether a current rota existed.

Several councillors said that they had been registered to make visits until February this year, but had not received a rota since then.

The Daily Post revealed yesterday that fewer than a third of planned visits to children's homes were carried out.

Council officials did carry out checks but they do not fill the Waterhouse criteria of being an independent inspector.

Coun John Maclennan said: 'I am disappointed at the low percentage of visits that have been carried out. I know we have a lot of work on but that is not an excuse.'

He suggested there had been situations when councillors had visited homes, only to find them empty.

Ms Roberts said that occasionally this was the case, as the homes in Conwy were small - one with just a single resident - but went on to say that visits had to be ad hoc, and that it was therefore impossible to ensure that residents would always be in.

Sue Maskell, the council's head of children's services, said that one of the reasons that councillors had not been inspecting the homes could be that they had not felt comfortable talking to the young people there.

Ms Roberts offered to accompany councillors on their initial visits, saying that after they had been once they may be more comfortable visiting on their own in future.

But Coun Groom objected to this. 'We need to remember that they are these children's homes, and that it is unfair to subject them to visits where several inspectors' intrude on their home,' she said.