Council responds to information about the new Baby Peter Serious Case Review findings

Statement by Haringey Council leader Cllr Claire Kober

In response to the publication of findings from the summary of the Baby Peter Serious Case Review.

New Haringey Council leader Cllr Claire Kober said:

“I have apologised to Baby Peter’s father and do so again on behalf of Haringey Council – and on behalf of all the other agencies involved.

“We accept that things went badly wrong with our child protection services in 2007. Now it is our job to put them right. I am determined that we will make the changes necessary.  That work is already well underway but we have more to do.

“We have an action plan which has been approved by Ofsted in response to the criticisms of child protection services in Haringey in the Ofsted review before Christmas.

“We have a new director of children’s services, Peter Lewis, appointed by the Secretary of State in December, and new senior staff.

“We have new political leadership – both myself as the new leader and a new cabinet member for children and young people.

“The Local Safeguarding Children Board is stronger, with a new independent chair, Graham Badman, and senior representation from local agencies, including the borough police commander and senior NHS officials.

“We have new arrangements for scrutiny, including monthly reports to the Secretary of State and Ofsted. We have ongoing independent audits of our case files, so any file could be checked at any time, this is to ensure the quality of our work. Regular reports are also going to public meetings of the council.

“The findings of the Baby Peter serious case review show clearly that there were failings not only in the way the cases were handled, by the council and the other agencies involved in child protection, but also in the inadequate way that they were examined by the LSCB last year.

“There were opportunities to intervene to help the children in this family between December 2006 and August 2007, which should have been taken. There were failures of judgement, professional practice, management and supervision as well as record-keeping and the sharing of information.

“Regrettably there was also a failure to look honestly at what went wrong, and what needed to change.

“I am also clear that staff in the public sector must be held accountable for the services they manage and the duties they perform.

“We have therefore taken firm action to deal with individual failures, including the failures of senior staff.

“Sharon Shoesmith was dismissed in December 2008.  Other staff have also been dismissed but we will make no further comment on those cases as they can appeal against their dismissal.