This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Post cabinet briefing on child protection
05/11/2003
Plans to strengthen and accelerate child protection
reforms were outlined today by Minister for Education and
Young People Peter Peacock.
The Minister today updated Cabinet on the work which has
taken place since the publication of the audit and review
of child protection in Scotland -
Its Everyone's Job to Make Sure I'm All right.
Speaking after the Cabinet meeting, the Minister
said:
"There are few more important things we do as government
to protect young people, but equally there are few more
complex and challenging things that we have to
confront."
The Minister went on to say that the Executive is
committed to a three year child protection reform programme
and has recruited professionals from the various
disciplines to help develop and deliver this. He
highlighted that, within the programme, the Executive has
already been:
· working with Save the Children in the development of a
Children's Charter to be published later
in the year;
· undertaking a huge consultation exercise with
practitioners, managers, the voluntary sector, professional
bodies and parent groups on
multi-disciplinary standards for child
protection which we plan to publish around the
turn of the year;
· considering the possible
future role and remit for Child Protection
Committees and how they might help drive forward
the change agenda with plans to publish the outcome early
in the New year;
· considering
the multi-disciplinary inspection
programme needed to provide assurance that outcomes for
children are improving;
· ensuring we
learn lessons from the various reports and
inquiries into situations where, tragically, things have
gone wrong to help inform the programme.
The Minister added: "It is everyones's job to make sure
our children are all right. It's not just a question for
social workers, it's a question for the police, it's a
question for the health authorities and all the
professionals that work within these organisations and many
others in our communities. It is also a responsibility to
us as Ministers, and that is why we will continue to
provide leadership and drive the changes - the very
necessary changes - that are required to improve the whole
situation of child protection."