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Safeguarding Children

My Lords, I am most grateful to the Minister for repeating this Statement on safeguarding children made necessary by the distressing details of child protection in Haringey. The horrific images on our television screens and the tragic story of Baby P’s short and brutal life have shocked the whole country. The understandable sense of outrage that this trusting little boy could have been seen so many times by one professional after another and still be failed by a system designed to protect him has left us all asking how this could happen in modern Britain. So we welcome the fact that the Government have ordered an inquiry into the practices in Haringey, and we will expect them to act on the findings. It is all too easy to point the finger of blame at the social workers, who are at the sharp end of some of the most difficult and complex cases imaginable and who are submerged by mounds of paperwork. No amount of child protection legislation is a substitute for properly trained and resourced professionals. The number of cases they are looking after, and the mix of those cases, also is crucial if they are to do their job properly. However, you have to question the particular pressures that social workers are under in Haringey given that almost a quarter of the posts are vacant. You also have to ask who is going to want to work there. Can the Minister say what the Government are doing to address the problem of a critical shortage of children's social workers, particularly in some of the most deprived areas of London? A more urgent question is: why are we still in the dark over who had ultimate responsibility for this case, and where does the buck stop? After the tragic death of Victoria Climbié, the Laming report called for clear lines of accountability; and yet here we are again, eight years later in Haringey, and none the wiser. Can the Minister say who is accountable? And what about the legal services? They told police and social workers that there was not sufficient evidence to apply for a care order, but were they aware that three separate doctors had reached the conclusion that Baby P was probably suffering from non-accidental injuries? I am sure the Minister will probably tell me that all this will be subject to the findings of the independent inquiry, but perhaps she could help me on the question of the inspection of social services. In between the death of Baby P and the subsequent court case, Haringey Council and its children’s services were awarded three stars—the highest award available from Ofsted. Does the Minister agree that when serious cases are pending, that should raise a note of caution? If the basis of testing the quality of the system is flawed we will never be able to judge its true efficiency. We have the greatest admiration for the noble Lord, Lord Laming, and welcome his review into the key features of good safeguarding, the key barriers that may be impeding children’s professionals in their work, and the action that needs to be taken. However, the implications of what happened in Haringey and the problems facing children’s professionals across the country go much wider than this and the Government will find it difficult to solve the problems unless they look at family breakdown. My right honourable friend lain Duncan Smith is so right to focus on the chaotic life that is, sadly, the normal picture for so many children. One of the chilling statistics that he highlighted from recent research carried out in the USA is that children living with non-biological parents are 50 times more likely to die from inflicted injuries than if they live with their biological parents. We must do all we can to bring much needed stability to the lives of these vulnerable children. It is impossible for us to imagine how grown-ups can inflict such damage on an innocent, trusting child. Sadly, some people are simply wicked. But others have serious mental health problems. There is still too large a gap between child and adult services. I hope that this is an area where the noble Lord, Lord Laming, might apply his considerable expertise. The Government have our full support in ensuring that we have the best possible child protection arrangements to safeguard our most vulnerable children. For our part, my honourable friend Tim Loughton, shadow Minister for Children, following an urgent consultation with Conservative councillors in the immediate wake of the Baby P tragedy, has written to all Conservative lead councillors asking them to make changes to the structure of local safeguarding children boards so that in future they will be chaired independently. Writing this weekend about Baby P, my great friend Nadine Dorries MP said: "““Chocolate may have been smeared on his face, but his eyes were surrounded by red and swollen tissue ... If there is one Baby P who has died how many babies are out there waiting for someone to notice before sad red rimmed eyes become a broken bone or worse?””." That is why the findings of these inquiries and the subsequent actions cannot come a day too soon.