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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Hamzah Khan: Minister attacks starved boy review findings | Hamzah Khan: Minister attacks starved boy review findings |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The government has strongly criticised a report that said a four-year-old boy starved to death after being let down by "national systems". | The government has strongly criticised a report that said a four-year-old boy starved to death after being let down by "national systems". |
| Hamzah Khan's decomposed body was found in his Bradford home in 2011, almost two years after he died. | Hamzah Khan's decomposed body was found in his Bradford home in 2011, almost two years after he died. |
| His mother Amanda Hutton, 43, was jailed for 15 years last month after being found guilty of manslaughter. | His mother Amanda Hutton, 43, was jailed for 15 years last month after being found guilty of manslaughter. |
| Children's Minister Edward Timpson said he had "deep concerns" about the serious case review. | Children's Minister Edward Timpson said he had "deep concerns" about the serious case review. |
| He said it "fails to explain sufficiently clearly the actions taken, or not taken, by children's social care when problems in the Khan family were brought to their attention on a number of occasions". | He said it "fails to explain sufficiently clearly the actions taken, or not taken, by children's social care when problems in the Khan family were brought to their attention on a number of occasions". |
| 'Glaring absences' | |
| Mr Timpson demanded that Bradford's Safeguarding Children Board answer 10 key questions he said were missing from the report. | |
| He said the answers to the "glaring absences" from the review must be made public to "ensure such mistakes will not be repeated in the future". | |
| Professor Nick Frost, chairman of Bradford Safeguarding Children Board, said the review was "very clear that Hamzah's death could not have been predicted". | |
| He said it found that systems - "many of them national systems" - let Hamzah down "both before and following his death". | |
| He added: "I cannot give assurance that a tragedy like this will never happen again." | He added: "I cannot give assurance that a tragedy like this will never happen again." |
| Responding to comments from Mr Timpson, Kath Tunstall, strategic director of children's services in Bradford, said there "was absolutely no attempt to whitewash". | |
| "We are determined to improve, we are constantly wanting to learn and improve. | |
| "If the minister is going to assist us with that by asking more challenging questions then we welcome that." | |
| The report said a "theme" of the case review was "the extent to which Hamzah was unknown and invisible to services throughout his short life". | |
| It added that Hamzah was "invisible to services largely because neither of his parents participated in the routine processes". | |
| The NSPCC's head of policy David Tucker said: "I have never heard before in any serious case review of a child being so completely lost." |