HSCB Topic Group – 23 March 2009Item 3 – Paper 1 Appendix 1

HERTFORDSHIRE SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN BOARD BUSINESS PLAN

2008/09

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HSCB Topic Group – 23 March 2009Item 3 – Paper 1 Appendix 1

LIST OF CONTENTS

Page
Foreword by the Independent Chair of HSCB / 3
Introduction / 4
Theme 1:
Missing Children / 7
Theme 2:
Children who Experience Bullying / 12
Theme 3:
Domestic Abuse / 15
Theme 4:
Managing Risk / 19
Theme 5:
Compliance with Section 11 of the Children Act / 22
Theme 6:
Safeguarding Training / 24
Theme 7:
Effectiveness of Child Protection Processes / 27
Theme 8:
Child Death Review / 28
Theme 9:
Communication and Information / 29
Theme 10:
Board Development / 30

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HSCB Topic Group – 23 March 2009Item 3 – Paper 1 Appendix 1

FOREWORD BY THE INDEPENDENT CHAIR OF HERTFORDSHIRE SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN BOARD

The HSCB has undergone significant change in the last year following the Joint Area Review in 2007.

The Board has appointed a new independent Chair and has had the opportunity to participate in several board development exercises to consider partner agency accountability and engagement, which culminated in the development and adoption of Agency Compacts.

The relationship between the Hertfordshire Children’s Trust Partnership and the HSCB has been strengthened with the HSCB Chair having a seat on the Core Executive Group, ensuring strategic safeguarding guidance to the wider children’s agenda.

The Board has reviewed its sub group structure and developed terms of reference to reflect the focus and business of each group.

The Business Plan reflects this development and demonstrates the direction of travel in respect of:

  • Further board development for agencies and members
  • Taking account of national safeguarding policy and guidance
  • Developing the safeguarding agenda beyond child protection across the Every Child Matters programme

The HSCB is now in a strong position to drive this exciting albeit challenging agenda forward in order to safeguard children in Hertfordshire.

Sarah Baker

Independent Chair, HSCB

INTRODUCTION TO THE HSCB BUSINESS PLAN 2008/09

(a) Background

The Children Act 2004 lays out the duty on Local Authorities to ensure that they set up a Local Safeguarding Children Board. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 provides the statutory guidance for how this will be implemented.

“The LSCB is the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how the relevant organisations in each local area will cooperate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and for ensuring the effectiveness of what they do”

Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB) was first formed in April 2006. The HSCB Business Planwas launched in April 2007 to provide a vision and action plan for all partners and organisations involved in arrangements for safeguarding children in Hertfordshire.

Shortly after this, in May 2007, the Joint Area Review (JAR) of children’s services in Hertfordshire was carried out. The JAR focussed on how we work together across CSF, health, the district councils and other organisations to look after and provide services for children and young people. The JAR looked at services for:

  • Children with learning difficulties and/or difficulties
  • Children who are looked after
  • Children who are at risk or requiring safeguarding
  • Black and minority ethnic children
  • Young people aged 16 – 19

The report from the inspection, published in August 2007, highlighted and praised much of the good work that was going on in the county and the progress that we were making in our children’s trust arrangements. It found that “outcomes for children and young people in Hertfordshire are generally adequate and improving” but that “the arrangements to ensure that children and young people are safe are inadequate”.

(b) The Joint Area Review and Safeguarding

The Joint Area Review found that arrangements for safeguarding children and young people in Hertfordshire were inadequate and that arrangements to ensure safe staffing were weak. It found improvement had been made in key areas but from a low base, and improvements were not sufficiently embedded in practice.

The JAR inspectors endorsed the direction of travel for improving safeguarding. Since the JAR, significant improvement work has focussed upon improving:

  • The range of preventative services available to children and families
  • The timeliness and quality of social care assessments and reviews
  • The consistency of thresholds and eligibility criteria used by social care
  • The quality of information we hold and monitor about children at risk

(c) Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board

The Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB) has a strategic role in ensuring improvements in practice continue in 2008/09, and in challenging the overall safeguarding work of the Hertfordshire Children’s Trust Partnership (HCTP). Working closely with HCTP, the HSCB will take lead responsibility for:

  • Monitoring the quality and consistency of safeguarding practice and training across all partner agencies in the HCTP.
  • Ensuring all new preventative services operate safely, such as Integrated Practice arrangements and the Common Assessment Framework.

Following the Joint Area Review, it was imperative to take the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB) to the next level in our drive to improve safeguarding for children and young people. As well as ensuring vulnerable children are properly safeguarded, the JAR report identified the need to review current arrangements to ensure that there is a clear allocation of both responsibilities and accountability for the delivery of the HSCB Business Plan.

A new, independent HSCB chair has been appointed to provide an objective challenge to the work of the HCTP in improving safeguarding and revise the HSCB business plan. Work has been done to secure the full engagement of agencies represented on the Board by developing a sounder understanding of roles and responsibilities, and by ensuring that all members of HSCB are able to champion safeguarding amongst other agencies.

For the 2008/09 Business Plan we have set out that the HSCB will challenge and monitor:

  • The overall effectiveness of the HCTP in safeguarding vulnerable children
  • The quality and consistency of HCTP safeguarding training for staff
  • The performance of the HCTP in child protection processes and practice
  • The safe staffing arrangements and policies put in place by HCTP partners
  • Learning from Serious Case Reviews of children and young people
  • Instances of bullying, domestic violence and child death in the county

(d) The HSCB Business Plan and links to the Children and Young People’s Plan 2008/09

The Joint Area Review commented that, although Hertfordshire’s Children and Young People’s Plan was highly detailed and evaluative, the high number of priorities made it difficult to concentrate on where improvements were needed most. As a result, the HCTP agreed in Autumn 2007 that the CYPP should be re-focussed on two key themes:

Safeguarding children and young people

Narrowing the gap between vulnerable children and all children

HSCB has a very significant role to play in taking forward the Safeguarding theme in the new CYPP. It also has an important contribution to make towards supporting priorities around narrowing the gaps.

In particular, the HSCB Business Plan links closely with the following CYPP Priorities:

Outcome 1: Children and young people are safe from abuse and neglect

Outcome 3: Children and young people are confident to respond to bullying

Service Management Priority 1.3: Implement safe staffing arrangements across all HCTP partner agencies to safeguard children and young people

Service Management Priority 3: Strengthen performance management and evaluation systems

Under each of the themes in the HSCB Business Plan it is indicated which CYPP priorities that theme links to, and who is the CYPP priority lead.

(e) The HSCB Business Plan 2008/09

The Business Plan identifies 10 key themes where HSCB is responsible for co-ordination and monitoring during 2008/09. Following the appointment of the new Independent Chair of HSCB we will develop the format for the Business Plan over the next year, using a similar layout to the Children and Young People’s Plan. We have trialled this approach with this year’s Business Plan. For each of these key themes we have identified what we are aiming at in the future (the conditions that we want to see).

For each theme there is an Action Plan which identifies:

  • The actions we will take
  • Milestones and timescales for delivery
  • The accountable lead agency and officer to take the action forward
  • The mechanism we will use to monitor its progress

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HSCB Topic Group – 23 March 2009Item 3 – Paper 1 Appendix 1

HSCB Co-ordination and Monitoring Theme 1 Missing Children HSCB Lead:Chris Miller
CYPP Theme / Safeguarding
CYPP
Priority Outcome 1 / Children and young people are safe from abuse and neglect
CYPP lead / Ann Domeney HCTP
Population / All children and young people in Hertfordshire
Baseline (to be established) /
  • Numbers of children and young people missing from education
  • Numbers of children and young people who are missing from home including those who are looked after by the local authority
  • Population estimates of children living in private fostering arrangements
  • Actual numbers of children in private fostering arrangements known to children’s services
  • Estimated numbers of children who are not registered with a GP
  • The whereabouts of children who are looked after by other local authorities and placed in Hertfordshire

Conditions we want to see / The whereabouts of all children and young people in Hertfordshire is known by at least one statutory agency and their safety and well being are ensured.
This includes particular focus on vulnerable groups;
  • Young people who may be forced into marriages
  • Children and young people who may be trafficked either within the UK or internationally
  • Children and young people seeking asylum
  • Children and young people in private foster care
  • Children who are looked after by another local authority and are placed in Hertfordshire

How will we know we have improved / Key performance indicators;
  1. Number of children in private fostering arrangements as % of the estimated number expected in the population
  2. Numbers of children and young people who are missing from school rolls
  3. Numbers of LAC who are missing from care
  4. Numbers of allegations of child abuse arising from care situations.
  5. Numbers of children abused as repeat victims
  6. Numbers of persons charged with offences as professionals
  7. Numbers of children identified as in need as a result of people trafficking

This theme (1) is awaiting baseline data in relation to the figures

Theme 1 Missing Children Actions / Milestones/
Timescales for delivery / Lead Agency / Lead officer / Where will we monitor progress / Progress
1 / Hertfordshire County Council, as the lead statutory agency with responsibility for establishing the identity of all children missing from education (CME) to:
Develop the existing policy to ensure that there are clear lines of accountability for implementing the CME provisions as set out in the Education and Inspections Act 2006,
Develop a clear risk assessment process which identifies those children at high, medium and low risk within the CME definition,
Ensure that all relevant partner agencies are aware of how to report details of children who are missing within the definition of the CME guidance,
Ensure that there are appropriate arrangements for recording and risk assessing those children who are found to be absent from education outside of the CME guidance, but for whom there is equally concern. (e.g. child who have a place at a school but who are absent for a long or without reasonable explanation.)
To work with Hertfordshire Constabulary to agree and implement working arrangements for the further investigation of high risk cases of children missing from education.
To work with Hertfordshire Constabulary to agree and implement an information sharing protocol regarding all children missing within Hertfordshire on a monthly basis. / December 2008 / CSF / Julia Findley
Head of Pupil Support / HSCB / A multi agency working group was set up in 2007 to develop an agreed Children Missing Education (CME) policy and procedures for Hertfordshire. Representation was invited from agencies in Hertfordshire in line with DCSF guidance and Health, the Police, Schools, CSF and Youth Offending were all part of the group. A CME policy for Hertfordshire was put in place as from April 2008 together with an agreed referral procedure.
The policy and procedure has been widely disseminated across the county to all agencies together with a leaflet for professionals working with children and young people. Leaflets have also been written for the general public publicising the procedure should they become aware that a child may be missing education. All neighbouring Local Authorities have been provided with contact details for the CME Officer and are aware of the procedures for referral as are independent schools in the county. The publicity has also been sent for instance to all CABs, GP surgeries etc and articles appeared in a range of publications through HCC's Communications Department at the launch of the policy and procedures, both of which are also available on Hertsgrid.
There have been a number of meetings held with Police representatives following the original working group which has included discussion of arrangements for information sharing as well as looking at particular areas of concern for instance forced marriages and the ways in which services can assist each other in this work.
We have a CME Officer within Pupil Support who co-ordinates and oversees the CME work. There is a dedicated CME telephone number and e mail address and a CME database has been developed which records information on Children Missing Education in line with DCSF requirements.
2 / Hertfordshire Constabulary to develop a clear policy for jointly investigating those high risk cases identified by Children, School & Families (Herts County Council) where children are missing from education within the terms of the CME provisions set out in the Education and Inspections Act 2006 or those cases where a child does have a place in a school, but then becomes absent for a long period of time without explanation and is therefore considered high risk / December 2008 / Herts. Constabulary / Chris Miller / HSCB / Information sharing protocol now in place between Herts Constabulary and CSF. Data is shared every month and processed and analysed by the Service Manager (Central Placement Service) and reported to the Social Care Portfolio Management Group. From the 1st of March, Children who remain missing for extended periods of time (high risk) are brought to the attention of the Deputy Director Social Care. Social Care and Education have aligned their policies relating to children that are missing and information sharing.
3 / Data regarding missing children is co-ordinated and considered as a whole by the HSCB to identify any gaps in interagency arrangements / 30/9/08 / CSF / Ann Domeney / HSCB / The Information Sharing Protocol now allows for data to be passed between the Herts Constabulary and CSF. From the 1st of April reports will be sent to the HSCB on children missing. Work has been aligned to ensure that we meet the N71 indicator criteria.
4 / Information and advice regarding private fostering is available to all front line practitioners working with children and young people and their carers and private fostering arrangements are known and supported / 30/9/08 / CSF / Ann Domeney / HCTP / A comprehensive multi-agency action plan has been in place for the last 2 years. Materials to raise awareness of privately fostered children have been circulated and a wide range of front line staff have had a presentation on this topic. Evidence of this success has been the increase in the number of notifications. There is a central system for logging private fostering arrangements. A pack is being developed for carers to support them in their role. An inspection of private fostering in Herts took place in February 2009.
5 / Arrangements for the notification of looked after children who are placed in Hertfordshire are effective / December 2009 / CSF / Ann Domeney / HCTP / Procedures to record OLA notifications on the new ICS have been set up. A letter has been compiled that will be sent to all Local Authorities. OLA CLA will be reviewed every 6 months.
6 / Hertfordshire Constabulary to implement the ACPO recommendations for the response to honour based violence and forced marriages / December 2008 / Herts. Constabulary / Chris Miller / HSCB Policy and Procedures group / HBV Coordinator implementing ACPO recommendations.
7 / Hertfordshire Constabulary and Children, Schools & Families (CSF) to develop clear guidance and advice about the inter-agency response to managing the issue of honour based violence and forced marriages. Guidance to then be made widely available to both public and voluntary sector groups working with young people to ensure that anyone seeking help and advice is appropriately supported. / September 2009 / Herts