Monday 1 December 2008

A Cold Wind Is Gonna Blow….

Senior managers at Haringey council in North London are “preparing for the worst” today when ministers receive a three-week review of the authority’s performance in the case of Baby P.

Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, is expected to take action within hours.
‘Preparing for the worst’..? Some might say the ‘worst’ has already come – to a little baby boy and his siblings. Still, trust the social workers to identify who the real victims are…
Sources at the council say they believe that Sharon Shoesmith, head of children’s services, and several of her management colleagues will be replaced immediately for the failure to stop the brutal killing of the 17-month-old boy despite 60 appointments and meetings between her staff and other children’s services.

Lawyers at the council also face criticism in the report, compiled by Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and the Inspectorate of Constabulary. The review has found that on two occasions the threat of harm to Baby P met the legal threshold for his removal from the home.
I wonder if that’s all it found…?
Ms Shoesmith has refused to accept any criticism of her staff, who overruled police when they sought to have the boy removed before his death.She said that a serious case review showed her that services had “worked effectively” and that she had no reason to apologise. She did apologise later. But there are concerns that a summary published last month did not represent fully the review’s findings.

The full serious case review has had only limited circulation. But one source who has read it said: “Sharon Shoesmith’s defence of her team was totally unjustified. If I had been her, I would have said, ‘I’m desperately, desperately sorry — mistakes were made’.”
Pack your bags and clear your desk, Shoesmith.

One down, thousands more to go…

8 comments:

Obnoxio The Clown said...

How fucking like them to say they're preparing for the worst, though.

Useless SCUM.

Anonymous said...

As a Haringey council tax payer, I can assure your readers that the "worst" for those in elected or employed positions in Haringey always translates into higher council taxes, a new raft of outreach diversity coordinators and yet more "celebrations" of the borough's vibrant diversity.

As to the scum at the heart of this scandal, either no-one will be sacked or, if there are sackings, those sacked will receive the usual over-generous settlement plus a job the next day in a neighbouring borough. Labour looks after its own: both those in the party and those nurturing the underclass.

Anonymous said...

"thousands more to go?" Millions more like. If past form is anything to go by, she will depart "in shame" only for us to find out months later that she was richly rewarded for her incompetence with a golden handshake of the kind Labour legend ascribes only to failed CEOs.

Anonymous said...

How do you decline that surname?

One Shoesmith.
Two cobblers..?

Anonymous said...

North Northwester said...

How do you decline that surname?

One Shoesmith.
Two cobblers..?


How about "Fuck off, Shoesmith?"

Oh...the other meaning of decline. Gotcha. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Surprise, surprise Ms Shoesmith is suspended on full pay. So now we lucky Haringey council taxpayers have to pay for her and her replacement!

Anonymous said...

I wonder how seriously the council will take Balls' comment that she shouldn't get a payout?

Anonymous said...

JuliaM

I can hear it now - "she's got a contract so we had to pay her": she'll get paid until the end of her contractual term, she'll get her pension paid up to date and she'll get something for the inconvenience having to look for another job for two minutes. Whatever: it'll be well into 6 figures.

BTW Balls and the council have forgotten about this pile of useless manure who should follow Shoesmith into oblivion (or the JobCentre - sorry Jobcentre Plus).