Kids Company: Alan Yentob attacked by MPs after claiming its closure led to stabbings, suicides and a murder
Yentob came under attack during an interrogation over alleged mismanagement at the once-feted children’s charity
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Your support makes all the difference.MPs have turned their fire on the former chairman of Kids Company for claiming that the charity’s closure contributed to stabbings, suicides and a murder.
Alan Yentob, the senior BBC executive and broadcaster who chaired the charity’s board of trustees, came under attack during a dramatic interrogation from MPs over alleged mismanagement at the once-feted children’s charity.
Mr Yentob said that Kids Company, which closed in August after the Government withdrew a £3m grant, had not folded as a result of mismanagement by chief executive Camilla Batmanghelidjh, but because of the fallout from what he called “unfounded” allegations of historic sex abuse at the charity.
In a fraught evidence session with the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Mr Yentob said the Metropolitan Police and local people had said would “sorely, sorely” miss Kids Company’s work.
“Five days after Kids Company closed a boy was murdered. He was going to the crime prevention centres which were closed,” Mr Yentob told MPs. “If you read the account and what was said at the time by people in that area you will hear what they said. You will hear what they said about the risks that happened once Kids Company was gone.
“There were stabbings, there were four suicide attempts. I haven’t talked about this but I’m now telling you that these things happened.”
Mr Yentob is understood to have been referring to the murder of 17-year-old Jerrell Elie, who was killed in south London on 8th August. Mr Elie had regularly attended a Kid’s Company project in Camberwell, south London.
However, committee chair Bernard Jenkin said MPs had been advised that the incidents occurred in the wake of Kid’s Company’s closure because “kids no longer had money to pay their drug pushers”. The charity has been accused of routinely delivering cash handouts to clients.
Ms Batmanghelidjh, who has previously won support from celebrity backers, as well as cabinet minsters and the Prime Minister, defended the work of the charity and said it was “very rare” for clients to receive £100 or more – prompting Mr Jenkin to remind her that it would be contempt of parliament to mislead the committee. Ms Batmanghelidjh went on to say living allowances for clients, including bus passes and food vouchers, could value between £10 and £200 a week.
The Committee heard that the charity had spent £73,000 on one individual, who received psychiatric treatment at a private hospital because of a shortage of NHS mental health beds.
Ms Batmanghelidjh accused the Government and local authorities of failing to face up to the scale of social problems in British cities. But in heated exchanges she was accused by Labour MP Paul Flynn of using “non-stop spiel” and “psychobabble” rather than direct answers to questions.
Mr Yentob said the charity would have been able to carry on had it not been for the allegation of sexual misconduct, which he said were “unfounded” and “from a source which obviously wanted to damage Kids Company”. The allegations had made it impossible for the charity to receive funding from private donors, he said.
He added that no spending over £5,000 could go ahead without the decision being taken to the board, but admitted that he regretted not restructuring the charity sooner to put it on a more stable financial footing.
The pair were also challenged over the charity’s claim to have supported 36,000 clients, with evidence from one London Borough, Southwark, revealing that only 1,699 records from young people using Kids Company had been passed to them in the wake of the charity’s closure.
Mr Yentob, who revealed he had put £250,000 of his money into the charity, was also forced to defend himself from allegations that he put pressure on the BBC over their coverage of Kids Company’s management.