Climbie inquiry cost nearly £4m

The Victoria Climbie Inquiry cost £3.8 million, children
and young people’s minister Margaret Hodge revealed this week
in the House of Commons.

In a written answer to the house, Hodge said: “The total
expenditure of the Victoria Climbie Inquiry, from its establishment
on 20 April 2001 to its report being presented to the government on
6 January 2003, was £3.8 million.”

The inquiry had earlier been rumoured to have cost almost twice
this amount after Scotland’s Social Work Services
Inspectorate child protection review team leader, Stella Parrott,
told the Association of Directors of Social Work 2002 conference
that the inquiry had a budget of £7 million.

Lord Laming’s team had always denied these figures and
insisted there was no predetermined budget.