Exclusive: Tories hit at 'missed signals' over child protection

Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove said it was clear there were "profound problems" up to 18 months before the Government decided to act.

He questioned why action was not taken sooner, and claimed publishing full serious case reviews – rather than just "inadequate" summaries – into child deaths and abuse would have ensured changes were made before the attacks on two boys in Edlington, South Yorkshire, last year which horrified the nation.

"(Children's Secretary) Ed Balls's argument is the first occasion which he could have done anything was in December 2008," said Mr

Gove. "That's because in December 2008 we had the joint area review by Ofsted which rated Doncaster as inadequate and that was the 'red light'.

"But I believe that there were other signals beforehand which were passed which were flashing danger."

The Edlington attacks, which led to two brothers being jailed for a minimum of five years this month, plunged Doncaster Council back into the public spotlight and prompted the Audit Commission to launch a snap inspection into how it is run.

The authority's children's services department is already under Whitehall scrutiny after Mr Balls, MP for Normanton, ordered a new management team to take control following the December 2008 Ofsted report and concern over the deaths of seven children in five years.

Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post, Mr Gove put officials in Doncaster on alert to expect close scrutiny if the Tories win the General Election as he admitted the situation there is a "serious concern" to him.

He said officials at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Ofsted, which inspects council child protection services, received a serious case review into the death of a child – known only as AO6 – in Doncaster in July 2007 which should have raised alarm.

But he suggested the Government's refusal to publish the full reports despite his insistence that concerns over identifying vulnerable children and ensuring professionals co-operate with the reports can be overcome meant it was nearly 18 months later before action was ordered.

"The executive summary of that made clear things were not working," he said. "A fully anonymised copy of that serious case review would have been handed to both the department and Ofsted and if that had been published I am sure it would have been the case that the pressure to act publicly would have been greater.

"But even without that public pressure, the crucial question is why, when serious case reviews were signalling there were profound problems in 2007, did we have to wait until December 2008 for the Government to act?

"It's my understanding that between March 2007, when the serious case review into child AO6 was prepared and December 2008, three children died from abuse in Doncaster."

He went on: "Why didn't the Government act sooner?"

Mr Gove has clashed angrily with Mr Balls, who only took the role of Children's Secretary in June 2007, over the issue of releasing the reviews in full.

A spokesman for the Department of Children, Schools and Families said: "As soon as we had clear evidence from Ofsted that children's services in Doncaster were inadequate, we responded immediately and decisively.

"It is right that only the serious case review (SCR) executive summary should enter the public domain. Lord Laming himself said the full SCR must remain confidential in order to protect vulnerable children and ensure the full co-operation of witnesses."