Statement by Steve Atkinson, Chief Executive, Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council: 

On behalf of Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, I would also like to express my sympathy to the family – not just for the events of two years ago, but for the ongoing investigations since then and this lengthy inquest which have prevented ‘closure’ from taking place. Like my colleagues, I am very sorry that this tragic event occurred. But now that the inquest has been completed, and the serious case review concluded, we all hope the family and the community will be able to look to the future with greater peace of mind.

Immediately after the tragedy, the Council carried out a review of what happened. Part of that review was focused on what changes we could make to our information gathering and sharing with our partners and the greater involvement of other agencies and organisations to reduce the potential for anything similar happening again.

We also felt it was important to reassure our local residents that reducing levels of anti-social behaviour, and engaging with communities to provide them with safer neighbourhoods in which to live, are and always will be a priority for the council.

Sadly, we were not aware of the long history of harassment towards Fiona and the vulnerability of herself and her family, hence the lack of involvement from the council prior to February 2007.

Fiona Pilkington contacted this council twice to complain about anti-social behaviour – once in February 2007 and again two months later.  We responded and took immediate action on both occasions.  An officer visited Fiona and then sent anti social behaviour warning letters to the parents of five youths who were accused of causing problems.  We followed up the letters with visits to the parents of the youths and we encouraged Fiona to keep a diary sheet of any further incidents.  Our actions led to anti social behaviour contracts and a civil ASB injunction being granted against the families of the youths who were causing trouble in the area.  We also sought possession of the home of one youth whose parents would not co-operate with the ASB contracts.

We recognise and accept that better sharing of information would have led to more concerted action to protect the family. It is for this reason that we have looked at the way we share information and brought in measures to progress actions and ensure accountability for them. These include:

• A review of the information—sharing processes within WIST, which has been acknowledged by the Serious Case Review as good practice to be adopted throughout the county.
• One stop” anti-social behaviour contact point set up in all secondary schools in the Borough.
• Representatives of education and health now being members of the Partnership’s Executive Board. 
• A review of our internal procedures to ensure joint sharing of information on cases between teams i.e. housing, community safety and environmental services and overseen by the JAQUAL (joint action – quality of life) team. 
• Victim support now available to sufferers of ASB, through arrangements with Hinckley Victim Support, even if incidents are not recorded as a crime.
• A new Community House Project has been launched in Bradgate Road, Barwell aimed at tackling local crime and disorder issues as well as local deprivation and social problems.

We accept the request for further information regarding internal recording. This has  significantly improved, as I will be able to demonstrate in the report I have been asked to make. I must emphasise that once the council did become involved in February 2007 actions were taken which began to address the issues of anti-social behaviour, a fact Fiona herself acknowledged in a letter to her MP.

Nothing we have done will bring back Fiona or Frankie, but at least now we have put things in place to reduce the potential of a similar event happening again.

Statement on behalf of Leicestershire County Council

The safety of vulnerable adults is of the greatest importance to the County Council. We have taken the circumstances of this tragic case extremely seriously and our thoughts are with the family at this time.

The Council has been an active partner in the Safeguarding Adult Board’s review and has thoroughly examined the processes and policies in place at the time to establish whether any could be developed or refined further.

Where such recommendations have been made, we have put them in place as a matter of priority and we will monitor them closely.

Over a year before she was due to leave school, the school and Adult Social Care held a planning meeting to discuss Francecca’s future with her family and what care could be given. It was agreed that she would be supported to attend a course at a local college after she left school. This meeting was forward –looking and focused on helping her to follow her interests and to become as independent as she could, given her learning disabilities.

Reference has been made to earlier suicidal thoughts by Fiona Pilkington.

It is a sad fact in social care that, from time to time, people tell us that they feel at their wit’s end and suicidal from despair. Mrs Cassell had related that her daughter had suicidal thoughts and that bullying had been a real problem for her. The family had made it clear that they were in contact with the Police and Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council and, at that time in February 2007, the family said that they thought the situation was improving.

It is vitally important that we have the most effective systems possible to deal with complex situations involving vulnerable people and we want our focus on the review and its findings to help improve our work in this area.