Full Publication of Baby P reports is a step in the right direction for Local Authorities

Print Version: Full publication of Baby P reports is a step in the right direction for LAs

The full publication of the serious case review into the death of Baby P (Peter Connolly) achieved a number of interesting results.

Firstly, it removed the ‘mystique’ surrounding serious case reviews, and gave the public an opportunity to see what a complete SCR report looks like, rather than just the limited, partially disclosed reports we’ve become used to over the past few years.

Secondly, it allowed us to gain a crucial piece of information: namely that the protection services involved in looking out for Baby P, were aware that Stephen Barker, the violent boyfriend of Peter’s mother, Tracey Connolly, was living at the home and might have been abusing Peter.

Connelly had declared Barker as her next of kin on an official form: an act which should have raised a red flag to the social workers, police and health workers involved in the case. The authorities should have stepped in at that point and carried out a comprehensive check on Barker’s background.

Instead, none of them picked up on this crucial piece of information; a failure that ultimately led to the young child’s death.

The public interest in the Baby P case has been huge ever since his death in August 2007. The release of the full report laid bare the failings of the authorities and was again widely reported to a public anxious to know how this child was allowed to be killed.

Whilst reporting of the agency failings is unlikely to have been very well received by the authorities themselves, it has brought to the fore the importance of full disclosure.

Since 2008, VCF has campaigned for the full disclosure of SCR’s. We have repeatedly pointed out that the only way for the authorities, and more importantly the management within those authorities, to be held to account, is through the full disclosure of their failings.

Openness and acknowledgement of failings are the best routes towards ultimately making changes. The public outcry over the vital facts missed by the authorities, as detailed in the fully disclosed report, means that agency management can no longer hide behind the veil of partial disclosure. The public knows exactly what went wrong.

VCF has long been critical of local authorities who, we believe, have sometimes offered up social workers and less senior staff as scapegoats in cases where children have been seriously injured or killed. Full disclosure now makes such scapegoating an impossible task.

However this does not necessarily mean that we are now calling for anyone at management level to necessarily always be dismissed in serious cases. Instead, we see full disclosure as an opportunity for local authorities and other agencies to progress along a path of honesty and openness that would allow them to regain the trust of the public and ensure that they understand and learn from the mistakes made within their teams at all levels.

Ultimately, this practical learning exercise must be the best benefit that can be derived from such tragic cases such as Baby P. It is clear that full disclosure must continue to be used as a tool in doing so.