In July 2025, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were found guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter, baby Victoria. The court heard that the couple had gone to great lengths to evade authorities, living in unsafe and transient conditions in the weeks following the birth. Their actions resulted in the death of a vulnerable newborn whose life should have been protected and supported from her very first moments. The death of Victoria was a profound tragedy, and the government’s thoughts remain with all those affected.

While justice has now been served, and Victoria’s parents are serving prison sentences, nothing can repair the loss of her life, and it is incumbent upon us to do everything in our power to ensure such tragedies are prevented wherever possible.

Across the country, child protection professionals dedicate themselves to safeguarding vulnerable children, often in circumstances that test even the most resilient among them. I have no doubt that they, like all of us, were deeply shaken by what happened to Victoria. Yet as a safeguarding system, and as a society, we must have the courage to confront uncomfortable truths and examine openly where failures occurred.

Today’s publication by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel into the case of baby Victoria identifies a series of significant and complex safeguarding concerns, including concealed pregnancy, persistent non-engagement with services and practitioners, domestic abuse, risks posed by serious offenders, and the challenges that arise when families move frequently between local areas. It also highlights the need for more proactive, relational and multi-agency safeguarding and child protection practice, with clear pathways for support for parents and strengthened approaches to safeguarding unborn children.

As I noted in my statement following the heartbreaking murder of Sara Sharif in November 2025, this is precisely why we must press on with the sustained and meaningful reforms needed to strengthen coordination between local safeguarding partners, all firmly anchored in clear and authoritative national guidance. I want to reassure the House that this government regards the Review’s conclusions with the utmost gravity and will inform our ongoing programme of reforms to children’s social care, supported by the £2.4 billion investment announced by the government to improve early interventions, family help and outcomes for vulnerable babies, children and their families. We are also considering how forthcoming changes to statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, can better reflect the needs of babies and unborn children.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, now progressing through Parliament, represents an important step in our work to build a system that protects every child, especially the most vulnerable. Its purpose is simple but profound: to make sure that no child slips from view, and that when concerns arise, agencies act together swiftly and with clear purpose. Schools and early years settings will have a strengthened role in local safeguarding arrangements, recognising the trust they hold and the unique insight they so often have into a child’s daily life. New multi‑agency child protection teams will bring professionals together to focus squarely on cases where there is a risk of significant harm, improving the speed and quality of the response and ensuring that expertise sits right where it is most urgently needed.

Better information sharing, supported by a Single Unique Identifier, will help prevent the gaps through which children can sometimes tragically fall. And by giving local authorities clearer duties in relation to children who are educated at home, alongside establishing a register of children not in school, we will support families while also ensuring that no child becomes invisible to the system. Crucially, we are embedding family led decision making, because when a child’s safety is at stake, families deserve to be heard and involved in shaping the support around them.

These reforms matter not in the abstract, but because of children like baby Victoria. Her short life, and the unimaginable circumstances in which it ended, remind us of the devastating consequences when agencies cannot reach a child in time, when help is not accepted, or when families evade the very services designed to protect them. Nothing can undo the heartbreak of her loss. But we can, and must, let her memory sharpen our determination to build a system that is more alert, more joined up, and more capable of acting decisively when a child is at risk.

Through the Families First Partnership programme, we are also transforming how support is offered on the ground. Family Help will ensure that families receive the right assistance at the moment they need it, not only to improve outcomes, but to prevent problems escalating into crisis.

And by involving wider family networks through family group decision making, we can reduce unnecessary court processes, prevent children from entering care where it is safe to do so, and provide families with the stability and support they need to thrive.

All of this is about honouring the lives of children like baby Victoria by learning from what went so tragically wrong. It is about ensuring that no child is ever beyond our line of sight, and that every child grows up safe, supported, and surrounded by adults who are equipped and empowered to protect them.

While the distressing details of what happened to baby Victoria will not fade easily from memory, we must try not to let her be remembered only through the lens of tragedy. She deserves to be known not just for the harm she suffered, but for the cherished life that should have been hers. It is the recognition of her brief but precious existence that must strengthen our determination to ensure every child is given the safety, security and chance of happiness that she was so tragically denied.

I will provide a fuller written response to the Panel’s recommendations by the summer, setting out the government’s position and the steps we have taken – and will take – to strengthen the safeguarding system for all babies and families.

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2026-02-12.hcws1331.0