Child social services 'get worse' (London Tonight)

Children's services remain the weakest area of councils' work with under-fire Haringey one of the worst ranking, independent assessments have said.

Some 22 town halls in England saw their star ratings for children and young people's services decline in 2008.

Four local authorities, including Haringey which was rocked by the Baby P scandal, were given just one star, for "inadequate" services.

The other three were Surrey, which like Haringey dropped two bands, Doncaster and Milton Keynes.

The number of councils achieving the full four stars also fell overall from with Camden, Corporation of London, Gateshead, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and York still in that bracket.

With only 13 councils showing improvements for children's services last year, it was the only area of work in which more councils declined than improved.

The results, which Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said "concerned" her have been published by the Audit Commission in its annual Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPA).

Haringey council Leader Claire Kober said the rating reflected "serious problems" identified with the authority's children's services last year.

Baby P suffered more than 50 injuries by the time of his death in August 2007, despite numerous visits by Haringey social workers.

The case has thrown a spotlight on the quality of children's services provided by all councils across the country.

Ms Kober went on: "We accept that things went badly wrong with child protection. We are committed to making things right.

"We need to make major changes in this area. We have started that process, and I am determined to drive through the changes needed."

Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association, said protecting vulnerable children was one of the hardest jobs for councils and insisted "the time for finger-pointing is over".

"There is not a single authority in this country which is not aware how crucial the work is which keeps youngsters safe from harm," she said.

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