The Guardian's dramatic lead story last week that child protection services might be privatised has caused extreme consternation, writes Martin Narey.
Although Edward Timpson has made it plain that the proposed new powers are not about large-scale privatisation, that has provided only limited assurance to those who are aghast at the possibility that there could be any role for the private sector.
I first heard of the controversy when Guardian journalist Patrick Butler phoned me the day before the story was published. I knew nothing about it. I'd been at the Education Secretary's weekly meeting on children's issues just 48 hours earlier and if there really was a master plan to privatise child protection, I'm pretty sure it would have been mentioned. It wasn't of course because such a plan doesn't exist.
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