Wirral Safeguarding Children Board Statutory Responsibilities and Partner

Wirral Safeguarding Children Board Statutory Responsibilities and Partner Induction David Robbins WSCB Manager https: //www. wirralsafeguarding. co. uk/

The Wirral Safeguarding Children Board • Statutory basis of LSCB’s • Statutory responsibilities of LSCB’s • Organisational & Committee structure of the WSCB and resourcing • Key activities, priorities and Ofsted improvement • Responsibilities of WSCB members

1. Statutory basis of LSCB’s WSCB Annual Report www. wirralsafeguarding. co. uk

Statutory basis of LSCB’s Section 14 of the Children Act 2004 sets out the objectives of LSCBs, which are: (a) to coordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area; and (b) to ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes. • WSCB operates as an independent multi-agency body under the direction of an independent chair (Maggie Atkinson) and is not subordinate to any other body • Effectiveness of LSCB’s tested by Ofsted

2. Statutory responsibilities of LSCB’s WSCB Guide to Integrated Working and Threshold Document

Statutory responsibilities of LSCB’s The key functions of safeguarding boards are set out in the 2006 regulations: • Developing multi-agency policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children (including policies and procedures relating to training, safer recruitment, managing allegations and private fostering) • Communicating to persons and bodies in the area of the authority the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and raising awareness of safeguarding • Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of what is done by partners to safeguard and promote the welfare of children • Participate in the planning of services • Undertake Serious Case Reviews and advise partners of lessons to be learned (learning and improvement framework)

3. Organisational & Committee Structure, and resourcing of the LSCB CSE Awareness Raising Day

Structure of WSCB and sub committees Health and Wellbeing Board Wirral Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB) Wirral Children’s Trust Board WSCB Executive Group Child Sexual Exploitation and Missing Performance Serious Case Review MASH Board Child Death Overview Domestic Abuse Policy, Practice and Procedure Channel Panel Early Help Quality Assurance Care Home Governance Learning and Development WSCB meets 6 x a year. Committees vary from monthly, bi monthly or quarterly (approx 100 mtgs a year) Supporting Families Enhancing Futures

Resourcing of the WSCB • Working Together 2015 states that all safeguarding board partner agencies have an obligation to provide LSCB’s with reliable resources, including finance • Unhelpfully no national funding formula in place • Staffing costs are highest cost for the WSCB (75%) • Securing sustainable long term funding remains a challenge for the WSCB (and most LSCB’s)

Expenditure Staffing Training Serious Case Reviews Room Hire Operating Costs/ General expenses Total Income LA Children’s Services CAFCASS Merseyside Police Health Probation Service Schools Budget Total 190, 035 27, 131 0 Included in training 34, 994 252, 160 123, 100 550 12, 500 31, 800 16, 100 30, 000 224, 050 Income and expenditure

4. Key Activities, Priorities and Improvement (post Ofsted) CSE Poster Produced by a Wirral Young Person who is Looked After

Key WSCB Activities Section 11/175 • Duty on organisations to comply with annual safeguarding audit. 205 agencies participated in 2016 (192 in 2015, 153 in 2014, 117 in 2013). Audits completed online • Audits reveal safeguarding arrangements on average are compliant with expectations of the safeguarding board Learning from Case Reviews • Learning review undertaken on forced marriage case, critical incident undertaken on case with neglect and domestic abuse • Learning disseminated through training, briefings, posters, leaflets, website and updates Annual Report • Annual Report and Business Plan published Dec

Key WSCB Activities Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) • Statutory Responsibility • 31 Child deaths in Wirral. All reviewed and learning published • Safer Sleep campaign including training and resources supported Policies and Procedures • 80+ multi-agency policies and procedures Safeguarding Training • 20 courses (over 70 sessions) delivered to over 1000 professionals • Many courses now with a joint child and adult focus • e-learning courses rolled out (virtual college)

Key WSCB Activities Auditing • Practice audits completed by WSCB • Audits include neglect, thresholds, parental mental health, quality of CP plans, CAF and TAF plans, CSE re-referrals Local Authority Designated Officer for Allegations (LADO) • 281 allegations reported (229 in 2015). Physical abuse (62%) and sexual abuse (18%) main categories • LADO awareness raising undertaken, managing allegations training delivered, revised procedure, posters and leaflets CAF and TAF Quality Assurance • QA group, monthly auditing, quarterly reports

Ofsted Review of the Effectiveness of the WSCB § Ofsted inspected children’s services and reviewed the effectiveness of the WSCB in July 2016 § Both children’s services and the WSCB were judged to be inadequate 19 recommendations for improvement were made to the LA and 7 were made for the WSCB. Including; § Review of governance; independence, influence and challenge; sighted on needs of privately fostered children and those placed in Wirral; notifications of serious incidents; accurate performance information; review of auditing § WSCB has developed an improvement plan and progress is reviewed at each WSCB meeting and through an improvement board and quarterly monitoring visits

WSCB Business Plan for 2016 -18 Priority One – Children in need of help and protection are identified and responded to at the earliest opportunity by services effectively working together § Implementation of the Supporting Families Enhancing Futures model of working with families § Measurement of the impact of services § Understanding and application of thresholds and use of assessment tools § Data and auditing demonstrates how safe children and young people are § Voice and feedback from young people and families assesses and informs the commissioning of services

Priority Two - Children are protected from sexual exploitation by a skilled workforce, and the wider community is equipped to understand respond to concerns § Children Services professionals and wider workforce have a good understanding of signs, symptoms and impact of CSE and are aware of when and how to report concerns § Multi-agency lead officers identified in every partner agency, and the workforce is competent and confident to respond to CSE and agencies demonstrate effectiveness of response § Children at risk of CSE are identified at the earliest opportunity and victims are supported for as long as is needed §Perpetrators are identified, pursued and successfully prosecuted

Priority Three - Children and Young People who are Looked After, including those placed in Wirral by other Local Authorities are supported by agencies who effectively work together to keep them safe § Establish a Care Home Governance group under the auspices of the safeguarding board § Children and young people who are subject to Private Fostering arrangements and their families are well supported and safeguarded § Children and young people placed in Wirral by other local authorities are aware of the ‘local offer’ and support is provided to make sure they are safeguarding § Children and young people currently living in Wirral whilst their immigration or asylum status is determined have access to services and are safeguarded

Priority Four - Through its effective governance and relationships with influential forums and groups the Wirral Safeguarding Children Board ensures all partner agencies meet the needs of Children and Young people § The WSCB develops clear improvement action plan which positively influences the governance and functioning of the safeguarding board § The WSCB is prepared for the implementation of the forthcoming Children and Social Care Act § The WSCB can demonstrate, through its work with other influential bodies a clear and smart approach to the commissioning of services §The WSCB actively supports the Council led partnership 2020 vision and can evidence the positive impact on and improved outcomes for children and young people

Priority Five -The Wirral Safeguarding Children Board discharges all of its statutory duties and ensures the effectiveness of arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people § The WSCB devises an improvement plan to address the 7 recommendations made in the Ofsted review of the effectiveness of the WSCB §Work is completed through the Board and committees and other groups established to ensure actions derived from the recommendations are completed § The improvement plan is reviewed and challenged at each full meeting of the WSCB and the multi-agency improvement board §The WSCB demonstrates full progress against all the actions within 18 months

5. Responsibilities of WSCB Members WSCB multi-agency Neglect Strategy and multi-agency Domestic Abuse Strategy

Responsibilities of WSCB Members Job Role Purpose: To share responsibility with other members of the WSCB to work together as an inter-agency partnership to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, in accordance with government legislation and guidance. Where members belong to a partner agency they should be able to: - Speak for their organisation with authority - Commit their organisation on policy and practice matters - Hold their organisation to account.

Where members are representing educational establishments, independent health care organisations, voluntary, community or faith sector organisations, members should be able to: - Communicate formally with other similar organisations about the work of the WSCB - Champion safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people informally both in their own establishment and in their contact with other similar establishments or organisations

Objectives of WSCB Members - To ensure there is an effective means of communication about the work of the WSCB within each agency - To ensure that Wirral WSCB is adequately resourced - To provide the WSCB with management information so that the WSCB can ensure the effectiveness of inter-agency safeguarding work - To develop and evaluate the impact of inter-agency safeguarding procedures, practice guidance and protocols - To develop and evaluate the impact of multi-agency training in safeguarding and child protection - To contribute to the development of the work of the WSCB

The 16 responsibilities of individual WSCB members - To be accountable to the Chair of Wirral WSCB in respect of the work of the Board - To ensure that agency contributions, both financial and ‘in kind’, are sufficient to enable the Board to function effectively - To attend and contribute to all Board meetings - To attend and contribute to all WSCB events, as requested - To co-ordinate the timely dissemination of information within own agency, and to consult agency staff on pertinent issues - To represent own agency’s views with authority - To promote good safeguarding practice within own agency and to monitor and evaluate their compliance with WSCB policies and procedures

- To be aware of, and bring to the attention of the Board, any national or local developments or any changes to agency requirements which might impact on the delivery of services - To prepare adequately for meetings, by reading minutes and associated papers and to contribute to debate and decisions - To complete any actions within agreed timescales - To accept shared responsibility for the development and satisfactory completion of the WSCB Annual Report and Business Plan, and for the development of policies and procedures both for the WSCB and own agency - To attend at least one multi-agency training session every year

- To participate in agreed frontline activity observations - To ensure ‘home’ agency compliance with requests for information to support the Section 11 and Section 175 safeguarding audits - To report to a senior accountable person within own organisation on the organisations performance in relation to WSCB activities - To work with own agency to ensure that there is an appropriate response to requests for Case Review chronologies and information for multi-agency audits

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