Agenda item

Christine Cassell, Chair, Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board, to present

Christine Cassell, Independent Chair of the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board, gave the following powerpoint presentation:-

Role of the Local Safeguarding Children Board

-          Section 14 of the Children Act 2004 sets out the objectives of LSCBs which are:-

·           To co-ordinate 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

·           To ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes

Relationship to the Health and Wellbeing Board

LSCBs

-          Do not commission or deliver direct frontline services though they may provide training

-          Should also work with the Health and Wellbeing Board, informing and drawing on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

(Working Together 2015)

LSCB Annual Report

-          The Chair must publish an annual report on the effectiveness of child safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the local area (Working Together 2015)

-          The report should be submitted to the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board (Working Together 2015)

-          Inspectorates expect to see evidence of LSCB influence on the Health and Wellbeing Board

Rotherham LSCB Report 2014-15

Commentary by previous Chair on priorities

-          Importance of Early Help strategy being refreshed

-          Neglect and Domestic Abuse – strengthening Families Framework being introduced

-          CSE Strategy refresh

Commentary on LSCB Improvements

-          Performance, challenge and improvement

-          Co-ordination with strategic commissioning activity

-          Hearing and acting on the experience of others

-          Learning and Development

Priorities for 2015-16

-          Effectiveness of Early Help

-          Effectiveness of the response to neglect

-          Experience of Looked After Children

-          Effectiveness of the multi-agency response to child sexual exploitation

-          Continuing to improve the effectiveness of the LSCB

Safeguarding is everybody’s business

-          Council

-          Statutory and non-statutory partners

-          Voluntary and community organisations

-          The wider community

What should the Health and Wellbeing Board do?

-          Ensure a safeguarding focus in commissioning decisions

-          Support LSCB priorities through the implementation of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy

-          Undertake safeguarding impact assessments on major budget and organisational change

-          Reports back to the LSCB on the impact of its work in support of LSCB priorities

Discussion ensued on the presentation with the following issues raised/clarified:-

-          Further consideration was required to Impact Assessment in terms of the agencies’ budgetary and organisational agendas

-          To have an impact there had to be a baseline and once that discussion had been hade, how to get a collective view on what the impact was given agencies were driven by their own strategy and all measured outcomes differently; there had to be some commonality

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Health and Wellbeing Board:-

(a)  Ensures a focus on safeguarding children in its commissioning decisions;

(b)  Supports LSCB priorities through the implementation of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy

(3)  That the issue of Impact Assessments be discussed at the Health and Wellbeing Board’s Away Day and reported back to the Local Safeguarding Children Board.