Interventions to protect Bradford children from abuse have fallen, but there has been a rise in cases of neglect, latest figures have revealed.

Overall, the number of referrals to Bradford Council’s Children’s Social Care Services dipped from 7,447 in 2009/10 to 5,928 a year later.

Cases are reported to the local authority by a range of agencies.

In the last year, a fifth of cases were referred by education sources, 18 per cent by police, 16 per cent by health agencies and 12 per cent by social care groups.

The fall in the number of cases is thought to be an after-effect of an initial spike in reports between May and August 2009.

There had been a significant increase in the Council’s child protection workload, which can largely be attributed to the national response to the Baby Peter tragedy, according to a report to the Council’s Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee, which meets tomorrow.

Seventeen-month-old Peter Connelly’s death in London caused a national outcry when his mother, her boyfriend and the boyfriend’s brother were all jailed for causing or allowing the child’s death.

Peter had suffered more than 50 injuries over an eight-month period.

In Bradford over the last year, episodes of neglect have caused the Council to make more children the subjects of child protection plans than for any other reason.

Plans were put in place in 188 cases of neglect, 105 cases of emotional abuse, 71 cases of physical abuse and 25 of sexual abuse.

There are relatively fewer children who are subject to a plan in Bradford than nationally, says the Council report.

The current rate of children subject to a child protection plan is 28.71 per 10,000, below the most recent confirmed national average of 35 per 10,000 in March 2010.

There has been a reduction in the numbers of children with a protection plan for reasons of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, but an increase in the number of plans initiated through reasons of neglect, the report says.

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