Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Board & hvoss – Working Together Sally Halls Independent Chair

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015 Chapter 2: Paragraph 4. Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places duties on a range of organisations and individuals to ensure their functions, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. These organisations should have in place clear arrangements that reflect the importance of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, including; 1. a clear line of accountability for the commissioning and/or provision of services designed to safeguard and promote the welfare of children; 2. a senior board level lead for safeguarding arrangements; 3. a culture of listening to children and taking account of their wishes and views. 4. clear whistleblowing procedures, and a culture which allows safeguarding issues to be addressed. 5. clear arrangements and processes for sharing information with other professionals and with the LSCB.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015 Paragraph 4 (Cont). 6. a designated professional lead for safeguarding. 7. safe recruitment practices for individuals whom the organisation will permit to work regularly with children. 8. appropriate supervision and support for staff, including undertaking safeguarding training. 9. mandatory inductions for staff, which includes familiarisation with child protection responsibilities and procedures to be followed if anyone has any concerns about a child’s safety or welfare. 10. all professionals should have regular review of their own practice. 11. clear policies in line with those from the LSCB for dealing with allegations against people who work with children.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015 Chapter 2: Paragraph 43/44 Voluntary and private sectors Voluntary organisations and private sector providers play an important role in delivering services to children. They should have the arrangements described in paragraph 4 in place in the same way as organisations in the public sector, and need to work effectively with the LSCB. Paid and volunteer staff need to be aware of their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, how they respond to child protection concerns and make a referral to the local authority children’s social care or the police if necessary. Faith organisations Churches, other places of worship and faith-based organisations provide a wide range of activities for children and have an important role in safeguarding and supporting families. Like other organisations who work with children they need to have appropriate arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, as described in paragraph 4.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015 Chapter 3: Paragraph 9 The LSCB should either include on its Board, or be able to draw on appropriate expertise and advice from, frontline professionals from all the relevant sectors, this includes the voluntary and community sector.

Objectives and functions of LSCB’s (a) To coordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area; and (b) to ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes.

Key – We need to do this within the delivery of the HSCB Business Plan Purpose of Discussion 1. How can we raise the profile of safeguarding children across the voluntary and community sector in Herefordshire including awareness of and engagement with the work of the HSCB? 2. How do we enable effective engagement of the local VCS in the development of the work of the HSCB and future strategy? Key – We need to do this within the delivery of the HSCB Business Plan

The annual report -

Board Priorities 2017 - 19 Priority 1: Neglect. Priority 2: Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (including children who go missing). Priority 3: Safeguarding Vulnerable Children. Priority 4: Early Help. Priority 5: Strong Leadership, strong partnership. Strategic Priorities HSCB is a truly effective agent for change that has a real impact for children and young people. To improve the recognition and response to child sexual exploitation (CSE) and missing children and young people. To support increased resilience in individuals, families and communities. To safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people who are abused and/or neglected. What will success look like? Key Outcome LSCB work is informed by the voice of the child and front line practitioners. Increased use of challenge results in improvements; for example, rate of repeat referrals. Increased number of schools delivering safe and healthy relationship information to pupils. Reduction in referral and re-referral rates to children’s social care. Improved quality of referrals to children’s social care. Maintain rate of repeat child protection plans in line with statistical neighbours. (NB: to be reviewed in line with year end data.) Measures The LSCB works effectively with other strategic partnerships and influences commissioning and local partnership safeguarding activity. Percentage increase in the number of welfare return interviews completed. Increase in the disruption and/or prosecution of perpetrators. Percentage of professionals who report they are confident in responding to concerns in accordance with thresholds document. Increased multi-agency attendance and contribution to child protection conferences. Child protection plans clearly set out what needs to change, how and by when.

Raising the profile… HSCB Business Plan states; “Strong leadership, strong partnership.” 5.1. working with partners to deliver successfully against the Business Plan and associated work plans set for HSCB and its subgroups / working groups 5.2. continuing to strengthen the governance interface between HSCB and other key strategic forums 5.3. communicating and raising awareness about safeguarding to individuals, organisations and communities 5.5. scrutinising and challenging the individual and collective performance of partner organisations in safeguarding and improving outcomes for children, particularly those who are most vulnerable 5.6. engaging with children, young people and families to capture their views and experiences, influence the partnership’s work and evaluate the impact of partner activity on their outcomes

Increasing awareness of and engagement with the work of the HSCB. Priority – Neglect 1.1 Implementing the childhood neglect strategy hvoss – GCP Trainers – 2 places? 1.6. Ensuring the learning from previous SCR’s and PLR’s is properly embedded. hvoss – Learning Events hvoss - Attendance, Opportunities, ‘7 minute learning’. 1.7. Ensuring a particular focus on the effectiveness of services to prevent the neglect of children with disabilities. hvoss – Which VCS Groups can help to prevent?

Promoting effective engagement of the local VCS… Priority – CSE & Missing 2.3. Ensuring a co-ordinated response with Community Safety Partnership to reducing sexual abuse of children. hvoss – Promoting Compliance with NSPCC VCS Safeguarding Guidance ‘Standards and guidance for the voluntary and community sector in England’ within partner organisations. 2.6. Supporting ongoing local and national CSE awareness campaigns and improving knowledge and understanding of CSE toolkit within agencies in Herefordshire. hvoss – Awareness amongst staff, recognising signs/risks. 2.8. Checking the effectiveness of the response to previous CSE audit findings, the quality and availability of post abuse support to victims of CSE hvoss – Delivery of support?

Promoting effective engagement of the local VCS… Priority – Safeguarding Vulnerable Children 3.2. Developing the focus on ‘hidden harm’ and the increased risk to children with disabilities within multi agency training. hvoss – Engagement with HSCB Multi-agency training? Level of understanding of ‘hidden harm’ within member organisations? 3.4. Ensuring learning from SCR’s and PLR’s is appropriately used to improve the journey of the child through the child protection process. hvoss – How do voluntary staff engage with practitioner forums? What opportunities exist for HSCB to come to hvoss forums?

Promoting effective engagement of the local VCS… Priority – Early Help 4.6. Assessing the quality, effectiveness and availability of early help support and interventions in relation to those families where childhood neglect is a risk or present. hvoss – How can voluntary sector contribute to Early Help offer in Herefordshire? 5. 6 Engaging with children, young people and families to capture their views and experiences, influence the partnership’s work and evaluate the impact of partner activity on their outcomes. hvoss – how can VCS assist the Board in capturing this?

And finally….. How can hvoss provide similar engagement with the Herefordshire Safeguarding Adult Board?

Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Board on: You can contact Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Board on: (01432) 260100 or visit our website: herefordshiresafeguardingboards.org.uk