THE man in charge of children’s services in Southampton at the time when four youngsters died said that tough council budget cuts at the time were not to blame.

The deaths of seven-year-old Blake Fowler, brothers Jayden and Bradley Adams and Nico Maynard all occurred when Southampton City Council was in the grip of crippling cost-cutting measures and one of the worst industrial disputes in the city’s history.

The council was trying to fill a £25m funding gap, while binmen, parking wardens and social workers were taking strike action over pay cuts.

But Jeremy Moulton, the then Cabinet member for children’s services, refuses to believe that any of that had an impact on how social workers dealt with three of the youngsters who were on their radar.

Three of the four children had been in regular contact with social services prior to their deaths, and despite pleas from Blake’s grandmother and the Adams brothers’ own mum to take them into care, this didn’t happen.

When asked if the budget cuts and strikes had an impact on their care, Cllr Moulton said: “I think the staff are very professional people and will do everything within their power to try to keep children safe.

“I recall the death of one of the children and I went over to the department to talk to all the staff to tell them that everyone is doing everything they can to support them in this very difficult job.

“It was obviously extremely upsetting for the staff involved.”

Serious Case Reviews (SCR) into the deaths of those three children are now under way – two years after their deaths in 2011 – but Cllr Moulton feels that he had done all he could to ensure that social services was keeping youngsters safe.

He added: “We will have to wait and see what the SCRs say but certainly my feelings are that I was making sure the resources were being put into the department and there was considerably more staff than two years previously.

“Intervention thresholds were robust so that we were not sending children away that the professionals felt needed support and a lot more children and babies were taken into care during my time.

“I had the full support of the council and anything that was asked for was delivered and the problems we were hearing from staff were raised at a senior level and acted upon.

“I am not aware of anything that I could have done that should have been done.

“Obviously when these situations happen I think about it all. Could I have done more?

“I think we will look at the recommendations and if more could have been done, we will make sure all powers available are used to improve for the future.”

The aftermath of the inquests into the death of the children, who were all known to social services apart from Nico Maynard, has left public confidence in tatters. But Cllr Moulton believes greater integration with police – which he pushed for during his time in charge of children’s services – will have the greatest impact in how services are delivered and boost public confidence.

Cllr Moulton said: “My concern was that although cases were referred to us, our intervention threshold was too high, and while there were families in trouble, they were not serious enough for social services at the highest level to take action.

“I took the view that we shouldn’t wait until there’s a crisis, that we should intervene early to prevent that from happening.

“It is something that the council has now taken forward.

“I think this will have the biggest impact on future services and is a reason for people to have confidence in our city’s social services.”