A duty of care

IN heavily criticising the failings in children's care at Doncaster Council, the Government has begun the process of reform in this failing department. What it has also done, until now, is take the heat off Ministers who want to present themselves as part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.

Now the heat is back on them. Highlighting failings of the authority has distanced it from decisions made in Whitehall. This strategy has been undermined, however, by the new Conservative claim that Ministers missed signals which "flashed danger" about the risk to children because of problems at Doncaster.

If Michael Gove is right, that it was clear there were "profound problems" at the authority up to 18 months before the Government decided to take action, it severely undermines much of what has been said recently by Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary and Normanton MP. He cannot present the Government as the champion of reform at Doncaster if his colleagues are shown to have failed to respond to the danger signs.

Yet many will regard the deaths of seven children on Doncaster's at-risk register as just that – an earlier sign that the department was failing in its most basic task of protecting vulnerable young people.

The abrupt resignation of chief officer Paul Hart, as well as the fallout from the appalling attack on two young boys in Edlington, show the council is a long way off being able to draw a line under its problems. Publishing more details of the Edlington serious case review, replacing the inadequate summary published so far, has to be part of the process.

Doncaster must be more open about its decisions over the last five years. So, too, must the Government. Playing a political blame game will not save a single life.