This item is reserved to discuss any issues raised by the Thurrock Local Safeguarding Children Board.
Minutes:
The Business Manager for the Local Safeguarding Children Board (BMLSCB), Alan Cotgrove, provided a verbal update to the Committee in which he stated that the new Children and Social Work Act 2017 would dissolve the current Local Safeguarding Children Board’s (LSCB) responsibilities and would require new safeguarding arrangements to be put in place.
The legislation changed the statutory agencies down to three, from five, which would now consist of the Local Authority, the police and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). It removed Probation and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) but they would still form part of the safeguarding partnerships.
A small strategic group of the new partners had been set up to agree the new arrangements. Further guidance would be available from April 2018 following the submission of an implementation plan to the Department for Education (DfE) for approval. From there, the LSCB would cease to exist. The BMLSCB would prepare a more detailed report for the next Committee meeting.
Currently, the LSCB was undertaking three serious case reviews and one management case, all which would be published anonymously to protect the children’s identities. Case one was in the final stage of completion with a draft report ready which related to child abuse; case two would have drafts ready for boards soon and related to neglect; and case three had just been implemented which related to sexual abuse. The management review related to the health needs of Children Looked After (CLA).
Learning outcomes from the cases were shared with partners where it was relevant. The LSCB had published a case back in June, in which the child had passed away. A learning event had been set up back in November and had been well attended by practitioners. The process had proved to be successful and would be continued.
The BMLSCB intended to bring an annual report to the next Children’s Services Committee meeting and requested this to be on the work programme for 13th February 2018.
The Chair asked for clarity on what the LSCB’s position would be when the new legislation would come into place. THE BMLSCB confirmed that safeguarding boards would not exist under the new arrangements. The content and approach of the current Thurrock LSCB would be taken into the new framework alongside other identified needs.
Councillor Spillman queried the process of investigating serious cases and how cases were decided as serious. A set criteria was in place for serious cases which included circumstances where a child had passed away, been severely neglected or sexually assaulted. Alongside these criterias, the information obtained from agencies would also be considered to decide a serious case.
The Chair looked forward to the annual report at the next Committee meeting in February 2018. She queried the timeframe of six months to respond to the new legislation in April 2018. The BMLSCB confirmed that they would be given a timeframe of six to nine months to implement the new framework for safeguarding.
The BMLSCB left the meeting at 7.16pm.