‘I am deeply distressed by this awful case’

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: “Arthur’s murder has shocked and appalled the nation.

“I am deeply distressed by this awful case and the senseless pain inflicted on this poor boy, who has been robbed of the chance to live his life.

“I have taken immediate action and asked for a joint inspection to consider where improvements are needed by all the agencies tasked with protecting children in Solihull, so that we can be assured that we are doing everything in our power to protect other children and prevent such evil crimes.

“Given the enormity of this case, the range of agencies involved and the potential for its implications to be felt nationally, I have also asked Annie Hudson, chair of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, to work with leaders in Solihull to deliver a single, national review of Arthur’s death to identify where we must learn from this terrible case.

“We are determined to protect children from harm and where concerns are raised we will not hesitate to take urgent and robust action.

“We will not rest until we have the answers we need.”

Justice Secretary: We need to learn the lessons

A targeted area inspection will be also commissioned and led jointly by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and HM Inspectorate of Probation.

It will consider what improvements are needed by all agencies who protect vulnerable children in Solihull, including how they work together.

Asked about the review on Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said: “The Prime Minister made clear that we want to see how social services liaise with the criminal justice agencies, and what lessons we can learn.”

“It is right that we look at the criminal justice end and in between that I think the job of social workers, particularly those looking at children at particular risk, we need to learn the lessons.”

He added: “I do think we have got to make sure a more precautionary approach which looks at the risk to those particularly vulnerable young children and see what more we can do to read those early signs earlier and better.”

Speaking on Friday during a campaign visit in Shropshire, the Prime Minister vowed to leave “absolutely no stone unturned” to establish what went wrong.

He said it was essential to learn lessons and to work out what else could have been done to protect the child.

Mr Zahawi is due to make a Commons statement on the case on Monday.