Three people have lost their jobs after a "damning and devastating" inspectors' report into the Baby P case, Children's Secretary Ed Balls has said.

Sharon Shoesmith, the head of children's services at Haringey Council, in London, has been sacked. The council's leader George Meehan and the cabinet member for children and young people, Liz Santry have resigned.

The 17-month-old died despite being on the child protection register. He had been visited by professionals 60 times. The boy's mother has pleaded guilty and her boyfriend and a lodger have been convicted of charges relating to his death.

Mr Balls said: "Overall the inquiry's findings, are, I have to say, devastating."

He said the report delivered a "damning verdict on the current management of safeguarding in Haringey".

One of the factors that was most troubling, Mr Balls added, was the "failure to talk directly to children at risk".

The key failings highlighted include:

• Agencies acting in isolation from one another without effective co-ordination
  
• Poor gathering, recording and sharing of information
  
• Insufficient supervision by senior management

Action to be taken includes:

• A new serious case review to be undertaken into the death of Baby P, with an executive summary to be published by the end of March
  
• Education watchdog Ofsted to carry out unannounced annual inspections of children's services across the country
  
• More action to be taken at those authorities in England which have had "inadequate" serious case reviews, to see if they have made improvements.

Mr Balls announced that new leadership would be introduced in Haringey's social services, with Hampshire County Council's John Coughlan replacing Ms Shoesmith with immediate effect.

He described Mr Coughlan as "one of the most experienced directors of children's services in the country".

He added that if he was not satisfied that there was significant progress in improving the department he would not hesitate to step in again.

The Metropolitan Police said they welcomed the report and its recommendations.

In a statement, they said that although their management was good: "We are not complacent and will fully support the new serious case review.

"Police in Haringey and across the Met want children to be safe."

The chief inspector of Ofsted - one of the agencies involved in the report - said the findings were "very worrying".

Christine Gilbert told BBC News: "You had very committed hard-working people working in different services, social care, health police and so on but working in parallel not really talking well enough to one another."

The report looked into the roles of health service, social workers and the police in the case.

Mr Balls ordered the investigation two weeks ago, after saying it was clear mistakes had been made and that those responsible would be held accountable.

The inspectors have been examining why the toddler was not taken into care despite numerous injuries including broken ribs and eventually a broken back.