Forced Marriage and HonourBased Violence

1

• IMPLEMENTING LAMING
• A CONTRIBUTION
• 25 June 2009

2
Approach

• Laming Recommendations
• Governments Response
• Particular Issues

3
Background

• Announced by Ministers 12 November 2008
• Wide ranging remit. Set out in letter from
  Secretary of State 17 November
• What good practice has been successfully achieved
  in safeguarding children since the publication of
  the Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report?
• What are the key barriers, including in the legal
  process, that may impede efficient and effective
  work with children and families that may be
  preventing good safeguarding practice from
  becoming standard practice everywhere, for
  example in deciding whether an application should
  be made to take a child into care?
• What specific actions should be taken by
  Government and national and local agencies to
  overcome these barriers and accelerate systematic
  improvements in safeguarding practice across the
  country?
• Report, and Governments immediate response,
  published 12 March 2009

4
Methodology

• Over 100 written submissions from key
  stakeholders and over 200 letters
• The team visited six areas and met staff
  from local authorities, education, health and the
  police
• Three national seminars to gather views
• Lord Laming and the team also met national
  stakeholders, trade unions, Government officials
  and some MPs
• They also surveyed chairs of Local Safeguarding
  Children Boards and asked 11 Million to survey
  young people

5
Lord Lamings Headline Findings (1) Building on
strengths

• Robust legislative, structural and policy
  foundations are in place.
• Progress is being made and the frontline is
  making a positive difference to children.

6
Lord Lamings Headline Findings(2)

• Building on strengths
• Welcomed Governments investment in early
  intervention through
• childrens centres and extended schools.
• Highlights the vital role schools play in
  early identification of
• additional needs.
• Provides examples of good practice from
  local areas.

7
Lord Lamings Headline Findings (3) Tackling
weaknesses

• But he is also clear that
• There now needs to be a step change in the
  arrangements to protect children from harm
• He challenges national Government to inject
  greater energy and drive into the implementation
  of change and support local improvement..
• And he challenges leaders of local services to
  accept their responsibility to translate policy,
  legislation and guidance into day to day practice
  on the frontline of every service

8
Lord Lamings Headline Findings
(4)Tackling weaknesses

• Need for better training on child protection
  across all
• agencies social workers, police, teachers,
  health visitors,
• GPs and paediatricians.
• Need for inspectorates to also ensure their staff
  have
• sufficient expertise and capacity to inspect the
• safeguarding and child protection elements of
  front line
• services
• Need for learning from serious case reviews to be
  shared
• quickly to enable lessons to be learned
• Need to address delay in court proceedings

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Recommendations

• 58 recommendations designed to strengthen the
  implementation of child protection arrangements
• They seek to
• strengthen national leadership to ensure that
  best practice in many areas of the country is
  being universally applied in every area of the
  country
• improve local accountability so that all services
  know exactly what they need to do to keep
  children safe and
• provide more support for both local leaders and
  the front-line workforce.

10
The Governments response (1)

• Government accepted all 58 recommendations and
  published an immediate response on 12 March.
• Detailed Government response and action plan
  launched 6/5/09 with
• Social Work Task Force first report
• Letter from new Chief Adviser setting early
  priorities

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The Governments response (2)

• National leadership and accountability
• Stronger central guidance
• - Working Together to safeguard children to
  be revised by
• end 2009 to meet recommendations on
  policy and practice
• - Expedited revision of Chapter 8
• More rigorous inspection framework
• New rolling 3 year programme of safeguarding
  inspection
• New annual inspection of child protection in LA
  children services
• Stronger focus on safeguarding in school
  inspections

12
The Governments response (3)

• Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children
• - Roger Singleton appointed April 2009
• - Role to advise Government on strategic
  priorities and
• effective implementation of policy
• - Report annually to Parliament on progress
  from April
• 2010
• Cross Government National Safeguarding Delivery
  Unit
• - Reporting to a new Ministerial sub-group
• - To provide stronger, co-ordinated
  national leadership
• and effective challenge to Children
  Trusts and LA
• - To be established July 2009
• - Initial priority driving implementation
  of Government
• Action Plan
• - Work programme to be published September
  2009

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The Governments response (4)

• Local leadership and accountability
• Strengthened local governance arrangements and a
  clearer relationship between Childrens Trusts
  and Local Safeguarding Children Boards
• DCSs and Lead Members have central roles. Both
  should always be members of both the Childrens
  Trust Board and the LSCB. Revised statutory
  guidance to be issued in June 2009
• LA Chief Executives and Council leaders also have
  critical roles. They should make an annual
  assessment of the effectiveness of local
  governance and partnership arrangements

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The Governments response (5)

• Local leaders and the front-line workforce
• Building a confident workforce
• Better support for DCSs and aspirant DCSs a new
  leadership programme from autumn 2009
• C4EO research briefings and national workshops
  from June 2009
• A programme of intensive support and coaching for
  social work team leaders and first line managers,
  particularly those working in child protection
• Action to improve skills and capacity in child
  protection in police forces
• A new Action on Health Visiting Programme to
  improve training, development and support for the
  health workforce on safeguarding

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The Governments Response (6)

• Local leaders and the front-line workforce
• Social Work Task Force - established to carry out
  a nuts and bolts review of the social work
  profession and look at how frontline social work
  practice should be improved
• Government announced in March a range of measures
  to improve recruitment, status and quality of
  social workers in the short term
• returners to social work programme
• Advanced Social Work Professional status
• enhanced induction support for Newly Qualified
  Social Workers their
• first year
• development of Masters programme
• action to support management and leadership

16
The Governments response (7)

• A Social Work Transformation Fund of 58m to
  support these measures
• SWTF reviewing the Integrated Childrens System
  and the way in which it is being implemented
  locally

17
The Governments response (8)

• Balancing the needs of the child and legal
  processes
• Commitment to reducing delays in court
  proceedings
• An independent review, led by Francis Plowden, of
  the impact of court fees in the care proceedings
  system, to report to Ministers by September 2009

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• IMPLEMENTING LAMING
• A CONTRIBUTION
• 25 June 2009