THE HEAD of children's services in the London borough where Baby P died after months of persistent injury and neglect was dismissed from her post yesterday as the British government responded to a damning report into the council's failings.
On a day which saw two senior figures on Haringey council in northeast London resign within hours of the report hitting desks of ministers, children's secretary Ed Balls removed Sharon Shoesmith from control of the borough's children's department. He described the findings of the review as "devastating".
The report, commissioned at the conclusion of the trial at the Old Bailey criminal court into the toddler's death, found nine fundamental defects, which continue to put children in danger despite the intense public scrutiny since Baby P was killed in August last year.
They included failure to identify children and young people at risk of immediate harm, lack of co-ordination between agencies and poor sharing of information.
George Meehan, the council's leader, and Liz Santry, its cabinet member for children and young people, resigned within hours of reading the conclusions.
It is understood that Ms Shoesmith offered to follow suit and was astonished to see Mr Balls announce her immediate dismissal on live television in the early afternoon. It also emerged that five other council employees have been suspended over their handling of the case.
Mr Balls installed John Coughlin, director of children's services in the county of Hampshire, in her place.
"Most people would look at this report - look at the clear evidence of management failures - and say that this kind of failure should not be rewarded with compensation or payoffs. That's a matter for Haringey."
The council acknowledged that Mr Balls had the authority to remove Ms Shoesmith from her role as director of children's services, but the status of her employment contract with Haringey was still a matter for the council to resolve.
A spokesman said: "She has been suspended pending disciplinary proceedings, with two others: Cecilia Hitchen, deputy director, children and families, and Clive Preece, head of children in need and safeguarding services."
Three others - social worker Maria Ward, senior social worker, Sylvia Henry and team manager Gillie Christou - had been removed from child protection duties pending further investigation.
Mr Balls said the report by Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and chief inspector of constabulary, was "devastating and damning". On nearly every page, the document was littered with words such as "inadequate", "unacceptable", "poor" and "unreliable".
The failings included: failure to identify children and young people at immediate risk of harm and to act on evidence; agencies working in isolation from one another and without effective co-ordination; poor gathering, recording and sharing of information; inconsistent quality of frontline procedures and insufficient evidence of supervision by senior management; inconsistent management oversight of the assistant director of children's services by the director of children's services and the chief executive; insufficient challenge by the local safeguarding children board to council members and frontline staff, and poor child protection plans.
Mr Balls ordered the review after a public outcry over the death of the 17-month-old boy, who suffered more than 50 injuries at the hands of his abusive mother (27), her boyfriend (32) and their lodger, Jason Owen (36), despite 60 contacts with the authorities over eight months.
Mr Balls said he was particularly worried by a finding that child protection staff failed to talk directly to children.
He has urged investigations into 38 other abuse cases to be reopened after Ofsted criticised the quality of previous reviews. Ofsted will also carry out annual unannounced inspections in England.
There will be a fresh independent review of the Baby P case, with an executive summary published in March.
Mr Balls has refused to order a full public inquiry. He has accepted advice from Lord Laming, head of the inquiry into the death of the abuse victim Victoria Climbie in 2000, who said a public inquiry would set back progress on child protection made in many parts of England and divert effort from the actions needed to keep children safe in Haringey.