Local Safeguarding Children Partnership - Role and Function

1. Scope of the Role

In order to fulfil its statutory functions, a Safeguarding Partnership should use data and, as a minimum, should:

• Assess the effectiveness of the help being provided to children and families, including early help;
• Assess whether Local Safeguarding Partnership partners are fulfilling their statutory obligations;
• Quality assure practice, including through joint audits of case files involving practitioners and identifying lessons to be learned; and
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of training, including multi-agency training, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Children's Safeguarding Performance Information Framework provides a mechanism to help do this by setting out some of the questions a Local Safeguarding Partnership should consider.

2. Objectives

The core objectives of the Safeguarding Children Partnership (SCP) is to coordinate local work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and to ensure the effectiveness of what the member organisations do individually and together.

Specific objectives of the SCP are to:

• Develop and agree inter-agency policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, consistent with Working Together to Safeguard Children, including:
  1. The action to be taken where there are concerns about a child's safety or welfare, including thresholds for intervention;
  2. Training of those working with children or in services affecting the safety and welfare of children;
  3. Recruitment and supervision of persons who work with children;
  4. Investigation of allegations concerning persons working with children;
  5. The safety and welfare of privately fostered children;
  6. Cooperation with neighbouring children's social care services authorities and their safeguarding partners.
• Participate in the planning of services for children in the local authority area;
• Communicate the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child;
• Develop procedures to ensure a coordinated response to unexpected child deaths;
• Monitor the effectiveness of what is done to safeguard and promote the welfare of children - see Section 10, Monitoring and Inspection;
• Undertake appropriate reviews of serious cases and ensure lessons are understood and acted upon;
• Collect and analyse information about child deaths.

3. Accountability

Whilst the SCP has a role in coordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of local individuals' and organisations' work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, it is not accountable for their operational work.

Each safeguarding partner retains its own existing lines of accountability for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children by their services.

Whilst the SCP does not have the power to direct other organisations, it does have a role in making clear where improvement is needed.