Milburn launches major reform of child services following Climbié report

Health Secretary Alan Milburn today announced a "fundamental reform" of children's services following the report into the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie.

In a statement to MPs he said the Government would study "with care" the 108 recommendations in Lord Laming's "searching and detailed" inquiry into the tragedy.

He said a series of "Children's Trusts" would be set up to bring all local services for children under one organisation following "failures at every level".

Training is also to be reviewed, new national standards introduced and clearer guidance issued in a bid to stop such "unspeakable abuse" being allowed to happen again.

He paid tribute to the "quiet dignity" of Victoria's parents – who were watching the hushed Commons chamber from the public gallery – and said the suffering of their daughter had been "the stuff of nightmares".

He said: "We cannot undo the wrongs done to Victoria Climbie. We can though, seek to put right for others what so fundamentally failed for her.

"That is what Lord Laming's report demands. It is what the Government is determined to do."

Mr Milburn said Victoria, tortured and killed at the hands of her great aunt and the aunt's boyfriend after coming to England for her education, was failed by every service that dealt with her case.

He said: "It is a shocking but sad truth that around 80 children a year die from abuse or neglect.

"While a civilised society must do everything it can to protect children, sadly a few adults will always manage to perpetrate abuse.

"What makes Victoria's case so appalling, however, is that while the unspeakable abuse she suffered took place in secret, behind closed doors, Victoria herself was never hidden from the authorities and the agencies empowered by Parliament to protect children."

Four social services departments failed to assess her needs despite allegations of abuse, two police child protection teams failed to investigate alleged harm, an NSPCC-run centre failed to take action despite making her case "urgent" and two hospitals returned her to her abusers after treating serious injuries, he said.

"Between April 1999 and February 2000 on more than one dozen occasions the relevant services had the opportunity to intervene to protect Victoria Climbie.

"More than twelve times in ten months they failed to do so.

"This was not a failing on the part of any one service. It was the failing on the part of every service," he said.

He agreed with Lord Laming that she had been the victim of "lamentable" failures.

The Health Secretary said he took "little comfort" from Lord Laming's assessment that present child protection legislation was basically sound.

"Sound legislative policy and guidance is useless unless we can be sure that it is implemented effectively and consistently," he said.

It was not helpful to "demonise public" services but he said they could not expect our excuses for the "failures at every level".

Backing the report's attack on the "breathtaking" unwillingness of senior officials to accept their part of the blame, the Health Secretary said it would be up to individual employers to decide whether disciplinary action was needed in the light of the report including against those in "senior managerial positions".

He told MPS there had been dozens of reports into child abuse cases in recent years that had reached similar conclusions, but that Lord Laming's was different because it recognised that "a simple solution or a quick fix will not do".

"It is not just national standards or proper training or adequate resourcing or local leadership or new structures that are needed. It is all of those things."

A fuller response would be given in a Green Paper policy proposal in the spring, he said, before unveiling a series of immediate actions.

Inspectorates responsible for health, police and social services in North London are to continue monitoring their performance.

Chief Constables had been asked to review the work of child protection units, he said, adding that he had written today to chief executives of all health authorities and local councils "emphasising their duties towards vulnerable children and the need to reflect them in their budget decisions".

A "fundamental overhaul" of social services training was under way, police, social services and NHS chiefs had been asked to oversee a review of training and new national standards were to be published – starting with the care of children in hospital next month, he added.

Announcing the creation of the pilot "Children's Trusts", he said the report had found "confusion and conflict".

"Down the years, inquiry after inquiry has called for better communication and co-ordination. Neither exhortation nor legislation has proven adequate.

"The only sure-fire way to break down the barriers between these services is to remove the barriers altogether.

"Fundamental reform is needed to pool knowledge, skills and resources to provide more seamless local services for children.

"I am, therefore, inviting health and social services and other local services to become the first-generation Children's Trusts."

He said the Government would explore a range of models – led by local authorities or established as public interest organisations drawing on community, private and voluntary expertise – for providing all children's services through a single local organisation.

"In future, services for children must be centred not around the interests of any organisation but around the interests of the child.

"Nothing – no existing organisation, no existing structures – should be allowed to stand in the way."

He said "lasting change" must be drawn from the report.

Mr Milburn thanked Victoria's parents for meeting him last week and allowing him to express the nation's sorrow at their loss.

He hoped the report would provide them with "some comfort" as they asked themselves what had happened and how it could be stopped in the future.

"Anyone who has had the privilege to meet Mr and Mrs Climbie cannot fail to be struck by their quiet dignity in the face of what happened to Victoria.

"All they wanted – as any parent would – was for their daughter to have the best education. Instead she suffered the worst cruelty."