Baby P report: The key findings

Baby P suffered 50 injuries before his death last year

An independent report into the death of Baby P has delivered a damning verdict on the services provided by north London's Haringey Council.

The 17-month-old boy died after months of abuse despite being on the council's child protection register.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls said the shortcomings included:

Failure to identify children at immediate risk of harm and to act on evidence. This included a failure to talk to children believed to be at risk
Agencies acting in isolation from one another without effective co-ordination
Poor gathering, recording and sharing of information
Insufficient supervision by senior management
Insufficient challenge by the Safeguarding Children Board to council members and frontline staff
Over-dependence on performance data which was not always accurate
Poor child protection plans
Failure to implement the recommendations of the Victoria Climbie inquiry, which heavily criticised it five years ago.

The action announced by the children's secretary included:

Removing Sharon Shoesmith from her post as head of children's services
John Coughlan from Hampshire County Council to cover her role while the Department for Children, Schools and Families finds a permanent replacement
Mr Coughlan is also to carry out an internal review of social work staff in Haringey
Graham Badman, the director of Kent children's services, to take over Ms Shoesmith's role as chairman of the local Safeguarding Children Board
A new serious case review to be undertaken into the death of Baby P, with an executive summary to be published by the end of March
The education and children's services watchdog Ofsted to carry out unannounced annual inspections of children's services across the country
More action to be taken at those authorities in England which have had "inadequate" serious case reviews to show they have made improvements.

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