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Tower Hamlets Local Safeguarding Children Board
October 2006
Local Safeguarding Children Board:
The development of Local Safeguarding Children Board provides the opportunity to put in place more effective arrangements for local leadership, joint working, wider engagements, monitoring and review and sharing good practice in safeguarding.
Background
The Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) is a statutory requirement established through the Children Act 2004.
Safeguarding is a broader concept than that of Child Protection that has previously been the focus of multi-agency activity.
Safeguarding means, ‘Protecting children from impairment, preventing impairment of children’s health and development and ensuring children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care’.
Child Protection means ‘Activity undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm’.
The statutory requirement for safeguarding requires the Local Authority to consider its existing arrangements. These existing arrangements include a multi-agency Area Child Protection Committee that has previously overseen the work required to protect children from significant harm in the Borough.
The core objectives of the LSCB are set out in section 14(1) of the Children Act 2004 as follows:
‘To co-ordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area of the authority:
‘To ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for that purpose’.
Policy Context
After the death of Victoria Climbie’ in 2000 the government set up a statutory inquiry lead by Lord Lamming. The inquiry report was published on 28th January 2003 and identified 108 recommendations which culminated in the reform of the Children Act 1989 now the Children Act 2004
The Children Act 2004 is the legislative framework on which Children services will be built on. It establishes for England:
A Children’s Commissioner to champion the views and interests of children and young people
A duty on Local Authorities to make arrangements to promote co-operation between agencies to improve the well-being of children as measured by the five outcome documented in Every Child Matters.
A duty on key agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
A duty on Local Authorities to set up Local Safeguarding Children Boards by April 2006.
A requirement on Local Authorities to appoint a Director of Children’s Services and designated Lead Member.
The Functions of the Local Safeguarding Children Board:
Developing Policies and Procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area of the authority:
Communicate to persons and bodies in the area of the authority the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, raising their awareness of how this can be best done and encouraging them to do so:
Monitoring and evaluate the effectiveness of what is done by the Local Authority and board partners individually and collectively to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and advise them on ways to improve:
Participating in the Local planning and commissioning of Children’s Services to ensure that they take safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children into account:
From April 2008 each LSCB will have the functions set out in regulations relating to child deaths. Collecting and analysing information about the deaths of all children in their area:
Putting in place procedures for ensuring that there is a co-ordinated response by the authority, their Board partners and other relevant persons to an unexpected death of a child.
Structure of the Tower Hamlets Local Safeguarding Children Board:
A hierarchical model was proposed as being the most effective way forward. The model was chosen as it enhances the strategic approach to safeguarding whilst maintaining the specialist child protection expertise and understanding.
The work of the LSCB will need to be supported by the Child Protection Committee that would ensure that partners statutory requirements to protect children are maintained and developed.
The committee will be responsible for the development and implementation of child protection procedures, the coordination of child protection training, the undertaking of serious case reviews and the monitoring of performance and quality
The Chairs (Executive) Group:
This group is chaired by Kamini Rambellos and attended by the deputy chair of the CPC and all Sub committee Chairs. The meeting takes place two weeks prior to the CPC’s main meeting the purpose being to look at emerging safeguarding issues; discuss the management of the CPC meetings, update and feedback on reports for the LSCB meeting and monitor the development of the sub committees workplans.
-
| Kamini Rambellos |
|
Head of Children Services - Chair |
| Owen Hamner |
|
Designated Doctor THPCT |
| Ann Roach |
|
Service Manager/CPRS |
| Lynne Sheridan |
|
Designated Named Nurse THPCT |
| Jane Cooke |
|
Group Manager, Child Protection Co-ordinators |
| Paul McGee |
|
Service Manager, Fieldwork |
| Anthony Walters |
|
Service Manager, Performance & Statistics |
| Rob Mills |
|
Nurse Consultant, Safeguarding Children Team , Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust |
| Monawara Bakht |
|
LSCB Co-ordinator |
The Role of members of the Local Safeguarding Children Board:
- Ensure that LSCB carries out its strategic functions
- Provide strategic direction, co-ordination and planning in respect of inter-agency safeguarding issues
- Receive regular information on the effectiveness of inter-agency arrangements e.g. Performance data, Inspection reports, S11 reviews and make recommendations in Safeguarding children
- Agree Local policies and procedures
- Ensure agencies recruit and develop staff working with children so that they are equipped to deliver effective practice in safeguarding children and protection of children
- Commission serious case reviews
- Review all child deaths from April 2008
- Work with the Local Strategic Partnership to raise awareness of Safeguarding issues and help them to address safeguarding children in their plans, promote safeguarding and wellbeing for all children
- Contribute to the Children and Young People’s Plan and other strategic plans that will impact on children
- Help agencies maintain a focus on safeguarding during significant organisational change
- Agree the budget for LSCB
- Contribute to inspection of local children's services and review their findings.
Responsibilities of all Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) Members:
- Must be able to attend consistently
- Must have a strategic role within their organisation in relation to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
- Must be able to speak for their agency with authority
- Must be able to commit resources
- Must be able to commit their agency on policy and practice
- Must be able to hold their agency to account for action
- Duty to contribute to the effective work of the LSCB
- Duty to give precedence to the above over their role as representative of their agency (3.65)
- Duty to monitor and evaluate performance and practice and take accountability for this
- Duty to report concerns about practice in relation to specific agencies to the most senior officer of the agency, or to the relevant Inspectorate or to the relevant Government Department.
