NATIONAL DEBATE ON CHILD PROTECTION

That this House notes with regret the high-profile cases of child deaths as a result of child abuse and neglect in recent years, such as the cases of Victoria Climbie, Baby P, Keanu Williams, Hamzah Khan and others; further notes the recent case of Daniel Pelka in Coventry and the subsequent Serious Case Review; further notes the personal attention to the case of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families and his efforts to investigate potential failures to protect Daniel Pelka; further notes the extremely difficult nature of social work and stress that social workers can be under, particularly when understaffed; further notes that protecting children relies on the effective exchange of information between agencies including the police, schools, health visitors, hospitals, GPs, social workers, local authority social care and the local Safeguarding Children boards; further notes that in the majority of serious case reviews into failures to protect children, a key problem has been information-sharing between agencies; further notes that a second key problem identified is the failure to have direct communication with the children themselves; calls on the Government to commission an investigation into methods of improving the system of information-sharing between agencies and improving social care practices; and further calls for a national debate into child protection and our social services.