Balls 'wrong to make political pledge over Baby P'

CHILDREN'S Secretary Ed Balls was accused of being "irresponsible" in the Baby P case today as council chiefs accused Ofsted of failing to spot problems in Haringey.

Derek Myers, chairman of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers, said Mr Balls had been wrong to make a political promise that a similar tragedy must "never" be allowed to happen again. He told Lord Laming's review of children's services - triggered by the Baby P case: "We believe that political promises that exhort that 'such deaths or severe traumas must never happen again' are irresponsible.

"In our view good people making good judgments in good systems can still not be enough to prevent some parents harming or killing their children."

Mr Balls has defended Ofsted's chief, Christine Gilbert - who is the wife of Minister for London Tony McNulty - for her handling of the Haringey case. In its annual performance assessment, Ofsted gave Haringey a glowing report for its children's services only weeks after Baby P died. Ms Gilbert said that Haringey had misled inspectors with false data.

However, Mr Myers said: "Ofsted say that the way Haringey used recording systems misled them. I can't argue with that opinion. But you can't draw an inference that that was deliberate."