Wall of silence over Climbie

Victoria Climbie

THE leaders of social services in Waltham Forest were accused of ducking difficult questions raised by the inquiry into Victoria Climbie's death.

The department's director, Carol Wilson, who was heavily criticised by inquiry leader Lord Laming, bluntly refused to talk.

And the cabinet member for social services, Cllr Graham Smith, also turned down repeated requests for an interview.

Yet Carol Wilson, who is now responsible for the care of vulnerable children in Waltham Forest, was slammed by Lord Laming for her management in Haringey, where Victoria died.

He said she was responsible for a social services department which featured a "yawning gap between safe policies and procedures".

This week Liberal Democrat Cllr Bob Sullivan said Waltham Forest Council should explain why it employed her.

He said: "I think by keeping quiet it will cause people to think it has something to hide. Graham Smith certainly has a duty to reassure the public and address their concerns.

"The council also has a duty to answer these important questions because it has employed someone with a bad record and people will want to know what is going on."

Carol Wilson was deputy director of social services in Haringey in the year Victoria Climbie was under its care. The eight-year-old girl died at the hands of her aunt Marie Therese Kouao and her aunt's boyfriend, Carl Manning, who beat her, starved her and made her sleep in a bath.

Councillors in Haringey this week called for Carol Wilson to "examine her conscience" and admit the failings of her department, which had 12 opportunities to save Victoria's life.

Liberal Democrat group leader Ross Laird said: "It would be hard to read the Laming report and not conclude that there are serious concerns about Carol Wilson's management. Senior management in Haringey must have known the ramifications of constant budget cuts and staff shortages. But they couldn't even get the basics right."

And Haringey Cllr Alan Stanton added: "Carol Wilson knew that one of the agencies to which Victoria ClimbiZ was referred wasn't keeping proper records, but she didn't act."

Lord Laming concluded that there was a "yawning gap between safe policies and procedures" in Carol Wilson's department.

He added that she had not ensured that Victoria's social worker was properly trained, failed to make social workers keep appropriate records of children in danger and had embarked on a reckless restructuring programme which unsettled frontline staff.

Waltham Forest Council refused to comment, except to say that, since Ms Wilson came to Waltham Forest, "We have introduced a whole range of measures to improve services around child protection".

07:44 Saturday 15th February 2003

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