Kim Howells: An admission of convenience, Part 2?

The latest revelations about sex offenders being given permission to work in schools once again asks serious questions about Ruth Kelly.  The previous revelation was blamed on Junior Minister Kim Howells, who seemed an all-too-convenient whipping boy because he had moved departments and couldn’t therefore be sacked as an Education Minister.

However, it seems that the most recent revelations point to a letter which mentions “the Secretary of State” and seem to point directly to Ruth Kelly’s office.  This begs the question – why was one decision made by Kim Howells and an almost identical decision made by Ruth Kelly’s office?

It seems to me that either the Ministers don’t know who is responsible for what or blaming the first incident on someone else was a choice of convenience to take the heat off Ruth Kelly.

It seems the Government still do not know how many sex offenders have been left off list 99 and are being allowed to teach.  Until the Government come out with this information I suspect we are going to get revelation after revelation.

The possibility does exist that Government know the figure, that it is not the small handful that has previously been acknowledged and that the information is being withheld whilst the Spin Doctors find the words that will get them out of a difficult situation.  I hope this is not the case; it is too important an issue.