Exclusive: 'Angry' Minister wants urgent report after boys' horror attack

He told the Yorkshire Post he is "angry" at the way agencies made a host of mistakes that allowed two young brothers to carry out the vicious attacks.

He has written to Sir Peter Kemp, whom he installed as chairman of a Children's Board advising the council when the Government intervened last year, and asked for an urgent report following the conviction of the Edlington attackers.

It follows a serious case review which concluded the attack – where the victims were lured to secluded woodland and subjected to 90 minutes of torture and sexual humiliation – was preventable, and made a string of recommendations.

In his letter to Sir Peter, Mr Balls said: "I am aware that action is already under way to implement the recommendations but it is imperative that this action is now driven forward with appropriate pace and rigour.

"I should therefore be grateful if you would report to me by the end of February on the progress made in taking forward these lessons and the arrangements in place to monitor their implementation on an ongoing basis."

Mr Balls thought improvements had been made but there was "still some way to go".

He also defended his position in refusing to publish the full serious case review, something the Tories pledged to do if they win the General Election.

Doncaster's elected mayor, Peter Davies, had until yesterday made no comment on the crisis in children's services, and did not attend a council-held Press conference after the publication of the serious case review and the jailing of the Edlington attackers.

Last night he told the Yorkshire Post he was not "keeping his head down" as critics have suggested, and said he felt there was nothing to be gained for the victims of the terrible assaults or for the council from continuing to talk about the difficulties.

Instead he said he had put his faith in his Cabinet member for

children's services Coun Andrea Milner, and added: "Andrea has virtually become a member of the staff of the department. She has neglected her own business for that.

"She has an office in the department where she is working on an almost full-time basis to deal with the issues we are facing. Andrea and the former interim head of children's service Nick Jarman should be applauded by the Government and the people of Doncaster for their work so far.

"They have laid the basis for a better standard of safeguarding for children in Doncaster, and although Ofsted have said we are not out of the woods yet from the low ebb we started with, they are reasonably happy with the progress we have made."

Mr Davies said the report Mr Balls had requested would be dealt with in the same way that all other Government intervention and inspections into the council had been, and he would provide the leadership required to ensure it was carried out.

Doncaster Council has suffered further upheaval over the past week with issues surrounding the appointment of Tim Leader as the authority's interim chief executive – an appointment the mayor has opposed and legally challenged. A marathon six-hour meeting was held on Wednesday to examine whether Mr Leader had been properly appointed with councillors rejecting the mayor's arguments and deciding he should continue in the job on an initially temporary basis.

Disagreements have also emerged about Mayor Davies' budget, which would see council tax cut by three per cent, which opponents call "insanity".

The results of an unannounced inspection carried out by Ofsted last month are due to be made public on Monday, just a week after the council's new permanent head of children's services Chris Pratt started in his job.