Rotherham DCS told to quit by parliamentary committee

Addressing Thacker directly during this afternoon’s committee hearing on the abuse in Rotherham, Keith Vaz said it was the committee’s “collective view” that she should resign because of her central role in how the council handled the allegations of CSE.

Vaz said: “We don’t accept your evidence that no one was listening to you. You should have been aware of this and you should resign as a matter of conscience to cleanse the council of the leadership.”

Vaz added that if she failed to do so then the council should ask her to step aside.

It was one of a number of stinging attacks during the hearing by committee members on Thacker, who has been Rotherham DCS since 2008 and has worked at the council since 2005.

Earlier Vaz had said to her: “Why are you still in post? Why have you not gone to Martin Kember (the council’s chief executive) and said ‘I will step aside while the Home Secretary’s inquiry takes place because I control all the files and all the information in this department’.”

Thacker was forced to continually justify why she should stay in post and tried to highlight the efforts she had made over the years to raise the problem of CSE.

She told the committee: “I do not accept what you are saying. I’ve worked extremely hard to improve services in Rotherham, to protect frontline services and to raise the issue of CSE.

“I do not intend to resign. I’m not stepping aside because I remain accountable to the people in Rotherham.”