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Author/Contact: / Judith Ainsley / Organisation: / Scottish Government
Date Created: / March 2016 / Telephone: / 0131 244 0966

PAPER FOR CHILD PROTECTION COMMITTEES SCOTLAND

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT CHILD PROTECTION UPDATE

WEDNESDAY 9 MARCH 2016

Introduction

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Outlined below is a summary of Scottish Government policy developments and relevant information regarding child protection. It covers developments that have taken place since the last update in December 2015.

The last 3 months

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We confirmed that we would be withdrawing funding from WithScotland. Other funders are currently considering their positions. For our part, Scottish Government is committed to providing quality support for CPC Chairs and is discussing with other funders in the context of their own consideration of the issues. We understand that WithScotland will continue to provide their services until July. In her statement to parliament on 25 February, Ms Constance confirmed that we would be providing additional funds to CELCIS for child protection improvement work. We are in discussion with CELCIS about this improvement work and also about how they might deliver the valued services provided by WithScotland should WithScotland stop delivering them. While the changes described in the parliamentary statement do not directly affect the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice, they and CELCIS will be expected to work together more closely to ensure efficiencies are obtained.

On the 10 February the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry announced their decision to introduce special measures to prioritise the testimonies of elderly or seriously ill survivors as well as announcing a change of name of the Inquiry to the “Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry”.

On 25 February Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong made a statement in Parliament confirming a programme of work to improve child protection. Further detail on the improvement programme follows.

Latest from Parliament and Ministers

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Child Protection Improvement Programme

Summary of Actions to be taken as part of the Programme

  1. In order to develop a new Child Protection Improvement Programme, we will take forward the following strands of action, as detailed at headings A – E below:

a) We will review policy, practice, services and structures in our current Child Protection system to identify strengths, achievements and priorities for change. I am proposing that we will review the following elements to ensure that they work together to create a holistic, coherent and responsive Child Protection system that optimises outcomes for children:

  • Child Protection Committees
  • Initial Case Reviews
  • Significant Case Reviews
  • The Child Protection Register

b) The Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership will scrutinise the impact of recent legislative and practice changes to the Children’s Hearings System and identify action to strengthen consistency and effectiveness.

c) We will take steps to embed leadership throughout the Child Protection system by:

  • empowering and supporting senior leaders
  • encouraging and supporting leadership across all levels of the system
  • supporting staff through implementation of change and beyond
  • holding a National Leadership Summit; and by
  • setting an example by Cabinet Secretaries working together to role model integrated practice.

d) We will improve the inspection regime in relation to children’s services:

  • Education Scotland will take a revised approach to the inspection and wider wellbeing of children
  • The Care Inspectorate will develop a revised Inspection Programme, with changes focussing on the experiences of and outcomes for children in need of protection and children and young people who are subject to corporate parenting.
  • The Care Inspectorate will be asked to produce an annual report summarising the key findings from the joint strategic inspections of children's services published during the previous 12 months

e) We will ensure that practitioners can recognise and respond to neglect; and ensure that we are confident of the impact of that response.

  • We will review current legislation to ensure we have appropriate and effective measures in place to protect children from actual risk of all forms of harm, abuse, violence or neglect
  • We will develop a holistic picture of neglect across the country
  • We will test existing models and implement the best, to effect practice improvements.
  1. In addition:
  • The Cabinet Secretary has already commissioned work from the Child Protection Committee Chairs on the impact of Health and Social Care Partnerships on Child Protection and wellbeing in their areas. This work will go on to inform the continuing process of integration and this improvement programme.
  • A data and evidence programme will be established in close collaboration with the sector to ensure that the improvement programme is evidence based.
  • The Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children In Scotland (CELCIS) will receive additional funding to extend its improvement work into the Child Protection arena.

Dates for the diary

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  • 18 March – publication of the updated CSE National Action Plan.
  • June 2016 (specific date TBC) – National Leadership Summit on Child Wellbeing.
  • Parliament dissolves on Thursday 24 March.

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Update on Workstreams of Interest to Child Protection

Safer Recruitment Guidance - In line with one of the actions under the Vision and Strategy for Social Services a project is now underway to refresh the guidance on recruitment of workers to make it as current and relevant as possible to the wide range of employers of people who work with children and vulnerable people and in the wide range of social services in Scotland. The opportunity will also be taken to work with other public services to identify and share best practice. The Project Group is chaired by Rami Okasha from the Care Inspectorate and the project lead is Laura Wylie from the Scottish Social Services Council. The project group met for the first time on 15th January 2016 and involves people with a wide range of expertise and knowledge. Work is underway to develop a web space where information about the project will be published and a survey to inform the project will be undertaken in March 2016. The aim of the project is to review guidance and approaches on how social service workers are recruited and to incorporate value-based recruitment approaches. This will help employers to recruit the right people into the workforce and retain experienced staff to improve sustainability, consistency and continuity for people who use services. The review may also identify an improved approach to production and dissemination of this guidance, recognising the way people now access information and signposting them to organisations who provide advice on this area of work.

Relevant links: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/social-services-workforce/SWSSF/visionandstrategy/publication).

Safer Recruitment through Better Recruitment

Codes of Practice for Social Services Employers and Workers – These are Codes issued by the Scottish Social Services Council with the consent of Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is carrying out a review of the Codes of Practice for Social Service Workers and Employers during 2015/16 and a consultation has recently been undertaken. The SSSC is currently analysing the responses and there will be further updates on this over the next few months. These Codes of Practice set out the standards of professional conduct and practice for workers and employers in the social service sector. The SSSC is reviewing them to make sure they continue to support good practice and reflect changes in policy and practice since they were first issued in 2003. Revised versions will be available later in 2016.

Relevant links:

Residential Care Workers level 9 qualification

The Scottish Government has announced plans to introduce a level 9 (degree) qualification for residential child care workers to ensure that all practitioners have the skills and support they need to do their jobs effectively. The Scottish Government has consulted extensively with the sector on this policy area from the development of the standards on which the qualification will be based and through events such as the CELCIS conference in 2014 and SSSC/CELCIS events in 2015. We can now advise that the qualification will be introduced on a phased basis commencing in October 2017 with Managers, Supervisors and new starts then October 2019 for the rest of the workforce.

The attainment of the qualification will be a condition of registration with the SSSC. Each group of workers already working in the sector will have five years to achieve the qualification from the point of re-registration. It will have immediate effect for new starts. To support this work the Minister will write to the sector to expand on this announcement and work will continue with stakeholders to address the practicalities of implementation.

Child Death Reviews Steering Group

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Officials continue to work through the detail of how the Child Death Review system will be set up in Scotland. Funding for set up costs are in place from April 2016 and therefore implementation is likely to be from 2017. The full report and recommendations from the CDR group will be published in the coming weeks.

If you would like to discuss further, please contact Mary Sloan on 0131 244 4089 or

Child Sexual Exploitation

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CSE National Awareness Raising Campaign

The National campaign to raise awareness of the risks and warning signs of child sexual exploitation (CSE), was launched on 28 January by Angela Constance MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, at Parentline Scotland, Children 1st , Edinburgh. ACC Malcolm Graham and Martine Crewe were present at the launch and gave interviews to the media.

The campaign has received extensive positive media interest, large support from stakeholders and demand has been high for posters and associated campaign materials. The national website, which will remain live beyond the campaign period was viewed by over 10,000 users in the first two weeks of launching.

Launch of the National Action Plan to Prevent and Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation – update

A meeting of the Ministerial Working Group on CSE took place on 13 January, Chaired by Aileen Campbell MSP, Minister for Children and Young People, to discuss the update of the National Action Plan. The draft document was also circulated to the National Sub Group on CSE for comment.

A joint meeting of the Ministerial Working Group and National Sub Group was held on 3 March, to discuss the draft update further to revisions made. A request was made that The Ministerial Working Group and National Sub Group submit final comments for consideration by Tuesday 8 March, in advance of the Update being published online on 18 March. It is intended that publication will be announced by the Minister for Children and Young People when she undertakes a visit to Barnardo’s Scotland on this date.

This would also coincide with the second NWG network National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day.

If you would like to discuss further, please contact Katrina McDonald on 0131 244 1648 or

Child Protection and GIRFEC Working Group

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The meeting due to take place on 14 January was postponed, a note was issued to members outlining developments around GIRFEC of interest to the group. A further meeting of the group was held on Friday 4 March.

The Working Group are linking in with the Child Protection National Learning and Development group, who are undertaking a mapping of all CPC/GIRFEC Training provision, so that resources may be shared and any gaps identified, which may aid the work of the CP/GIRFEC Working Group.

The working group are currently considering 2 draft practice notes on Information Sharing. Members have provided initial comments and agreed to provide examples to illustrate the notes.

A further meeting of the group will be held on 17 May.

If you would like to discuss further, please contact Katrina McDonald on 0131 244 1648 or

Early Years Collaborative (EYC)

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EYC is the world’s first multi-agency, bottom up, quality improvement programme to support the transformation of early years services – launched October 2012. Promotes the improvement Method to CPPs enabling local practitioners to plan and test an idea for change in a real work setting, where they then observe the changes, measure the results and act on what has been learned before implementing and scaling up the change more widely to improve outcomes for children and families.

Work continues to more closely align the quality improvement work that supports early years and educational attainment – Early Years Collaborative and Raising Attainment for All.

This includes four regional meetings with CPP programme managers and quality improvement leads due to take place early March 2016. The purpose of these meetings is to engage CPP teams in discussions about the future direction of their improvement work. This will include discussions about local priorities and how these align with Programme for Government and policies impacting on children and families. These discussions will inform our wider work to align our improvement programmes and identify the strategic direction that needs to be put in place to support CPPs to deliver quality improvement throughout the child’s journey.

To further ensure cohesion across policy areas we are working closely with colleagues leading the Realigning Children’s Services work so that learning from these surveys can be aligned with and contribute to the future direction of our quality improvement work. The Universal Health Visiting Pathway and the National Improvement Framework provide the stages for child assessment and data capture that inform progress over time and evidence the impact of quality improvement activity.

If you would like to discuss further, please contact Kelly Ireland on 0131 244 0836 or

Equally Safe

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Joint Strategic Board

The Joint Strategic Board met for the second time on 10 February in North Lanarkshire Headquarters. The Board received updates from the workstreams and had some productive discussions around issues including women and Children’s Participation in policy making and the importance of Violence Against Women Partnerships. The board also agreed to hold an event in the summer which would bring together all 4 Workstreams.

The revised version of Equally safe will be published in Spring. Trevor Owen will be attending this meeting of the CPC chairs and will be happy to provide an overview of the work on-going in this area.

If you would like to discuss further, please contact Elizabeth Sloan on 0131 244 0694 or

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

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The Scottish Government has worked with the UK Government to close a loophole in the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 extending the reach of the extra-territorial offences in that Act to habitual (as well as permanent) UK residents, by a legislative consent motion in the Serious Crime Act. The Act received Royal Assent on 3 March 2015 and the provisions for Scotland commenced 3 May 2015.

A letter from the Chief Nursing Officer/Chief Medical Officer in Scotland was issued in July 2015 to inform health professionals (in Scotland) of the additional resources available to support the delivery of services to people who have had FGM or at risk of FGM. It also provides a reminder to be alert to young girls being taken out of Scotland to have FGM performed - CMO/CNO Letter 2015.

The Scottish Government has funded the printing of 2000 copies of the joint FGM statement, some of which was used for Police Scotland’s ‘Operation Atlas’ which commenced 26 June 2015 with an official launch date of 17 July. Others have been distributed to service providers and community based organisations.

Police Scotland rolled out Operation Atlas to all Scottish airports and a seaport prior to and during the Summer school holidays for the period Friday 26th June to Friday 21st August 2015, as school holidays are historically the time when girls are taken out of the country to have FGM performed as this allows time for the wounds to heal before the child returns to school.

Scottish Government Officials provided policy input to the Police Scotland Honour Based Violence seminar at the Scottish Police College on 2 December 2015.

An FGM Multi Agency Short Life Working Group was established in 2014 with the objective to recommend a consistent multi-agency approach to be taken in Scotland towards the elimination of the practice of FGM. The group worked collaboratively with a range of stakeholders from the statutory, third sectors and with potentially affected communities to develop and publish on 04 February 2016 a National Action Plan to prevent and eradicate FGM.

The action plan sets out the objectives, actions and responsibilities required to drive and deliver change. These have been informed by research, experience of other countries, engagement with partners in all sectors and the experiences of communities, service providers and those who have been or are at risk.