Like a bushfire, the Baby P saga is rapidly consuming all in its path. It has already trashed the reputation of Haringey, wider local government and even the localist agenda. Now it has put the inspection regime in the spotlight, and local government's enemies will be insisting the inspectorates have ‘gone soft' and need to be ‘toughened-up', with implications for the CAA. The task now for local government associations, especially the LGA, is to learn from mistakes and repair the damage to reputations before central/local relations unravel. The spectacle of a Cabinet minister ordering the sacking of a council chief officer whom he does not even employ does little for future relationships or the ‘concordat.' But local government itself needs to provide the confidence that this episode is a rarity. At a SOLACE conference a couple of years ago, ex-minister, Nick Raynsford, talking about another troubled council he had to deal with during his tenure, Hackney, said the Government had to intervene because the local government ‘family' had manifestly failed to sort out the problem itself. And writing in The MJ this week (page11), Mr Raynsford now argues that the Baby P case will only reinforce these centralist tendencies adding: ‘Until national politicians are prepared to apply a self-denying ordinance to matters which are the responsibility of local authorities, localism will remain a subject talked about rather than implemented.' The LGA has spent much time and effort lobbying for and building the reputation of local government, in particular, arguing the case for more local control. Some, but by no means all, Whitehall departments have responded positively. The fallout from Baby P will reinforce the sceptics. The LGA now has a job on its hands to convince government departments and the public that the Baby P case was a one-off, that Haringey is a one-off, and that local government in general is a high-performing sector doing a good job in difficult circumstances. Michael Burton, Editor, The MJ
