Downing Street Says

Asked when the Prime Minister was made aware that two separate Government departments had been contacted over the Baby P case, the PMS said he would have to check. The Prime Minister had stayed in very close touch with the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and had clearly taken a close interest in what had been a very tragic case.

DCSF had given a response on the issue and the Secretary of State had spoken about the issue this morning. There was an appropriate organisation for complaints regarding social care and it was right that complaints were directed to the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate (CSCI) to take the appropriate action. The PMS added that as he understood, the details of this were passed to the person making the complaint. As we had indicated this morning, the Permanent Secretary at DCSF had looked into this and we were confident that the proper procedures were followed.

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that it all looked a little procedural, the PMS said that he rejected that allegation. It was right that we had guidelines and it was right that we had procedures that were followed in the cases of social care and particularly children s welfare. This was why we had an organisation to administer complaints about the quality of social care.

Asked if Ministers had actually seen the letter of complaint, the PMS said that people should talk to the relevant departments on that. Asked when the Prime Minister had known about the letters, the PMS said he would have to come back to people on that.

Asked if the enquiry launched by Ed Balls into Haringey Council s handling of the case should be extended to include the conduct of the Ministers and Social Care Inspectorate now that it had emerged that warnings had been issued some months before, the PMS said that on the terms of reference for the enquiry ordered by the Secretary of State, people would need to speak to DCSF.

Put that the Departments could have forwarded the complaint themselves, the PMS said it was his understanding and people would have to check this with DCSF, that the response they sent to the legal team s letter was copied to the Inspectorate. There was an authority there that had been set up specifically to inspect and ensure standards were upheld in social care across local Government. That was the appropriate place for a complaint about a particular local authority handling of childrens welfare.

Put that as of this morning the CSCI could not confirm whether or not they had received the letter, the PMS replied that it was right that they conducted a thorough investigation of their records to ensure they had all the facts to hand.

2 Comments »

After watching the Panorama programme this evening about baby P I feel absolutely outraged.
The failings are there for all to see and a variety of people clearly did not do their jobs, however lets try just for once to avoid all the same old tripe that is trotted out on occasions like this about it will never happen again.
Managers, Police and Politicians should be ACCOUNTABLE to the people who put them where they are.
Penalties for this type of crime are woefully inadequate and the great and good in our society starting at the top (yes that’s you Mr Brown) must get their ducks in a row and sort it out.
Without being accused of being too draconian lets introduce a system where the penalties for getting it wrong resulting in the death of children means a jail term for the manager/politician ultimately responsible.
I have never felt so strongley about anything in my life as this avoidable child’s death and I am sure that I am not on my own.
Politicians ignore the voters at their peril, in the name of humanity sort this out you uncaring set of bastards.
Comment by John Rolfe — 17 Nov 2008 on 10:14 pm | Link
I feel that the tragic case of Baby P as he is known highlights the terrible depths of inhumanity to which modern day society has fallen. Political correctness is the order of the day. The so-called rights of the individual are paramount resulting in untold misery throughout the land. What about the innocent child? Who was looking out for him. No-one, by all accounts, not his mother or low-life companions, social workers, doctors, police or the government. All had other fish to fry! This should have been as clear as crystal to anyone with any kind of brain (and was highlighted by several professionals) but instead turns out to have been a complete fiasco of incompetence so profound as to be nearly unbelievable. Sack the whole lot of them ah but no they would only get a huge payout as their punishment!
Comment by Catherine Conaghan — 20 Nov 2008 on 10:02 pm | Link

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» Friday, November 14, 2008

Baby P

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