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Safeguarding Children

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her contribution. I want to be clear that we in the department are committed to taking action at this stage. Our concern about the approach being espoused by the noble Baroness is that an inquiry of that nature takes a long time to complete. Immediately on receipt of the report of the Baby P incident, my right honourable friend Ed Balls, the Secretary of State, sent in independent inspectors so that we could be clear on the appropriate action to take. That was done because urgent action is required. We are expecting a comprehensive review. We sought advice from Ofsted about the most reasonable timeframe within which to achieve a report and an intensive two-week period, to 1 December, was agreed. It is the shortest timeframe within which to produce a comprehensive report for the department. The Secretary of State is uniquely focused on taking the right action and is not prejudging what needs to be done. We shall have a fully independent and comprehensive report on which to base our consideration for taking action. I appreciate what the noble Baroness has said, but we have asked John Coughlan from Hampshire to work alongside the department for children’s services in Haringey to ensure that, as of today, we can be sure that the correct safeguarding procedures are now being followed for children and young people in that borough, since obviously these are matters of great concern to parents. That is our approach and we are not prejudging what steps might be taken later.