Former head of Haringey Social Services criticises government plans to publicise Serious Case Reviews

The BBC reports on comments from the former head of Haringey social services, Sharon Shoesmith. Ms. Shoesmith has said that the death of Baby P had “absolutely devastated” her. She has also criticised the government’s plan to publish serious case reviews into child abuse cases.

Ms. Shoesmith may have a valid point in relation to the publication of the full text of Serious Case Reviews.  As a litigator who has made at least one application to the High Court for disclosure of a Review, I can say that they do contain highly sensitive information. That information relates not only to the child who has suffered death or serious injury, but also family members, social workers and other agency workers who are involved in the case. Some of these parties may in fact be totally blameless, others less so. The question is going to be whether the identities of all these people are going to be disclosed, or whether there will be anonymity (for instance by using a letter for a name).  It is one thing for a court to order disclosure, hedged around by restrictions (such as keeping the Serious Case Review in a locked safe). It is quite another to order public disclosure of the whole document. I would expect a human rights challenge on this point if this proposal is made law.

On the other hand, there is huge concern about these failures on the part of social services, and the public (which funds these services) wants to know what is going on. The glare of public scrutiny can have a beneficial effect.

See our blog earlier this month on the Baby P case.