The head of the intervention team sent in to turn around Rotherham MBC hopes to hand back ‘some or all powers' by May 2017.

Speaking to mark one year since the publication of a report by child protection expert Professor Alexis Jay, who found that 1,400 local children were abused by gangs of men between 1997 and 2013, former chair of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, Sir Derek Myers, told The MJ there were ‘definitely signs of progress' at the council.