Exhaustive work by a tough inquisitor

When Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, decided to set up a public inquiry into events leading to the death of Victoria Climbié, he knew he would have to find a tough-minded chairman who was prepared to test all of the evidence.

Yesterday Lord Laming fully justified his appointment by delivering an exhaustive 404-page report.

Throughout his 10-month inquiry he proved he would not shy from difficult decisions or resist using his powers to punish recalcitrant witnesses.

He also showed he was prepared to take an equally tough line with the media. In a letter to the London Evening Standard he made plain that he had never referred to the murdered girl as Anna. He wrote: "The name given her by her parents was Victoria, and that is why the inquiry is to be called the Victoria Climbié inquiry. That is also why I always refer to her by that name and not Anna – the name given to her by Kouao, one of her killers."

From 1991 and 1998 he was chief inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate, overseeing inquiries into high- profile scandals involving sex abuse of children in care and mistreatment of residents of homes for the elderly.

A former probation officer, he gained a reputation as a tough chief inspector, delivering damning judgments on councils that he found to be failing the vulnerable for whom they were responsible.

Lord Laming has said that he had a "very strong" commitment to protecting the vulnerable and did not mince his words about those who he felt were falling short, telling one council that it had created a "culture of hopelessness" with "potentially catastrophic" consequences for children in its care.

Born in 1936, Herbert Laming studied applied social services at the University of Durham before starting his career in the Probation Service. He worked in Nottingham from 1961 to 1971, rising through the ranks to become the city's assistant chief probation officer. Afterwards he spent 20 years at Hertfordshire County Council, as first deputy director, then director, of the county's social services department, going on to become president of the Association of Directors of Social Services.

In 1985, he was appointed CBE, which was followed by a knighthood in 1996 and a life peerage as Baron Laming of Tewin, his home village near Welwyn, Hertfordshire, in the 1998 Birthday Honours list. He is a deputy lord lieutenant.