Issue - meetings

Alan Hazell, Independent Chair of Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board, and Phil Morris, Business Manager, Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board, to report.

Alan Hazell, Independent Chair of the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board, and Phil Morris, Business Manager, Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board, presented the first annual report on the effectiveness of safeguarding children in the local area.

The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 introduced a requirement for Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) to produce and publish an annual report on the effectiveness of safeguarding children in the local area.  A copy of the annual report had to be submitted to the Children and Young People’s Trust Board.

In May, 2011, Professor Eileen Munro published her third and final report on her Government commissioned Review of Child Protection.  In July, 2011, the Government published its response in which all but 1 of her recommendations were accepted.

It was intended that the 2011/12 report and the 2012-15 business plan would be published concurrently as the current business plan was regularly updated in the light of outcomes achieved and new objectives required.  The business plan submitted represented the most recent update.

The Select Commission gave serious consideration to the report with the following issues raised/clarified:-

-        South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service had recently become a Board member.  The UK Border Agency was to join the Exploitation Sub-Group

-        2011/12 was the first full year of lay members – the annual report would include a section on their views

-        Rotherham had 1 Board for Children and 1 for Adults.  Extensive consideration had been given to this during the past 12 months and there was no other area that had a joint board.  They both had huge agendas in their own right, each with competing priorities and statutory duties.  The Independent Chair had a place on the Adults Safeguarding Board and vice versa.  The interface between Adults and Children Services had been strengthened considerably during the last year

-        The number of Board members had been kept to the minimum whilst recognising the need for agencies to be there together with advisors.  There was a system of named deputies in operation.   A number of 1-1 meetings with each member of the Board were being arranged to challenge what they were doing, how they got their message across and how concerns/messages from agencies were fed into the Board 

-        The sub-groups operated on a ‘3 strikes out” basis with each sub-group Chair being a member of the Board.  If an agency was not represented on the Board but was on the sub-group a report was submitted.  Sub-groups submitted 6 monthly reports

-        There were now only 6 sub-groups – Policy and Procedure, Exploitation, Performance and Quality Assurance, Learning and Development, Child Death Overview and Serious Case Review

-        In accordance with the 2006 Act, it was a requirement for every local authority to have a Local Authority Designated Officer.  It was a very specific role which dealt with allegations relating to a parent, carer or someone in a specific role/responsibility for looking after children.  The number of allegations in Rotherham  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44