New safeguarding children resource
Warwickshire’s Safeguarding Children Board has received national recognition as a standard bearer of good practice.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) publication, ‘Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) Exemplars - LSCB Effective Practice’ has been developed to share examples of excellent work between local authorities. The document includes two case studies of effective local practice from Warwickshire.
The first promotes partnerships with local district councils by developing agreed protocol between district council housing teams and Warwickshire County Council’s Children’s Team to support vulnerable children and young people.
The second case study details a collaborative project between Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull authorities to develop joint child death review processes to provide opportunities for reciprocal scrutiny, to share costs and to obtain mutual learning and support.
This is one of two DCSF publications issued in July to help support the further development and improvement of Local Safeguarding Children Boards. The second document, ‘LSCB Challenge and Improvement Toolkit’ is a voluntary resource designed to enable boards to make sure they are effective and well managed to safeguard children. Emphasis is placed on the importance of effective governance as a starting point for strong relationships, clear accountability and transparency of operation and purpose.
The toolkit sets out six key principles of governance which LSCBs and their partners should try to meet and apply to their assessments. Warwickshire have proposed that the tool be used to guide the board’s practice and plans to implement the principles will be discussed at the forthcoming annual conference.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, said: “The county works exceptionally hard to ensure that sound arrangements to protect children are in place in Warwickshire and that the welfare of all young people is promoted.
“Receiving national recognition in the new government guidance is a fantastic tribute to our exemplary Safeguarding Children Board who are celebrated for effective practice and inter-agency working.”
Children can only be safeguarded properly if the key agencies work effectively together. LSCBs are designed to help ensure that this happens. The objective of LSCBs is to coordinate and to ensure the effectiveness of their member agencies in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The core membership of LSCBs is set out in the Children Act 2004, and includes local authorities, health bodies, the police and others.