High rate of mental health issues in London serious case reviews

The Government Office for London analysis, which examined serious case reviews completed between April 2006 and September 2009, also found domestic violence was picked up on more in the capital - in 47 per cent of cases compared with 27 per cent nationally.

While the national analysis conceded that countrywide figures could underestimate the scale of the problem, Ofsted warned last year that some agencies are still failing to assess the impact of parental mental health problems and domestic violence on children.

Andrew Christie, chair of the Association of London Directors of Children's Services, said the region-wide London Safeguarding Children Board had invested in training professionals to identify such issues.

"You would be hard pushed to suggest that the prevalence of mental health issues and domestic violence was higher in London,"

he said. "We are perhaps a bit better at identifying this because the work we have been doing through the London Safeguarding Children Board is bearing some fruit."

Christie added that councils in other parts of the country could benefit from the work that London has done. "We all need to be doing more work cross-regionally," he said. "That will be the name of the game in a time of constrained resources."

Shadow children's minister Tim Loughton told CYP Now the disparity between the London and national analyses strengthens the argument for publishing serious case reviews in full.

"The real reason we need maximum transparency is to see the details of how commonly domestic violence and mental health problems are happening around the country," he said. "It is just not the case that incidents of domestic violence and mental ill health are higher in London. Let's see all the evidence and draw some proper empirical conclusions about what's happening."

The London analysis also found 26 per cent of families involved in serious case reviews included an adult with a history of violence, other than domestic violence.

ISSUES ARISING FROM SERIOUS CASE REVIEWS

Percentage of families with a parent with mental health problems

London 60%*

National 24%**

Percentage of families where there was domestic violence

London 47%*

National 27%**

* Based on analysis of serious case reviews in London between April 2006 and September 2009

** Based on national analysis of serious case reviews completed between 2008 and 2009

Source: Government Office for London