Children: Ofsted Report

Baroness Hughes of Stretford Excerpts

Wednesday 25th May 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I do not know the answer to the noble Baroness’s question about whether anybody has done that analysis and I do not know how simple it would be to do. I will ask my officials whether such an analysis has been done and, if it has, I will of course share it with the noble Baroness.

[Baroness Hughes of Stretford]

My Lords, I am sure that the Minister knows that, since the Government have required serious case reviews to be published in full, there has been a significant fall both in the number of serious incidents notified and in the number of serious case reviews undertaken, leading to the concern that local authorities are carrying out internal reviews that they are not publishing. What investigations is he undertaking in order to understand what is really happening and to ensure that every case for which it is appropriate is subject to a serious case review?

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I accept the point that underlies the noble Baroness’s question. It is an important area. My honourable friend Mr Loughton is keeping the situation to which she refers under review to try to understand why this might be happening. The Government were trying to strike a balance within the serious case review system: there is a need for more openness to try to rebuild trust in the system, as we had reached a point where people were mistrustful, but clearly one wants to balance that with the interests of the child, to make sure that this is done in a sensitive way. We will keep that under review and it will clearly need to be taken into account in our response to Munro, to ensure that we have the best system and that lessons are learnt throughout child protection agencies.