Agenda item

The Board received a report presenting the Action Plan that had been formed in response to the Joint Area Review (JAR) of the arrangements in place for the Safeguarding of children in Haringey.

The JAR report, received from OFSTED in December 2008, made a number of recommendations for improving the Safeguarding of children in Haringey. Following the publication of this the Secretary of State had required the new Director of Children’s Services to produce an Action Plan addressing the recommendations by the end of February 2009.   

The Board was advised that the Partners had worked together to produce the Plan and that there had been significant enthusiasm and commitment expressed towards forming the document. The Plan set out not only how the recommendations within the JAR report would be address, but also how Safeguarding would be improved and developed over the next three years.

In addition to the document presented there were a number of monitoring and performance management documents that sat beneath it. At present a piece of work was being carried out to rationalise the bodies with Safeguarding responsibilities; the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership Board was taking steps to become a Children’s Trust Board and Children and several other existing bodies were being merged or abolished. All of these measures were intended to ensure that Safeguarding in the Borough was as effective as possible.

It was noted that a narrative document would also be produced, which would provide an overview of what the Action Plan would achieve over the next three years and its strategic priorities. A ‘map’ would also accompany the document setting out how the various documents sat together, milestones and  timeline for the three year period covered by the Plan.

Concern was raised by representatives from the Community and Voluntary Sector that there had not been sufficient consultation with the sector during the formation of the Plan. This point was acknowledged, however, it was noted that there had been a very limited timescale in place to draw together the Plan and as a result it had not been possible to engage and consult with the range of partners the Council would normally consult with.

It was noted that following the death of Baby P it had become evident that staff had raised concerns around the handling of cases with senior officers and these concerns had not been addressed. In response to a query, as to how this and the broader issue of attitude and cultural change were being addressed, the Board was advised that this was a key issue for the Plan. There were measures within the Plan aimed at improving and developing reflective practice and how staff were supported by senior officers.  

The Board was advised that there was also measures contained within the Plan to raised awareness of Safeguarding issues amongst the public more generally and these were aimed at encouraging people to come forward if there were issues of concern.

It was contended that in order for the Plan to be successful in achieving its objectives the narrative would need to set out clearly what should change and how partners intended to achieve this. It was suggested that there should be further detail included in relation to the roles of partners and the responsibilities assigned to them within the Plan.

There was agreement that it would be useful if Councillors and other responsible partners, who were not practitioners, met to discuss how they could assure themselves that Safeguarding was working effectively and that there were the proper mechanisms in place to measure this.

The Board was advised that Risk Assessments had been undertaken in relation to the measures set out in the Plan and that recruitment and retention of staff was recognised as being key to its success.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report and Action Plan be noted.

2. That a meeting of non practitioners with responsibility for delivering the Plan should be arranged.