Abuse scandal haunts new minister

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Under fire: Margaret Hodge, the new Minister for Children

The new Minister for Children was accused yesterday of being unfit for the job over her alleged failure to deal with one of Britain's worst child abuse scandals.

Two senior social workers said Margaret Hodge refused to back their investigations into paedophile activities in Islington, North London.

Her time as leader of the borough between 1982 and 1992 was dogged by claims of systematic abuse of children in care by council staff. Speaking publicly for the first time yesterday, social workers Liz Davies and David Cofie condemned the decision to hand her responsibility for 11million youngsters as Britain's first ever Children's Minister.

'It beggars belief to think that Tony Blair has awarded Hodge the highest job in the land for protecting the welfare of our most vulnerable citizens,' said Mrs Davies.

'Despite what she has said, Margaret Hodge definitely knew everything right from the start - and by "start" I mean more than two years before it was exposed.'

Attempting to defuse the row, Mrs Hodge said she 'deeply regretted' the abuse of children by her staff and claimed that she had learned many lessons from what happened.

'There were terrible things happening in children's homes, and I deeply, deeply, deeply regret it. Never a month goes by when I don't think about it,' she said.

'I've had 12 years to think about those issues, to read about them, to talk to people about them, to learn about them.

'I think that equips me better than most in thinking about how we can now create a safe environment for children at risk, and really put the children at the heart of all the policies and the structures that we develop.'

The allegations nevertheless cast a cloud over the appointment, calling Mrs Hodge's judgment into question and causing a further headache for Mr Blair, who promoted her in the 'botched' reshuffle three weeks ago.

At the time the Prime Minister was accused by MPs of giving too many jobs to cronies. Mrs Hodge, the daughter of a steel millionaire and wife of a judge, is an old friend and former neighbour of the Blairs.

Full details of the Islington scandal only emerged in October 1992 following an investigation by the London Evening Standard.

It found that vulnerable children in the council's care were routinely exposed to paedophiles, pimps, and pornographers.

At the time Mrs Hodge accused the newspaper of a 'sensationalist piece of gutter journalism', and only halfheartedly admitted she was wrong two-and-a-half years and five independent reports later.

The last of those reports blamed the Labour-controlled council's politically-correct policies for allowing care workers suspected of child abuse to escape detection.

Prepared by Ian White, director of social services in Oxfordshire, it found that the town hall was ' paralysed by equal opportunity and race

issues' which prevented any proper investigation of complaints.

Although it singled out 22 people who worked for Islington for censure, the council and the Department of Health refused to publish their names for fear of being sued for libel. All but two were allowed to leave rather than face further scrutiny.

Mr Cofie and Mrs Davies claim that it was in 1990 that Mrs Hodge first knew of 'serious concerns' about child abuse. Mr Cofie was so concerned for the safety of local children he wrote a report to a neighbourhood forum advising them on how to spot if a child had been sexually abused.

But Mrs Hodge was furious at his attempt to publicise the situation.

'Margaret Hodge went apesh*t,' said Mr Cofie, 63, who retired last year and lives in North London. 'She started screaming and shouting at me and refused to discuss it.' Two months later Mr Cofie's request for two extra staff for the local office carrying out the initial investigation was turned down by Mrs Hodge. She sent a memo dismissing his plea for an overall increase in resources as 'not in my view responsible'.

The two social workers continued their investigations and in 1991 believed they had finally reached a watershed when paedophile Roy Caterer, whose name Mrs Davies passed to the police, was convicted.

Caterer, who worked at a school used by Islington council for its children in care, was arrested for sexually abusing seven boys and two girls and jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

But no further action was taken and in February 1992 Mrs Davies quit her job in frustration, handing over her information to Scotland Yard.

Later that year, following the newspaper exposÈ, Mrs Hodge quit the council to take up a post as a senior consultant with accountancy firm Price Waterhouse.

In a statement addressing the claims of Mr Cofie and Mrs Davies, the Minister claimed she had no recollection of the 1990 memo on staffing and that individual cases had been treated with 'extreme seriousness', with police brought in where appropriate.

'I was told the police and social services concluded that no evidence of abuse could be established,' she said.

'Of course with the benefit of hindsight it is easy to say you should have done x, y or z. But these judgments were extremely difficult then, with out limited recognition and understanding of these issues.'

Last night Downing Street said Mr Blair had appointed Mrs Hodge because she was 'a capable minister'.

 

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