WORK will start next summer on a new 40-bed care home in Retford after permission was finally granted following a lengthy planning saga.

Accusations and proposals are thick in the air following the appalling death of Baby P. But the system as a whole is not proven broken by even this awful tragedy, writes Maggie Atkinson, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services

A JUDGE has called for an inquiry into why Social Services did not intervene in the case of four Mansfield children neglected by their mother and stepfather.

SOCIAL services staff have been told to “whistleblow” in order to prevent a repeat of the failings which led to the death of five-month-old Alisha Allen.

Sharon Shoesmith, the director of children’s services at Haringey Council, has been dismissed immediately and without compensation in the wake of the devastating inquiry into the death of Baby P.

The head of Ofsted has admitted the organisation needs to take some responsibility over the death of Baby P in Haringey and vowed she was “not washing her hands of it”.

Two day centres for young adults with learning difficulties are in line for closure as part of a Birmingham City Council cost-cutting plan. The units, in the south of the city at West Heath and in Hockley, are set to become the latest victims of a social services cash crisis.

The government is to set up a new taskforce this week to improve the quality and status of social workers in the wake of the Baby P scandal in Haringey. Headed by Moira Gibb, the chief executive of Camden council and a former social worker, it will be a “nuts and bolts review” of social work practice.

The former social services director who was in charge when the decision was made to take Shannon Matthews off the child protection register has defended his former colleagues.

A pioneering initiative between Devon County Council and the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SWAST) has been officially launched.