Questions mount up over Swansea's social services

We understand that a question sent in to yesterday's Swansea Sound phone-in asked studio guest Chris Holley whether Swansea Council would be issuing an apology for the deaths of three children who died whilst in the care of the local authority. The official reports on the actual circumstances of each case will be published this coming Friday as a batch job - an action that has caused considerable concerns among social care professionals elsewhere in Wales.

As expected, the Lib Dem leader side-stepped the awkward issue and came up with something inane about any comment being 'premature' at this stage - which is more than a bit ironic since one of the serious case reviews involved has reportedly been available since 2007.

A further query posed was whether he felt it was appropriate for the Swansea Safeguarding Childen Board, which will publish reports & recommendations arising out of the three deaths, to be chaired by the city's own director of social services. The reason for the question is because teh second job requires him to objectively put together an explanation for what is understood to be a catalogue of departmental failings. He also has to come to a conclusion over who was at fault and  if there are now sufficient proven controls & enough trained staff in place to prevent a repetition of these tragedies. This potential conflict in roles was greeted by the same mumbled evasions from Holley - and not pursued by the show's ever-amenable host.

But the main unanswered question for many is just how much leading political post-holders (past and present) knew about these horrific cases and if they have been in any way party to shabby arrangements that have introduced delays in the publication of hugely critical reports until just a few days before Assembly inspectors are scheduled to give their feedback on improvements.