John Bryant reflects on achievements for Camden's children

4.13.20pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 31st Jan 2008

Cllr John Bryant has announced he will be leaving the Executive of Camden Council at the Annual General Meeting in May of this year.

The decision was actually taken last September when he informed the Leader of the Council, Cllr Keith Moffitt, and his Group Whip Cllr Russell Eagling of his future intentions.

Cllr Bryant said -

"Since being appointed by Keith to be the Executive Member for Children in May 2006 I have thoroughly enjoyed the role, grappling with a number of important issues affecting children and young people.

I feel good progress has been made on a range of manifesto commitments that we made at the time of the last election. We have clear plans for building a new secondary school in the borough - the first here in over 30 years - and with the best possible sponsor that is offering genuinely comprehensive education. The previous administration had no plans whatsoever for a new school, anywhere in the borough. We have proved that we can make it happen.

The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle with regard to the Building Schools for the Future programme - a good and lasting solution for the provision of deaf education to the pupils of Frank Barnes - will be made in April after consulting on the options available. We will shortly complete the first ever elections to the borough's Youth Council, to make sure we have a clear mechanism for engaging with young people in the borough on a range of issues. The previous administration had vague ideas of creating one but there was no "work in progress" when we took office. We have made it happen and have found the money to set it up during difficult financial circumstances.

We have made progress in turning round the poor attendance of pupils in both primary and secondary schools. We were at the bottom of the league table in Inner London on this measure even though most other performance scores were doing well. We are now making a difference in this area.

We were concerned about the education performance of our Looked After Children. We have reinforced the need to find foster care places closer to the borough, and in improving their educational outcomes. Real progress is now being made on these issues.

The Children, Schools and Families Department has recently undertaken a full Joint Area Review - an extensive inspection of our services by Ofsted and the Audit Commission - and we are expecting a great result from this which will be announced finally in May. So at this point in time, I feel I can make way for another colleague who can lead on these initiatives from May leading up to the borough elections in 2010.

Why do I want to go later this year? It is largely for personal reasons. I have suffered a series of health problems in the last couple of years and I do need more time to get fully fit. I have also put my own education consultancy business on the back burner in the last couple of years and want to rebuild this. There are some new work opportunities beginning to emerge for me which I would like to pursue later in the year.

I also think it is time that some more of the new intake of Liberal Democrat councillors who joined the Council in 2006 should have their chance for greater responsibility. I have been fortunate during my political career to have experienced a degree of power on two different Councils, in different circumstances, and feel that others should now get the chance.

I do not intend to fade away. I would be pleased to take on a scrutiny role on the Council from May, and am currently planning to seek nomination as a Liberal Democrat candidate again for the West Hampstead ward for 2010. And I am not ruling out the possibility of re-joining the Executive again in the future either, although that is dependent obviously on the wishes of the electorate and my fellow Liberal Democrat colleagues."

Liberal Democrat Council Leader Keith Moffitt said "John Bryant has been a tower of strength in the new administration and I was very sorry when he told me last autumn that he would like to step down from the Executive in May. His contribution on schools and other children's issues since he took over this role has been hugely valuable and he will be a hard act to follow".