Agenda item

Report of Interim Strategic Director, Care Wellbeing and Learning

The Committee received the first monitoring report following last year’s review into child protection in Gateshead. It was acknowledged that there has been a limited time from completion of the review to date, therefore much of the work is in progress.

A number of recommendations came out of the review, including improving the availability of GP reports at Child Protection Conferences. It was noted that there has previously been a struggle to get GP information into conferences, however a lot of work has been carried out through workshop events with the Clinical Commissioning Group. This has resulted in an improvement and between April 2015 and March 2016 70.4% of Child Protection Conferences included GP reports, this continues to be monitored.

Another recommendation from the review was to improve the detail of data provided in relation to school referrals. It was acknowledged that there is still work to do to link detail with school information because of the different systems used. It was reported that from April 2016 35 schools, four nurseries and one private school made referrals.  A breakdown of this data will be provided in future reports.

The review recommended that evidence be reviewed in light of the Ofsted inspection findings. It was reported that focus over the summer was around child protection planning to ensure this was clear for all staff. Workshops were held with Social Workers in order to help support them to improve the quality of plans and ensure they focus on risk and important issues for the child.  Independent advocacy was highlighted by Ofsted as an area for improvement, therefore work is continuing to promote the Mind of My Own (MOMO) app. The app is used to send information of importance to the young person and ensure their views are incorporated in plans. It was confirmed that there are 191 young people who currently have the app. Work is also ongoing with NYAS, the provider for independent advocacy, to support children and young people through the child protection process.

The review also recommended that consideration be given to the appropriateness of a Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for children.  It was reported that there are a few Hubs nationally with mixed reports, and it is still being considered as to whether this is right for Gateshead.

It was questioned whether any other Tyne and Wear authorities have Multi Agency Safeguarding Hubs for children. It was confirmed that they do not, although Northumberland County Council does have some co-location work it is not a MASH. It was noted that Sunderland previously had one, however there have not been any locally which have been successful.

It was queried whether gaps are identified in terms of which GP practices are not providing reports to Child Protection Conferences. It was noted that work is ongoing with the CCG who will feedback to specific practices.

It was questioned how issues can be addressed better. It was acknowledged that improvement planning on a multi agency basis is carried out and the LSCB works with partner agencies to address issues.