Council meets over 'starved' child

Birmingham City Council's Safeguarding Children Board, which considers every child death, discussed the death of Khyra Ishaq on Friday morning. The authority is expected to release a statement about the meeting in the next few hours.

Police are still awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination on Khyra's body, but sources have said the youngster is believed to have died of starvation.

She and her five siblings are reported to have been in an emaciated state when paramedics were called to their home in Leyton Road, in the Handsworth area of Birmingham.

The authority was branded "heartless" on Thursday night after it failed to agree to demands to launch an inquiry into the death.

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood accused the council of taking a "head-in-the-sand approach" and said it needed to do more to reassure the local community.

Speaking after the council confirmed Khyra's five siblings were now in foster care, Mr Mahmood said: "It's not sufficient to alleviate some of the apprehension within the community at the moment. Basically, it's a way of shutting down any further discussion on this. I find it absolutely amazing that they are taking a head-in-the-sand approach to this."

Describing the meeting as a technicality, the Birmingham Perry Barr MP added: "A huge tragedy has taken place. All of us need to get together and resolve this - it's not about them and us. Everybody has been touched by this and yet the authority seems totally heartless."

Mr Mahmood said some council officers had been instructed not to talk to him about Khyra, who died at Birmingham's Children's Hospital after paramedics were called to her home in Handsworth, Birmingham, early on Saturday.

The MP said: "Various councillors and officers have been told not to speak. I am appalled at this sort of diktat. I want an inquiry into what has happened, but also want the local authority to communicate with my constituents to let them know how we can deal with this sort of situation."