Childrens Trust

Having been as disgusted as everyone else at the news of what happened to Baby P, I surged into action to make sure that similar failings in the Children's Services department couldn't allow such a thing to happen in Cheshire East.

Sadly, you come to the rapid realisation that we can never stop such a thing from happening again. We can't prevent evil, repulsive people like this from becoming parents - all we can do is try and prevent them from doing harm to their children once they have them.

But this is easier said than done. We can't go around whipping kiddies away from everyone who we don't like to look of. We have to strike a balance.

It's clear that they weren't getting this balance right in the case of Baby P, but no one was in the position to point out this failure and correct the matter. It seems that one of the reasons for this was that the council officer who was responsible for running this department was also responsible for ensuring they were doing things right.

So I was pleased to find that the implementation board for our new Cheshire East Children's trust has been tasked to consider: "how those who monitor performance will be separated from those who are responsible for delivery".

A very simple line which will prevent failings like those described occurring in Cheshire East.