Government in no hurry to respond to Munro

The government will not respond to Eileen Munro’s final report on child protection until “later this year”, according to children’s minister Tim Loughton.

At the report’s launch yesterday, Loughton said: “Just as a lot of work has gone into the report’s preparation, I don’t want to hurry our response.”

Loughton was vague when Community Care asked whether Munro’s insistence that her review must be accepted in full was complicating the government’s decision about whether to accept her recommendations.

“We’re now going to look at the report and I will be announcing more details about the people we’re asking to help us with that,” he said. “I’m not going to rush a response – I think that’s been part of the problem with reports in the past.”

Loughton claimed some of Munro’s recommendations, such as those relating to getting rid of bureaucracy, would save money in the short term.

“Even if there was no more money – and I’m not saying that’s the case – we could be achieving much better outcomes for children with a system that requires less bureaucracy and a better use of time and resources,” he said.

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