The death of Baby P: Mass resignations as 'devastating' report slams childcare standards

THREE senior figures from Haringey Council lost their jobs today over the Baby P tragedy.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls said an independent report had painted a "devastating and damning" picture of failings in the north London local authority's systems.

He confirmed that council leader George Meehan and Cabinet member for children and young people Liz Santry had quit, while the head of children's services, Sharon Shoesmith, has been removed from her post.

Mr Balls said he had ordered a new serious case review into the death of Baby P, with an executive summary to be published by the end of March.

Mr Balls described the conclusions of the inspectors' report as "devastating" and said all of their recommendations must be accepted by Haringey.

He announced that he has directed the council to remove Ms Shoesmith and install Hampshire County Council's director of children's services, John Coughlan, in her place.

Mr Coughlan was seconded to Haringey last month to oversee children's services in the wake of the Baby P trial.

Mr Balls said: "Overall, the inspectors' findings are, I have to say, devastating.

"Their report sets out detailed recommendations, all of which must now be accepted in full.

"Having studied their report I've decided to take immediate action. My first priority is to put in place a new leadership and management team in Haringey children's services to ensure that vulnerable children in the borough are properly protected.

"I have directed Haringey council today to appoint John Coughlan as director of children's services with immediate effect.

"Haringey council will now remove the current director of children's services from her post with immediate effect."

Mr Balls told a press conference the public had been "shocked" by the Baby P case.

He said social workers, police and other officials who dealt with children's safety often worked in "challenging circumstances".

But he added: "They must also be accountable for the decisions and when things go badly wrong people want to know why and what can be done about it."

Mr Balls ruled out a public inquiry into Haringey children's services "for now", saying the immediate priority was making management changes to safeguard vulnerable children in the borough.

He said: "The report from (the inspectors) is a damning verdict on the current management and safeguarding in Haringey.

"In their summary judgment the inspectors say, and I quote, 'There are a number of serious concerns in relation to safeguarding of children and young people in Haringey.

"'The contribution of local services to improving outcomes for children and young people at risk or requiring safeguarding is inadequate and needs urgent action'."

Mr Balls said that today's report uncovered a "catalogue of failings" at Haringey, including:

Failure to identify those children and young people at immediate risk of harm and to act on evidence;

Agencies generally working in isolation from one another and without effective co-ordination;

Poor gathering, recording and sharing of information;

Inconsistent quality of frontline procedures and insufficient evidence of supervision by senior management;

Inconsistent management oversight of the assistant director of children's services by the director of children's services and the chief executive;
Incomplete reporting of the management audit report by senior officials to elected councillors;

Insufficient challenge by the local Safeguarding Children Board to council members and frontline staff; Over-dependence on performance data which was not always accurate.

Mr Balls added: "The inspectors also highlight – and this is something which really worries me – a failure to talk directly to children at risk.

"Where children were not seen alone, it worries me greatly that the inspectors found little evidence of management follow-up to ensure that children suspected of being abused were properly heard and able to speak up without fear."

Mr Balls revealed that Ofsted inspectors judged that the Serious Case Review into Baby P's death was "inadequate".

Of the nine individual agency management reports on which the Serious Case Review was based, the inspectors found just three to be "good", one to be "adequate" and five to be "inadequate".

Reports from Haringey Children's Social Services and Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust were found to "lack rigour in their analysis and to significantly undermine the integrity of the Serious Case Review".

Mr Balls said: "They conclude that as a result, the Serious Case Review misses important opportunities to ensure lessons are learnt."