Reports on child abuse cases to be published

Children's Minister Tim Loughton said the serious case reviews into the deaths of Baby P and Khyra Ishaq, as well as the cases of the Edlington brothers and Shannon Matthews, would be released.

In an interview with Children and Young People Now, Mr Loughton said: "When you read some of these reviews it become clear that a lot of fault can be laid at the door of other agencies.

"Yet it is always social workers who take the brunt of the criticism. This is a way of helping to restore some of the lost confidence in social workers."

Two serious case reviews were undertaken in the case of Baby Peter, from Haringey, London, who suffered more than 50 injuries and died aged 17 months at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger.

Khyra Ishaq died in May 2008 when her body succumbed to an infection after months of starvation at her home in Handsworth, Birmingham. Birmingham City Council was aware of concerns five months before her death.

Schoolgirl Shannon Matthews was kidnapped and hidden by her own mother Karen Matthews in an attempt to claim thousands of pounds in reward money in February 2008.

In January, two brothers were jailed for an "appalling and terrible" attack on two boys, then aged nine and 11, in Edlington, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.