Video: whistleblower's complaint went unheeded

The Government today claimed that it had followed "proper procedures" in batting away a whistleblower's complaint that social workers in Haringey were not dealing correctly with child abuse cases.

The warning, made by a senior social worker, came just six months before the death of Baby P, who died in August 2007 from multiple injuries including a broken back, and the whistleblower's lawyer says that prompt action could have saved the boy's life.

Nevres Kemal, the social worker, claims to have told Haringey Council in 2004 that a case involving alleged sex abuse bore similarities to the circumstances surrounding the death four years earlier of Victoria Climbié, the eight-year-old murdered by her guardians.

Ms Kemal was suspended soon afterwards on what she alleged were false charges of misconduct, and went on to sue the council for race discrimination and harm she suffered under the Public Interest Disclosure Act. The claim is understood to have been settled.

In February 2007, Ms Kemal’s solicitor wrote to the Health Secretary of the time, Patricia Hewitt, and to MPs, alerting her to the problems and calling for a public inquiry. “Statutory child protection procedures are not being followed. Child sex abusers are not being tackled," he wrote.

The Department for Health said that it passed the letter on to the Department for Education and Skills - now the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) - because it had no jurisdiction after responsibilities in the department were changed.

A spokeswoman for the DCSF said: “Our records show that we received a letter dated 16 February 2007, that was forwarded to us from the Department of Health, detailing an employment tribunal issue with Haringey Council, and containing an allegation that child protection procedures were not being followed in Haringey.

“Officials from this department replied on 21 March 2007. In that letter they made the point that ministers could not comment on the specific details of the employment tribunal case.

“Secondly, as is standard practice, they suggested that the individual should notify the relevant inspectorate, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, to take appropriate action and they provided the necessary contact details. The Permanent Secretary of the DCSF has looked at the reply and is confident that the proper procedures were followed.”

But Ms Kemal's solicitor, Lawrence Davies, said that his pleas had been ignored. “I did not get a reply from anyone, I copied several MPs into the letter. If someone had acted then maybe Baby P would not have died,” he said.

Ms Kemal herself is not allowed to talk about the case because of an injunction obtained by Haringey Council.

The row comes after the council finally apologised for the death of Baby P, saying that it was “truly sorry that we did not do more to protect him”.

On Tuesday, at the culmination of the trials that resulted in three people being convicted for causing or allowing the death of Baby P, including the boy's mother, Sharon Shoesmith, the director of Haringey Children’s Services, had refused to apologise, saying that staff had carried out their duties effectively.

Mr Davies, from Equal Justice solicitors, is now applying for the injunction on Ms Kemal to be lifted, saying that what she has to say is in the public interest and will have an impact on any Baby P inquiry.

Yesterday Liz Santry, Haringey Cabinet member for children and young people, said: “On behalf of Haringey Council I would like to say how deeply saddened I am about the death of Baby P. This is a really tragic occurrence and the circumstances of his death are really dreadful.

“He died over 15 months ago, and for those past 15 months in Haringey there has been a huge amount of anguish, and endless discussion about what more we might have done to save this little boy. I have to say that we are truly sorry that we did not do more to protect him.

"Our duty is to protect our children. We did not do so in this instance and I would like to say how truly sorry we are.

“The Government has arranged for inspectors to come to Haringey. They are arriving this afternoon and we absolutely welcome their arrival. We will do everything we can to be open and cooperative with them and the conclusions that they reach we will implement swiftly and comprehensively.

“We want to do everything we possibly can to make our child protection procedures as strong as possible.”

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