THE web page for Bournemouth council’s Boredom Busters seems to be down at present, but it declared that the holiday play scheme had “built up an enviable reputation with generations of Bournemouth children.”

This is probably true. The scheme has been hugely popular with children and their parents. For many it has been lifeline (though not a cheap one) as they juggled child care and work commitments. That there have been good things to say about Boredom Busters is not the point though. The Ofsted report on wholesale deficiencies at the Boscombe Chine scheme is about as bad as it could get, as our stories today quite clearly illustrate. Criticisms by the inspectors have been labelled “appalling” by one local councillor. The matter is shortly going before the Children and Families Scrunity Panel and there are many people who will demanding clear answers over how this was allowed to happen – not least every parent who placed trust in the council to look after their children properly. The fact that council officials have suspended the entire scheme might suggest that failings within the programme were endemic, rather than specific just to Boscombe. I suspect that there may well be more revelations to come about the scheme in other parts of the borough. If so, then the scale of this scandal is about to take on a whole new dimension for those ultimately responsible at the top.