New Haringey team named by Ed Balls after Baby P investigation

Shortly before Mr Balls’ announcement on Monday (1 December), council leader George Meehan and Liz Santry, the cabinet member for children, resigned from their posts. Sharon Shoesmith, director of children’s services, was removed from her position.
Mr Balls asked Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and the Chief Inspector of the Constabulary to carry out an urgent inspection of safeguarding in Haringey after he received a Serious Case Review on 12 November into the death of Baby P. He said said that the report raised serious concerns in relation to the safeguarding of children, which required ‘urgent and sustained’ attention.
Mr Balls listed a catalogue of failings at Haringey, which included:
•    A failure to identify children and young people at immediate risk of harm, and act on evidence
•    Agencies working in isolation and without effective co-ordination
•    Poor gathering, recording and sharing of information
•    Poor child protection plans.
•    Inconsistent quality of front-line practice
•    Insufficient evidence of supervision by senior management.
Mr Balls said, ‘Overall, the inspectors' findings are – I have to say – devastating. And having studied their report, I have decided to take immediate action. My first priority is to put in place a new leadership and management team in Haringey children’s services to ensure that vulnerable children in the borough are being protected.’
The new management team at Haringey has been ordered to produce monthly progress reports on how the recommendations made in the inspectors’ review have been implemented.
Haringey council has also been ordered to appoint a new and independent chair of its Local Safeguarding Children Board, after the inspectors’ report judged the Serious Case Review into the death of Baby P to be inadequate. The new chair, Mr Graham Badman, will undertake a new Serious Case Review into the death of Baby P, which is to be submitted to Ofsted by the end of February.
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