Ofsted knew of Baby P tragedy when it gave council glowing report
GOVERNMENT inspectors knew about the death of Baby P when they praised Haringey in a glowing child protection report, the Standard has learned.
The watchdog which is now investigating what went wrong congratulated the council on providing "a good service for children".
The praise came despite an earlier report warning of a string of child protection concerns in the borough just months before the boy died.
Baby P's body was found in his blood-spattered cot in August last year after months of abuse at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger. Aged just 17 months, he had more than 50 injuries, including a broken back.
He had been on Haringey's child protection register for nearly half his life, and was visited 60 times by health and social workers.
But the council's children's services chief Sharon Shoesmith received a glowing report from Ofsted — written by her ex-colleague weeks after the boy died.
In the October 2007 report, inspectors congratulated Ms Shoesmith's department for improving "the life chances" of children and working with police to tackle domestic violence.
The praise came despite accusations that Haringey failed to pass on all relevant documents to investigating officers. Politicians condemned the watchdog for its "extraordinary" findings.
Inspectors led by Juliet Winstanley, who worked under Ms Shoesmith in a previous job, said: "Haringey Borough Council delivers a good service for children and young people."
Ms Winstanley singled out the council's "good" child protection work for particular praise. "The number of children on the child protection register continues to decrease.
"Thorough quality assurance systems are in place and the number of re-registrations demonstrates effective planning for these children," she said.
A spokeswoman for the watchdog confirmed inspectors knew of the Baby P case while writing this report. She said: "The death of Baby P was known about when the assessment was carried out in 2007, at which point the local authority was still in the early stages of carrying out the serious case review."
The glowing write up of Haringey's children's department was based on paperwork and desk research, not a thorough inspection of the borough.
It was a follow up to a report one year earlier in which inspectors from Ofsted and nine other watchdogs raised concerns over child protection.
The October 2006 report found children at risk of abuse faced unacceptable delays, a high turnover of social workers and glitches in a new computer system in Haringey. It made urgent recommendations for improvements two months before Baby P was first placed on the child protection register.
On Wednesday, Children's Secretary Ed Balls said that Ofsted, with police and health inspectors, would lead a new inquiry into what went wrong. Lynne Featherstone, Lib-Dem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, said she had "no confidence" in Ofsted's new inquiry.
She described Ms Winstanley's report as "quite extraordinary". Shadow children's minister Tim Loughton said the new inquiry must be more "rigorous". "
