National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland: Consultation

Listen

PART 2 - ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR CHILD PROTECTION


COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR CHILD PROTECTION

143. All agencies, professional bodies and services which work with children and their families have a responsibility to recognise and actively consider potential risks to a child, irrespective of whether the child is their 'client'. Increasingly, they are expected to identify and consider the child's needs, share information and concerns with other agencies and work collaboratively with other services (as well as the child and their family) to improve outcomes.

144. Accordingly, greater emphasis needs to be given to the role of all agencies and professional bodies which interface with the public, both within an adult and child service provider context. An awareness and appreciation of the role of others is essential for effective collaboration between organisations, professional bodies and the public. This chapter outlines the main collective responsibilities for child protection, including local communities and the general public as well as the key strategic forum for local inter-agency child protection partnerships, Child Protection Committees. The single agency roles and responsibilities of statutory organisations, professional bodies, and the independent and third sector in safeguarding and promoting the well-being of children are considered in the next chapter.

Local Communities and the General Public

145. Very often referrals concerning a child at risk of significant harm come from the general public. Children only sometimes make initial allegations to the statutory agencies; instead it is often a family member, friend or neighbour who first becomes aware of concerns about possible risks to a child. Agencies who work with families and children are in an ideal position to inform and educate the general public about the duties and responsibilities of agencies to protect children. Child protection needs to be seen as the responsibility of not just the statutory agencies but also the community in which children live. Local authority and other relevant agencies should disseminate information to the general public to promote a sense of shared responsibility. Practitioners must make it clear to members of the public that they have an obligation to pass information about child abuse and neglect to the statutory agencies and cannot guarantee confidentiality if the child is at risk of significant harm.

Child Protection Committees

146. Child Protection Committees were first established in each local authority area across Scotland in 1991. Since then, they have been subject to many reforms and review, in particular in 2005, when they were strengthened as part of the then Scottish Executive's Child Protection Reform Programme 8. The national guidance for Child Protection Committees was published in 2005 and has been embedded in this revised guidance with some amendments.

147. Child Protection Committees are locally-based, inter-agency strategic partnerships responsible for the design, development, publication, distribution, dissemination, implementation and evaluation of child protection policy and practice across the public, private and wider third sectors in their locality and in partnership across Scotland. Their role, through their respective local structures and memberships, is to provide individual and collective leadership and direction for the management of child protection services across Scotland. They work in partnership with their respective Chief Officers' Groups and the Scottish Government to take forward child protection policy and practice across Scotland.

148. This guidance is, therefore, deliberately directive and specific in its content to reflect the continuing significant importance of Child Protection Committees. It emphasises the need for a clear, co-ordinated and unambiguous approach to child protection across Scotland within the wider GIRFEC framework.

Chief Officers' Groups

149. Chief Officers across Scotland are individually and collectively responsible for the leadership, direction and scrutiny of their respective child protection services and their Child Protection Committees. Chief Officers are responsible for overseeing the commissioning of all child protection services and accountable for this work and its effectiveness. They are individually responsible for promoting child protection across all areas of their individual services and agencies, thus ensuring a corporate approach. This responsibility applies equally to the public, private and third sectors.

150. Across Scotland, local arrangements are now well established to meet local geographic and demographic demands and service user needs. Chief Officers are responsible for determining the most appropriate child protection arrangements for their respective area(s). Chief Officers' Groups have strategic responsibility for their Child Protection Committees. Chief Officers' Groups must be properly constituted so as to discharge their individual and collective strategic responsibilities. Chief Officers must ensure and recognise that members of Child Protection Committees have the necessary child protection skills and knowledge to enable them to fulfil their individual and collective responsibilities. Child Protection Committees are best placed to provide Chief Officers with the best possible professional advice in child protection matters.

151. Chief Officers will determine their own local membership and business arrangements. They will ensure they are transparent and accountable to Elected Members and Scottish Ministers. They will make certain that individually and collectively, they have a clear vision, shared values and aims, which promote the protection of all children, young people and families. Their partnership working will focus on providing better outcomes for vulnerable children and families. They will set up arrangements for gathering and presenting performance management and monitoring information that is relevant to achieving these outcomes in their areas. They will ensure that there is an interface with adult protection, offender management/ MAPPA, Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and other planning fora. For further information on wider planning issues, see the chapter on Wider Planning Links.

Child Protection Committee Arrangements

152. Chief Officers must ensure that their Child Protection Committee is properly constituted, resourced and that its arrangements are robust, relevant and clearly focused and relevant to all members of Child Protection Committees, their sub-committees and partner agencies, and the wider public at large. Child Protection Committees must work within the wider planning frameworks so that their work, and child protection is fully integrated and effective.

153. Chief Officers are responsible for ensuring that these resources include dedicated finance to support the collective work and/or specific core functions and/or activities of their Child Protection Committees. Chief Officers will ensure that their Child Protection Committees have dedicated professional and administrative support staff.

154. Each Child Protection Committee will have in place an inter-agency Lead Officer to co-ordinate the inter-agency activities of the Child Protection Committee and its sub-committees. Each Child Protection Committee will have in place a dedicated Child Protection Training Officer or a shared resource in terms of delivering inter-agency child protection training.

155. Membership of the Child Protection Committee will be representative, inclusive and all members must fully understand their role, remit and purpose. Chief Officers' Groups will appoint or agree the appointment of the Chair of their Child Protection Committee, including their contractual arrangements and/or terms of reference, role and remit. The Child Protection Committee Chair may be appointed from a single representative service or agency or Chief Officers may decide to appoint an Independent Chair. This remains at local discretion. Chief Officers will also appoint, or agree the appointment of, a Child Protection Committee Vice Chair and the wider Child Protection Committee membership.

156. Chief Officers will ensure that the Chair and Vice Chair fully understand their specific role, responsibility and remit and the Chair and Vice Chair should have an in-depth knowledge of child protection. They will agree their working arrangements, term of office and their reporting and accountability arrangements.

157. Chief Officers will ensure that all members of their Child Protection Committee have the relevant delegated responsibility level and capacity to make decisions on behalf of the service or agency they represent. All Child Protection Committee members will have designated deputies who will attend the regular meeting in their absence and on their behalf.

158. Chief Officers will make certain that all members of their Child Protection Committee are properly inducted, have access to child protection training, particularly inter-agency child protection training, have protected time in which to fulfil their responsibilities before, during and after meetings and that the work of their Child Protection Committee is transmitted widely. The work of their Child Protection Committee must be widely understood and embedded into their respective service or agency's child protection policy and practice arrangements. Work emanating from the Child Protection Committee must be properly implemented and monitored effectively so as to measure impact and outcomes.

159. Chief Officers will decide upon the local reporting arrangements for their Child Protection Committee and the requirement for an annual report and/or annual Plan, in addition to any other national and/or local planning and reporting requirements.

Functions of a Child Protection Committee

160. The functions of a Child Protection Committee are continuous improvement, strategic planning, public information and communication. The work of the Child Protection Committee must be reflected in local practice and meet local needs. The following describes in more detail the core business functions for Child Protection Committees and provides a working framework for their work. They are presented here in no particular order of priority or importance. This list should not be considered all-inclusive or exhaustive.

Continuous Improvement

161. Child Protection Committees have a key role to play in the continuous improvement of child protection policy and practice. A number of functions relate directly to this key role.

Policies, procedures and protocols

162. Child Protection Committees will design, develop, publish, distribute, disseminate, implement and regularly review and evaluate clear and robust inter-agency child protection policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines. Each Child Protection Committee will:

  • encourage constituent services and agencies to have in place their own up-to-date child protection policies, procedures, protocols, guidelines and other relevant materials;
  • ensure all services and agencies have robust whistle-blowing polices in place and that these are sufficiently disseminated and understood by all practitioners and managers;
  • ensure that child protection policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines are developed around existing and emerging key issues, where there is agreement that this is required; and
  • publish and regularly review their own inter-agency child protection guidelines, which must reflect national and local policy developments, including GIRFEC and the robust arrangements for the management of child protection case conferences.

Management information and statistics

163. Child Protection Committees will have an overview of management information and statistics from all key services and agencies about their work to protect children and young people. Each Child Protection Committee will:

  • have an overview of management information and statistics relating to children and young people on the local Child Protection Register;
  • call for and receive regular management information and statistics reports, which include analysis of trends, as relevant to the key child protection issues for their area;
  • analyse, identify and where appropriate, address the implications of the management information and statistics reports for services and agencies; and
  • ensure that the management information and statistics reports inform the development inter-agency child protection policy and practice and advise Chief Officers as required.

This should be sufficient to monitor service provision, assess impact, identify strengths and weaknesses and make a strategic assessment of service need.

Self-evaluation, quality assurance and continuous improvement

164. Whilst individual services and agencies have responsibility for assessing and improving their own services and agencies, Child Protection Committees have responsibility for the development and implementation of inter-agency self-evaluation, quality assurance and continuous improvement mechanisms. Each Child Protection Committee will:

  • promote self-evaluation as a continual process and not a single event;
  • agree, implement and review their inter-agency quality assurance and continuous improvement mechanisms for inter-agency work, including self-evaluation against current standards and quality indicators and the procedures around significant case reviews;
  • ensure that these inter-agency self-evaluation and quality assurance mechanisms for inter-agency work directly contribute to the continuous improvement agenda of services to protect children and young people; and
  • publish regular inter-agency self-evaluation and quality assurance reports in demonstration of this requirement.
Promotion of Good Practice

165. Child Protection Committees have a responsibility to identify and promote good evidence-based policy and practice developments, address issues of poor policy and practice, and encourage learning from effective policy and practice developments. Each Child Protection Committee will:

  • have robust mechanisms in place for the identification, consideration and undertaking of significant case reviews on behalf of the Chief Officers - this should include a vigorous evaluation process for actions identified from the review. For further information on significant case reviews, seeProtecting Children and Young People: Interim Guidance for Child Protection Committees for Conducting a Significant Case Review;
  • have in place mechanisms to identify and disseminate lessons from past and current practice, including learning from significant case reviews, inspection reports and other inquiry reports;
  • ensure that these lessons directly inform inter-agency child protection planning, training and staff development; and
  • identify networks, mechanisms and opportunities to share these lessons more widely across services and agencies and between Child Protection Committees across Scotland.
Training and Staff Development

166. Training and staff development for those working with children and families must be undertaken at both a single agency and inter-agency level, particularly in respect of child protection. Child Protection Committees are responsible for the design, development, promoting, commissioning and overview of all inter-agency child protection training.

167. Child Protection Committees are also responsible for the evaluation and quality assurance of inter-agency child protection training in terms of its impact. Child Protection Committees will publish, implement and regularly review and evaluate an inter-agency child protection training strategy. Each Child Protection Committee will:

  • have an overview of all available single agency child protection training and consider the implications for inter-agency child protection training;
  • plan, review and quality assure all inter-agency child protection training and development activities;
  • have in place and review, at least annually, a programme for all inter-agency child protection training; and
  • ensure relevant, effective and consistent inter-agency training is provided for all practitioners, managers, non-statutory agencies and the Child Protection Committee themselves.

( For more information on training please see the chapter on Leadership.)

Strategic Planning

168. Child Protection Committees are the key local partnerships in terms of the planning of child protection policy and practice. This needs to be done in conjunction with other planning mechanisms and priorities, in particular the integrated children's services planning and community planning arrangements. The contribution of Child Protection Committees to strategic planning falls into the following two broad categories.

Communication, collaboration and co-operation

169. Effective communication, collaboration and co-operation, both within and between practitioners and across all services and agencies, remain essential to the effective protection of children and families. Each Child Protection Committee will:

  • demonstrate effective communication and co-operation at Child Protection Committee and Sub-Committee level;
  • actively promote effective communication, collaboration and co-operation between all services and agencies;
  • identify and, wherever possible, resolve any issues between services and agencies in relation to the protection of children and young people;
  • demonstrate effective communication with other inter-agency partnerships and bodies;
  • demonstrate effective communication about the work of the Child Protection Committee with staff in constituent services and agencies; and
  • identify opportunities to share knowledge, skills and learning with other Child Protection Committees via national and local networks and fora across Scotland.

Planning and connections

170. Child Protection Committees need to be clear about their links with other multi-agency planning partnerships and structures. Each Child Protection Committee will:

  • clearly identify the key links that are required to be made with other bodies and ensure that they are made;
  • ensure that Child Protection Committee plans and priorities are clearly linked to other national and local plans;
  • in conjunction with other bodies, identify issues where either joint working would be beneficial or duplication could be avoided and ensure that action is taken to address these issues; and
  • have in place, and regularly review the effectiveness of, joint protocols around particular identified issues.

171. While this list is not exhaustive, these connections will include:

  • Chief Officers' Group;
  • all services and agencies represented on the Child Protection Committee, sub-committees and/or groups including local authority, NHS, police and SCRA;
  • Elected Members Committees;
  • Adult Protection Committees;
  • adult services (for example, mental health, criminal justice or learning disabilities)
  • sex offender management and MAPPA;
  • children's services planning;
  • community planning;
  • Child Protection Committees in other areas;
  • Community Safety Partnerships;
  • Alcohol and Drug Partnerships or their equivalent;
  • Domestic Abuse Partnerships;
  • community care planning structures;
  • Child Care Partnerships;
  • the third sector;
  • youth justice;
  • the Scottish Government;
  • the Scottish Ambulance Service;
  • the Crown Office and Procurators Fiscal Service; and
  • NHS Child Protection Action Groups.
Public Information and Communication

Public information

172. Child Protection Committees will determine the level of public awareness, understanding and knowledge of, and confidence in, child protection systems within their area and address any issues as required within their business and/or improvement plans.

173. Child Protection Committees will produce and disseminate public information about protecting children and young people. Each Child Protection Committee will design, develop, publish, distribute, disseminate, implement and regularly review and evaluate a public information and communications strategy that includes the following elements:

  • raising basic awareness and understanding of child protection issues within communities, including children and young people;
  • promoting the ethos that "child protection is everyone's job" in keeping with GIRFEC; and
  • providing information about how members of the public can report concerns about a child and what could happen.

Involving children and young people and their families

174. Child Protection Committees will ensure that the perspectives of children, young people and their families will be clearly evidenced in the work of the Child Protection Committee, in accordance with GIRFEC principles. It is vital that this area is not addressed in a tokenistic manner. Each Child Protection Committee will:

  • be able to demonstrate that its work is informed by the perspective of children and young people as appropriate to their age and understanding, including the most vulnerable and those with direct experiences of child protection services;
  • review and develop their strategies for doing so; and
  • ensure that children and young people are involved in the design, development and implementation of the Child Protection Committees' public information and communication strategies.

175. There are a number of ways of doing this. It is not possible to be prescriptive about the methods to be employed, but for illustration, these could include:

  • drawing on the experience of the third sector in eliciting the views of children and young people;
  • receiving regular reports from Children's Rights Officers on the views of children and young people;
  • commissioning independent surveys, either individually or collectively with other Child Protection Committees on the views of children and their families;
  • improving decision-making and recording practices to ensure that the views of children and families are better able to be gathered together and reflected;
  • promoting the establishment of community-based advocacy services for children and young people; or
  • ensuring that the views of children and young people are accounted for through the application of inter-agency quality assurance mechanisms.

Page updated: Thursday, May 27, 2010