Agenda item

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

13.1     Reg Hooke, Independent Chair of the LSCB, introduced the annual report and highlighted the LSCB’s priorities for the past three year period (as set out in paragraph 2.4 of the covering report and in more detail in Section 3 of the Annual Report).  Mr Hooke also drew the Committee’s attention to the revised version of the Department for Education’s guidance document, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’.  The revised guidance was published in July 2018 and sets out new arrangements which require three safeguarding partners (the local authority, police and clinical commissioning groups) to publish new arrangements by the end of June 2019.  

13.2     A summary of the key points discussed by the Committee are set out below:

·       Home education.  The Committee asked for the LSCB’s views on the potential safeguarding risks for children who are home educated.   In response, the Committee were informed it is the LSCB’s view that there is a lack of regulation relating to this area.   As a result, this is a group of children which the LSCB and relevant stakeholders cannot be complacent about.   Given the lack of regulation, the Board’s focus has been on those children who are at most risk (for example, children who have been placed on a Protection Plan).

·       Impact of new arrangements for scrutiny.   In response to a query regarding the impact of the new arrangements, the Committee were informed that in terms of reporting to scrutiny, and for the time being at least, the process would remain unchanged.

·         Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). The Committee asked for clarification as to how the LSCB measures the impact of its efforts regarding the multi-agency response to CSE.   In response, the Committee were informed that a number of different methods are used in this respect. One key tool is the examination of trends.  In this example, trends relating to the number of cases being moved from the ‘High Risk’ to ‘Low Risk’ category are used to help identify the impact of the LSCB’s measures.

·         Sexual offences against children data.  In response to a query regarding the figure of ‘500 sexual offences against children’ statement which appeared in an infographic in paragraph 2.4 of the Annual Report (page 55 of the agenda), the Committee were informed that the data relates to sexual offences reported to and recorded by the Police (not convictions).   Whilst the data does not reflect the total number of offences committed against children, it does provide an important picture of abuse committed against children. Trends in data may reflect increased public awareness and changes in policing, rather than an increase in incidence (Data also reflects the year in which an offence was reported, not the year it was committed, so a proportion of offences will be historic). 

·         Exploitation by organised crime groups.   The Committee asked for clarification regarding the steps being taken to combat the exploitation of children and young people by criminal gangs for the purposes of supplying drugs.   In response, Mr Hooke informed the Committee that this is a relatively new issue and that all agencies are learning how to deal with the challenges this form of exploitation produces.   The issues are complex and impact at both local and national levels.   It was also confirmed that there is now an established process for responding to reports of this form of exploitation and that a ‘disruption strategy’ has been developed.  It was also confirmed that the Government is working on deploying a national centre and is looking to develop national guidance.

·         Strengthening Safeguarding in Schools.  In response to a question regarding safeguarding in the independent school sector, the Committee were informed that the LSCB act in a ‘sector blind’ manner.  The Committee were also informed that the independent sector had now established its own safeguarding group and that response rates to the safeguarding audit were now in the 90% range.   It was also confirmed that all referrals on the audit are followed-up on.

·         Board Membership.   The Committee queried whether the Board membership is set at the right level and whether there is room for more expertise.  Clarification was also sought as to whether the budget for the LSCB is sufficient.  In response, the Committee were informed that the work of the LSCB covers a large and complex area and that to manage its workload, a number of sub-groups have been established.  In terms of the budget, the service needs resources for training and to fund reviews and steps are taken in partnership with relevant agencies to manage costs. 

13.3     RESOLVED – the Committee agreed to receive the LSCB’s annual report.