The removal of the director of children's services in Haringey from her post and the resignation of two senior councillors will begin to assuage the public anger at the sustained cruelty and eventual death of Baby P, despite being on the caseload of a slew of officials from the social work, health and police authorities. After the report into this deeply distressing case revealed "a catalogue of failings", Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary for England, has acted swiftly and decisively.
The removal of Sharon Shoesmith, the head of children's services in Haringey, sends a resounding message that accountability goes all the way to the top and lances the build-up of public outrage in the wake of her statement that there were no grounds for anyone to lose their job. And the resignations of the council's leader and cabinet member for children's services provides an overdue acceptance of blame as opposed to hapless hand-wringing. None of this addresses the root of the problem, however, and there is a danger that this ritual bloodletting becomes a substitute for genuine reform.
The predictable cry that "lessons must be learned" has a particular bitterness in this case, because it was in Haringey that eight-year-old Victoria Climbie was tortured to death by her aunt and her partner. There was public outrage followed by an exhaustive report by Lord Laming. However, it is now disastrously evident that the council failed to implement all his recommendations, with the report into the death of Baby P uncovering an all-too-familiar set of failings, including, crucially, the lack of constructive communication between different agencies. In hindsight, it is simple to require social work, police and health professionals to liaise with one another; in the real world of overstretched individuals, every case cannot go to the top of the queue.
There is widespread recognition of the benefits of joint working among the professionals. In Scotland, reducing the barriers to working across institutions is one of the principles of Getting It Right For Every Child, the child strategy framework, but it remains largely aspirational rather than enforceable. The recent inspection of child protection services in Aberdeen, for example, found insufficient training for police and social work staff to undertake joint interviews with children.
In cases of cruelty and abuse, there must be clear lines of accountability. That was the chief import of Mr Balls's actions yesterday, but it will not be achieved by sackings and resignations. Investment in earlier interventions such as earlier nursery education is required, but more immediately every council (in Scotland as well as in England) should provide their frontline social workers with an unequivocal procedure where they suspect abuse, which includes their responsibilities if they are not backed by a line manager. There can be no guarantees that a case such as Baby P's will not happen again. Systems are not foolproof, but properly implemented and with investment in training, they can reduce risk.
