MPs clueless about child abuse toll

I took the details from the annual report of Ofsted and used them to make the point that while the nation was focused entirely on the tragic death of Baby P in Haringey, levels of equally horrific child abuse were occurring elsewhere without anyone even raising an eyebrow.

The fact that the members of the House of Commons Children's Select Committee, who are supposed to be expert in this field, had not heard these disturbing facts until Wednesday graphically confirms this view.

And it tells us all we want to know about how out of touch MPs are on this vital issue.

It was this Labour administration that, as recently as last April, put Ofsted in charge of monitoring social work departments.

Yet the figures showing the extent of parental brutality in Britain was just the beginning of what MPs did not know about its work.

They did not know that the Ofsted officials were using a paperwork system of inspection that just weeks before the death of Baby P gave Haringey a three star "good" rating for its performance in protecting children.

Neither did they know that the supposed watchdog destroyed all its records after just three months, so none of the details of its deeply flawed appraisal are available.

But then it has taken Children's Minister Ed Balls up until now to realise that social workers have been put to work with no practical experience of dealing with the deceiving, feckless, brutal individuals involved in child abuse.

He has now declared that training should involve a year's practical training.

In my column in November I also said that it was quite clear a total revolution in child protection was necessary.

Only now has Mr. Balls said he has come to the same conclusion.

Actually his "root and branch" overhaul of the system actually involves setting up yet another taskforce to examine training and practice.

In fact, the only positive action we have seen is the dismissal of Sharon Shoesmith, the head of children's services in Haringey.

And she is, of course, simply the fall-guy who has lost her job despite following fulfilling every Government bureaucratic requirement to the letter.

To the rest of us it is already obvious, as I said last month, that we need to replace the simple-minded, bleeding heart social workers with teams of hard-headed, sceptical, determined investigators.

We need to focus their work not on sustaining the lifestyle of feckless, benefits-grabbing parents but firmly on the children who they put at risk.

And if we are to take more children away from dangerous families then the in-care system itself needs a major structural overhaul to transform it from the present sociological dustbin it currently is.

This is a massive task. It will take urgent and relentless action.

Instead, we are being presented with more taskforces, more inquiries and politicians who are simply not on top of the job.

And meanwhile - as they now know - another three innocent children die in agony every week they delay.