Website of the Department of Health

49.33  A number of later reports of inquiries into child abuse cases noted the deficiency in child care training. Thus, the report into the case of Jasmine Beckford[711] concluded:

"Social work training needs to produce a higher degree of proven competence in two ways:

(a)  in relation to particular "specialist" areas, like child care; and

(b)  in relation to the statutory duties imposed on social workers, in which the worker acts under mandate in a protective, inspectorial and controlling role."

  49.34  CCETSW convened an expert group to draw up guidance on thequalifying training for residential child care workers and its report was published in the autumn of 1992. The report and a CCETSW guidance document on the knowledge and skills needed for work in residential child care were circulated to the bodies responsible for the Diploma in Social Work programmes.

  49.35  Wagner (1988)[712] , Pindown (1991)[713] and Warner (1992)[714] all emphasisedthe need for appropriate training of residential child care workers.Sir William Utting also[715] recommended that the Department of Health should give priority to residential care in its review of the adequacy of child care training and in its provision of grants. The Warner Committee considered that the range of knowledge and skills needed in residential child care could not be covered satisfactorily within the Diploma in Social Work course and recommended the introduction of a new Diploma as the professional qualification for staff working in residential child care. According to Lloyd, the recommendation "found almost no support from the field" and it was not accepted.

  49.36  Financial support for training has been provided to local authorities in Wales by the Welsh Office since 1991 through the Training Support Programme (TSP), in which SSIW plays a leading role. TSP provides a 70 per cent contribution towards approved TSP-supported expenditure, local authorities being required to fund the balance. The annual grant covers all personal social services training and now exceeds £2 million. In the last two years of the period under review local authorities were required to pay special attention to the needs of staff in residential child care and this requirement continues. The Welsh Office requires that residential staff should receive "at least the share of training resources which their numbers in the workforce would suggest", according to David Evans, the former Chief Inspector, and this is checked before an application for grant is approved.

  49.37  Welsh Office Circulars in 1993 and 1994 required local authorities also to complete an audit of staff skills and training together with a review of the numbers of staff employed in each home. This was to be the first stage of a three year action plan, in the second year of which plans were to be formulated to achieve correct staff numbers, to meet training needs and to prepare personal development contracts. These had reached only an early stage by 1996, however, and oversight of the implementation of the training recommendations in the Warner report is now being undertaken by the Adrianne Jones Report Implementation Group.

  49.38  The problem of untrained residential care staff is unlikely to be solved by the provision of financial resources and opportunities for training alone. Whilst the status of residential child care work remains low, staff who gain a professional qualification will continue to seek transfer to broader social work and the turnover of staff, apart from this, will remain high. Sir William Utting found[716] that 43 per cent of the total care staff in children's homes in England had been in post for less than two years.

  49.39  In his written evidence David Evans placed emphasis on what he described as the development and training activities of SWSW/SSIW during the period under review; and he annexed to his statement a summary of these activities headed "Development Programme 1970 to date". It does not, however, have much relevance to the issues with which we are concerned and the workshops and seminars to which he refers could not have had significant impact on practice in the residential care homes or in fostering. The list deals with the full range of personal social services and few (if any) of the workshops and seminars prior to 1988 were concerned with the treatment of children in care, except for a seminar on "Decisions in Child Care" in the period 1984/1986 and a workshop to "promote arrangements" for children in care in 1987/1988. The emphasis changed later to implementation of the Children Act 1989 and associated topics, including child protection generally, but the most relevant activity of SSIW was its participation in studies of such matters as secure care, outcomes for children leaving care, fostering services and of children's homes in Wales generally (for the Accommodating Children report).

Visiting

  49.40  John Lloyd dealt with this subject in his written evidence but we do not know why he chose to highlight it because it is not an aspect of child care in respect of which the Welsh Office took any noteworthy action during the period under review. Lloyd recited the relevant provisions in successive regulations but made no comment on actual practice in Wales. The evidence before us does not suggest that the Welsh Office was aware of the failure of councillors, particularly in Gwynedd, to make rota visits to the community homes; nor is there any evidence that the problem of irregular visiting by field social workers was brought to its attention.

  49.41  The Welsh Office did circulate to local authorities in 1984[717] a statutory code of guidance on access to children in care. This code had been prepared by the Secretaries of State for the Department of Health and Social Security and for Wales under the new section 12G of the Child Care Act 1980, inserted by Schedule 1, Part I, to the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983. The code itself contained wide guidance on matters such as the involvement, if possible, of parents in the admission process, the planning of access, inclusion of the wider family in the arrangements, the need to give due consideration to the child's wishes, the setting for visits and the procedures to be followed by managers of homes.

  49.42  We have not heard any evidence about implementation of the provisions enabling independent visitors to children in care to be appointed when they had infrequent or no contact with their parents or guardians. The requirement upon local authorities to appoint such visitors in specified circumstances was contained in section 24(5) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969, which was replaced by more elaborate provisions in the Children Act 1989[718] and the Definition of Independent Visitors (Children) Regulations 1991. The only comment made in Accommodating Children[719] about the actual practice of appointing such visitors in Wales was that "one authority had plans for an enhanced role for the independent visitor". Our firm impression is that little use was made of them. It is desirable, in our view, that the practice under the latest provisions should be assessed and that consideration should be given to revising the pre-conditions for appointing independent visitors, if it is thought that it would be beneficial to use them more widely[720].

Complaints procedures

  49.43  The evidence indicates that neither the Department of Health nor the Welsh Office took any positive steps before 1989 to ensure that satisfactory complaints procedures were established in children's homes or for children in care who were boarded out. This broad statement is subject to the rider that a general code of practice called "Home Life" was circulated by both departments following the enactment of the Registered Homes Act 1984[721]. This code of practice, which had been prepared by a working party chaired by Kina, Lady Avebury[722], was distributed as guidance under section 7 of the Local Authority and Social Services Act 1970.

  49.44  The relevance of this code of practice to children's homes was, however, very limited. It applied to private and voluntary residential care homes registered under the Act of 1984[723] but not to children's homes registered under the Child Care Act 1980, as amended in 1983. On the subject of children and young people, it said:

"Most of the guidance in this code applicable to the care of adult residents applies also in relation to children. There are however emotional, psychological and developmental factors which are particular to child residents and which require different responses."

  49.45  The section on children and young persons went on to deal with a number of specific matters relevant particularly to them, including planning goals, controls and sanctions and relationships with parents but said nothing about complaints procedures in the context of a child. The latter subject was dealt with in a section on general administration in the following terms:

"Any infringement of this Code of Practice should normally be considered a legitimate cause for complaint. Other issues not covered in the Code may, of course, arise. All complaints should be treated seriously and recorded. They should never be dismissed automatically as without foundation because of the personal characteristics or mental capacity of the complainant. It follows that a resident should be able to bring complaints on any subject to the proprietor without fear of incurring disapproval, and if he is not satisfied with the outcome, he or someone on his behalf should be able to take the matter up with the registration authority."[724]

  49.46  It is fair to say that this code of practice was never intended to meet the need for complaints procedures for children in care as a protection against the forms of abuse that we have had to consider in this report; and the accompanying Welsh Office Circular did not refer to the subject.

  49.47  Section 26(3) of the Children Act 1989, which has been in force since 14 October 1991, was the first statutory provision to require local authorities to establish complaints procedures for children being looked after or in need, their parents, foster parents and other persons with a sufficient interest in such children's welfare. The procedures have to ensure that at least one person who is not a member or officer of the particular authority takes part in the consideration of any complaint and in any discussion held by the authority about any action to be taken in the light of that consideration.

  49.48  The Representations Procedure (Children) Regulations 1991[725], which came into force the same day, make further detailed provisions about the procedure to be followed. They include requirements that representations received should be recorded and for an annual report on them to be prepared for monitoring purposes. The regulations apply also to voluntary organisations and to registered (private) children's homes; but independent schools and special schools not maintained out of public funds were exempted from the provisions from 1 January 1994[726].

  49.49  Accommodating Children[727] noted the new statutory provisions, including those relating to independent visitors. By the date of its report[728] it seems that the introduction of formal complaints procedures by most local authorities was still at the planning stage. The children themselves knew little about formal or informal procedures for complaint. Some homes made a leaflet available; others provided a handbook; but a significant minority had no mechanism for informing children about complaints procedures. The authors of the report commented:

"Children find it difficult to make complaints about staff. And staff find it difficult to deal with these complaints. Some staff told us how vulnerable they felt to malicious complaints. Each home needs to develop both informal and formal procedures to deal with complaints about staff. These must command the confidence of the children and the staff. Above all, the system must be able to deal with complaints against the head of the home."

  49.50  The Warner Report in 1992[729] underlined the need for effective androbust complaints procedures and noted that inadequate procedures for complaints had been a common feature of children's homes prior to 1991. The Committee's recommendations included the provision of easily understood guidance, telephone helplines and an advocacy service, means for staff to be able to raise concerns outside the normal line management arrangements and widespread publicity for investigation procedures. It recommended also ways of improving the effectiveness of independent visitors. The Welsh Office asked local authorities to implement these recommendations by circulars issued in 1993 and 1994[730], the latter being in the form of statutory guidance.

  49.51  Adrianne Jones' report[731] dealt with the progress made in Clwyd and Gwynedd in relation to complaints procedures by the time of re-organisation. She commented favourably on the steps taken in both counties to implement the new statutory provisions and added:

"All the residential homes visited evidenced awareness of the complaints procedures and we were encouraged by the reference to this aspect of procedure and practice in all inspection reports. Foster carers in both Gwynedd and Clwyd had received clear information about complaints procedures and there is evidence on both file and in contact with foster carers that these were generally known.

The understanding of parents and of those who had engaged with the complaints process was, inevitably, mixed. Some of the parents we interviewed in Gwynedd were vague on the procedure and its potential for use by them. In Clwyd, those whom we saw were clear that a procedure existed but less sure about the positive value, if any, of using it. Interestingly, one complainant viewed the benefit of being listened to and understood by the Complaints Officer as the only positive outcome. All felt that the system was bound to work in the favour of Council staff and were, therefore, cynical as to the benefit if it. However, all the parents considered that there should be a complaints system. Their view was for those servicing it to be more "independent" of the Council."[732]

Fostering

  49.52  Appendix 6 to this report contains a summary of the successive Boarding Out Regulations governing both long term and short term placements during the period under review[733]. From the beginning of this period the statutory framework for the boarding out of children was provided by the Children Act 1948 and the Boarding Out of Children Regulations 1955. Moreover, boarding out was regarded as the preferred alternative to residential care for most children throughout the social services profession from 1948 onwards.

  49.53  Guidance on this subject circulated by the Welsh Office during this period was directed mainly to practice matters. In 1976, for example, the Welsh Office distributed to all County Councils and relevant voluntary organisations what was, in effect, a code of fostering practice for social workers entitled "Foster Care--A Guide to Practice". This had been drawn up by the Working Party on Fostering Practice set up by the Secretary of State for Social Services in 1974. Similarly, a Handbook of Guidance was distributed before the Boarding Out of Children (Foster Placement) Regulations 1988 came into force on 1 June 1989; and comprehensive guidance was provided in Volume 3 (Family Placements) of the Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations.

  49.54  Adrianne Jones[734] noted that, whereas in England and Wales as a whole, there had been no overall increase in the number of foster carers (despite the proportionate increase in foster care relative to residential care), there had been a real increase in both Clwyd and Gwynedd. Family placement had become not merely the placement of choice but, in practice, the placement in nearly all cases. Almost all young people in residential care had had a series of placements, including in many cases, several in foster care. Adrianne Jones commented that the use of foster care to a high level could hide considerable turbulence within the system that could impact adversely upon the lives of children and young people. She added:

"It is not the fact of family placement, but the quality of that experience that is the key issue. All field social workers with whom we discussed this raised the problem of finding appropriate placements to meet the needs of individual children. They did not dispute that placements could be found, but instead took issue on occasions with their suitability either in terms of matching or geography."[735]

  49.55  Amongst Adrianne Jones' recommendations were that:

(a)  consideration should be given by the Welsh Office, in conjunction with the Department of Health, to establishing a review of the recruitment, selection and support of foster carers; and

(b)  the Welsh Office should undertake an inspection of foster care services in the new unitary authorities of Gwynedd and Ynys Mon[736], in particular focussing upon the adequacy of resources allocated to support foster carers.

We were told by John Lloyd that (b) has been completed recently and that a report will be published.

  49.56  The conviction of the foster carer Roger Saint in May 1997 for child abuse[737] gave rise to widespread concern. In consequence, the Children (Protection from Offenders) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1997[738] were brought into force on 17 October 1997. They amended the Adoption Agencies Regulations 1983 and the Foster Placement (Children) Regulations 1991 in order to prohibit the approval by adoption agencies, local authorities or voluntary organisations of any person as a foster carer or adoptive parent where either that person or any adult member of the household is known to have been convicted of, or cautioned for, a specified offence (in relation to some offences the absolute prohibition only applies if the offender was 20 years old or more at the time of the offence). The regulations also require the relevant bodies (and managers of children's homes) to obtain information about any criminal convictions or cautions before an applicant is approved.

The Welsh Office's responses to Alison Taylor

  49.57  We have outlined in Chapter 2 of this report[739] the role played by Alison Taylor in the events leading up to this inquiry; and in Chapter 34 we dealt in greater detail with the history of her complaints whilst she was Officer-in-Charge of Ty Newydd between 1982 and 1987[740] that culminated in her suspension from duty at the end of 1986 and then her dismissal in November 1987. Her complaints to the Welsh Office began about the time of her suspension and continued until this inquiry was announced so that this part of her history conveniently supplements what has been said about her activities in Chapter 34.

  49.58  The account given in his written statement by David Evans, the former Chief SWSO/SSIW, of Alison Taylor's representations to central government and other relevant persons and bodies between 1986 and 1996 extends to 44 pages, but only a brief summary is appropriate here. It seems that the Welsh Office first became aware of allegations of mistreatment of children in social services establishments in Gwynedd in September 1986 when an article appeared in the Daily Mail[741] referring to a police investigation into such allegations, and an anonymous letter from "concerned parents and residents in Gwynedd" addressed to the Prime Minister and mentioning the newspaper article was forwarded to the Welsh Office for attention. The first communication from Alison Taylor, however, which was also addressed to the Prime Minister and forwarded to the Welsh Office, was dated 2 December 1986, immediately after Taylor had been instructed to remain off duty[742]. Taylor enclosed with this letter a copy of a letter from her to the Commissioner for Local Administration in Wales bearing the same date.

  49.59  By this time the initial police investigation by Detective Chief Superintendent Gwynne Owen of Taylor's allegations had been completed and both Bowen Rees, the Chief Executive of Gwynedd County Council, and the Chairman of the Social Services Committee had made statements to the press repudiating, in effect, Taylor's complaints.

  49.60  Taylor's initial complaints were to the effect that she was being treated unjustly by Gwynedd County Council and that issues of public concern were not being investigated properly. The Commissioner for Local Administration, however, informed her that the matters that she had raised fell outside his jurisdiction. The Welsh Office wrote to her on 14 January 1987 stating that it could not intervene in matters that were for local determination and suggesting that she might wish to consider whether further action was necessary after the Social Services Department had "reported on her case".

  49.61  It is clear from Evans' evidence that, in writing in those terms, the Welsh Office was substantially influenced by what it had been told by, or in the name of, the Director of Social Services for Gwynedd, Lucille Hughes. It had been told, for example, that Taylor was regarded as difficult to manage by the Social Services Department of Gwynedd; that the outcome of the police investigation that she had initiated was that there was insufficient evidence to warrant criminal proceedings; that an internal inquiry by Gwynedd Social Services Department had also found nothing on which action could be taken; that the same department had taken the view that Taylor's behaviour had influenced "the breakdown in professional relations" and had adversely affected children in care and parents; and that the Director of Social Services was to submit a report to the Chief Executive and legal department of Gwynedd which would provide a basis on which to decide future action.

  49.62  Contemporaneously at least two local Members of Parliament raised issues about the allegations investigated by the police with the Welsh Office and the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General considered the state of the evidence with the result that the police investigation was re-opened and further lines of enquiry were pursued until early in 1988. However, no prosecution ensued.

49.63  Following her initial rebuff, Alison Taylor persisted in her complaints to central government. Thus, she wrote again to the Prime Minister on 17 January and 3 March 1987, setting out a lengthy account of her history and her allegations of mistreatment of children in the first of these two letters. She wrote also at least two further letters to the Welsh Office directly. At the Welsh Office, the Minister of State, the Rt Hon Wyn Roberts MP (now Lord Roberts of Conwy), who happened also to be Taylor's constituency MP, dealt with the correspondence. After further internal discussion and consultation with Gwynedd Social Services Department, the Welsh Office sent replies that were again to the effect that it could not intervene in local matters of the kind that she had raised.

  49.64  In the summer of 1987 Taylor invoked the assistance of the Children's Legal Centre and correspondence ensued between that Centre and the Department of Health and Social Security, although the latter had no jurisdiction in Wales. Taylor herself wrote also, in January 1988 to the Health Minister at the DHSS, referring to incidents of physical abuse that she and others had witnessed and making other allegations of misconduct by members of the Gwynedd staff. This letter was passed to the Welsh Office and appears to have been a factor in the decision to carry out an inspection or study of children in two community homes in Gwynedd later in 1988[743]. Taylor's complaints were not within the scope of the inspection, although she was eventually sent a copy of the inspectors' report on 19 June 1989.

  49.65  In the following years, notwithstanding the successful outcome in August 1989 of her own proceedings against Gwynedd County Council for unfair dismissal[744], Alison Taylor continued to display remarkable tenacity in pressing for a fresh investigation of her allegations that children in care in Gwynedd had been abused. On 2 June 1991, for example, before the major police investigation had been initiated, she wrote very fully to the Secretary of State for Wales, presenting a complaint on behalf of a named child and listing 21 allegations; and copies of that letter were sent to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Health and the junior Health Secretary, the Home Secretary, the Social Services Inspectorate of the Department of Health and to an MP and an MEP.

  49.66  The reply, dated 12 July 1991, from the Minister of State for Wales on behalf of all the Government Ministers and officials to whom the letter of 2 June 1991 had been sent, stated that it must be concluded that allegations made prior to the police investigation and the SSIW inspection in 1988 had been properly investigated. Taylor was advised to consult her solicitor on how to proceed and was told to inform Gwynedd County Council of any new information and allegations of which she was aware. It was said also that the Minister would be pleased to pass on to officials copies of any documents relating to the period following the conclusion of the 1986/1988 police investigation.

  49.67  The correspondence to which we have so far referred underlines the need for an independent agency to investigate complaints of the kind made by Taylor. However widely she spread her net, it was left to the Welsh Office to reply and the Welsh Office's response was invariably to the same effect, even though the mode of expressing it changed. It was unwilling to act in respect of "old" complaints and fresh complaints had to be addressed to Gwynedd County Council, despite the allegedly unsatisfactory manner in which the latter had dealt with the "old" complaints. It will no doubt be said that experience shows that a high percentage of persistent complainants who address their allegations to a range of government departments are eccentrics or persons with worn out axes to grind but not all are so, and severe recriminations are inevitable when it emerges in the end that the persistent complaints were well founded.

  49.68  Quite apart from these general considerations, there is cause for grave disquiet about aspects of the correspondence that we have summarised. It was, of course, appropriate for the Welsh Office to consult Gwynedd Social Services Department about Taylor's allegations at the outset but we do not accept that it was right for the Welsh Office to accept so readily that she was a troublemaker, without any independent investigation of the background or circumstances. An enquiry of the police might have been fruitful, despite the views of the senior police officer conducting the investigation. It is perturbing also that Gwynedd alleged that it had conducted its own inquiry into the allegations but we have not received evidence of any process carried out that merits that description. It is also very unsatisfactory that it was wrongly suggested to Taylor that the 1988 inspection embraced the allegations that she put forward[745]. It is clear beyond argument from the evidence before us that the inspection did not do so and that the inspectors were only aware in a general way that there had been a police investigation of allegations of abuse made by Taylor.

  49.69  This last point was taken up by solicitors acting for Taylor when they wrote to the Secretary of State for Wales on 24 March 1993 to express deep concern about the Welsh Office's continuing refusal to take action about her allegations. They pointed out that the inspectors' report of the 1988 inspection made no reference to the police investigation and that there was no basis on which the Minister should have been led to assume that the allegations made in Taylor's letter of 2 June 1991 had been properly investigated[746]. The solicitors' wide ranging letter accused the Welsh Office of persistently ignoring very serious allegations of child abuse and of failing to protect children in care: it alleged that the Welsh Office had been content to regard Alison Taylor as the source and extent of the problem.

  49.70  It was not until three years later, following the further events that we have outlined in Chapter 2 and continuing pressure from Alison Taylor that a judicial inquiry was announced. The response of the Secretary of State in 1993 to the solicitors' letter was that any complaint about the police investigation should be pursued with the Chief Constable and, if necessary, the Home Office; and that complaints concerning Gwynedd County Council had to be taken up as a formal complaint, under the Children Act 1989, with that authority. Of the 1988 inspection, it was said that it was not an investigation but that, during the course of the inspection, the inspectors had held discussions with the youngsters in private in which they were given an opportunity to raise and discuss any issue in relation to the regimes and practices of the homes: no reference to abuse had emerged from those talks and, if it had, it would have been taken up "in the most appropriate manner with the relevant agency".

Other relevant information communicated to the Welsh Office

  49.71  It appears from the evidence presented by the Welsh Office that they received only two "complaints" about relevant matters relating to local authority community homes in North Wales in the first 12 years of the period under review, that is, prior to September 1986.

  49.72  The first of these related to the employment in 1976 at Ty'r Felin[747] of a gardener/handyman with a previous conviction for indecent exposure. The matter came to light when an applicant for another post recognised the man and mentioned his conviction. An SWSO was informed about this during a visit to Ty'r Felin on 18 March 1976 and it was not suggested that the man had committed any offence at Ty'r Felin. He resigned on 4 April 1976. A reference had been received from a former employer, the Warden of a charitable foundation, but no mention had been made of the conviction. Both the Director and Deputy Director of Social Services for Gwynedd were given appropriate guidance by SWSW about the need to follow the advice in Home Office Circular 250/64 about enquiries for information about potential employees and the need to report relevant incidents. It seems that the Deputy Director communicated with the charity and was assured that it would overhaul its procedure to prevent the repetition of such an omission.

  49.73  The second "complaint" also came to light through a discussion with a responsible officer rather than through a communication from an abused person or a member of the general public. In March 1978 the Deputy Director of Social Services for Clwyd visited the Welsh Office for a general discussion with SWSW and disclosed the conviction of Leslie Wilson[748] when giving an account of the difficulties that had arisen at Little Acton Assessment Centre. On 16 March 1978 SWSW wrote to the Deputy Director enclosing a copy of Home Office Circular 250/64 and advising that Social Services Departments should (a) consult the DHSS register before appointing staff and (b) notify the Welsh Office of the particulars of any person who ceased to be employed by them on work connected with the care of children because of the commission of a criminal offence. There was some confusion subsequently because Clwyd supplied the particulars referred to in (b) to the DHSS and not to the Welsh Office; but it was agreed with the DHSS that the Welsh Office would be informed of all future notifications of convictions made to DHSS by Welsh local authorities.

  49.74  It seems that the Welsh Office did not become aware of any other allegations of abuse in the Clwyd community homes until 1 August 1990, when the Director of Social Services for Clwyd wrote to the Chief Inspector of the SSIW advising him of the suspension of Stephen Norris on 18 June 1990[749]. Moreover, it was not until June 1991 that the Chief Inspector learnt from the Director, during a break in an SSIW meeting with Directors of Social Services, of allegations of abuse at Bryn Estyn.

  49.75  The former Chief Inspector's account of SSIW's correspondence with Clwyd, mainly with the Director of Social Services, about Cartrefle, following the arrest of Stephen Norris, extends to 66 paragraphs and it makes dispiriting reading. From the outset in August 1990, the Chief Inspector pressed for "an internal management and ACPC review as under Part 9 of Working Together 1988". The Director, on the other hand, with the agreement of the County Council invited SSIW to carry out a full inspection of Cartrefle.

  49.76  The correspondence continued for five years. SSIW refused to conduct an inspection and the Chief Inspector continued to urge a Part 9 review. The Director pointed out that there were four other matters, two involving foster parents, that merited consideration in a review of child care quality standards in Clwyd but the Chief Inspector recommended that it should be confined to incidents at Cartrefle.

  49.77  Eventually, the initial review began in December 1990[750]. It comprised three reports by independent professionals, which were presented by June 1991; and these were then considered by an independent panel of five senior professionals, whose report was presented in February 1992.

  49.78  By the latter date events had moved on and the major police investigation into alleged abuse in children's homes in North Wales, particularly at Bryn Estyn, had been under weigh for several months. Moreover, both the chairman and another member of the independent panel had raised directly with SSIW concerns about the purpose of the review, its relationship to procedure under Part 9 of Working Together, the lapse of time since the incidents under investigation had occurred, how the panel should establish the facts and the desirability of publishing the panel's report. Furthermore, on 3 December 1991 the chairman of the panel had suggested to SSIW by telephone that, in view of recent events, it might be better to "ditch the report on Cartrefle" but the Chief Inspector had stressed the importance of finishing the work.

  49.79  In the event the Chief Inspector did receive a copy of the panel's report for his personal attention only under cover of a letter from the Director of Social Services for Clwyd dated 4 September 1992. Then on 7 September 1992, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Welsh Office, Gwilym R Jones MP, stated that a public inquiry into allegations of abuse in North Wales would take place when the North Wales Police had completed their inquiries[751].

  49.80  The panel's report was never published. The County Solicitor of Clwyd advised the Director of Social Services that it could not be published because (a) the relevant events had given rise to potential claims against the council, and that the Council's insurers were most anxious that the report should remain confidential and that any publication should not be construed as a waiver of public interest immunity; (b) the Crown Prosecution Service had vetoed publication because it might prejudice pending trials. However, on 6 January 1995 the Chief Inspector and the SSIW with responsibility for children and family matters met the Director of Social Services and members of the Social Services Department management team to discuss a series of issues raised by the panel's report and to identify matters that needed further attention, which were subsequently spelt out in a letter from the Chief Inspector to the Director dated 26 January 1995.

  49.81  We have given a full account in paragraphs 32.35 to 32.63 of this report of the similar problems that arose in connection with the Jillings report. Following the initial intimation to the Chief Inspector by the Director of Social Services for Clwyd in June 1991 that there were allegations of abuse at Bryn Estyn, the Welsh Office was kept informed about the progress of the police investigations in Clwyd and then Gwynedd. The Chief Inspector was informed also on 12 January 1994 of the decision by Clwyd County Council to commission an internal inquiry[752] to find out what had gone wrong within its Social Services Department. The Welsh Office was subsequently involved in discussions with the Director of Social Services and the management team of the Social Services Department on 6 January 1995 and 25 July 1995 of issues arising out of the child abuse inquiries; but the Jillings inquiry does not appear to have been discussed at that stage. The Jillings report was not received by Clwyd County Council until 22 February 1996 and it was in May 1996, after obtaining Treasury Counsel's advice, that the Welsh Office suggested that the County Council could publish an edited version of the report's recommendations[753].

  49.82  In the course of the major police investigations and thereafter the Welsh Office became aware of four other cases of alleged abuse in what may be loosely called "the public sector" between July 1993 and March 1996: three of these related to children boarded out, the other to an employee at Gwynfa Residential Clinic, and all four cases have been dealt with in this report[754]. It is unnecessary, however, to elaborate the Welsh Office's late involvement in these cases.

  49.83  In the private sector, the Welsh Office became aware from time to time from 1978 onwards of some allegations of abuse in residential establishments accommodating children. These involved the Bryn Alyn Community and Ystrad Hall in Clwyd, and Hengwrt Hall and the Paul Hett establishments in Gwynedd. We have dealt with the history of Welsh Office surveillance of each of these homes and schools in Chapters 21, 22, 38 and 39, however, and nothing need be added here.

  49.84  The evidence discussed in this section confirms that, prior to the Cartrefle disclosure in June 1990, Alison Taylor was the only source of information to the Welsh Office about allegations of child abuse in local authority community homes in North Wales on any significant scale; and it appears that her allegations, from December 1986 onwards, were limited to Gwynedd until a much later stage.

  49.85  David Evans referred more than once in his evidence to the importance of the SWSW/SSIW role as a two-way channel for information and consultation between central and local government[755]. It is regrettable to record, however, that the flow of information from both Clwyd and Gwynedd Social Services Departments was manifestly inadequate. Over and over again we were told that neither the Welsh Office administrators nor the Inspectorate was aware of inquiries held in particular homes: there was no notification of the holding of an inquiry, of the causes of concern that gave rise to it or of the outcome in the form of a report or recommendations. John Lloyd told the Tribunal that no specific indication was given to local authorities that they should send to the Welsh Office copies of reports of local authority internal inquiries. The belief of the Welsh Office that, in the light of the general spirit of co-operation with local authorities that it sought to foster, this would happen without an explicit request was plainly wrong. However, in respect of Alison Taylor, even when the Welsh Office was informed that an internal inquiry had taken place, no request was made for a copy of the report upon it[756]. In our judgment, therefore, it is clearly necessary that directions should be given to local authorities in Wales to ensure that the Welsh Office or the Welsh Assembly is in future supplied with details of all such inquiries together with copies of the reports upon them.

  49.86  The other point to be emphasised here is that the Welsh Office advice to the Director of Social Services for Clwyd about the nature of the inquiry that was necessary in the aftermath of the Cartrefle revelations was both confused and mistaken. The attempt to bring it within the procedure outlined in Part 9 of the 1988 edition of Working Together, which edition made no reference to abuse of children in a residential home,was misconceived and led to much confusion thereafter. Although the corresponding Part 8 of the 1991 edition of Working Together, under the Children Act 1989, does refer expressly to a child accommodated by a local authority in a residential setting or with foster carers[757], it is clear that the procedure is designed to deal with the case of an individual child who has been abused in a domestic setting. The urgency of action is stressed and the procedure is not appropriate for the independent investigation of wide ranging abuse in a children's home. In the result the procedure adopted was cumbersome, long drawn out and repetitive; and, although the analysis and recommendations, particularly those of John Banham, were excellent, the report was of limited benefit because it could not be published.

  49.87  These events underline the need for clear guidelines to government departments and local authorities on the procedures to be followed when inquiries are deemed to be necessary into matters of public concern of this kind[758].

The response to the Adrianne Jones report[759]

  49.88  Adrianne Jones made 41 recommendations in all for improvements in 11 areas of procedure and practice. Her terms of reference related to North Wales but the decision of the Welsh Office was to implement her recommendations throughout Wales. For this purpose a central development fund of £500,000 was allocated for the financial years 1996 to 1998, of which £440,000 has been made available to local authorities by means of a grant scheme.

  49.89  The report itself was circulated to all local authority Chief Executives and Directors of Social Services in Wales on 4 July 1996 and was also drawn to the attention of health authorities. A schedule for implementation of the recommendations was enclosed and local authorities were asked for progress reports. A further circular was issued to local authorities in April 1997[760], informing them of the grant scheme and inviting each to submit plans for expenditure of up to £20,000 on one or more of six "themes", formulated in the light of the progress reports received and in consultation with the Child and Family Group of the Association of Directors of Social Services in Wales.

  49.90  Those themes are:

(1)  Reviews of inherited policies and procedures: defining and clarifying roles and responsibilities; and the development of new procedures, practice guidance and child care manuals.

(2)  The implementation of the Warner recommendations[761].

(3)  Department of Health "Looking after Children" materials[762] (for example, family and parental involvement in decision making; inter-agency working; involving education and/or health authorities).

(4)  Planning, in particular, comprehensive placement strategies.

(5)  Children's Rights (for example, involving young people in the planning, management and delivery of services).

(6)  Complaints procedures.

  49.91  An internal Welsh Office group, the Adrianne Jones Report Implementation Group, has been formed to spur, co-ordinate and monitor progress. According to John Lloyd, a key feature of the process is continuing dialogue with each local authority about its implementation of each recommendation.

Conclusions

  49.92  Much of the material in this long chapter has been included because it is the Welsh Office's own account of its activities during the period under review. It confirms that, prior to the lead up to the Children Act 1989, the Welsh Office did not take any initiative of its own that was relevant to the possible occurrence generally of child abuse in either children's residential homes or foster homes. The few cases that came to its notice, mainly in private homes, were dealt with as isolated incidents and the Welsh Office limited itself to ensuring that appropriate disciplinary action was taken, including reporting to the relevant central authority. In relation to children's services generally the Welsh Office was content to follow the lead of the Department of Health and Social Security.

  49.93  Alison Taylor's complaints to central government began at a time (December 1986) when it should have been becoming increasingly aware of the risk of abuse in children's homes, following reports about such homes as Leeways in 1985 and Kincora in 1986[763]. It is a matter for concern, therefore, that the response of the Welsh Office to Alison Taylor was so negative for at least five years until the major police investigation began. This negative response was reflected not only in the correspondence with her but also in the failure to ensure that the SSIWs who visited Gwynedd in 1988 were fully apprised of Taylor's allegations and required to consider any lessons to be drawn from them. It was reflected also in the failure to discuss the possibility of abuse in children's homes in the Welsh Office's guidance about control and discipline in 1990[764] and 1993[765].

  49.94  It can fairly be said that, by the end of 1986, most of the major abuse that we have investigated had already occurred so that action by the Welsh Office then could not have prevented it. It must be added nevertheless that the response generally to the information available by the end of 1986 was lethargic, despite the gravity of the risk of abuse. It took over four years from then for the Government to take effective action, for example, to establish complaints procedures in community homes; and decisive action is still awaited in relation to the provision of residential child care training.

  49.95  In the later part of the period under review children's services were given much greater attention by the Welsh Office, mainly in the implementation of the Children Act 1989. The findings of the Accommodating Children report were complacent in respect of the existence of child abuse in residential care but Part IV of the report emphasised the need for strategic planning based on an assessment of needs and the targeting of resources and for the development of a system of monitoring and evaluation. Moreover, the Adrianne Jones report has given further impetus to the planning process. We repeat[766], however, that further positive and firm leadership will be required from the Welsh Office and the Welsh Assembly if the safety of children in care in Wales is to be safeguarded adequately and the quality of care provided is to be improved.

Footnotes:

694   See para 47.13.

695   Welsh Office Circular 64/72.

696   Children Act 1989: Guidance and Regulations Vol 4

697   See, however, the Code of Practice for the Employment of Residential Child Care Workers produced in 1995 by the Department of Health's Support Force for Children's Residential Care following the Warner report and see footnote 14 to para 49.18

698   Home Office Circulars 250/64, 251/64 and 252/64.

699   Welsh Office Circular 28/86.

700   Welsh Office Circulars 45/88 and 12/91

701   See para 48.27.

702   Children in the Public Care, 1991, HMSO.

703   The Pindown Experience and the Protection of Children: the Report of the Staffordshire Child Care Inquiry 1990 (Staffordshire County Council 1991).

704   The Ty Mawr Community Home Inquiry 1992 by Gareth Williams QC (now Lord Williams of Mostyn) and John McCreadie.

705   Cf Sir William Utting's comments on the same subject, quoted in para 49.14

706   Para 2.5 of the report.

707   Choosing with Care: The report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Selection, Development and Management of Staff in Children's Homes, 1992, HMSO.

708   See footnote 30 to para 49.44 for its limited application in relation to children.

709   Welsh Office Circulars 64/72, 31/88 and 5/90.

710   Report of The Committee on Local Authority and Allied Personal Social Services (1968, Cmnd 3703), see eg paras 524 to 527, 558 to 560 and its conclusions at paras 138, 140.

711   A Child in Trust: The report of the panel of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Jasmine Beckford, 1985, London Borough of Brent.

712   Residential Care-A Positive Choice, HMSO.

713   See footnote 10 to para 49.15.

714   See footnote 14 to para 49.18.

715   See footnote 9 to para 49.14.

716   Children in the Public Care, Part 2 Appendix 6, 1991, HMSO.

717   Welsh Office Circular 5/84

718   Schedule 2, para 17.

719   See para 49.15. The comment is at para 8.1 of the report.

720   For further comment on this, see para 54.18.

721   Welsh Office Circular 40/84.

722   The working party was appointed by the Centre for Policy on Ageing at the request of the Department of Health and Social Security and reported in 1983.

723   "Any establishment which provides or is intended to provide, whether for reward or not, residential accommodation with both board and personal care for four or more persons in need of personal care by reason of old age, disablement, past or present dependence on alcohol or drugs or past or present mental disorder."

724   Para 2.3.7.

725   SI 1991/894.

726   Regulation 11A inserted by SI 1993/3069, regulation 5; but the Children Act 1989 requirements do apply to some of them.

727   See para 49.15 of this report and paras 8.1 to 8.3 and 14.1 to 14.4 of Accommodating Children.

728   November 1991.

729   See footnote 14 to para 49.18.

730   Welsh Office Circulars 34/93 and 11/94.

731   Report of the Examination Team on Child Care Procedures and Practice in North Wales, 1996, HMSO.

732   Paras 6.18, 6.19 of the report.

733   See paras 31 to 35.

734   See footnote 38 to para 49.51.

735   See paras 4.102 and 4.103 of the report.

736   Anglesey.

737   See Chapter 25.

738   SI 1997/2308.

739   From para 2.08 onwards.

740   From para 34.13 onwards.

741   On 11 September 1986.

742   See para 34.24.

743   See paras 33.52 to 33.55, 36.47 and 47.71

744   See para 34.26.

745   See para 49.64.

746   See paras 49.65 and 49.66.

747   See Chapter 33

748   See para 12.10.

749   See particularly, paras 15.05 to 15.18.

750   See paras 15.42 and 32.24 to 32.34.

751   See para 2.36.

752   See para 32.36 for the reasons for this decision.

753   See paras 32.51 and 32.52.

754   See Chapters 25 and 41 and paras 20.18, 20.19 and 27.43 to 27.52.

755   See the Seebohm report, footnote 17 to para 49.32, para 647 and Conclusion (190).

756   See para 49.61.

757   Para 8.1.

758   See paras 32.61 to 32.63 for further discussion of this problem

759   See para 49.03.

760   Welsh Office Circular 25/97.

761   See footnote 4 to para 49.07.

762   1995, HMSO, following the report for the Department of Health of an independent working party on "Assessing Outcomes in Child Care", 1991, HMSO.

763   See para 48.27.

764   See paras 49.22 and 49.23.

765   See paras 49.25 and 49.26

766   See para 47.72.