Agenda item

This is the Local Authority Designated Officer’s (LADO) annual report of allegations made against adults who work with children. The report provides profiling analysis of allegations made in the Borough, comparative data and an update of the interventions and development work completed during 2012/13.

The Committee were advised that the council  in conjunction with the LSCB  has a duty to ensure that all allegations of abuse, maltreatment  of children by a professional, staff member, foster carer or volunteer  are considered  and treated  in accordance with national guidance. The Committee considered a report by the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) which provided open information on the referrals of allegations against adults who work with children, including a profiling analysis of allegations made in the borough, comparative data and an update of the interventions and development work completed in 2012/13. This included staff that lived in Haringey but worked in other boroughs.  

The Committee noted that the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) holds a significant position in the Children’s Service hierarchy and this role is taken forward by a staff member who shares their work time equally as a Child Protection Advisor. It was important to note that the LADO will  be involved in the management oversight  of the individual cases  where allegations have been made and will not make the decisions on the outcome of the allegations as these allegations will already be being progressed through separate means i.e. prosecution or internal disciplinary proceedings.

The Committee were informed that allegations against professionals, staff members, foster care or volunteers were previously recorded in a paper system but in the last year had begun to be recorded; confidentially, on Framework I .This had allowed the enclosed performance information to be compiled.  The LSCB had provided 4 training sessions to partners about the reporting of allegations,   and focused on what is an allegation, the thresholds that need to be applied and provided an explanation of the roles in the   reporting process and what they do.

The Committee were provided with a profile of adults that allegations have been made against and some examples of the varying types of allegations. Members noted that there will be around 2 calls a week making allegations of abuse and maltreatment of children.   There were mainly 3 ways to deal with the allegation and the option taken forward would also depend on the seriousness of the allegation. The options were:  instigation of a section 47 investigation for serious allegations, staff training or management action.

The Committee further noted that there were 46 allegations between 2012-13, that met the updated thresholds, these were in line with number received by neighbouring boroughs, and were investigated by the LADO. A majority of the allegations came from the establishment.

 The Chair asked a question about the revisions to the thresholds and sought assurance that these had not been made more lenient. The Committee noted that the thresholds, following a review, were more correctly aligned to the criteria for statutory interventions. The LADO contributed to the dialogue with schools and smaller organisations so they were aware of the statutory criteria and when they needed to make referrals the service. The Committee were further assured that the LADO   will not automatically discard the allegations that do not make the threshold and will advise the appropriate organisation how to take forward the complaint about their staff through their internal management or HR process.  

The Chair felt the committee would need more understanding of the performance information and recommended that there be a report back to either the September or January meeting when there will have been data collected for the first quarter of the 2013/14 year. This will enable some comparisons to be made with the data.

The report referred to the profile of adults that allegations had been made against and within the process for data collection it was feasible for   information on the  ethnicity, gender and age on  to be extrapolated. Noted that if persons are made identifiable , in the  forthcoming report,  this information  would  need to  be considered in the private part of the meeting as it would be  exempt information likely to reveal an individual and they maybe going through a disciplinary or court process where the outcome of the allegations is not yet  decided.

A question was asked about how a sense of proportion is developed on how to take forward an allegation and the links made with other agencies to get the level of intervention right. In response, an example was given of how a more serious allegation which meets the threshold can be taken forward, starting with a strategy meeting with the Police.

The Committee noted the importance of clear communications and transparency around the process as this will provide the confidence that there is an applied process .This will, in turn, create trust in the process for all parties concerned.

 Agreed a report back to the September or January meeting with comparison data.