Cornwall councillor ‘sorry’ teenager was housed in tent

Cornwall Council has been criticised for housing a vulnerable teenager in a tent. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found a long list of failures by the council.

The boy, who was 17 at the time and cannot be named, spent five weeks in the tent and was later detained in a psychiatric hospital. We spoke to Councillor Sally Hawken, Cornwall Council’s cabinet member for children and wellbeing, and asked how the council could have failed the boy so badly.