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The chief inspector of social services, Denise Platt, failed to submit a vital document to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry because she was unaware of its relevance.

The document, an internal review of a 1999 joint review of Haringey social services, which called into question the joint review's conclusion that service users in the borough were "generally well served", was given to the inquiry three weeks after phase one had ended.

In a statement to the inquiry, reopened for two days this week to seek an explanation from Platt for the late submission of the paper, she said: "It did not occur to me that the internal review might be relevant to the Victoria Climbie‚ inquiry."

Platt, who declined to appear in person, said in the statement read by her lawyer that she had been advised that the inquiry was interested only in communications between the Social Services Inspectorate and agencies and documents specific to Victoria's case and "was not concerned with material surrounding the production of the joint review or SSI inspection".

She said: "With hindsight, I accept that the internal review was relevant to the inquiry. I sincerely apologise for not appreciating this earlier."

The decision to carry out the review, which looked at the methodology of joint reviews, was made following the conviction of Marie Therese Kouao and Carl Manning in January 2001. Differences between the 1999 joint review and a 2000 SSI report had emerged during the pair's trial.

Platt said the Social Services Inspectorate and the Audit Commission decided to conduct a joint internal review of the joint review, which would look at the methodology of the process "to see what lessons we could learn about the joint review process".

"It was not," she added, "designed to enable us or anyone else to second guess the joint review."

In January this year Platt told inquiry chairperson Lord Laming about the existence of the internal review, suggesting that it might be useful for phase two of the inquiry. At the end of February it was sent to the inquiry, which informed Platt that it was relevant to phase one.

Commenting on the delay over handing in the document Lord Laming said: "I cannot emphasise strongly enough that I did not expect to encounter any such difficulty with a department of government - least of all from one of the departments that established this inquiry."