MINUTES of the meeting of THE HERTFORDSHIRE SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN BOARD TOPIC GROUP held on THURSDAY 13 OCTOBER 2011
ATTENDANCE
Members of the Topic Group
R H Beeching (Chairman), R F Cheswright, J K Maddern, S Milligan (parent-governor), C A Mitchell, L J Newlyn, M A Watkin (Vice- Chairman)
Witnesses in attendance
Maria Barnett – HSCB Deputy Business Manager (Acting)
Deborah Brice – Designated Nurse, Safeguarding Children (PCTs) and chair of HSCB Training Subgroup
Jon Chapman – HSCB Business Manager
Jenny Coles – Director Children’s Safeguarding and Specialist Services and chair of HSCB Improving Outcomes Group
Mike Collier – Assistant Director Performance & Business Support (Children’s Services)
Alison Cutler – HSCB Learning and Development Manager
Gill Gibson – Operational and Strategic Manager Welwyn Hatfield Council and chair of District Safeguarding Group
Brenda McLaughlin – Head of Child Protection
Phil Picton- HSCB Independent Chair
Matt Rayner – Youth Support Partnership Manager (Welwyn Hatfield Council) and chair of District Council Safeguarding Group
Andrew Simmons – Deputy Director, Services for Young People
James Townsend –Independent Chair of HSCB Serious Case Review Subgroup
Other officers in attendance
Nicola Cahill – Democratic Services Officer
Tom Hawkyard – Head of Scrutiny
1. / APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN AND VICE-CHAIRMANIt was noted that R H Beeching had been appointed Chairman and
M A Watkin had been appointed Vice-Chairman of the Topic Group for the duration of its work.
2. / GENERAL TOPIC GROUP INFORMATION
The Topic Group noted a report setting out the general context for the work of scrutiny topic groups.
3. / REMIT OF THE TOPIC GROUP
The Group noted its remit and scope.
4. / SCRUTINY OF THE HERTFORDSHIRE SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN BOARD
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4.11 / The Group received a series of presentations and took evidence from a number of witnesses during the course of the day. The main points arising from witness evidence and Member debate are summarised below. Presentations from witnesses and background information provided to Members may be viewed at;
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Phil Picton, Independent Chairman of the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB)spoke about the role and objectives of theHSCBin coordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of the safeguarding children arrangements in Hertfordshire.
Members heard that effective co-ordination in Hertfordshire involved developing policy and procedure, participating in service planning, communicating the need to safeguard and ensuring a co-ordinated response to unexpected child death. Effectiveness was ensured by monitoring the effectiveness of the work that is carried out, undertaking Serious Case Reviews (SCRs), collecting and analysing information about child death and publishing an annual report on the effectiveness of local arrangements.
There had been significantdevelopments in the work of the HSCB since the last topic group had taken place in June 2010. The Ofsted inspection had made one minor recommendation, however all other feedback had been positive. The Group also heard about the outcomes of an evaluation of arrangements for effective operation of Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) in Englandundertaken by LoughboroughUniversity.
The following points were noted:
- The national issue of the accountability of HSCB chairs worked on a model of dual-accountability in Hertfordshire. Regular meetings were held between the HSCB chair and the Director Children’s Safeguarding and Specialist Services.
- The Loughborough Research nationally into LSCBs regarding weak communication with the public was addressed in Hertfordshire via a communications strategy. A campaign was to be held in the county regarding ‘safer sleeping’ for babies as a number of incidents had occurred where safer sleeping practices may have reduced risk.
- A video regarding e-safety aimed at school-age children was available at:
- Members heard that the Munro Report endorsed LSCBs and made a number of recommendations, i.e. that an annual report be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Police & Crime Commissioner, that LSCBs should monitor/evaluate partners contributionsand that SCRs focus upon systems rather than individual failings.
Members heard that following the last scrutiny meeting, the end of year monitoring of the 2010-2011 Business Plan revealed that 49 of the 50 business plan actions had been completed. The 50th outstanding recommendation related to the Child Death Overview Panel whichwas completed early in the 2011/12 financial year. Thisserved as a testament to the effectiveness of the partnership working undertaken.
Nicola Curley, Head of Safeguarding Locality and Family Support (East) updated Members on the Multi-Agency Pre-Birth Protocol which was launched in 2010 and be viewed at:
Members heard that a new protocol had been introduced as understanding between agencies regarding risk was poor. Referrals had been limited and of poor quality and the understanding of the lines of roles and responsibilities had been blurred.
Members heard that a multi-agency working group had been established to facilitate information sharing. HCC had taken user feedback into account, for example referrals were taken at any time during a pregnancy, rather than having to meet a threshold of 12 weeks. The new protocol had brought about a change of focus as emphasis was placed on information regarding the father, as well as the mother of the unborn child.
The group also heard that a number of next steps were planned regarding the continuation of the implementation of the new protocol. Staff would continue to improve early intervention work to ameliorate the identification of unborn children in need of a Child Protection Plan. HCC would continue to develop links with Health and Community Services and the Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to take forward assessments for the Child Protection Plan and court. The pre-birth clinics which were taking place for multi-agency staff to attend in order to ascertain advice regarding their most complex cases were working well in the west of the county, however further work needed to be done to embed the practice in the east.
Alison Cutler, Learning and Development Manager spoke about changes to the HSCB training strategy which had been made so as to ensure that the training programme was fit for purpose by; streamlining the training, improving cost-effectiveness, increasing attendance and linking to the lessons learned from SCRs.
Much of the previous training programme had relied upon outsourcing to external trainers, however a new permanent training team was in place which allowed for greater continuity, monitoring and improved cost-effectiveness.
The group was pleased to hear of the successes surrounding the new training arrangements and the following was particularly noted;
- The annual training conference on the subject of neglect had been well received and attended by representatives from a number of agencies. The conference had been well attended with 160 attendees in 2010 and numbers increasing in 2011 to 260.
- Litebites training sessions had been successful in terms of numbers attending, the 2-3 hour sessions on bruising in babies allowed for professional development without it causing detriment to the individual’s caseload as it did not require a significant amount of time away from the office.
- The new training regime had facilitated the delivery of more training without budget-overspend. HCC had made use of internal expertise to increase numbers from 482 trained 2009-10 to 1,340 in 2010-11.
- That all actions in the HSCB Business Plan had been achieved for the provision, strategic direction and monitoring of training.
Child protectionforums had resumed last year to promote coordination of good child protection practices at a local level. The forums were well attended by a broad range of agencies. This allowed for effective inter-agency coordination of local child services and ensured the effective implementation of HSCB policies and procedures in Hertfordshire.
Members noted that the forums allowed for greater equality of service provision, whilst taking into account the needs of the local environment, sharing best practice and allowed for improved conflict resolution.
Members were pleased to hear that a representative from the Business Unit attends each session and disseminates lessons leaned at future events. It was suggested that school governors, who have a statutory responsibility for safeguarding children be invited to the forums.
Deborah Brice, Designated Nurse Safeguarding Children and Maria Barnett, HSCB Deputy Business Manager (Acting) updated Members on the progress made by the HSCB Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) who had a statutory duty to collate information regarding each child death in Hertfordshire.
Members heard that the HSCB Child Death Overview Panel ensure a coordinated, multi-agency response to child deaths so as to establish whether they require a SCR or whether trends can be identified.
Members welcomed the news that that the CDOP were working in partnership with the HSCB to raise the awareness of the problems associated of co-sleeping with a child. The findings of a national report identified co-sleeping as a factor in many child deaths. Often the child will have overheated or have been inadvertently smothered by the parent;frequently there are associated factors such as drugs, smoking or alcohol.
Following the recommendations made by the HSCB Topic Group in 2010the Child Death Overview Panel had produced a leafletto be distributed locally to bereaved parents titled:‘What we have to do when a child dies’and can be viewed at:
Members praised the sensitivity of the language utilised within the leaflet which invited parents to contribute to the review process following the death via their GP or other health professionals, who forward the information onto the Review Panel.
James Townsend, Independent chair of HSCB Serious Case Review Subgroup spoke about Partnership Case Reviews (PCRs) as alternative methods of learning. Where there was not a requirement for a SCR to be carried out following a child death, but it was felt that lessons in respect of multi-agency safeguarding practice could be identified, PCRs were held. At a workshop each key agency provides a chronology of their involvement with the family, supported by ‘smartspeed’ an electronic meeting tool and a technographer. The work carried out is projected on to a screen, information collated and learning points established.
Members were pleased to note that a number of lessons had been learnt as a result of PCRs e.g. bruising or bleeding in pre-mobile babies should always be referred for a child protection medical. Additionally, adequate assessment of a mental illness or learning disability should be made on the ability to parent safelywhen working with pregnant women.
Maria Barnett, HSCB Deputy Business Manager (Acting) and Matt Rayner, Youth and Sport Partnership Manager (Welwyn Hatfield Council) and chair of District Council Safeguarding Group spoke regarding the progress in taking forward the findings of the Section 11 Audit of the Children Act 2004 in District and Borough Councils, which places the requirement on agencies working with children and young people to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Members were pleased to note that the District Safeguarding Group was well established, with all 10 district and borough councils contributing to the quarterly meetings. The group suggested that the work of the safeguarding group be fed back to district councillors to raise its profile and consolidate its work.
Although safeguarding children is not part of their core business,districts nonetheless had responsibilities in this area. Where services are outsourced (e.g. leisure facilities) there is a need to ensure that these also meet the section 11 requirements. Involvement in the District Safeguarding Group helped them to ensure that their contracting and procurement processes are compliant with the section 11 framework.
Gill Gibson, Operational and Strategic Manager, Policy Lead for Early Intervention & Targeted Support advised Members that the Step-Up Step-Down Process had been strengthened to improve the experience for children, young people and families where their needs escalate and de-escalate. The process allowed for smooth transition across different assessment frameworks (i.e. Common Assessment Framework and Safeguarding & Specialist assessments). Flow charts of the four processes can be found at
In discussion the following was particularly noted;
- A multi-agency task and finish group established to develop the Step Up/Down processes, and thesewent live on 10 October 2011.Members requested that an update report be presented to the HSCB Topic Group in 2012. It was planned that member summary briefing note was to be circulated by Dec/Jan to set these changes in wider context of Early intervention & Targeted Support.
- The key principle behind the strengthened step-up step-down process was clarity i.e. families tell their story once and were to be kept informed so as to ensure they understand the process. Additionally,it provided clarity regarding lead professionals and outlined clear roles and responsibilitiesacross the continuum of support.
Members heard that the GCP was a practical tool ( used to provide an objective indication of care of children across all areas of need on a graded scale. Members heard that the tool provided professionals from a number of associated agencies (e.g. health visitors, early intervention teams and children’s centres) and families with a visual tool regarding areas where improvements needed to be made.
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5.7 / RECOMMENDATIONS
At the 2012 HSCB scrutiny the topic group requested that members be:
Informed when decisions have been made as to which of the Munro recommendations are to be taken forward and how HSCB propose to implement them.
Informed of progress in implementing the 2011/12 HSCB Business Plan in particular:
- the Multi agency pre birth protocol
- HSCB training strategy and specifically what is being done to train school governors in child protection
- The development of child protection fora.
Informed of any Serious Case Reviews (SCR) and Partnership Case Reviews (PCR) undertaken and to be kept informed of progress in addressing the lessons learned from PCRs.
Informed of the work of the work of the District/Borough Council Safeguarding group.
Provided with a report on the success measures of the Step-up/Step-down process.
Advised of the effectiveness of the Graded Care Profile (GCP) post pilot.
Before the 2012 scrutiny
To ask the Hertfordshire district/borough councils to consider undertaking a yearly scrutiny of their safeguarding function.
6. / The Chairman thanked the Members of the Topic Group and witnesses for their valuable contributions to the meeting. The date for the 2012 meeting was confirmed as Thursday 11 October.
Nicola Cahill
Democratic Services Officer
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HSCB Topic Group Minutes