Tu, Sep 27, 2005Pressured Head of Education admits she didn't read key papers
Frankie Sulke: "with hindsight, had I known that the Outline Business Case (OBC) didn't make clear to 'Partnership for Schools' our plans to use Leahurst road as the interim site for the new school..."
Cllr Helen Le Fevre: "do you mean that you didn't read the OBC before submitting it?"
Frankie Sulke: "as a matter of fact, no, I didn't!"
This bombshell admission was surely the highlight of yesterday's second meeting of the sub-committee set up by the Overview and Scrutiny Education Business Panel to look at the Ladywell saga.
It's plain scary to realise that the Mayor is advised on very important decisions for our borough by extravagantly paid top officers that don't even take the time to read the key documents.
That's why this sub-committee is so important. And we're glad that it decided that the quality of the advice is the thing to look at.
At this second meeting, held yesterday Monday 26th September 2005, the panel interviewed two key officers in the London Borough of Lewisham (LBL).
One was Frankie Sulke, the Head of Directorate for Children and Young People (formerly Head of Education and Culture) the other was Steve Gough, Head of resources at the same directorate, previously in the same position in the directorate for regeneration.
You can read here their reports to the committee on the part they played in the New School decision.
But the bombshell revelation mentioned above was not the only scary moment of the meeting.
Cllr Julia Fletcher asked Frankie Sulke about the motives of her advice to the Mayor to use the Ladywell Leisure Centre for the new school regardless of the inevitable damage to Sports and Leisure that this would have provoked.
Cllr Fletcher's question was centered on the evident lack of mention of a credible plan for the replacement of the Ladywell Leisure Centre.
Frankie Sulke plainly admitted that she didn't have any advice about the new pool being open at any time apart from her knowledge of an aspiration to have a new pool at Sundermead as part of Council plans for the regeneration of the centre of Lewisham.
Not much more than "hearsay".
At the time of these decisions Frankie Sulke was head of Education and Culture, and as such she was responsible for our leisure centres.
Yesterday she showed a remarkable lack of interest in the whole matter, she admitted to having advised the Mayor of not re-opening Ladywell when it closed in 2002 for the removal of asbestos.
It's a relief to know that she's no longer in charge of our Sport and Leisure facilities.
We feel outrage and even despair in discovering that decisions that will impact upon Lewisham residents for years and through the whole of our young people's lives are taken at best on hearsay and conjecture and by officers who are not fully researching the subject before offering advice for Mayor's decision.
We look forward to the next meeting of this sub-committee that, thanks to the pressure that our campaign has put on our representatives, is bringing to light the inconsistent ground behind Mayor Bullock's decision to close the Ladywell Leisure Centre. ...read more...