Agenda item

HARINGEY SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN'S PARTNERSHIP - ANNUAL REPORT

To consider the Annual Report of the Haringey Safeguarding Children’s Partnership.                                                                              (TO FOLLOW)

Minutes:

David Archibald, the Independent Chair, reported on the progress made by Haringey Safeguarding Children’s Partnership since its inception.  The new arrangements had been implemented from September 2019.  There were now three agencies that were equally accountable for safeguarding children.  These were the Council, the Police and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).   This was a significant change and a lot of preparatory work had been necessary, including publication of what the new arrangements were.  There was a requirement for them to include independent scrutiny. 

 

The partnership was required to produce an annual report.  This was being prepared and would be available in due course.  It would cover the eighteen month period between the implementation of the new arrangements and March 2021.  The partnership had been developing well but the Covid pandemic had had a severe impact.  The partnership had responded strongly to it and increased the frequency of its meetings to ensure that safeguarding was maintained and temporary arrangements put in place by agencies were shared with partners. 

 

The partnership aimed to promote excellent joint working between partners and inspire public confidence.  There was joint and equal accountability between statutory partners.  The Council provided approximately 80% of the budget.  In addition to the amounts in the budget, contributions in kind were also received from agencies.  There had been 10,700 contacts in the previous year.  The highest number of these had come from the Police.  There had been 2,877 referrals, compared to 3,612 in the year before.  Performance data was monitored to identify patterns and regular audits undertaken to promote challenge and learning.  National guidelines were followed in respect of serious incidents.  There were currently two Serious Case Reviews in progress.   Reviews such as these were now to be replaced by Practice Reviews.  When the Covid-19 pandemic had started, business continuity plans had been developed to ensure that children remained safeguarded.  Major efforts were made to ensure that children were still seen.   33 multi-agency training events had been held during the year and the feedback from these had been positive.

 

There were three specific themes within the priorities for the forthcoming year.  These were:

·         Children living with mental health issues;

·         Prevention and early intervention; and

·         Older children in need of help and protection and contextual safeguarding, including exploitation.

 

The partnership would also be looking at the following with other strategic partnership boards:

·         Transitional Safeguarding with the Safeguarding Adults Board;

·         Neglect with the Early Help and Health & Wellbeing Boards; and

·         Stop and Search with the Community Safety Partnership.

 

In answer to a question regarding whether the new arrangements were sufficiently robust yet to safeguard children effectively, Mr Archibald stated that the three strategic partners were now working more closely together than in the past.  There was always room for improvement though.   It was widely accepted that the best systems protected children by reducing levels of harm done but it was not possible to reduce this to zero.  The partnership was learning from audits and feedback.  The Covid-19 pandemic had proven to be a particularly challenging time as many children were not being seen in school due to lockdowns and some families were resistant to children being seen elsewhere.

 

In answer to another question, he stated that it had been suggested that schools should also be strategic partners.  However, others had stated that it would be impossible to engage with them all.  Sir Alan Wood had undertaken a review on this issue a year ago and had found that whilst schools had a crucial role to play, it was not possible for them all to be partners.  Further consideration was nevertheless taking place on how best to involve schools. 

 

Ann Graham, the Director of Children’s Services, commented that this had been an issue that partners had grappled with for a long time.  There were nevertheless strong structures within the Council for engaging with schools.  These had been weekly at one stage but were now fortnightly.  In addition, there were Headteacher representatives on the Safeguarding Board.  It was accepted that more could be done to engage with school governing bodies and this was something that the Partnership would continue to look at.  It was noted that school governing body chairs were now beginning to work more closely together. 

 

In answer to a question regarding training for people working in the voluntary sector, Beverley Hendricks (Assistant Director for Safeguarding and Social Care) reported that the partnership provided a range of courses that were open to all.  A number of these were targeted at the voluntary sector and the Council did not charge for these.  She was happy to share further details of these, as required .

 

The Panel thanked Mr Archibald for attending and his contribution.