A NEW social work review has been branded “ridiculous” according to a Huddersfield academic.

The Government yesterday set up an independent study into the protection of vulnerable children following a string of high-profile abuse cases.

Prof Eileen Munro from the London School of Economics will carry out the review to find the best way to improve social work.

But Dr Bernard Gallagher from the University of Huddersfield said ministers didn’t need another review to tell them what was wrong.

“This isn’t necessary, it’s a bit ridiculous,” he said.

“This enquiry has been done already so there’s no need to do it again. It will cost money when we are being told that we should be saving money.”

Dr Gallagher, a senior research fellow at the university’s centre for applied childhood studies, believes a previous study showed how social work could be improved.

“The previous Government set up a string of enquiries after the Baby Peter tragedy, including the Social Work Taskforce, which had a lot of independent expertise,’’ he said.

“The key recommendations were that we needed a higher calibre of social work students and that social workers need a smaller caseload and closer supervision.’’

“It’s about upping the A-Level requirement for social work courses, but it’s also about making sure that students have the right skills, that they are empathetic.

“We’ve known about these problems for decades and they have not been tackled and that’s what irritates me.”

Dr Gallagher added: “This new review will make some fundamental recommendations – like calling for more social workers – that the Government will probably ignore.

“But the review will also make some superficial recommendations – like cutting red tape – which will be acted on because they’re cheap.”

However, the NSPCC said yesterday that the Munro Review was a ‘golden opportunity’ to improve child protection.

Spokeswoman Diana Sutton, head of the charity’s public affairs, said: “We welcome the Government’s independent review of child protection in England.

“It provides a golden opportunity to bring children to the front of social work practice for the first time.

“Reviews of the current system have found that when children are killed or seriously injured the most significant failure involved professionals not seeing or speaking to children.

“We want the new Government to put a legal duty on social workers to see a child alone without their parents.

Social workers would be better able to deal with unco-operative or hostile parents with the force of the law behind them.”

The Munro Review comes after the death or abuse of several children known to their council’s social services department.

Some of the most high-profile cases happened in Kirklees. They include four-year-old Leticia Wright, who was murdered by her mother and her partner in Moldgreen in 2006 – just weeks after social workers visited the home.

The following year Deighton two-year-old Sanam Navsarka was killed by her mother and her partner.

A damning report in 2009 said the little girl was “largely invisible” to Kirklees social workers.

In 2008 Dewsbury schoolgirl Shannon Matthews, aged nine, disappeared for 24 days.

Her mother was later jailed for her part in the kidnap.

An investigation into the council’s dealings with the family is due to report this month.