London serious case reviews toolkit
The London Serious Case Review (SCR) Toolkit is designed to provide supplementary guidance to Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) members in the whole process of undertaking a SCR. Its focus is to support the carrying out of a SCR effectively, through supporting consistency in approach, providing additional guidance on undertaking the process and sharing learning and emerging good practice tools and exemplars. The overall aim is to maximise the learning that comes from the SCR in a local area. Please follow the link below to download a copy:
London Serious Case Reviews Toolkit
The London Board is issuing this guidance in draft as the process of SCRs is constantly evolving and the Board is mindful of the fact that there will be a need to revise it in light of any significant changes. For example, an update is being considered in light of the recent decision to publish overview reports in full where the SCR was commenced after the 10th June 2010.
The Board recognises that this toolkit is likely to be of most use to LSCBs where a SCR has not been conducted recently. The London Board website will continue to be updated with useful tools and exemplars as they are identified.
London Board response to Munro Review of Child Protection
In early June, Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove wrote to Professor Eileen Munro to invite her to conduct an independent review of children’s social work and frontline child protection practice. See www.education.gov.uk/news/news/munroreview for more information.
The Government wants to review the system with the question ‘What helps or hinders professionals from making the best judgments and interventions they can to protect a vulnerable child?’ to reform frontline social work practice, with a particular focus on the removal of unnecessary bureaucracy and regulation.
The London Board submitted its first response to the review's call for evidence at the end of July. This is attached below. An initial report will be published by the review team in September 2010, followed by a further interim report in January 2011 and formally concluding in April 2011. The London Board is consulting widely with partners as the review progresses to inform further sumissions at relevant points in the process.
Letter to Eileen Munro 30th July 2010
London Board Submission to Munro Review call for evidence 30th July 2010
London Board Highlights 2009-10
The London Board has published its review of 2009/10. This highlights some of the many examples of work successfully delivered during last year.
London Board Highlights 2009/10
Revision of the London Procedures - on hold
Following the publication of a revised Working Together to Safeguard Children (April 2010), the London Board began the process of updating the London Child Protection Procedures in line with the new guidance. Until the new edition has been published and signed off by all London LSCB Chairs, the requirements within Working Together 2010 should be taken to supersede those within the London Child Protection Procedures Edition 3 (2007) where any discrepancies arise.
In May 2010, the London Board also launched a formal call for evidence, to help inform any additional amendments that could usefully be made in line with lessons learnt from frontline practice. However, following the recent announcement that Eileen Munro will be leading a formal review of child protection practice over the coming year, the London Safeguarding Children Board agreed at its meeting on 30th June 2010 that this section of the revision has been put on hold until this national review has concluded.
The London Board staff team will continue to update the procedures in line with Working Together and publish a revised edition online at www.londonscb.gov.uk/procedures/ in the summer of 2010.
London Board annual conference
The London Safeguarding Children Board's annual conference will be held at the QEII conference centre on Wednesday 8 December. A full programme and booking details will be available online shortly.
Sharing good practice
At a recent meeting, the London LSCB Development Officers group asked that a dedicated area be set aside on the London Board website for sharing examples of local initiatives, guidance or annual reports. This is now available via the link below, and LSCBs can add their own information by contacting ian.dean@londoncouncils.gov.uk.
London Board July update
Please follow the link below to download the latest report on the work of the London Board:
London Safeguarding Children Board update: July 2010
For additional information on any of the Board's work, please contact the London Board Manager, Ian Dean, on ian.dean@londoncouncils.gov.uk / 020 7934 9714.
Publication of Serious Case Reviews
In early June, Children’s Minister Tim Loughton wrote to all chairs of local safeguarding children boards, and directors of children’s services, to confirm that the overview report and the executive summary of all new serious case reviews (SCRs) initiated from 10 June should be published. The presumption is that all SCRs will be appropriately redacted, anonymised and published in full except where it would affect the welfare of any surviving children and their siblings. See www.education.gov.uk/news/news/munroreview for more information.
LSCB Induction Training Pack
In early 2010, the London Board Training Subgroup produced a training pack to be used by experienced trainers for those workers / volunteers within any organisation who are in contact/work with children and young people and adults who are parents/carers. These will be people who are in a position to identify concerns about maltreatment, including those which may arise from the use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF). The training pack and associated resources can be found below:
Training pack
Induction PowerPoint presentation
Exercise: Good Outcomes 1
Exercise: Good Outcomes 2
Exercise: Continuum of Need
Handout: Recogniton of abuse/neglect
London Regional Safeguarding Advisers
Kathy Bundred, Kay Bell and Vivien Lines have now started in the new roles of Regional Safeguarding Advisers for the London Safeguarding Children Board. For more information about this ongoing initiative, please see the London RSA pages of this website: www.londonscb.gov.uk/london_regional_safeguarding_advisers/
London Safeguarding Development Programme for Lead Members
The Lead Member Development work is currently being progressed via an advisory group drawn from a range of safeguarding professionals across London. For more information on this programme, including future session dates, please see the elected member pages of this website at www.londonscb.gov.uk/elected_members/
Government Office for London Triage Meeting Report
The triage workshop was requested by those safeguarding specialists who attended the London Multi Agency Audit workshops as a response to increases across London in contacts and referrals. The purpose of the triage workshop was to provide an opportunity to share innovative practice in relation to Children’s Social Care Assessment services and multi – agency approaches to triage.
Please follow the link below to download the full report.
London’s leaders underline commitment to safeguarding children
A pledge has been made by London’s safeguarding agencies to give some of the most vulnerable young people in the capital a better start in life.
The London Safeguarding Children Board brought together the leaders of all the main organisations involved with child protection to sign the London Safeguarding Children Pledge, which underlines the progress made on safeguarding children in the capital and represents the commitment from agencies to continue to work closely through the board to share experience and best practice to meet that challenges that lie ahead.
The pledge highlights the progress made so far and reinforces commitment from all agencies to continue this important work, and continue to prioritise investment in safeguarding. It was signed by the chair of the London Safeguarding Children Board, London Councils, all local authorities in the capital, NHS London, the Metropolitan Police Authority, the Government Office for London and voluntary sector partners.
Please follow the link below to download a copy of the signed pledge:
London Safeguarding Children Pledge
LSCB annual report to Children's Trust Board
Lord Laming’s report recommended that “Local Safeguarding Children Boards should report to the Children’s Trust Board and publish an annual report on the effectiveness of safeguarding in the local area", which was then reflected in statutory guidance: ‘LSCBs will be required to publish an annual report and to submit it to their Children’s Trust Board. These reports should provide an honest assessment of the local safeguarding arrangements and identify clearly the challenges to be addressed and overcome.’
GOL and the London Safeguarding Children Board have now produced the guidance note below to provide LSCBs with advice on producing annual reports which support the development of effective accountability locally and an effective relationship between the LSCB and Children’s Trust Board (CTB). It is not mandatory guidance, but is for use by LSCBs should they find it helpful.
