Merton Council has been accused of trying to bury bad news about its social services department, after papers made public last week revealed it has the worst adoption record in England.

Opposition councillors have hit out at the authority, claiming they were not given access to letters from the Department of Health, which document serious failings.

The letters, which supplemented a review by the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) and the department's subsequent damning zero rating in Government performance tables, were made public at a council overview and scrutiny meeting.

Although the documents praise the department's progress since it was put

on special measures in February 2001, they also reveal that performance in relation to

the adoption of children looked after is the worst in England.

Opposition leader Councillor David Williams said although the review took place in March and the star rating was awarded last month, the documents were only released last week.

He said: "We said as part of the condition for signing the protocol for special measures if we were not to look back then there had to be sharing of information and the council should not be holding things back."

Coun Williams says he has written to chief executive Roger Paine and says he and his colleagues feel so strongly about the matter they could have withdrawn their support altogether.

He added: "The fact remains the council has tried to keep this out of the public domain for as long as possible, particularly before the election."

Yet Rea Mattocks, Merton's director of housing and social services, said the letter from the SSI related to performance last year and the council had tried to negotiate for it to be updated to reflect recent improvements before releasing the information.

She said it was decided to hold the letter until the star ratings were published.

She added: "Our adoption performance for the year 2001/ 2002 has vastly improved, and we are expecting to be in the average to good performing category when the next indicators are released."

July 10, 2002 11:00