Bristol City Council named and shamed over child abuse failings
Bristol City Council has been named and shamed on a list of 28 authorities that have failed to deal with the outcome of serious child abuse cases effectively.
Ofsted inspectors have evaluated 92 serious case reviews in the past year and found more than a third were inadequate, including one from Bristol.
And, since the report was prepared, a further inadequate response to a case had come from the city council, it emerged last night.
The Ofsted report follows the high-profile Baby P case in Haringey, north London, and the Government's announcement of a crackdown on children's services across the country to try to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.
Seventeen-month-old Baby P died after a catalogue of physical abuse, despite being seen 60 times by care professionals.
Serious case reviews are carried out after a child dies or is seriously injured as a result of abuse or neglect.
The Bristol case highlighted in the Ofsted report took place between the start of the review system in April 2007 and the issuing of an evaluation letter in January this year.
The details of the case have not been released but it is understood the children involved are still alive and being cared for.
As well as the one inadequate Bristol case, a second case was considered merely "adequate" in an evaluation letter dated November last year.
And last night, at a meeting of the full council, the executive member in charge of children's Services Peter Hammond revealed: "Very recently Bristol completed a further serious case review, which Ofsted has regrettably also judged to be inadequate.
"We will, of course, be looking at why this review was so and meeting with the inspectors. This review will be subject to the same process as the earlier inadequate review."
Mr Hammond announced an urgent review to include "an independent, external perspective of the safeguarding structure and processes in order to benchmark our progress".
He sought – and was given – all-party support by the other group leaders on the council, Barbara Janke (Lib Dem) and Richard Eddy (Con).
"You have my commitment that if any additional actions are needed to comply with the Haringey recommendations I will ensure that the appropriate action is taken," Mr Hammond told fellow councillors.
Ofsted's report, Learning Lessons: Taking Action, says serious case reviews must be more child-focused and prepared with greater urgency, so lessons can be learned more quickly, and that the reviewers must demonstrate greater independence.
A city council spokesman said: "It is important to stress that the finding is a criticism of the time it took to complete the review and the specific nature and content of some of its recommendations – and not of the way partner agencies have acted in managing the care and protection arrangements of the child and other siblings since the case was investigated.
"Overall, Bristol has a robust approach to child protection and, in their 2007 Annual Performance Assessment, Ofsted described the city's multi-agency Safeguarding Children Board as well-established.
"The Safeguarding Children Board is, of course, extremely disappointed that one of its serious case reviews has been assessed as inadequate.
"The board wholly accepts that assessment and will be applying all the lessons learned from it to any forthcoming serious case review."
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