1. Introduction
Children Missing from Education in Scotland ( CME(S)) was established in January 2005 as a national service to support the transfer of information between schools and local authorities and the tracing of school-aged children who go missing from education. It was fully operational by August 2005.
The service has developed in consultation and collaboration with local authorities across Scotland. Close links have been formed with other agencies, independent schools and with designated CME contacts in local authorities in England and Wales.
From the start it was determined that the system would be subject to a process of ongoing review since it would be difficult to anticipate the level of tracing required and associated service developments.
A service review was commissioned in September 2006.
At the time of commissioning, initial proposals and staffing had changed, Safe and Well had been issued and many developments had taken place at both national and at local authority levels.
The development of the Scottish Government's secure School to School (S2S) Transfer System and its launch would have an impact on CME (S) as might the review of Children Missing Education in England and Wales (2006) and future proposals for statutory guidance in England.
With this in mind the review would:
- look at CME (S)'s current performance;
- CME(S)'s impact on national and local policy development and procedures;
- factors which could affect the future direction of the service; and
- suggest areas which might require re-visiting or further development.
and the review methodology would include:
- a degree of involvement in active casework;
- discussions with CME (S) staff;
- initial analysis of CME(S) procedures and operation;
- examination of case files and the CME(S) data base;
- in depth analysis of complex case files;
- analysis of local authority policies and procedures; and
- analysis of initial consultation with local authorities and other stakeholders.
From the outset it was agreed that the care and welfare and protection of children was fundamental. Appropriate action would be taken if during the course of the review concerns arose about practices or procedures which were putting children at risk.
This report contains an executive summary, background information, a review of CME (S)'s progress and interface with local authorities and other services, factors affecting future service development, conclusions and recommendations. Supporting information is set out in appendices 1 to 16.