Child Abuse (Hansard, 11 December 1995)

§ Mr. Richards

On 5 May the previous Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood), appointed Miss Nicola Davies QC to undertake an examination of relevant papers held by the various agencies concerned and to advise on whether an inquiry was required.

Upon the evidence contained in the documents examined Miss Davies has recommended that a public inquiry cannot be justified. The documents held by the North Wales police do contain allegations of abuse but the majority of the allegations relate to the period 1980 to 1988. The police investigations were triggered by letters from Clwyd and Gwynedd county councils and all the issues raised in those letters were properly investigated. With limited exceptions, children in care after 1989 were not interviewed by the police. Since 1989 there has been a radical revision of existing procedures.

An inquiry into events prior to 1989 would be primarily of historical interest. The documents examined by Miss Davies do not demonstrate that the problems of the pre-1989 period have continued. In the absence of such core evidence Miss Davies feels unable to recommend that reasonable grounds exist which would provide the basis for a public inquiry.

However, she has concluded that there should be a detailed examination of the practices and procedures of the social service departments of both Clwyd and Gwynedd county councils and of private homes in those areas to ensure that they are adequate and working effectively. She has recommended that this work he undertaken by an independent person experienced in social work and child care. This person should:

(a) examine documents held by the statutory agencies and all the private agencies in Clwyd and Gwynedd who provide residential care for children which are relevant to such provision for the period 1991 to the present. The purpose of the examination would be to scrutinise the procedures and to comment on their adequacy and effectiveness; such an examination should address the following issues:

(i) management, supervision and monitoring of staff at all levels;
(ii) personnel procedures, recruitment of staff, induction, probationary periods, promotion, redeployment of staff, training plans for staff of residential homes, overall planning and individual profiles;
(iii) implementation of care planning and review process, examination of children's records for supporting documentation;
(iv) implementation of complaints procedures for children and staff; assessment of child protection procedures;
(v) assessment of all books, diaries and logs kept in the various homes;
(vi) the understanding of the various procedures and systems on the part of staff, parents, children and carers. Such procedures to include planning and review, children's rights, complaints, advocacy and independent visitors.

(b) interview any individual whose knowledge and experience is deemed to be of relevance to such an investigation. The interviewing of any such individual would be in private;
(c) investigate the area of foster care;
(d) investigate the units in Clwyd county council and Gwynedd county council responsible for registering and inspecting homes.

553W

I accept Miss Davies' conclusion that no case for a public inquiry has been established. That is the basis upon which I am proceeding unless any new compelling factor should come to light.

I am also accepting Miss Davies' other recommendations and am appointing, under section 80 of the Children Act 1989, Miss Adrianne Jones to head this examination.

554W

Miss Jones is to start work immediately. I shall he asking her, in addition, to advise me upon the proposedpractices and procedures of the six new unitary authorities in north Wales who will take over full responsibility for social services matters in April 1996.

I am grateful to Miss Davies and to all of the various agencies who co-operated fully with her.

I have arranged for Miss Davies' conclusions and recommendations to be placed in the Library of the House.