News

Government Announces newly formed MASPP

13th December, 2022

HM Government wrote to all Safeguarding Partners in December to notify all of the newly formed Multi-Agency Safeguarding Partner Performance Board (MASPP). MASPP has been established to support cross departmental working and oversight of safeguarding arrangements in central Government; replacing the previous Safeguarding Children Reform Implementation Board (SCRIB). MASPP includes senior officials from the DfE, Home Office, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities the Ministry of Justed and DHSC and aims to support the Child Protection Ministerial Group.

The notification letter can be downloaded below.

MASPP Letter 131222
(Adobe PDF File)

Child safeguarding Practice Review Panel Publishes Report

December 2022

This document from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (the Panel) contains anonymised examples of rapid reviews submitted to the Panel between 2019 and 2022. Its aim is to help safeguarding partners complete rapid reviews of serious safeguarding incidents by providing examples of how to set out the facts of the incident, immediate actions and learning for the partnership and practitioners. Click here to read the report.

 

CSA Centre Resources Launched

The CSA have launched a suite of resources to help professionals tackling Child Sexual Abuse. This includes three key resources:

They have also created 12 short films for professionals about child sexual abuse. An introduction to these can be watched below. Plus a link to the full video series.

 

 

Link to full series can be found on the CSA Youtube Video Channel

Church of England - Past Cases Review 2

The Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2) was run in all Church of England dioceses between 2019 - 2022.

Past Cases Review 1 (PCR1) was commissioned because of several Church of England clergy and church officers being charged with sexual offences against children. PCR1 was conducted between 2007 and 2009. In May 2016 concerns were raised regarding the judgements presented from PCR1. An Independent Scrutiny Team concluded that whilst the review was well motivated and thoughtfully planned, limitations existed in relation to its execution. As a result, Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2) was commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council in 2019 as part of the overall  commitment to improving the way in which the Church responds to allegations and concerns.

The National Report was published in October 2022.

The report can be downloaded below.

Future Proofing Multi-Agency Child Safeguarding Practice

Kings College released their briefing document on Future proofing multi-agency safeguarding practice. This briefing summarises some of the key findings from their study investigating the impact of Covid-19 social distancing measures on joint working arrangements and consequential adaptations to child protection and safeguarding practice.  TASP contributed to the full research project and the subsequent symposiums and briefing. The Briefing document can be downloaded below.

The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse 

October 2022

On 20 October 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its final statutory Report, which was presented to Parliament pursuant to section 26 of the Inquiries Act 2005. In accordance with the Inquiry's Terms of Reference, the Report sets out the main findings about the extent to which state and non-state institutions failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation and makes recommendations for reform.

There are 20 recommendations and 3 key mandatory recommendations. The 3 key ones are:

  • Mandatory Reporting
  • Financial Redress
  • Establishment of Child Protection Authorities in England & Wales

There is a full report, a summary report and a rapid read available here.


Health and Care Act (2022) Summary

May 2022

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities have published a Summary Report to explain what Integrated Care Boards and Integrated Care Partnerships are, and what the Health and Care Act means in practice for babies, children, young people and their families. It also explains the commitments made by the government in the Houses of Parliament and sets out the next steps the government will be taking to implement the Act. The Summary Report can be downloaded here.

DfE plans to update Working Together

April - 2022

The Department for Education are informing all colleagues of their plan to update the Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) statutory guidance. They intend to do this in two phases. Phase One will consist of a small number of factual updates, including changes to reflect the proposed statutory Integrated Care Systems planned for July 2022. Phase Two will be a more substantive update, requiring a public consultation. The Department for Education will continue to provide further updates on the process in due course.

Working Together can be found at: Working together to safeguard children - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

TASP AGM - Keynote with Nazir Afzal

Nazir Afzal, one of TASPs Trustees, opened the TASP AGM - a powerful and personal keynote.

 

MPs call for national register of home-educated children - July 2021

A committee of MPs is calling for a national register of home-educated children in England, saying there is an "unacceptable level of opaqueness" surrounding the issue. They are also calling for more data to be collected. This follows acknowledgement from the DfE that there is ‘considerable evidence’ that many home-educated children are missing out on a proper education. For the full report and further information click here

Protecting Children at a Distance

Kings College London Report - June 2021

This report presents key findings from a study designed in response to widespread concerns about the operation of child safeguarding and protection arrangements consequent upon the COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing measures. In light of the challenges to intra- and interagency communication and the impact on joint working of actions taken by individual agencies, the study focused on safeguarding and protection practice, practitioner working and the multiagency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report, given the relatively scarcity of evidence, is of importance. Certainly worth a read and TASP hope to build on the discussions going forward.  The report is available to download below.

Transitional Safeguarding Knowledge Briefing

Research in Practice have just published a Knowledge Briefing on Transitional Safeguarding led and sponsored by the Chief Social Worker for Adults. This open-access briefing draws on evidence from research and knowledge from local areas to describe Transitional Safeguarding, why it is needed and how adult social work is key to developing and embedding a transitional approach to safeguarding young people into adulthood.

Aimed at practitioners and managers within adult services, strategic leaders across local safeguarding adults partnerships, the knowledge briefing builds on existing work by Research in Practice and focuses particularly on the contribution of social work with adults and wider safeguarding adults colleagues to the transitional safeguarding agenda. For more information and FREE access click here.

 

Sir Alan Wood Report Published

The Review sets out recommendations for making new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements for local areas more effective. To download the report click here.

Ofsted: Coronavirus (COVID-19) rolling update

March 5, 2021

Ofsted's guidance for schools, early years, children's social care and further education and skills providers has been updated. See here for all updates

County Lines Exploitation

March, 2021

Public Health England have provided "All our Health" guidance covering a wide range of Health Topics, including "County Lines". This covers the health and wider impacts of County Lines exploitation. The Guidance can be found here.

Impact of Covid-19 on Children and Young People in the United Kingdom

January 2021

The C19 National Foresight Group and Nottingham Trent University published their report on their findings from analysis of Fourth Strategic Roundtable with Strategic Leaders. The findings and suggested actions cover:

  • The Aggregating impacts from in and out of education establishments causes difficulty for CYP
  • Vulnerability of individual children, young people and families has increased through the impacts of Covid-19
  • Vulnerablity in service provision has increased and exacerbated through the impacts of Covid-19
  • Children and Young Persons Voices Heard
  • Solutions should focus on local

The full report can be downloaded below

If you think it, report it!

June 6th, 2020

The DfE's campaign to tackle child abuse continues with the publication of a useful leaflet. Many Safeguarding Partnerships are promoting this on their own websites and on twitter. If you haven't seen it, you can download it below. You can also visit the website

Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health - Impact of COVID-19 on child health services tool

RCPCH have put together “Workforce Team", a data collection and reporting tool to support child health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives, such as the paediatric clinical lead, are being asked to respond on behalf of their Trust or Health Board on a weekly basis on changes in child health services to help them anticipate, plan, and adapt to challenges.
Click here to gain access to further information on this. 

Local area profiles of child vulnerability during Covid19

25th April, 2020

The Children’s Commissioner has made available local area profiles of vulnerability to support the current efforts to ensure that we reach out to vulnerable children and young people during the present crisis. This will also be helpful for Local Safeguarding Partners and Partnerships.

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel

The CSPR Panel have published their annual report for 2020. They are calling for government departments and all those who work to safeguard children to have a shared focus on tackling the "stubborn challenges" in child protection. The Annual Report can be downloaded here. To read the press release click here.

Addressing the "baby blind spot" in the Domestic Abuse Bill

March 2, 2021

TASP have supported For Baby's Sake Trust, the Institute of Health Visiting and the first 1001 Days Movement, by joining them as signatory to a letter to Baroness Williams of Trafford urging the Government to consider the gaps in the Domestic Abuse bill, specifically to babies and their parents. A copy of the letter can be downloaded below.

TASP publishes Independent Scrutiny Report

January, 2021

TASP published its report on Independent Scrutiny, summarising the reflections of safeguarding children practitioners from Local Safeguarding Partnerships, health, police and children's services on their local arrangements. Following an eight-week online discussion, TASP undertook a thematic analysis of the comments, identifying themes, sorting the data and revealing the trends. This allowed for some observations and futher questions to be raised and points to the need for further exploration; all with the aim of enhancing the safeguarding of children. The report can be downloaded below.

Keeping Children Safe During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The NCA (National Crime Agency) and CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) are redoubling their efforts to promote online safety messages to parents, carers and teachers and have launched a new Online Safety at Home campaign, which hosts informative, education products for children of all ages that can be easily incorporated into home schooling.

The online world is a vital space for children at the moment, as they try to keep up with school work and maintain relationships with their peers. However, the internet can be a dangerous place for children if they are not educated on how to use it sensibly and safely. And with children spending more time in their bedrooms and parents trying to work at home, there is the chance that young people could fall victim to exploitation and bullying, which is where the new campaign can help.
It’s also highly likely that child abuse offenders are spending more time online due to the lock down, in greater numbers, and research carried out by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation and and the Research, Information and Communications Unit suggests that offenders are more likely to relapse during this period. 
To access further information, click below:

Online Safety at Home
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation
NCA National Crime Agency
CEOP Child Exploitation & Online Protection

Extra Funding Available

24th April, 2020

Vicky Ford MP & the DfE announce extra funding is made available to keep children at risk of neglect or abuse safe during the Coronavirus outbreak.

DfE  Coronavirus: Hidden Harms

The government announced a new "codeword" scheme for domestic abuse victims, which will allow people in urgent or immediate danger to get help from shop workers by using a specific phrase that staff will be trained to identify.

The new scheme, which has been championed by the Victims’ Commissioner, Domestic Abuse Commissioner and crisis support charities such as SafeLives and Hestia, was discussed at the Hidden Harms Virtual Summit on 21st May 2020, hosted by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

Press Release and Summit Factsheet

DfE publishes Coronavirus Guidance for education providers

7th April, 2020

DfE has publised Guidance for schools and colleges to support them keeping children safe, including online, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. You can read the guidance here.

Concerns for the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk escalate during Covid-19

The National Crime Agency (NCA) have reported a priority threat of at least 300,000 people in the UK posing a sexual threat to children.

Childline has seen unprecedented demand for its services with over 900 counselling sessions taking place since the start of the pandemic and 63% of these occuring in the last 7 days.

Refuges reported on 6th April, 25% increase in calls to National Domestic Abuse Helpline since lockdown measures began with a 150% increase in hits to the national domestic abuse website

DfE publishes guidance for Local Authorities on Social Care during Covid-19

3rd April, 2020

Changes to children’s social care regulations in response to Covid-19.  The Department of Education announced temporary changes to 10 sets of arrangements to children’s social care regulations. The guidance can be found here.  Some controversy has arisen since publication. Criticised for "unlawfulness" & "destroying safeguards"  in CommunityCare.  Safeguarding Partners and Partnerships will probably want to ensure there is a careful and open consideration of the local response to this.