Repeated failures that put children in danger

Today's devastating report found the very system charged with keeping children safe was riddled with faults and errors.

"This inspection has identified a number of serious concerns in relation to safeguarding of children and young people in Haringey," it said. "The contribution of local services to improving outcomes for children and young people at risk or requiring safeguarding is inadequate and needs urgent and sustained attention."

Announcing the conclusions of the inquiry, it said: "The main findings of this inspection point to significant weakness in safeguarding and child protection arrangements in Haringey.

"They also show that the arrangements for the leadership and management of safeguarding by the local authority and partner agencies in Haringey are inadequate."

The report painted a picture of complete confusion in Haringey, where files were badly kept, alerts were answered too slowly, and complacent social workers were not clear where the difference lay between minor neglect and criminal cruelty. "The repeated failure to take proper account of historical concerns places children and young people at risk," it said.

"Information from other agencies is not always used to inform assessments, leading to weak analysis and understanding of the risks.

"Managers in all agencies are aware of the poor quality of assessments. However, there is no identifiable activity to address these serious deficiencies." It warned: "Police and health service files are often poorly organised and the process of planning is difficult to follow."

Decisions were inconsistent, the report added: "There is no definable threshold for when a minor neglectful act becomes a criminal offence. The possibility of a criminal offence is not always considered."

Today's findings were seen by Tories as a victory for David Cameron because they backed calls he made during an angry exchange with Gordon Brown on November 12.

He said it was wrong for Sharon Shoesmith to head the committee that oversaw a local inquiry, saying "she cannot possibly investigate the failure of her own department". The report calls for an independent chairman in future.

Among the failings identified was:

l Not enough strategic leadership over the safeguarding of children by elected councillors or senior council officers.

* Managers' failure to ensure that recommendations after the death of Victoria Climbié were acted on, such as a lack of written feedback to those warning about problems.

* The local safeguarding children board is failing to provide "sufficient challenge" to agencies in the borough - in other words it did not hold them to account or keep them on their toes. The lack of an independent chairman also compounded the problem.

* There was inadequate communication between different agencies. Social care, health authorities and police did not swap information routinely or effectively enough to save children.

* Assessments in all agencies often failed to identify children at immediate risk of harm or to address their needs.

* Poor front-line practice means different agencies and individuals applied different standards and were badly monitored by line managers.

* Child protection plans are generally poor.

* Arrangements for scrutinising performance across the council and the partnership are insufficiently developed and fail to provide systematic support and appropriate challenge to both managers and practitioners.

* Poor record keeping - with notes inconsistent.

Finally, under Ms Shoesmith's regime, too much reliance was placed on statistics to measure performance "without sufficiently robust analysis of the underlying quality".

The report makes one recommendation for change of policy by the Department for Children Schools and Families and 14 recommendations for change at Haringey. It said the Department for Children Families and Schools should support and challenge Haringey to ensure that effective safeguards are put in place.

In turn the council should improve its procedures for assessing children, set up systematic monitoring of social work and make social workers properly accountable for their decisions. Managers should also come under greater scrutiny and be expected to enforce rigorous standards.