This isn't the column I'd planned to write this week - but the events of the last 48 hours have angered me so much that I had to start all over again.

Basically it's become clear to me that Suffolk County Council as an organisation is no longer fit for purpose.

It should be a body that is there to help the citizens of Suffolk - its raison d'etre should be to provide services to those citizens.

However it's becoming increasingly clear that for many in the upper echelons of the organisation -- both political and administrative - its main purpose is to protect their own reputations.

And in my mind that makes it look like an organisation that is rotten to the core.

To be honest this isn't something that has happened quickly - but it is something that has come sharply into focus over the last few days.

I had planned to write at length about the county's budget and the appalling way it has treated Suffolk's theatres and museums.

Whatever words they put out now, it's pretty clear in my mind that last Friday's decision to find £500,000 for the arts was a 180-degree U-turn and the vast majority of that money will go to the same organisations that would have got it under the previous formula.

But what really angered me was the news about the OFSTED report into SEND provision in the county - and the appalling way this was handled by the county.

This was a dreadful report - showing that children with special needs in the county continued to be consistently failed by the authorities who should be supporting them.

What makes it so much worse is that there had been similar reports in 2016 and 2019 that had also shown up major flaws.

Despite regular claims that the problems had been solved and loads of money being spent on reorganisations, the situation remains dire.

The county council's reaction to the report stinks. The first thing we heard was the council emphasising to us that it was the NHS in Suffolk that was under the microscope as well.

That is true, but when I heard this, it did sound like the six-year-old in the classroom saying: "Miss, Miss, it wasn't just me smashing the windows - Little Johnny was with me too!"

Then the cabinet member for children Rachel Hood going on local television to say that there had been progress since the last report, but it just wasn't enough.

I'm sorry - but that's like a football manager going on Match of the Day to explain an 8-0 defeat and saying things were improving because they lost 9-0 to the same team last year.

The football manager would be expecting the sack - can those responsible for the SEND disaster in Suffolk expect the same thing?

Frankly after eight years of total failure and inability to address that failure, it is time SEND was taken out of the hands of  Suffolk County Council and its local NHS partners and put into the hands of central government commissioners.

When it comes to this aspect of their work the bodies are not failing. They HAVE failed and those responsible need to be replaced - from the very top of the organisation.

As I said at the start this is both a political and an administrative failure.

One of the greatest problems we have at Suffolk County Council is that the lines between the political and administrative functions at the highest level seem to have become blurred.

Too often decisions appear to be made - and then justified by the administration - to prevent the embarrassment of the political leadership.

I'm not sure that is a party political issue - I suspect it would be the same whoever is in power.

But it is unhealthy and it isn't serving the people of Suffolk well.

What is needed is a thorough change in the mindset of the whole authority and I'm not sure how many of the current leadership are capable of undergoing that change in mindset.

The opinions expressed in this column are the personal views of Paul Geater and do not necessarily reflect views held by this newspaper, its sister publications or its owner and publisher Newsquest Media Group Ltd.