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Child Protection

I entirely agree with the hon. Lady, which is why I started my second paragraph by commending the great efforts of the social work professionals. That is also why this party set up a commission on social workers two years ago, which reported again today. And that is why I shall make some further comments commending the activities of social workers later in my speech, if the hon. Lady will be patient. When the right hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) launched the Laming report on 28 January 2003, he told the House:"““We cannot undo the wrongs done to Victoria Climbié. We can, though, seek to put right for others what so fundamentally failed for her.””—[Official Report, 28 January 2003; Vol. 398, c. 739.]" A key action point from that statement was the setting up of children's trusts—a substantial structural innovation. But have they really turned out to be the universal panacea that we were promised? If so, why were they panned in a recent Audit Commission report in which the chief executive, Steve Bundred, said that improvements to children's services have happened in spite of the trusts, rather than because of them? He said:"““There's no evidence that the trusts have resulted in any improved outcomes for children””." Again, apparently well-intentioned structural changes have turned out to be bureaucratic nightmares at best, and at worst seriously counter-productive to the business of protecting vulnerable children. Over the weekend I reread the Laming report. Its findings were not exceptional. Its 108 recommendations were not insurmountable. It said:"““The extent of the failure to protect Victoria was lamentable. Tragically, it required nothing more than basic good practice being put into operation. This never happened.””" It claimed that"““scarce resources were not being put to good use. Bad practice can be expensive.””" It concluded:"““The single most important change in the future must be the drawing of a clear line of accountability, from top to bottom, without doubt or ambiguity about who is responsible at every level for the well-being of vulnerable children. Time and again it was dispiriting to listen to the 'buck passing' from those who attempted to justify their positions.””" I think that we would all endorse those comments. Lord Laming ended by saying:"““I am convinced that the answer lies in doing relatively straightforward things well.””" But six years on, relatively straightforward things were still not being done well in Haringey. The fundamental message from Laming was that there should be clear lines of accountability. That is why directors of children's services departments were created, but in Haringey no one stepped up to the plate voluntarily to take responsibility. The joint area review produced before Christmas contained depressing echoes of the original Climbié inquiry, as set out in the letter from the Secretary of State dated 1 December. It mentioned"““significant weaknesses in safeguarding and child protection procedures and practice in Haringey…inadequate leadership and management of safeguarding by the local authority and partner agencies…poor gathering, recording and sharing of information…a failure to identify those children and young people at immediate risk of harm…poor child protection plans…agencies generally working in isolation from one another and without any effective co-ordination and a failure to consult with children in some cases””." Those are all familiar failings that we had heard before in the case of Victoria Climbié. In many respects, the circumstances surrounding baby P are worse than those of the Victoria Climbié case. Whereas the abuse of Victoria Climbié went on primarily under the radar of local services much of the time, baby P was the subject of at least 60 contacts with professionals and was firmly on their radar. Of course the tragedies of Haringey are not unique. This year started with the news that in Doncaster no fewer than seven children have been the subject of serious case reviews over the past four years. Five of them were less than 16 months old, including Amy Howson and Alfie Goddard, whose cases have been brought to court.