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The safeguarding of children faces possibly the biggest organisational upheaval since the Maria Colwell inquiry in the 1970s. Legislation for children is usually bipartisan and consensual, but two elements of the children and social work bill have attracted lively debate in the House of Lords. One proposal would enable local councils to innovate by being freed from regulations put in place to protect the rights of children. The other would put the regulation of social work under the direct control of the education secretary.
The government has since announced that social work regulation will remain independent of direct government control, and the ability of councils to ignore statutory requirements will be debated in the Commons.
Changes to local safeguarding arrangements included in the bill are not as controversial, but the potential implications could be equally significant. The bill proposes to dismantle the statutory local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs), which bring together all local agencies working with children and families. The boards would be replaced with a duty on three people – representing the police, local council and health authorities – to decide how to manage these relationships.
These changes provide the backdrop for the annual conference of the Association of Independent LSCB Chairs (AILC). Independent leaders of local safeguarding arrangements and board managers will be thinking about what makes local arrangements work and how to help the transition to whatever new arrangements are approved by parliament.
Strong and effective multi-agency safeguarding arrangements do not just happen; they require an active commitment to collaboration and a common purpose, and must be supported by a system that sustains those partnerships and relationships. A new survey of LSCB members found that 95% want the current structure of local partnerships to continue, and that having an independent chair is crucial to their effectiveness. It is difficult to imagine how local agencies can give families a coherent and meaningful service if they do not plan and monitor it together.
More than 40 years of experience shows that it is essential to manage partnerships, as the need for joint working is frequently in tension with other organisational and policy objectives. Agencies that work with families and children have different priorities and lines of accountability and authorisation, but they must share a common purpose for their joint safeguarding work.
Safe and positive environments for children and young people can only
be ensured through agencies working together and safeguarding
arrangements have to be built, sustained, tested and continuously
improved.
Above all, these arrangements must champion the
interests and rights of children and young people above agency
interests. They need to provide the strategic leadership that is
essential to ensure the best outcomes for children, involving all
partners – not only the police, health and local authorities – with a
duty to cooperate and sanctions for non-cooperation.
There is value in jointly scrutinising and improving practice, and drawing on comments from children, families and practitioners to provide accountable oversight and feedback on performance and outcomes. Effective partnerships learn from experience and evidence of what works well, creating arrangements that are proportionate, efficient and adequately resourced. It’s all about meeting the leadership challenge of getting multiple partners to achieve common goals and making sure parents and children get a service that makes sense to them.
There is significant evidence that local arrangements are working and improving. In a review of the latest Ofsted inspections by the AILC, almost half of LSCBs were rated good and 83% were protecting children effectively. LSCB chairs and board managers know that the current system is doing a good job of protecting hundreds of children across England, but also recognise where improvements are needed. Whatever future arrangements are put in place, a system to ensure that local multi-agency arrangements work for children is essential.
By David N. Jones
8 November 2016
David N Jones is chair of the Association of Independent Chairs of Local Safeguarding Boards.
