Agenda item

Notification of Serious Child Safeguarding Incidents Review - Update

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services which presents a briefing paper by the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership updating the Scrutiny Board on the Notification of Serious Child Safeguarding Incidents review.

Minutes:

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report which presented an update from the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) on its review of the Notification Process with regards to Serious Child Safeguarding Incidents.

 

The following were in attendance for this item:

 

·  Councillor Fiona Venner, Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education

·  Julie Longworth, Deputy Director of Children and Families

·  Jasvinder Sanghera CBE, Independent Chair of the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership

·  Chief Superintendent Damien Miller, Leeds District Commander and LSCP Executive Member

·  Jo Harding, Executive Director of Nursing and Quality and LSCP Executive Member

·  Rebecca Roberts, Section Head, Social Care Legal and legal adviser to the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership

 

The Chair explained that following the Board’s initial discussion on this matter in February, the Board was now receiving a further update on the review work being undertaken by the LSCP.  A briefing paper had been provided by the LSCP Executive and the Chair also welcomed the attendance of the LSCP Executive Members to help address any further questions from the Board.

 

In introducing the briefing paper, the Independent Chair of the LSCP firstly reflected on the importance of her role in maintaining an independent perspective.  The Board was then reminded of the rationale for the independent review of the notification systems in Leeds.  The Board was also advised that the review continues to be a work in progress and that once completed, a full report on the outcome of the review would be shared with the Scrutiny Board.  In the meantime, the Board was informed that the LSCP Executive is considering options to deal with differences of professional opinions. With regards to the three options set out in the briefing paper, it was reported that while the majority preference of the LSCP Executive is to proceed with option 2, the legal advice given by the LSCP Legal Advisor was that this option would be deemed unlawful and therefore efforts are continuing to achieve an appropriate way forward.

 

The other LSCP Executive Members were invited to add any further comments and in doing so had shared their commitment towards the review process and also their desire to reach a consensus approach in dealing with cases where there are differences of opinion amongst partners in terms of whether or not it meets the criteria for notification to the National Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

 

The Scrutiny Board Chair then invited the legal adviser to the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership to elaborate on the advice that had been provided to the LSCP Executive in terms of option 2 set out within the briefing paper.  In doing so, the legal adviser explained that the Children Act 2004 confers upon a local authority the function of making a notification. In making that decision it is an integral part of the decision-making process that they are informed and guided by the views of statutory partners. However, the ultimate responsibility to notify, or not to notify, lies with the local authority as there are no provisions within the legislation which permit a local authority to delegate this statutory duty to partners. The local authority is therefore accountable in law for the decisions made and given that option 2 implies that the local authority will base its decision to notify on the outcome of a vote taken by the LSCP Executive, this approach could be seen as delegating its statutory duty to partners, which would therefore be unlawful.

 

In consideration of the LSCP briefing paper, the Board discussed the following key areas:

 

Ø  The criteria for notification, including the definition of what constitutes serious harm.

Ø  The distinctive roles of the LSCP Review Advisory Group (RAG) and the LSCP Executive as part of the notification process.

Ø  The importance of respecting the views of other statutory partners and overall transparency of the decision-making process.

Ø  The merits and limitations of the 3 options set out in the briefing paper, including details of legal advice that had been provided separately by West Yorkshire Police.

Ø  How other LSCPs in the country manage decision making where there is no consensus on whether a case should be notified to the National Safeguarding Practice Review Panel or not.

Ø  In receiving confirmation that a specific 2021 case has now been retrospectively notified, the Board discussed how the rationale for this decision had been communicated to other LSCP partners.

Ø  The purpose of the forthcoming workshop on 16th May 2022 with the LSCP Executive, the Chair of the National Safeguarding Practice Review Panel and the three National Safeguarding Reforms Facilitators for Health, Police and Local Authorities, which will help to inform the review process.

Ø  The value of seeking further ‘independent’ legal advice as part of the ongoing review work in terms of the specific roles of other statutory partners as part of the notification process.

Ø  A proposal for the Chair of the Scrutiny Board to write to the Department of Education on the issues that have been raised and highlighting a need for greater clarity and guidance in terms of the legislation surrounding the notification of serious child safeguarding incidents.

 

In conclusion, the Chair thanked everyone for their contributions and reiterated the commitment made by the LSCP Executive to share the full report on the outcome of the notification review with the Scrutiny Board once it had concluded.

 

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the contents of the report and the LSCP briefing paper be noted.

(b)  That once finalised, the full report on the outcome of the notification review be shared with the Scrutiny Board.

(c)  That the Chair of the Scrutiny Board writes to the Department of Education on the issues that have been raised and highlighting a need for greater clarity and guidance in terms of the legislation surrounding the notification of serious child safeguarding incidents.

 

Supporting documents: