Kent County Council's director of children's social services Bill Anderson said his department had performed consistently well.

"I think you've just got to look at all the indicators that we measure ourselves by and the Government measures us by," he said.

"I think we are a very effective organisation when we deal with children."

Mr Anderson added that the department actually recommends more cases for review than it is required to. This is so they can "learn serious lessons" from them, he said.

"We are not at all complacent. We believe often child protection organisations are judged on the basis of their last serious case review. We believe that's the wrong thing to do."

In the period since these reviews have been carried out, Mr Anderson said the department had reformed its out of hours service and built in a more robust screening system.

Following the review into the case where a stepfather had been allowed back into the family home after admitting indecently assaulting one of the children, Mr Anderson said he had taken immediate action.

He had ordered a review of every case where a sex offender was living with children to see if action should be taken.

"We don't have a legal ability to remove a perpetrator from a home," he added however, saying this is a power that rightly lies with the courts.