THE role of a senior East Riding Council officer who was in charge of safeguarding at Rotherham at the height of unchecked child abuse could be examined in a new police investigation into the scandal.
Pam Allen worked for Rotherham Council in childcare services for 13 years before joining East Riding Council in 2009.
She was Rotherham's director of safeguarding between 2004 and 2009, the period under intense scrutiny following the publication of a damning report into failings by the council and police to stop the sexual exploitation of at least 1,400 children by gangs of men.
The Mail understands two managers, Annie Redmond and Grace Davidson, who work under Ms Allen at the council, also worked at Rotherham.
Ms Redmond is service manager for children's social care, while Ms Davidson is service manager for west, east and the emergency duty team.
Now, South Yorkshire Police have announced an independent investigation into the handling of the Rotherham abuse.
Due to be led by another force, it will examine the role of both the police and the council in Rotherham over the past decade.
South Yorkshire Chief Constable David Crompton said: "A fully independent and impartial investigation is required to ensure people have confidence that organisations or individuals will be investigated fairly, rigorously and with complete impartiality.
"The investigation will properly and independently examine the role of both the police and council during the period identified and address any wrongdoings or failings, which will allow the appropriate action to be taken.
"We must give victims the confidence to come forward in the knowledge that all agencies will listen, act, provide appropriate support, and relentlessly pursue those who offend against our young people."
The report by Professor Alexis Jay was critical of the failure to respond to warnings that children – many of them teenage girls in local authority care – were being preyed upon by gangs of older men.
It said Rotherham Council managers were told in 2004 and 2005 about the scale of the abuse "in the most explicit terms".
Ms Allen moved to a new job at East Riding Council shortly after a highly critical Ofsted report into child safeguarding in Rotherham.
Dawn Primarolo, then-children's minister, subsequently served an improvement notice on the authority's safeguarding services.
In her report, Prof Jay said: "By late 2009, when the Minister of State served an improvement notice, there is no doubt the systems and operations for protecting Rotherham's children were unsafe."
She also relates what Ms Allen's full-time successor, Gani Martins, described to her on taking up the post in 2010.
Prof Jay wrote: "There were significant vacancies, a lot of agency staff were being used, there was a lack of management oversight, poor accountability for casework, poor monitoring of unallocated work and the quality of professional supervision was poor.
"Staff were overwhelmed and disempowered and felt senior staff were invisible."
Rotherham chief executive Martin Kimber said: "Officers in senior positions responsible for children's safeguarding services throughout the critical periods when services fell some way short of today's standards do not work for the council today."
Ms Allen is currently head of children and young people's support services and safeguarding at East Riding Council.
Last week, Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart questioned whether Ms Allen should remain in her present role.
In his reply, East Riding Council's chief executive, Nigel Pearson, said: "We are considering the implications of the report for the East Riding, which will also be referred to the multi-agency East Riding Safeguarding Children's Board for further consideration.
"We are already liaising with Rotherham Council and are making our own enquiries in order to establish the facts."
Review of safeguarding servicesAN URGENT review of safeguarding in the East Riding, focusing on child sexual exploitation, looks set to be carried out by a council scrutiny committee.
It follows Professor Alexis Jay's inquiry into the scandal-hit Rotherham Council, where three East Riding Council officers previously worked.
The East Riding's review would examine the robustness of multi-agency arrangements but would not look at any individual officers.
It is likely the review would be conducted in private, with the findings published after it has concluded.
Councillor Kerri Harold, chairman of the council's children and young people overview and scrutiny sub- committee, said: "What we would be looking at is the over-arching mechanism, making sure we have the right mechanisms and robust systems in the East Riding to protect our children."
Kevin Hall, the council's director of children, families and schools, said: "It is important we have a transparent process that provides reassurance about the safeguarding arrangements in the East Riding.
"There's no room for complacency.
"No council in the country can be complacent about this issue.
"There will now be more focus on child sexual exploitation around the country."
The council's overview management committee will now decide whether the children's committee can carry out the review.
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