Government to release Baby P failings report » Central government » 24dash.com

Ministers agreed to release a detailed report into the mistakes made by authorities in the Baby P case to a select group of MPs today.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls told the Commons yesterday that Government lawyers had advised him not to make the full serious case review available.

He cited a 2006 ruling by the Information Commissioner in a separate case and voiced concerns that identifying the professionals involved in the case could jeopardise future investigations.

But today the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said five MPs would be allowed to study the full report.

Baby P died in a blood-splattered cot in Haringey, north London, in August last year.

He had suffered more than 50 injuries at the hands of his abusive mother, her boyfriend and a lodger despite repeated visits by the authorities.

A 15-page summary of the serious case review was published at the end of an Old Bailey trial last week.

Now the full report will be made available to Conservative and Lib-Dem children's spokesmen Michael Gove and David Laws, Children, Schools and Families select committee chairman Barry Sheerman and local MPs Lynne Featherstone and David Lammy.

The MPs will be allowed to read the document on "privy council terms", meaning they must keep its contents secret.

A DCSF spokeswoman said: "As Ed Balls said in the House of Commons yesterday and in his letter to the opposition children, schools and families spokesmen, he has been keen to find a way to enable them to study the serious case review report but remaining consistent with the principle that these documents remain unpublished and confidential."

She added: "In order to ensure that future serious case reviews are not undermined and achieve their purpose, it remains vital to keep the serious case review confidential.

"As we have already said, we will publish the full report from the joint inspectors' review into Haringey together with the Government's response.

"Ed Balls has already confirmed that opposition spokesmen and local MPs will be invited in for a briefing before it is published."

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove welcomed the move to allow MPs access to the full report.

He said: "I'm glad that Opposition politicians will be able to see the serious case review.

"It's important that bureaucracy doesn't get in the way of proper scrutiny."

The three people convicted of involvement in the killing of Baby P are facing "substantial" terms in prison, a judge has warned.

The toddler's mother, 27, her boyfriend, 32, and their lodger, Jason Owen, 36, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 15 for causing or allowing his death.

Mr Laws said: "It is welcome that Ed Balls has changed his mind on access to the Serious Case Review and will be allowing the local MP, Lynne Featherstone, and Opposition spokespeople to view it.

"I will be arranging to go into the Department early next week to read the report. This will undoubtedly help in terms of the process of scrutinising what has gone wrong.

"In the future, we must ensure that the substance of the serious case reviews is made publicly available. When I spoke to Ed Balls he agreed that he was willing to consider this, even if a small amount of personal data still had to be kept confidential."