Abuse report is a `crash course in wickedness'

The Government agreed to set up a ministerial task force to deliver "a safer environment" for the thousands of children in residential care homes following the publication of a scathing 200-page report on child abuse scandals.

Sir William Utting's report said that at times his year-long inquiry had seemed like "a crash course in human wickedness". He made 20 recommendations to eradicate abuse and make it more difficult for paedophiles to prey on children in homes.

The inquiry was set up following revelations in The Independent and Independent on Sunday of abuse in homes in north Wales in the 1980s. Sir William said abuse continued today.