| Fred McBride, who is due to take over as director of social care and well-being at Aberdeen City Council — possibly before the Brandon report is published — said social workers had acted on the best information they had in dealing with the two-year-old’s case.
Mr McBride is head of children’s services at the city council, but will be moving to his new post in Aberdeen within a few months.
The inquiry he commissioned has been ongoing since the beginning of March and the findings of its chairman, former Fife Chief Constable Peter Wilson, are expected by the end of the summer.
However, in an interview with the Tele’s sister paper in Aberdeen, the Evening Express, Mr McBride made a defence of his record in charge of children’s services in Dundee and pledged he would work hard to prevent similar cases occurring in future.
He said, “What happened was not a systemic failure. There was a fine balance of judgement based on the information at the time.”
Mr McBride said he would be working “as hard as possible” to ensure there was no repeat of the Brandon case.
Robert Cunningham (23) was convicted of the culpable homicide of the Dundee toddler and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Brandon’s mother Heather Boyd, also 23, was originally charged with killing her son along with her partner, but was acquitted at a trial earlier this year.
Cunningham, a drug addict and petty criminal, had moved in with Brandon’s prostitute mother less than three weeks before the toddler’s death.
The case sparked a review of child protection services at Dundee City Council as it emerged that social workers had been alerted to concerns over Brandon by family members and neighbours.
Mr Wilson said progress in his independent review of child services in Dundee in the wake of Brandon’s case has been “steady”.
He said interviews with senior management were continuing at present and checks were being made comparing what happened with what the council’s policy and expectations were.
Mr Wilson said he spoke fairly regularly with Brandon’s grandparents to keep them up to date and expected to complete the review within a few months.
Mr McBride will replace Aberdeen’s interim social worker Philip Cotterill, who was taken on as a consultant after critical inspection reports into the council’s running of social care. The post carries a salary of £107,000.
He said, “I am looking forward to the challenge. There has already been a lot of good work done by Philip Cotterill and I look forward to continuing that.” |
