1. Doncaster Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report 2016-17
John Woodhouse
Independent Chair, DSCB

2. Role of DSCB
Coordinate 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; and
Ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for that purpose
Scope of LSCBs includes ‘early help’
Focus on learning and improvement
The inspection framework includes review of LSCBs by OFSTED, with grading

3. Annual Report Requirements
Rigorous and transparent assessment of the performance and effectiveness of local services
Identify areas of weakness, the causes of those weaknesses and the action being taken to address them
Include lessons from serious case reviews, child death reviews and other relevant reviews
Report on the outcome of assessments undertaken on the effectiveness of Board partners’ responses to CSE
Include an analysis of how the LSCB partners have used their data to promote service improvement for vulnerable children and families
Include data on children missing from care, and how the LSCB is addressing the issue.
List the contributions made to DSCB by partner agencies and details of what DSCB has spent

4. Annual Report Format
Main report – review of effectiveness of safeguarding
Annex 1 – safeguarding through the lens of partners
Annex 2 - Learning and Improvement
Main report – covers the key safeguarding elements which Working Together says must be covered, and evaluates the effectiveness of safeguarding in Doncaster. It also includes and executive summary and an evaluation of impact against the Boards strategic priorities
Annex 1 – all partners have provided an overview of the effectiveness and impact of safeguarding within their agency
Annex 2 – Uses the Boards L&I Framework to highlights key sources of learning that the Board has used to improve safeguarding, including the use of effective challenge

5. Headlines from
Context of increasing demand for safeguarding services both nationally and locally
DSCB making progress against all its strategic priorities
Wide range of Multi-agency training
Feedback from children and young people
Strong partnership working
Numbers of referrals, children subject to CP plans, LAC have never been higher – within this context arrangements have continued to improve and it could be said are more effective given this pressures on services at this time.
The Board is meeting its statutory requirements and has made progress against its strategic priorities with impact in many areas
DSCB provides well-evaluated training with some evidence this is having an impact on practice eg embedding of SOS and early help and thresholds
Feedback from young people included through direct representation to the Board, Democracy event, audits
Partnership working evidenced through contribution to the DSCB and its activities, contribution to Annual report shows high commitment to safeguarding in Doncaster

6. Headlines from 2016 - 17 Early Help continues to improve
Good progress in partnership work on CSE
Positive impact of Growing Futures
Development of the Neglect strategy
Effective culture of challenge
Performance reporting
Signs of safety rolled out
Improvement in services for looked after children

7. Areas for Development 2017-18
DSCB will:
Establish formal mechanism to ensure voice of children and young people is heard
Scrutinise and challenge partnership’s strategy for managing demand
Evaluate the communications strategy
Partnership will agree arrangements for implementation of Children and Social Work Act

8. Areas for Development 2017-18
DSCB will seek assurance on effectiveness of:
MASH
Quality of early help
PVYP
Neglect Strategy

9. DSCB Annual Report
Annual report and its annexes are available on the DSCB website:
Young Persons version is also available: