New law 'would not have saved baby'

18 November 2008 01:39am

Children's Secretary Ed Balls has announced new laws to protect vulnerable children - but he admitted they would not have saved Baby P's life.

The Government unveiled legislation that will require every local authority to set up a multi-agency Children's Trust Board.

Mr Balls said the new measures would bring a "strengthening of accountability" to child protection around the country.

But he added they would not solve the issues raised by the death of Baby P, who died in August last year after suffering over 50 injuries despite repeated visits by the authorities.

Haringey Council in north London is under fire for its handling of the case, which came seven years after Victoria Climbie was murdered in the same area.

Mr Balls said: "I don't think we are saying for a moment that the Children's Trust Boards and these measures would in themselves have prevented what happened in Haringey."

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes told a conference of directors of children's services in central London there was no other option.

She said: "We haven't got, I think, any feasible alternative Plan B for making these local arrangements be the way in which we protect our children."

Mr Balls played down growing calls for a public inquiry into Baby P's death, although he insisted he had not ruled it out.

He said the ongoing investigations into child protection in Haringey and across the country were the best way of responding to the tragedy, adding: "What people want is action rather than endless reviews."

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