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Safeguarding children and young people: a national perspective Jeanette Pugh

Safeguarding children and young people: a national perspective Jeanette Pugh. Director, Safeguarding Group. Overview. The Government’s ambition The challenge Setting the agenda Staying Safe Action Plan A new Public Service Agreement Strengthening the framework

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Safeguarding children and young people: a national perspective Jeanette Pugh

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  1. Safeguarding children and young people: a national perspectiveJeanette Pugh Director, Safeguarding Group

  2. Overview • The Government’s ambition • The challenge • Setting the agenda • Staying Safe Action Plan • A new Public Service Agreement • Strengthening the framework • Local Safeguarding Children Boards • Child Death Reviews & Serious Case Reviews

  3. Safety is fundamental • “Every child deserves to be safe and loved and have a healthy and happy childhood, free from harm.” Ed Balls,18 July 2007 • “Safety is fundamental – if children are not safe, they cannot be happy, healthy, achieve, or reach their full potential.” Ed Balls, 5 February 2008

  4. Ambition forsafeguarding • Everyone taking responsibility • A focus on prevention and early intervention • Clear accountability, decision making, planning • Effective local services – co-ordinated by LSCBs • Measurable improvement in outcomes • ‘Staying safe’ as well as child protection • Striking the right balance

  5. The challenge • Safeguarding every child and young person • Tackling children’s safety in the round • Maintaining a child-centred approach • Joining up different services • Working across communities, faith groups, sectors, backgrounds • Making a practical reality of `making safeguarding children everyone’s responsibility’

  6. Setting the agenda • Children’s Plan, December 2007 – a vision for 2020 • Staying Safe consultation July 2007 leading to the Staying Safe Action Plan February 2008 – a comprehensive cross-Government programme of action spanning every aspect of children’s safety • A new Public Service Agreement to improve children and young people’s safety – setting indicators and deliverables over the CSR period 2008-2011

  7. Staying Safe: from consultation ..to.. action plan

  8. Staying Safe: consultation • Cross-Government commitment to improving the safety of all children and young people • Re-balancing the debate • “Today we launch our consultation on Staying Safe … the start of a very important debate about what we all need to do – parents, politicians, employers, practitioners, children and young people – to ensure the safety and wellbeing of every child.” Ed Balls, 18 July 2007

  9. Staying Safe consultation: purpose • Raise awareness of importance of safeguarding children and young people and encourage wider debate around safeguarding as everyone’s responsibility • Promote better understanding of safeguarding issues, and start to change behaviour towards children and young people, and their safety and welfare • Ensure work in this area is coherent and effectively co-ordinated across Government to maximise the impact on outcomes for children and young people • Reinforce existing activity with new commitments in each area of the safeguarding framework (universal, targeted and responsive) to plug gaps or improve linkages

  10. Staying Safe consultation: process • 18 July to 31 October 2007 • Over 1,000 written and online responses from parents, practitioners, the general public and children and young people. Most were from children and young people themselves • 8 regional events held for practitioners and 18 discussion groups with parents, children and young people and the general public • Discussion groups with particular groups, including recent immigrant arrivals, children and young people with SEN and parents with problems that impact on children

  11. Staying Safe: from consultation ..to.. action plan

  12. Staying Safe: Action Plan • Launched 5 February 2008. Builds on existing frameworks and policies and the Children’s Plan (chapter 2 `Safe and Sound’) • Comprehensive cross-Government programme of work covering every aspect of children’s safety – abuse and maltreatment, bullying, crime and anti-social behaviour, prevention of accidents, and ensuring children and young people have a secure home environment • Underpinned by the PSA Delivery Agreement • The Action Plan can be downloaded from www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/stayingsafe

  13. Staying Safe: Action PlanKey messages • Keeping children and young people safe is everyone’s responsibility • In many ways children and young people are safer than previous generations, but there are new risks and challenges • It is important to strike a balance between protecting children and young people and allowing them to explore and learn about risks for themselves

  14. Staying Safe: Action PlanCommitments Wide range of commitments, including new announcements to: • set up a National Safeguarding Unit for the Third Sector to provide advice and assistance to all third sector organisations • establish a Child Safety Education Coalition so that more children have access to fun and practical safety education • launch a major new communications campaign on children and young people’s safety • fund a new home safety equipment scheme targeted at deprived families – totalling £18 million over three years Full set of commitments in Annex B of the Action Plan

  15. Public Service Agreement to improve children and young people’s safety (PSA 13) • Measured by 4 indicators: • Percentage of children who have experienced bullying • Percentage of children referred to children’s social care who received an initial assessment within 7 working days • Hospital admissions caused by unintentional and deliberate injuries to children and young people • Preventable child deaths as recorded through child death review panel processes • Delivery Agreement published on HMT website April 2008 • Will ensure that delivery of the Action Plan is effectively monitored to drive improvements in children and young people’s safety

  16. Strengthening the framework for safeguarding • Children Act 2004 – new framework of roles and duties; LSCBs • Working Together to Safeguard Children (April 2006) • S11 guidance on safeguarding and promoting welfare of children (updated March 2007) • Safeguarding against abuse linked to belief in spirit possession (May 2007) • Safeguarding children and young people who may have been trafficked (joint with HO, December 2007) • Guidance on Safeguarding Children Involved in Prostitution (2000) - being extended and updated • Safeguarding Children in whom illness is fabricated or induced (2008) • Guidance on safeguarding disabled children – planned • Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 – a safe workforce

  17. Encouraging early progress: LSCBs have given safeguarding a new energy Statutory basis is raising profile and ownership of safeguarding across agencies Improving understanding about wider safeguarding agenda Latest Ofsted LSCB survey (10 March 2008): More independent Chairs than previously Lead Members better informed about the LSCBs and safeguarding, and good examples of scrutiny Focus shifting from child protection to wider safeguarding agenda Where SCRs are well established, LSCBs demonstrating contribution to improvements in practice. Local Safeguarding Children Boards

  18. Local Safeguarding Children Boards Continuing challenges: • Accountability relationships • Engagement of some LSCB partners • Local service reconfiguration and reorganisation can undermine the consistency and quality of agency representation at some LSCBs • Performance and quality improvement, including SCRs • Ongoing variation in resources allocated to LSCBs across the country and within regions

  19. Current work to support LSCBs • Gathering exemplars of effective local practice • Developing a self-improvement tool for LSCBs • Second successful national event held 19 March 2008 • Drawing up further guidance for LSCBs, based on effective local practice (to provide national advice on how they can deal with some of the challenges they have identified) • Focus on improving effectiveness, learning from SCRs, setting up Child Death Review Panels

  20. Child Death Reviews • Requirement for LSCBs across England from April 2008 to review the deaths of children in their area • Child Death Overview Panels – set up by Local Authority; function of LSCB to ensure investigations carried out and data analysed; age range to be covered – birth to under 18 • Progress: • New funding over CSR period 2008-9 to 2010-11: £22 million for Local Authorities and £30 million for health bodies • Familiarisation DVD produced – ‘Why Jason Died’ • Regional seminars held – November/December 2007 • Multi-agency training resources • Development of common data set for LSCBs to use

  21. Serious Case Reviews • Biennial Overview Reports published on 31 January covering2001-2003 and 2003-2005. Key messages: • the need to develop a much stronger learning culture • the vulnerability of older children and disabled children • how family difficulties, e.g. domestic abuse, mental ill health, can pose a major challenge for service providers • the importance of early identification and intervention, and seeking the views of the child • Importance of effective communication between agencies • the potential for greater collaboration between LSCBs regionally and between adult and children’s services

  22. Learning from Serious Case Reviews • “I see it as critical to our ambitions to safeguard and promote children’s welfare that LSCBs are highly effective learning organisations which routinely learn from each other and take every opportunity to influence policies and practices which will better safeguard children.” • “If we can raise the standard and impact of serious case reviews so that they are all at the high standards of the very best, we can have confidence that the findings from serious case reviews will make a long term, sustained difference to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.” Kevin Brennan, 19 February 2008

  23. In summary… • Safeguarding high on the national agenda • Strong cross-Government commitment through Staying Safe: Action Plan and PSA 13 – building on the legislative and policy framework already in place • A national debate on children’s safety - broadening understanding and making safeguarding everyone’s responsibility • A focus on learning and improving. Translating national and local commitment into demonstrable, sustained improved outcomes – the key challenge?

  24. Safeguarding children and young people: a national perspectiveJeanette Pugh Director, Safeguarding Group

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