Balls: 'Child support agencies collectively failed Baby P' » Local Government » 24dash.com

Childrens' Secretary Ed Balls told MPs today there was clear evidence that agencies had failed to adhere to statutory procedures following the death of Baby P.

In a Commons statement, Mr Balls confirmed that national inspectors, sent into Haringey after the tragedy, would report on December 1.

A wider report on safeguarding children by Lord Laming will be ready early in the new year.

This will look at whether "good safeguarding practice" was being applied across the country and possible "barriers" impeding the work of child care professionals.

"The case of Baby P is tragic and appalling," he said.

"We have a responsibility to take whatever action is needed to ensure that such a tragedy cannot happen again and that all children are able to grow up safe - in Haringey and across the country."

The 17-month-old toddler died on August 3 last year after suffering more than 50 injuries at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and a lodger despite repeated visits by the authorities.

Updating MPs on work undertaken since the court case into Baby P's death, Mr Balls said the whole nation had been "deeply shocked, appalled and angered by the terrible suffering this little boy endured".

The case raised serious questions about what steps were needed to ensure the safety of children across the country.

"It is our collective duty to do what we can to prevent such a tragedy happening again."

He said a serious case review had started immediately after the court case, with ministers receiving the full confidential report on November 12.

"Having studied it, we concluded that there was clear evidence that agencies had failed - singly and collectively - to adhere to the statutory procedures for the proper management of child protection cases.

"This raised serious concerns about the wider systems and management of services safeguarding children in the borough."

Mr Balls said an urgent inspection of services to safeguard children in Haringey was underway and ministers would receive the first report from the inspectors on December 1.

"As soon as I have studied their findings, I will publish their report and the actions we will take."

Lord Laming was also undertaking an urgent review of safeguarding children services across the country, which will report early in the new year.

"He will report on the key features of good safeguarding practice and whether they are being universally applied across the country ... "

Other matters to be looked at included "key barriers ... that may be impeding children's professionals in their work and stopping good practice becoming common good practice ... "

Mr Balls said Lord Laming had begun his work and today written to experts and interested parties setting how they could help inform his findings.

"Professionals working with children in this country do a tough job, often in very difficult circumstances.

"They have a great responsibility - and they make difficult judgments every day.

"But where serious mistakes are made, there must be accountability.

"We must never forget that our first duty is to make sure that all children are safe and protected from harm - and we will not rest until we have the very best possible child protection arrangements to safeguard our most vulnerable children."

For the Tories, Michael Gove said the "horrific circumstances" of Baby P's "short, agonised life and terrible pain-wracked death" were imprinted indelibly on everyone's minds.

"The ultimate moral responsibility for this child's suffering rests with those three adults found guilty of allowing his death.

"We must never shift our focus from preventing such evil being inflicted on another innocent.

"That's why it is important we ask serious questions now to ensure we give children the greatest possible level of protection."

He said Mr Balls had been working hard to get answers and questions raised by the Opposition implied no criticism of him.

Mr Balls thanked Mr Gove for his support and backing in making improvements to child protection.

He had looked into trying to give the full serious case review to parliamentarians but had been told it could stop people from giving evidence to future reviews.

"What I can do is say that when I receive the inspectors' report on December 1, I will ensure that for honourable members opposite and also for the local MPs that they have a chance to study that report before I make it public," Mr Balls said.

The Children's Secretary said Mr Gove was "quite right" that it had been the "deception and the evil" of some of Baby P's family that had resulted in his death but that social care professionals had a duty to act when concerns were raised.

Mr Balls said: "Our judgment, having read the detail, is that actions were not taken when they should have been and it is that collective and singular failure which we are asking the inspectors to look at as a matter of urgency."

There was no evidence that the inspection regime in Haringey was flawed, Mr Balls said, nor that there was a conflict of interest with who signed off the report as that person had not actually carried it out.

He said inspectors would be looking at the legal advice regarding taking Baby P into care, but that it was obvious from the report that it had taken "far too long" to get information from health experts.

And on costs, Mr Balls said £40 million had been provided for councils which wanted to take children into care.

"The idea that any council would not proceed with an application for a care order because of the financial cost of the legal process - it would be appalling if that was what was happening," he added.

Ultimately, Mr Balls said, it came down to a question of whether social workers were making the correct judgments.

He added: "In my view, in this case, the wrong judgments are made. And if that is what the inspectors report on then we will hold people to account for those mistakes and we will act to make sure it can't happen again."

Barry Sheerman, Labour chair of the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee, said in cases like this people did not want a whitewash or a witch-hunt but only to ensure that everything was done to try and prevent similar tragedies.

"But to raise expectations that we will never have a vulnerable child murdered again flows right against human experience," he said.

There were 35 to 40 children murdered every year, Mr Sheerman said, and it was important to learn lessons from all the cases.

Mr Balls agreed that learning the right lessons would be "very important indeed".

He added: "In the end, where you have despicable acts concealed by adults and perpetrated against a child - that's not something which we seem in our society to be able to stop. It seems to happen in every society in every generation.

"But where those come to the attention of GPs or social workers we should then be able to act to make sure those children are protected."

Liberal Democrat children's spokesman David Laws said the situation regarding the full serious case review was "deeply unsatisfactory" and that the executive summary only represented an "extremely bland and incomplete assessment" of the case.

Mr Laws called for a "full and independent" public inquiry and said he had heard that council officials in Haringey were selecting the staff investigators were able to talk to.

He said the investigation currently being undertaken was short, and added: "Why is it the case that the director of children's services in this borough of Haringey is still in her post when she is directly accountable under the 2004 Act?

"Isn't it clear that the borough needs new management and that we need a full public inquiry into this issue?"

Mr Balls accepted that the executive summary was only a summary but reiterated that his hands were tied with regards to publishing the full serious case review.

He said there was "no question" of council officials selecting which staff inspectors had access to.

The report currently being undertaken could have been more thorough if inspectors had been given three months to carry it out, Mr Balls conceded, but said two weeks was the longest he was prepared to wait and the shortest period needed for the work to be done.

Mr Balls said it would have been "quite the wrong thing to do" to wait for a public inquiry at this stage because of the amount of time it would have taken, but that he ruled nothing out.

And on whether people should have lost their jobs, he added: "I could have decided to have acted in advance of the inspectors' report, and to allocate myself blame to particular individuals in a particular way.

"That was not my responsibility, that would have been the wrong thing for me to do, I think the right thing for me to do is send the inspectors in, get the detail, and then make the decision."

Labour's Graham Allen (Nottingham North) said it was important that wider strategic lessons were learned otherwise Baby P would have "died in vain".

Mr Balls said it was clear there had not been enough early intervention in this case, and that early intervention need to be at the "heart" of a culture change.

Labour's Ann Coffey (Stockport) suggested children's centres could be better used to provide that early intervention alongside better monitoring, supervision and protection of children at risk - possibly by forcing parents to attend.

Mr Balls said he would look further at the proposal.