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Safeguarding Children

My Lords, I know that everyone feels emotional about Baby P. Unfortunately, I am not so graced that I can keep my emotions to myself. I must ask seriously who was parenting Baby P. We know from the report that three brutes were responsible for the welfare of that innocent child, so my question is: what were the professionals, who are paid to look after the welfare of children in that borough, thinking when they failed to take action after receiving various reports? The case review said that there was strong evidence that agencies failed, singly and collectively, to adhere to the statutory procedures for the proper management of child protection cases. Can the Minister tell the House why those involved in the case are still being paid by the state? Report after report is produced whenever a child is treated in this way, so what does the country think when we produce yet another and say that we will get better? I wonder whether these things are not simply get-outs from the horror that some of our children suffer.