Opposition groups say the Corporate Parenting Annual Report which ignores the council’s role in the deaths of care experienced children should not be tabled at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting reports David Floyd

Barnet Council has rejected calls from opposition groups to withdraw a report into the council’s role in looking after vulnerable children after it emerged that three recent deaths had not been reported to councillors.

Both the Conservatives and Reform UK had raised the fact that the Corporate Parenting Annual Report, which is tabled for discussion at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting, does not mention Nonita Grabovskyte, who died in December 2023, or two other young people who died having previously been looked after children in the care of the council in its role as “corporate parent”.

At the inquest in May this year, the coroner cited a series of council failings as contributing factors in Nonita’s death.

Councillors only became aware of the three cases last week, after Nonita’s story was covered in a Sky News documentary Unseen: A Girl Called Nonita. They were informed of Nonita’s death and the council’s role in it on Tuesday (11th November) shortly before the documentary became available online.

In an email sent to councillors and senior officers yesterday, Conservative leader Peter Zinkin listed the coroner’s findings related to the council. He then said: “I do not believe that this sits at all comfortably with the tone of the Corporate Parenting Annual Report which in the circumstances of the three recent deaths seems to have completely ignored them.

Cllr Zinkin added: “This report is due to be considered by cabinet on Tuesday. I have suggested that this report should be withdrawn and reconsidered in the context of actual events. This request has been refused. In my view this is another really bad example of the disregard for scrutiny culture that now exists.”

“I would ask again that this report is withdrawn and not reissued until the scrutiny committee has had a chance to see the lessons learnt report, scrutinized it and looked at the Corporate Parenting report in that context.”

The other opposition group currently represented on the council, Reform UK, also drew attention to the council’s failures before calling for the report to be withdrawn.

In a statement provided by the party’s Barnet chair, Cllr Mark Shooter, it said: “The findings of the coroner’s inquest reveal a devastating sequence of failures: a lack of co-ordination between children’s services, mental health support, and education — precisely at the moment this vulnerable young person most needed help. The fact that these failures may have contributed to her death should shake everyone in Barnet Council to the core.”

“It is now clear that councillors were not properly informed of the circumstances of this and other recent deaths before the publication of the Corporate Parenting Annual Report, which made no mention of them. This raises profound questions about transparency, leadership, and the council’s duty of candour.”

However the council this afternoon rejected the request to withdraw the report. A council spokesperson told Barnet Post: “We think it is important to discuss the Corporate Parenting Annual Report in the light of the Coroner’s final determination, which was issued on 31 October 2025, and the imminent publication of the Barnet Children’s Safeguarding Partnership learning review at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow (18 November).

“The cabinet meeting tomorrow will provide the foundation for a further discussion in December when officers will provide a further report on the recent developments.”

They added: “The December cabinet meeting will consider an addendum report to reflect the Coroner’s findings, subsequent learning reviews, and feedback from the recent Ofsted ‘Focused’ visit, which looked at care-experienced young people.”

Extraordinary meeting to go ahead on 2nd December

While the council rejected opposition requests to withdraw the Corporate Parenting Annual Report, it has agreed to a previous request for an extraordinary council meeting to discuss the deaths of the three young people.

Conservative councillors submitted a formal request for the meeting on Friday to the Mayor of Barnet Danny Rich on Friday. In a statement issued at the time, Cllr Zinkin said: “The veil of secrecy has been torn away by the Sky documentary, and the public deserves answers now.”

Now the council has confirmed that the request has been agreed to and the extraordinary meeting of the full council will go ahead on Tuesday, December 2nd.

After confirming to Barnet Post that the meeting was going ahead, a council spokesperson said “We welcome this. It is important that time is given for all councillors to discuss the learning from this case.

They added: “According to the council’s constitution, the Mayor of Barnet can ask that the monitoring officer call an extraordinary council meeting (ECM). Members of Barnet Conservative group requested of the mayor to call an ECM.”

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