Baby P - councillors statements

Monday 1 December 2008

Cllr Meehan

This afternoon, following a briefing on the inspection report into the tragic events surrounding the death of Baby P, I have resigned as Leader of Haringey Council.

The reasons for my resignation are matters of personal honour and local accountability. I believe it is right now for me to resign.  For me this is a matter of moral responsibility.

Councillors like myself, volunteer to oversee public services, because we want to do our best for local communities. We do it out of a sense of pride in our local area and because we believe we can improve people’s lives by driving change through local democracy. But even the best of motives can be undone by the worst of tragedies.

Failure by services to protect the most vulnerable – especially children at risk – is the nightmare of every holder of public office. That is what happened in the case of Baby P and that tragedy has been made all the more painful given all our efforts to implement improvements to our social services provision since the Climbie case. I cannot now, in these circumstances, in all honour, continue as Leader of this Council.

I am acutely aware of the accountability I have to the people of Haringey. They expected better of us to oversee local services. We strived at every step to make the improvements necessary to prevent the kind of harm that was inflicted on Baby P by his guardians, and we failed. As a mark of respect to Baby P and as a sign of the deep sorrow we feel, it is right and proper for me to resign the leadership of the Council.

This is an opportunity for the Council and its partners to begin afresh, to continue to raise the quality and restore the reputation of Haringey’s child protection services.

Cllr Santry

I have today resigned as Cabinet Member for Children & Young People on Haringey Council.

We now have the inspection report and I accept the findings. The report sets out very starkly the problems in Haringey’s child protection service and the Government requires us to take urgent and immediate action. We need to act fast to give effect to the recommendations.

The report criticises the leadership and management oversight by elected members.   I am the accountable lead member.   I accept that accountability and take my full share of responsibility.    I did consider resigning earlier but believed it my duty to stay and explain the circumstances and actions taken whilst the council was working with Baby P’s family and since his death.   Now, however, is the time for me to stand down, with immediate effect, as Cabinet Member for Children and Young People so that others, with a fresh perspective, can lead the changes needed.  I shall, of course, support in every way possible the implementation of these changes.

I deeply regret that we were not able to protect Baby P and this baby’s tragic life and death is a great sadness to me. I understand the strength of feeling locally and across the country:  we have a hard task ahead to re-build confidence in Haringey’s child protection service but this we must do.   

My hope also is that from this tragedy some good may come:  if it has caused us all to look more closely at how we protect our children and understand better the challenges faced by professionals working in this field, then it will lead to real and lasting improvement in child protection, not just in Haringey, but across the country.

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