Recently a baby under the protection of social services was abused and killed. It was not the first and will not be the last, but the fact that “Baby P” was visited 60 times by social workers charged with his protection whilst the abuse was going on has caused a scandal. In an article published in Public Servant this month I reflect on the role of so-called “joined-up government” in the Baby P affair. I conclude that misguided mergers of children’s services and group think in panels designed to co-ordinate protection services may have contributed to the failure to save Baby P.
Full article now on-line at Public Servant
for a comment by another MBS professor with a different perspective see Peter Kawalek
STATECRAFT - improving government 
Hi Colin,
My name is Faye Saville and I am in my final year studying for a BA (Hons) Public Relations Sandwich Degree at the University of Central Lancashire.
I am currently conducting a piece of academic research for my dissertation. My research is focused around the area of crisis communication and online public relations.
This study aims to discover how and why various Internet methods (e.g. blogs and social networking sites etc) are used by individuals to communicate with online during a crisis. My research specifically focuses on the crisis and case of Baby P. Therefore, this study requests to hear from individuals who have an interest (professional or otherwise) in the social work/social services and welfare sector and the case of Baby P.
Would you be interested in posting my questionnaire on your blog? If you have accessed the Baby P case online and have followed the case I would very much appreciate if you could fill in my questionnaire and return it to myself.
The questionnaire also aims to discover how and why individuals who have an interest in the social work/social services and welfare sector have found using the Internet in the Baby P crisis useful.
If you would like me to send you copy of my questionnaire please let me know. The questionnaire should take approximately 15 minutes to complete and your responses will be a very valuable contribution to my research.
Please note: All questionnaires filled in and returned to my email: QuestionnaireResults@live.com will remain completely confidential and anonymous. Bloggers who wish to share their comments with other bloggers, can send responses to: http://fayesaville.wordpress.com/contact/
If you have any questions or comments please do contact me.
Kind regards,
Faye Saville.