Executive's Response to Child Protection Report in Eilean Siar

The Executive has responded to the 31 recommendations made in the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) report An Inspection into the Care and Protection of Children in Eilean Siar.

They are set out below with the parts of the report summarising each recommendation followed by the Executive's formal response.

From the report

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Islands Council)

One of our recommendations concerns current care plans for the children. The other four recommend that CNES review their supervision guidelines, their management of work to protect children, their care of looked after children and their quality assurance procedures.

1. CNES should as a matter of urgency, seek a more permanent legal status for the children in family A (paragraph 179).

2. CNES social work department management should review their staff supervision policy and supervision practice guidelines (paragraph 262).

3. CNES should make sure that each child in need of care and protection has an action plan. Each plan should identify a professional with the lead role in monitoring the action plan for the child and co-ordinating the work of all of the professionals involved. Each plan should also specify a core group of other professionals who play a key role in delivering and monitoring the effectiveness of the plan (paragraph 269).

4. CNES should make sure that reviews of looked after children are not chaired by the first line manager of the social worker responsible for the case. The chair should be a senior member of staff with sufficient authority to be able to challenge current care planning and professional practice (paragraph 277).

5. CNES should review its quality assurance procedures for managing child care and child protection work to make sure that these meet the standards set out in the Scottish Executive guidance to Child Protection Committees and monitor their implementation (paragraph 281).

Western Isles NHS Board

We have recommended that the Western Isles NHS Board make sure they retain their health visitor records and review their strategic management of child protection cases.

6. Western Isles NHS Board should urgently put in place arrangements to retain and effectively use health visitor records. They must be able to retrieve them if required. Where there are child protection concerns about a child, the health visitor should prepare a summary and pass this and the inter-agency child action plan to the school nurse when the child starts school (paragraph 250).

7. Western Isles NHS Board should review its arrangements for the strategic management of child protection cases. A lead medical and a lead nursing professional should be identified to oversee the health input to them all. The roles of lead professionals should be clear to all health staff and to staff in agencies involved in protecting children. All health staff should know where to obtain specialist advice on issues of child protection. Arrangements should be put in place to make sure that visiting health professionals are informed of any child protection concerns about their patients (paragraph 255).

All local authorities

We have made recommendations about the importance of the transfer of records when families move to another authority, appropriate training and support for foster carers and their families, recording and sharing of information by school staff, training for school staff on child protection and supervision of social work staff.

8. All local authorities should make sure that when a child known to them moves to a different authority with their family, all the files or copies of the files are transferred immediately. Staff in the receiving authority must be given time to read them fully and must appreciate the importance of doing so (paragraph 111).

SE response:

The Executive has developed guidance for education authorities regarding the transfer of information when a child stops attending a school, in all circumstances, including when a destination school is known and when a child is 'missing'. This guidance is issued in the context of guidelines for child protection in education and is being promoted by the Children Missing from Education (Scotland) project, which is now operational. The CME project has also devised guidance for authority action when a child has not been traced locally, in which case the CME project will assist national liaison between education authorities, including those in other parts of the UK, to trace children. While this project has been initiated within the education sector, it is developing collaborative links with other services (e.g. health, police, Scottish Children's Reporters Administration and Association of Directors of Social Work). Training and awareness raising across Scotland on the Children Missing Education project and guidelines has begun and will continue throughout 2005/06.

From report

9. Local authorities should make sure that all foster carers have access to training appropriate to their caring role. The needs of foster carers' own children should be considered and if necessary additional help offered to them through group or individual work (paragraph 207).

SE response:The Scottish Executive has commissioned The Fostering Network to conduct an audit of fostering. Their report, which includes an assessment of the training needs of foster carers, will be published in the autumn and, as part of our consideration of that report, we will consider whether further action is necessary to support local authorities in meeting this recommendation.

From report

10. Local authorities should make sure that there is a senior member of staff in every school responsible for recording and passing on to social work or other agencies any information about a child or their family where there are concerns about child protection. If they record specific concerns in a child's file which are not passed on to the relevant agency, the reason for this must also be recorded in the child's file (paragraph 242).

SE response: The Scottish Executive's child protection in education guidelines ' Safe and Well' recommend that every school designates a child protection co-ordinator who will record information, share information with relevant agencies and respond to requests for information, and ensure accountability for the school's decisions in relation to any concerns raised about a child's safety and wellbeing. The guidelines also encourage schools and education authorities to consider their strategic development to enable effective multi-agency working and information sharing between schools, education and other services. Safe and Well has been distributed to all education authorities in August 2005 for their distribution to schools and their local development of associated awareness raising and training for staff.

From report

11. Local authorities should make sure that all pre-school, primary and secondary school staff regularly participate in child protection training appropriate to their particular roles (paragraph 245).

SE response:The 'Safe and Well' guidelines encourage training and awareness in child protection for all staff, including volunteers, in regular contact with children, and regular training and staff support for those staff in roles of preventing children coming to harm, and responding to child protection concerns. To assist education authorities to raise awareness, the Scottish Executive has produced a pocket guide for all staff outlining their role in keeping children safe and well and responding to concerns.

From report

12. All local authorities should make sure that their policies and practices on supervising social work staff comply with the Scottish Social Services Council's codes of practice. Directors of social work/chief social work officers must make sure that staff who work directly with children are regularly supervised. The responsibilities of the supervisor should include exploring any issues which may affect the social worker's objectivity. The supervisor should be satisfied that the social worker's judgements are based on an analysis of the evidence. Current events should be examined in the light of previous patterns in the family history. Decisions made in supervision should be recorded in the case file and cross-referenced to discussion noted on supervision records (paragraph 262).

All NHS Boards

We have recommended improved arrangements for the strategic management of child protection in primary care teams, the development of managed clinical networks to enable health professionals to access expertise in child protection and better coordination of services for children with complex additional needs.

13. Primary care teams should agree when a family with child protection concerns registers with the practice how they will strategically manage the health care of the family and how they will communicate effectively about this on an intra-agency and inter-agency basis (paragraph 245).

SE response:. Current Scottish Executive Guidance on "Protecting Children A Shared Responsibility, Guidance of Health Professionals in Scotland" (2000) expects health professionals to share information about child protection concerns and to ensure early recognition and referral of families that require additional support.

The Scottish Executive Health Department will write to NHS Boards reminding GP practices about the necessity for care planning and information sharing in relation to families for whom there are child protection concerns. There should be particular attention given to new families registering with a practice when primary care records from another practice or information from another agency shows evidence of child protection concerns. The importance of good communication within the practice team and with other relevant agencies will be emphasised.

In 2004, following the O'Brien Report of the Enquiry into the death of Caleb Ness, the Scottish Executive issued a Plan for Immediate Action in Child Protection in December 2003. This plan included the development of training strategies to ensure that all staff are aware of child protection protocols and procedures. Implementation of the Plan is monitored through the child health performance assessment framework.

From report

14. NHS Regional Planning Groups should work together with National Services Divisionand the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to develop managed clinical networks for child protection that ensure access to specialist advice in all NHS Boards with appropriate use of telemedicine.These managed clinical networks should be linked to the national resource for staff working with complex child protection issues outlined in recommendation 27(paragraph 248).

SE response: There already exists a West of Scotland MCN for child protection with a designated lead clinician and managerial and administrative support. The Scottish Executive Health Department will discuss with the other Regional Planning Groups a timetable for establishing regional child protection MCNs and how they will cooperate on a national level.

The Scottish Executive Health Department recognises the importance of ensuring appropriate links between clinical networks and the proposed new national resource for child protection.

The recently published National Framework for Service Change in the NHS in Scotland "Building a Health Service Fit for the Future" recommended that NSD together with the Regional Planning Groups should produce a strategy on the development of Managed Clinical Networks for child health. The Executive agrees with this recommendation and the planning of this process has started. A stakeholder seminar has been arranged for 26 October 2005. The development of the strategy will involve the Royal Colleges and professional organisations and child protection will be considered as part of this.

From report

15. Every NHS Board should identify a senior health professional to strategically coordinate the health care of children with complex additional needs (paragraph 249).

SE Response: Recommendations about care coordination were made in the National Framework for Service Change in the NHS in Scotland "Building a Health Service Fit for the Future" and in the consultation proposals for action "Getting it Right for Every Child" (Phase 2 of the Review of the Children's Hearings system).

The Scottish Executive will consider the practical implementation of these recommendations in its response to the National Framework which recommended that every child with complex needs should have a named key worker who will coordinate their care needs across health, local authority and voluntary sector providers and a named paediatrician who will support the key worker and the child by coordinating secondary and tertiary care with pathways for service delivery.

"Getting it Right for Every Child" proposes a new duty on agencies to co-operate with each other in meeting the needs of children and to establish local coordination and monitoring and that where there is a need for co-ordinated action, a lead professional from amongst the agencies must be appointed.

In considering the issue of coordination of care, the Scottish Executive Health Department will consult with NHS Boards about the best model of care coordination taking into account the findings of this report and the recommendations of the other reports above.

From report

All agencies involved in protecting children

We have made a recommendation about risk assessment. We have identified the importance for all the agencies involved in protecting children to better bring together, analyse and regularly review the information they gather about a child and their family. We have also recognised the demands placed upon staff who work in this difficult area and recommended accessible staff counselling.

16. Where agencies know that a convicted sex offender is acting as a parent, social work managers and frontline staff should be informed. They should make sure that risk assessments of the offender's behaviour form part of a comprehensive assessment of the care and protection needs of the children. Particular attention should be paid to the risks which the person presents in a family context and how this will be managed. The assessment should also address the ability of the other parent to protect the children if necessary (paragraph 116).

SE response: this is taken together with recommendation 22

The new arrangements which are being put in place under Sections 9 and 10 of the Management of Offenders Bill will provide a framework within which these recommendations can be progressed. The police, local authorities and the Scottish Prison Service known as responsible authorities will be required to establish joint arrangements for assessing and managing the risk posed by sex offenders and violent offenders. Additionally, the health service will be a responsible authority for the establishment of joint arrangements with the other responsible authorities for the assessment and management of risk posed by mentally disordered offenders who are also sex offenders.

This will be a corporate responsibility for local authorities, not limited to criminal justice social work. It will include children and families managers and front line staff.

The new provisions will be supported by clear procedures between the key agencies on joint working and the sharing of information to simplify and improve current arrangements. These include a National Concordat and guidance on local information sharing protocols which have been developed by the Information Sharing Steering Group with representation from the police, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Court Service, Scottish Prison Service, local authority social work, housing and education, the Scottish Children's Reporter Association, the National Health Service, the Scottish Criminal Records Office and the Scottish Executive.

The introduction of new procedures, for example in relation to the use of common risk assessment tools, will streamline working arrangements within the 3 main agencies.

The 3 main agencies are at present developing guidance on the operation of the provisions under sections 9 and 10 for all agencies involved in the assessment and management of offenders and this will include child protection issues.

Overall, the provisions within the Management of Offenders etc, ( Scotland) Bill to establish Community Justice Authorities, will encourage a more integrated approach to the management of offenders and better links with other key agencies within the CJA areas.

Other agencies such as Education, Health, Benefits Agency, Child Support, Housing will all have a duty to co-operate with the 3 principal authorities (police, the SPS and local authorities). This will incorporate the sharing of information.

From report

17. All of the agencies involved in protecting children must gather the information they have on individual children at risk into a chronology of key events and contacts, review it regularly and make sure that it is passed on to the professional with the lead role in protecting children. The professional with the lead role must co-ordinate this into a multi agency chronology on a regular basis (paragraph 153).

SE Response : The proposals in "Getting It Right for Every Child : Proposals for Action" include a proposal that the Executive develops, with agencies, a single integrated assessment, planning and recording tool for use within a framework of co-ordinated meetings, reviews and planning. That single integrated framework includes a chronological account of significant events in a child's life.

From report

18. All agencies should make sure that staff engaged in work protecting children have access to independent confidential counselling which is separate from their line management. Staff working in very distressing circumstances should be expected to have an initial meeting with an independent person outwith their organisation to discuss available options for support (paragraph 263).

SE response: The ' Safe and Well' guidelines encourage schools and education authorities to

consider carefully the support needs of staff who have acted in a support or other role in

relation to concerns about a child's safety or welfare. The guidelines support the importance

of creating opportunities for staff to de-brief and seek support.

From report

Child protection committees

We have made a recommendation about the need for guidance on how best to care for children when their parents are arrested

19. All child protection committees in Scotlandshould develop guidance on how best to care for and protect children when their parents are arrested (paragraph 368).

SE response: Through the Child Protection Reform Programme we will work with CPCs to

develop a template for local customisation .

From report

Police

We have made a recommendation to the police about seeking expert advice on interviewing vulnerable adults who are witnesses or potential suspects.

20. In ma jor crime or protracted investigations where a witness or potential suspect is a vulnerable adult, the police should commission a psychological assessment to advise on the person's capacity to give evidence and on the length and number of interviews which should be undertaken with them (paragraph 303).

To assist in meeting both the welfare needs of a vulnerable adult and to preserve the integrity of an investigation, it is desirable that interviewing officers are informed about an individual's fitness for interview, together with guidance as to how interviews may be best conducted. We agree that there will be occasions where a psychological assessment would assist that decision-making.

COPFS and ACPOS propose developing guidance to police officers about the impact upon the interviewing process of a witness or suspect's particular vulnerabilities and the need to seek the advice of a psychologist to assist in managing and informing that process.

This guidance will link to ongoing work within Justice Department with regard to obtaining the services of psychologists and psychiatrists .

Joint Police - Social Work

We have made a recommendation on the training of police and social work staff involved in joint investigative interviewing.

21. Managers in social work agencies and in police forces must make sure that they have staff who are appropriately trained in joint investigative interviewing or can arrange to recruit such staff temporarily either from another authority or elsewhere. All staff who take part in joint investigative interviews should have completed appropriate and up to date training in joint investigative interviewing (paragraph 296).

The Scottish Executive

We have recommended that the Scottish Executive change the fostering regulations to ensure the robust assessment of relatives and friends when children are placed with them through a children's hearing and take steps to improve the information available to children's hearings. We recommend a national system is set up to provide advocates for children and guidance for professionals to enable children to express their views. We make recommendations about a national training programme for chairs of child protection case conferences, best practice in the use of forensic medical evidence and the role of paediatricians in child protection work. Two key recommendations are the establishment of a multi-agency resource to which all staff in Scotland working with complex child protection issues can draw upon for advice, expertise, training and research including the development of a national register of staff suitably qualified in joint investigative interviewing. Secondly, we recommend the Scottish Executive develop guidance to help professionals determine the most appropriate course of action where a child is found to be living in a household with a convicted sex offender.

22. The Scottish Executive should urgently develop guidance to help professional staff determine the most appropriate course of action where a child is found to be living in a household with a convicted sex offender (paragraph 116).

SE response: the response to this is linked with recommendation 16.SE response: In November 2003, the SE Justice Department and the Scottish Prison Service jointly issued revised guidance entitled "Protecting Children: Guidance on the Imprisonment and Preparation for Release of Schedule 1 Prisoners" to assist local authorities, the SPS and other agencies to deal with prisoners who may pose a threat to children because of their involvement or suspected involvement in an offence against a child. It deals with prisoners remanded or serving sentences for offences against children or with a previous known history of offences against children but is based on principles of good practice which can be applied more widely.

The guidance underlines the importance of partnership working in undertaking risk assessments, developing action plans, delivering prison based programmes, preparation for release and dealing with prisoners in the community. In carrying out assessments which follow sentence and plan for release, prison based social workers are required to liaise with community colleagues to obtain information on any multi disciplinary investigation/assessment undertaken or planned before imprisonment. They are advised to liaise closely at an early stage with community colleagues who may have been involved with the victim or prisoners family. On identification of a firm release date, there is a requirement for prison based social work units to notify the Chief Social Work Officer of the impending release of such an offender. The guidance is primarily about steps to be taken following sentence, but emphasis is also placed on local authority children and families services, together with other agencies working together to assess and manage risk, to ensure that all the necessary steps are taken to protect children throughout the various stages of the criminal justice process including arrangements following release. This revised guidance was issued in consultation with Directors of Social Work and Chief Social Work Officers, the Association of Directors of Social Work, COSLA the Scottish Prison Service, Crown Office and Scottish Court Service.

From report

23. The Scottish Executive should seek to amend the fostering regulations and relevant guidance so that relatives and friends must be formally approved as carers for a child who is looked after when that child is placed with them as a condition of a supervision requirement made by a children's hearing. Approval should be based on an assessment of their ability to care for, protect and meet the needs of the child (paragraph 145).

SE response:This recommendation has also been made by the adoption policy review group and is being taken forward as part of the work to update the legislative framework for adoption and permanence.

From report

24. The Scottish Executive children's hearing review should make sure that reports provided to the children's hearing include information about the child's family history and an assessment which takes account of significant past events. The inter-agency chronology of events outlined in recommendation 17 should always be included with these reports (paragraph 171).

SE response: Accept as part of the implementation of 'Getting it Right for Every Child : Proposals for Action' was published in June and is currently out for public consultation. The proposals require agencies to record significant events in a child's life (a chronology) and take account of these when making an assessment. The chronology can be included with the Plan which will go to the Hearing.

From report

25. The Scottish Executive should set up a national system for all children involved in children's hearings and other inter-agency meetings to have the opportunity of an advocate, when decisions are made about their needs, care and protection (paragraph 175).

SE response:In Getting it Right for every Child: Proposals for Action we have said we will recommend a way forward on advocacy following receipt of research which has been commissioned. We are committed to ensuring children are able to express their views and to ensure they have the necessary help to do so. We remain open to how this might be best achieved. We are aware that when a child goes to a Hearing there may be a number of professionals involved with them and that they may also be represented by a legal advisor, an advocate and a safeguarder. In ensuring a child's voice is heard we do not want to create a system which will require them to tell their story to more people than is necessary.

From report

26. The Scottish Executive should provide guidance for professionals on how to help children express their views. This should be developed in consultation with practitioners and must take account of the diverse communication needs of all children (paragraph 186).

SE response:Communicating with children is an essential core skill for all those working with them and should be part of initial and post qualifying training.

From report

27. The Scottish Executive should establish a multi-agency national resource for those working with complex child protection issues. This should offer consultancy and co-working for staff in relevant agencies. It should set up a managed care network, based on the model of managed clinical networks, and establish a register of recognised experts who could be called upon if required. It should set up a database of relevant research and contribute expertise to qualifying training and continued professional development for staff working in relevant agencies. The Scottish Executive should, in conjunction with this resource, develop a national register of staff suitably qualified in joint investigative interviewing (paragraphs 239 and 296).

SE response:We will consider the detail of this recommendation as part of the Child Protection Reform Programme building on work that is already being done

for example in developing a training framework for all those involved in child protection and

suite of materials which can be accessed and added to in the long term. We will also consider the links between this recommendation and the development of managed clinical networks (see recommendation 14)

From report

28. The Scottish Executive should make sure that all chairs of child protection case conferences have access to a national training programme (paragraph 271).

SE response:This will be picked up as part of the work of the Child Protection

Reform Programme, and in particular a specific project on training in child protection for all agencies being developed as part of the programme.

From report

29. The Scottish Executive should set up a working group of representatives from the Crown Office, RoyalCollege of Paediatrics and Child Health and NHS Scotland. The group should prepare guidance on the nature and use of forensic medical evidence, processes for obtaining and presenting this evidence and the roles and responsibilities of health professionals in forensic medical examinations(paragraph 329).

SE response:Discussions have already commenced between the RCPCH and the Crown Office about the provision of appropriately trained and experienced forensic paediatricians and the role of paediatricians as expert witnesses. The Scottish Executive will involve NHS QIS in this work and agree a remit and timescale for reporting.

From report

30. The Scottish Executive should consider the findings of the pilot schemes for video recording of the statements of child witnesses with a view to drawing up guidance on extending this throughout Scotland(paragraph 337).

SE Response: A n evaluation of the pilot schemes to visually record investigative interviews with children was commissioned in June 2005 and will report at the end of May 2006. The aims of the evaluation are to: establish the extent to which the pilot schemes are working effectively;, identify good practice; and, inform the future development of visually recorded interviews, and their use as evidence in court proceedings.

From report

31. The Scottish Executive should further develop the guidance on interviewing child witnesses to include guidance for police and social workers investigating complex cases where the allegations of abuse include several adults and where several children are involved (paragraph 340).

SE response: The Guidance on Interviewing Child Witnesses in Scotland, issued in September 2003, was the first in a series of guidance documents on Child Witness Support. It aims to set standards of practice to significantly improve the quality of investigative interviews of child witnesses. It is primarily designed for police and social work but should be taken as a benchmark for any organisation involved in interviewing children.

A monitoring and evaluation exercise will be established in Autumn 2005 to assess the use of this document, along with the other documents in the Supporting Child Witnesses Guidance Pack. This exercise will address the impact of the documents upon training and practice and identify the need for updating and revising them. This will include examining how the Interviewing Child Witnesses in Scotland document could be extended to give best practice guidance when dealing with complex cases, including those involving several adults and children.