Page 1 of 6 Safeguarding children and young people consultation documents Policy reference 201000503 Policy product type LGiU/csn essential policy briefing Published date 13/01/2010 Author Phil Jones This covers England Overview The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has simultaneously published four documents, including two for consultation, concerning the safeguarding of children. These are the latest in a series of revisions to guidance following the Laming review (The protection of children in England) of March 2009 which made 58 recommendations. An action plan published last May set out the government s response which, in the case of 23 of these recommendations, entailed a revision to the guidance Working together to safeguard children which had been published in 2006. The recent documents are: the government s response to consultation, which took place between July and October 2009, on revisions to chapter 8 of Working together (this specifically covers serious case reviews) and addresses six of the Laming recommendations the revised chapter 8 itself consultation (until 11 February 2010) on the remainder of Working together, addressing a further 17 Laming recommendations preliminary consultation (until 29 January 2010) on practice guidance for local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs). The fully revised version of Working together is expected to be published in March. Working together has a potentially very wide audience; see, however, the comment section on navigating this large document. The draft practice guidance will be relevant to members of, of those working to support, LSCBs. Briefing in full Background As the process of reviewing policy and practice since the publication of the Laming report last March has been somewhat complex, it is worth reiterating some of the developments. The Laming report, and the government response/action plan published two months later, were both the subject of CSN briefings. Chapter 8 of Working together to safeguard children (dealing with serious case reviews) was the subject of consultation between July and October 2009. The government s response to this consultation, and a revised chapter 8, were published in December. One of Laming s recommendations was the establishment of a National Safeguarding Delivery Unit (NSDU) which became operational from summer 2009. Between November and December 2009 it undertook a short pre-consultation on how the revision of Working together (other than chapter 8) would address various Laming recommendations. This included proposed changes to the membership of local
Page 2 of 6 safeguarding children boards (LSCBs) and clarified the relationship between the LSCB and the children s trust board, the latter having become a statutory requirement following the passing of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning (ASCL) Act 2009. (A link to this consultation was provided in the CSN briefing Consultation on guidance on Children s Trusts and Children and Young People s Plans.) The formal consultation document on the revision of Working together (other than chapter 8) was published by the DCSF in December, for responses by 11 February. At the same time the NSDU published a preliminary consultation document on guidance on effective practice for LSCBs, with responses required by 29 January 2010. The process includes a call for evidence and will be followed by full consultation from March. (See related briefings for the CSN briefings mentioned above.) Serious case reviews Chapter 8 of Working together to safeguard children Serious case reviews (SCRs) have to be undertaken when a child dies and abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a factor in the death; and may be undertaken in a range of other circumstances. Chapter 8 of Working together to safeguard children covers SCRs, the purpose of which is to: establish whether there are lessons to be learned from the case about the way in which local professionals and agencies work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children identify clearly what those lessons are, how they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result improve inter-agency working and better safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Six of Lord Laming s recommendations in his March 2009 report concerned SCRs: make it explicit that the formal purpose of SCRs is to learn lessons for improving individual agencies, as well as for improving multi-agency working ensure that the SCR panel chair has access to all of the relevant documents and staff they need to conduct a thorough and effective learning exercise ensure SCRs focus on the effective learning of lessons and implementation of recommendations and the timely introduction of changes to protect children underline the importance of a high quality, publicly available executive summary which accurately represents the full report, contains the action plan in full, and includes the names of the SCR panel members ensure all SCR panel chairs and SCR overview authors are independent of the LSCB and all services involved in the case and that arrangements for the SCR offer sufficient scrutiny and challenge share SCR executive summaries with the Association of Chief Police Officers, Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities to promote learning (this recommendation, unlike the others, is not listed in the government s response to consultation, but its post-laming action plan had indicated that Ofsted will include a website link so that all interested organisations can easily access the published executive summaries of Serious Case Reviews ). The government consulted on a draft revised Chapter 8 of Working Together. As well as addressing the Laming recommendations, the consultation process raised a number of
Page 3 of 6 other issues which were considered in the government s response: an extension of the time period for the completion of an SCR from four to six months of the date of the decision to proceed clarifying the relationship between SCRs and other processes no prescription of methodology for undertaking SCRs, but further work to be commissioned on the appropriateness of various methodologies no change to the current position that only a high quality executive summary, including an action plan, of an SCR should be published including each SCR panel member s position and organisation, but not their name, in the executive summary work to align statutory requirements for SCRs with Ofsted s evaluation criteria. The revised chapter 8, which has immediate statutory force, has been extended from 36 to 55 paragraphs as a result of the revisions. Further changes are possible when the entire Working together is republished in the spring. Consultation on Working together to safeguard children (excluding chapter 8) A further 17 recommendations by Lord Laming (and an additional commitment from the government s action plan, to require the appointment of two lay members to LSCBs) will be addressed through revisions to Working together. These recommendations are set out below and, for ease of reference, are grouped under the original chapter headings in the Laming report. (The recommendation number is shown in square brackets and the relevant chapters of Working together are identified at the end of each item.) Leadership and accountability [6] LSCBs should keep under review the sources of referrals to local authority children's social care services and monitor the quality and action taken in response, including feedback to the person making the referral (Ch.3) [7] Senior managers under the DCS should have relevant skills in education and social care, including safeguarding in particular (Ch.2) [9] LSCBs should write an annual report (see also [53]) which will capture an analysis of the needs of all children and young people in the area (Ch.3) (this requirement was introduced following the passing of the ASCL Act 2009) Support for children [11] Reiterate the importance of training, expertise and support to manage referrals where there are child welfare concerns and in particular concerns about children's safety, especially for high quality, experienced social workers to undertake key management and supervisory roles in intake/duty teams. (Ch.5, also 2 and 4) [13] Needs assessments should include direct contact with the child (to be seen alone where appropriate) by the lead social worker, and take account of significant case histories guidance now states that, in response to a referral, local authority children's social care should ask the referrer if they hold any information about difficulties being experienced in the family/household due to domestic violence, parental mental illness, substance misuse and/or learning disability (Ch.5) [14] The children's trust board (CTB) should work in consultation with the LSCB to put in place appropriate systems and practices to ensure that children in need have early access to effective specialist services and support to meet their needs (Ch.2) [16] Set out the elements of high quality supervision for staff working, or in contact, with children and families (Ch.4)
Page 4 of 6 Inter-agency working [19] All referrals to children s services from other professionals should lead to an initial assessment, including direct involvement with the child or young person and their family, and the direct engagement with, and feedback to, the referring professional. Core group meetings, reviews and casework decisions should include all the professionals involved with the child, particularly police, health, youth services and education colleagues, and records must be kept including the written views of those who cannot make such meetings. There should be formal procedures for managing a conflict of opinion between professionals from different services over the safety of a child (Ch.5) [20] All professionals (working in both adult and children's services) should refer their concerns to local authority children's services in all circumstances where they believe a child may be suffering, or be likely to suffer, significant harm; local authority children's services, correspondingly, must act appropriately in response to the referral (Ch.5) [22] Schools become a statutory relevant body or person' of the LSCB from April 2010 (Ch.3) [23] Children's trust boards have a responsibility to ensure that all their partners follow the government's information sharing guidance (Ch.2) Children s workforce [25] The importance of workforce development and of integrated frontline delivery of services to maximise their effectiveness and encouraging the development of co-located services (Ch.2) [29] LSCBs, as part of the wider children's trust arrangements, should ensure that all staff who work or have contact with children are appropriately trained to understand normal child development and to recognise potential signs of abuse and neglect (Ch.4) [30] The key LSCB role in ensuring that single-agency and inter-agency training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is provided, and in evaluating the quality of such training (Ch.3) Organisation and finance [51] The LSCB and the CTB must not be chaired by the same person (Ch.3) [52] All partners should be active members of the LSCB which should comprise people able to speak authoritatively on behalf of their agency or professional group (Ch.3) [53] Proposed coverage of the LSCB s annual report (Chs.3, 4). Responses to the consultation can be made online or by downloading a response form (see related links ). Consultation on practice guidance for local safeguarding children boards Another of Lord Laming s recommendations (not referred to above) was that further guidance should be provided to local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs) on how to operate as effectively as possible. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department of Health (DoH) commissioned a large scale research study by the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) and Centre for Child and Family Research (CCFR) at Loughborough University exploring the effectiveness of LSCBs in England. An interim report, published in last summer, discusses the early findings from the first 12 months of the research study (see related briefings ). Its final report is expected by the end of March 2010. The interim report is the basis of a summary recently published by the NSDU (see related links ) as a call for evidence of effective local practice and responses are requested by 29 January. The NSDU is inviting views on the proposed outline and issues the guidance
Page 5 of 6 should cover, its style and format, and the means of production the favoured option is an online resource which can be readily updated. The summary naturally covers similar areas to the Loughborough University report but is structured somewhat differently into six sections. Governance - the role of the chair; size of boards and membership issues (including lay members); involvement of other agencies; financing and staffing Accountability to lead members and scrutiny committees, the director of children s services, and the children s trust; and the LSCB s role in challenging the latter New developments relating to LSCB functions taking account of reviews over the past year into the use of restraint in juvenile secure settings; elective home education, and safeguarding arrangements in independent schools; safeguarding functions of the UK Border Agency following the passing of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009; and the implications of the cross-government strategy on domestic violence Self-evaluation and monitoring views are invited on what the LSCB annual report might include; how LSCBs can themselves set measurable success criteria and targets; links to Ofsted evaluation frameworks; and the support and challenge role of Children and Learner Strategic Advisers, and Safeguarding Advisers, both to be appointed from April 2010 Child death review processes, SCRs and information sharing noting especially that the Children, Schools and Families Bill includes provision for LSCBs to obtain information where it is not provided voluntarily Training building on a research study into the organisation, type, effectiveness and cost of training provided by eight LSCBs, published last November. The NSDU report, in turn, is the prelude to a full consultation on non-statutory practice guidance to support LSCBs, expected to be issued in March alongside the fully revised Working together document. Comment There has, understandably, been a great deal of activity in the realm of advice, guidance and research in the months since the publication of Lord Laming s report The protection of children in England. However, although given a particular impetus by the case of Baby Peter and other tragedies, this recent activity continues the trajectory of policy over previous years. The key document Working together to safeguard children, published in 2006, was acknowledged as fairly comprehensive but it became clear that it required strengthening and updating in a number of areas. It is notable that the two related consultation processes which are the subject of this briefing both entail two stages, reflecting a desire to get it right and, usefully, to take account of the views of practitioners. The present consultation document on the majority of Working together (excluding chapter 8) is in some ways not as helpful as it might have been. It only indicates in general terms how the 17 Laming recommendations will be addressed (even then, the wording of the recommendations is not always reflected in the relevant summary in the consultation document), and that the new version takes account of "changes in the policy and legislative landscape" since 2006, without providing any examples. The questions in the consultation response form, on the other hand, mainly relate to the clarity of various sections and chapters, and those responding are in effect required to refer to the revised draft of Working together (already significantly longer than the existing version). The new draft, unlike the latter, currently has no contents page to make navigation easier, although
Page 6 of 6 the chapter structure has been retained. There will of course be multiple audiences here. The existing version provides a guide for navigation of such a large document, identifying chapters which various groups (for example those with strategic and managerial responsibilities; operational managers; those with a particular responsibility for safeguarding children; those who may be asked to contribute to assessments of children in need) are required, or advised, to read. It would be helpful if something similar could be retained for the new version. The general reader may find chapter 9 of Working together useful a summary of lessons from research which has been significantly expanded from the 2006 version. Specialists will need to refer to particular sections, and it is hoped that the cross-references between the Laming recommendations and Working together chapters provided in this briefing will, at least, provide a preliminary guide. The NSDU has also produced an interim progress report on its work since it was set up last year which also outlines its work programme for 2009-10 (see related links. External links Chapter 8 of Working together (SCRs) - government response to consultation Chapter 8 of Working together (SCRs) revised version Working together (other than chapter 8) consultation on proposed revision LSCB practice guidance - preliminary consultation and call for evidence NSDU interim progress report and work programme 2009-10 Downloads Related briefings The protection of children in England Laming report The protection of children in England Government response and action plan Consultation on guidance on children s trusts and children and young people s plans Effectiveness of LSCBs interim report Related events