MP Hemming Stonewalled

November 18, 2008 permalink

British MP John Hemming is being stonewalled in his efforts to get accurate information on child deaths. The government claims they have not impeded him, but two local authorities have refused his requests citing orders from the central government. We enclose a newspaper article and two rejection messages from the blog of John Hemming. This is one more example showing that elected officers have little power to control the bureaucracies that are constitutionally their subordinates.

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Birmingham Post

Birmingham Lib-Dem MP John Hemming accuses Government of cover-up on child deaths

Nov 18 2008 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post

‘Cover-up’ over child deaths, says Hemming

The government is “covering up” details of child deaths, a Birmingham MP has claimed.

John Hemming (Lib Dem Yardley) asked local authorities to provide details of babies whose death was believed to be connected to abuse or neglect, following the death of Baby P.

But some councils have written back revealing that the Department for Children, Schools and Families has told them not to give him the information.

Mr Hemming’s made inquiries following the death of Baby P at the age of 17 months, in Haringey, London. Baby P had suffered more than 50 injuries in an eight-month period in which he was seen 60 times by social and health workers, but was not taken into care.

The MP believed the “wrong children” were being taken into care, so that those that genuinely needed protecting were left with their families. He asked councils for details of babies whose death had been the subject of a serious case review, which is carried out when abuse or neglect is believed to be a factor.

The requests were made under the Freedom of Information Act, which places public authorities under a legal obligation to answer queries.

But authorities including Durham and Bolton have refused to reply, on the grounds that the Department for Children Schools and Families has told them it will respond on their behalf.

In a letter to Mr Hemming, Durham Council said: “Unfortunately we will not be able to provide you with this information. This is because we have been informed by central government that a national response is being provided by DCSF.”

Mr Hemming said: “Alarm bells rang when I found that the Government were telling local authorities to refuse to give me information. We cannot know the whole truth until they do. They were a little late. Some authorities had already responded by the time the instruction went out. However, a number of authorities have still not responded.”

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has written to Mr Hemming to inform him that 81 child deaths were subject to serious case reviews in 2007 but they have provided only a national figure and not the breakdown by local authority that he requested.

A spokeswoman for the Department said: “We have not ordered councils not to reply to Mr Hemming.”

Mr Hemming has been a long-standing critic of child protection services and claims that there is a tendency to take children into care unnecessarily.

Meanwhile, MP Rob Marris (Lab Wolverhampton South West) says of those responsible for overseeing the death of Baby P: “I have no doubt that ‘heads should roll’ in this appalling mis-managed case which led to the horrible torture and terrible death of this poor little baby boy.”

Source: Birmingham Post

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Government Cover up - response

So the government's response (see linked story) is:

A spokeswoman for the Department said: “We have not ordered councils not to reply to Mr Hemming.”

Why then do I have all these responses which say:

Durham

Your request for information on Part 8 Serious case reviews request 1 of 5, received on 01-JUL-2008, has been considered.

Unfortunately we will not be able to provide you with this information. This is because we have been informed by central government that a national response is being provided by DCSF.

In accordance with section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as a refusal notice.

Bolton

I have since been instructed by The Department for Children, Schools and Families that they will be providing you with a coordinated national response and Bolton Council has no requirement to respond.

1. The fact that someone else is producing a response is not a reason for not responding. DCSF are not allowed to "instruct" departments that they have "no requirement to respond."
2. DCSF have not been willing to give a list of Serious Case Reviews.

There is no sense trying to come to any conclusions about whether or not the system is working properly if you don't start with reliable information.

posted by john ¶ 9:19 AM

Source: John Hemming blog for November 18, 2008

Addendum: On November 20 a report was issued by the British agency Ofsted. Here are links to the original and our local copy (both 3.6 megabytes pdf). It shows, on page 73, that about 59,500 children are cared for by local authorities, and on page 69, that 282 children died in the period 1 April 2007 to 31 August 2008. If the 282 are all from the "cared for" population, that gives a death rate in care of 334 per hundred thousand child-years. That is higher than our previous figures of 147 from Arizona data and 266 from Saskatchewan data. By comparison, the rate for Canadian children in the general population is 28. Foster care in England is unusually hazardous.