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.
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