A former regional press editor broke the news of the sacking of six social workers following the death of seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq in Birmingham.

The scoop was landed by former Birmingham Mail boss Steve Dyson in the first in a six-week series of ‘big interviews’ he is carrying out for BBC local radio.

The interview, broadcast on BBC WM this morning, saw Steve tackle Birmingham City Council’s director of children’s services Colin Tucker about the measures introduced to improve his department’s performance following Khyra’s death in 2008.

In the course of the interview Mr Tucker revealed that he had dismissed six council social workers over the past year for not doing their jobs properly.

He told the station: “They did not adhere to standards and expectations that we laid down. They showed no sign whatsoever that they were keen to do so, so we dismissed them.”

The story, which was put out last night by the BBC under embargo, was covered in all this morning’s national newspapers and by more than 70 regional titles.

Steve’s new series, entitled Dyson’s Hardtalk, will see him carrying out interviews with a series of high profile figures and other people in the news in the West Midlands region.

Interviewees over the coming weeks will include Birmingham Ladywood MP Claire Short and Archbishop of Westminster and former Archbishop of Birmingham the Most Rev Vincent Nichols

Steve told HTFP: “The great thing about the series is that the local BBC are investing in in-depth journalism, and this means having the time to spend an hour or more with each subject, which means you can’t help but spot and then develop revealing story lines.

“It’s great to be back in the midst of hard news again, and with a bit of training and other freelance work here and there it means I’m still managing to pay the mortgage!

“Having left newspapers I wanted to stay in journalism and hard news is my passion so I was honoured when the chance to work with BBC WM came up.

“I have recorded a really strong range of exclusive stories which I’m sure listeners will appreciate, that get to the heart of issues and get answers to some very important questions.”

It is the second time Steve has come up with a major exclusive in the course of his recent forays into broadcasting.

Earlier this year he carried out an interview with the creative industries minister Sion Simon in which the Birmingham MP revealed he was quitting Parliament.

Khyra Ishaq died in May 2008 when her body succumbed to an infection after months of starvation at her home in Handsworth.

Her mother Angela Gordon was jailed last week for 15 years over her death, while her former partner Junaid Abuhamza was jailed indefinitely with a minimum term of seven-and-a-half years.