A former Haringey social services boss is set to appear on a show discussing ‘demonising individuals’ on BBC Radio 4 tonight
Sharon Shoesmith was fired from her job as Haringey Council’s director of children’s services in 2008 by former Children’s Secretary Ed Balls, after a damning Ofsted report into the death of 17-month-old Peter Connelly.
But the Court of Appeal ruled her dismissal was unfair in 2011 and she received a payout.
Ms Shoesmith will be a guest on BBC Radio 4’s “The Blame Game” tonight where a former MI5 director will speak to individuals who have been held responsible for systematic failures.
Eliza Manningham-Buller, director general of MI5 from 2002 to 2007, will discuss how frontline workers such as doctors and police officers are more scrutinised than ever before and risk being punished.
The programme blurb says: “Does our widespread intolerance of failure do more harm than good?
“Are we failing to understand the distinction between systemic failure and individual failure - and drawing the wrong conclusions as a result?
It adds: “Hers is not an argument against holding people to account - criminal negligence and serious culpability must be exposed, scrutinised and punished - but an attempt to understand how to hold people responsible while avoiding fruitless witch hunts.
“In other words: how do we learn valuable lessons, without demonising individuals for honest mistakes?”
- The Blame Game will be on BBC Radio 4 this evening at 8pm.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here