We drive local delivery of the child safety public service agreement
(PSA 13) and
Staying Safe Action
Plan to promote the safety and welfare of children. To help us do
this we have many partners:
- local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs)
- local authority Children’s Services Division
- NHS East Midlands
- Ofsted
- the third sector
- relevant field forces
We challenge local areas to focus on identified priorities, monitor
progress and inform key policy developments, with an aim to strengthen
policies, integrate regional strategies and drive local delivery.
The Government is committed to improving all children and young
people’s safety with a specific focus on the following key areas.
-
Reduce the number of children who have experienced
bullying.
-
Improve the percentage of children referred to children’s
social care who received an initial assessment within 7 working
days.
We work closely with regional partners to identify
areas where work will add value. We specifically focus on challenging
poor practice, supporting improvement and identifying issues that can
be dealt with on a regional level through training, the development of
protocols and the sharing of best practice.
-
Reduce emergency hospital admissions caused by unintentional
and deliberate injuries to children and young people.
We
work closely with regional partners to identify issues and explore
priorities for regional activity. Across our region LSCBs have
integrated accident prevention into broader safeguarding
responsibilities and there are a number of positive initiatives which
we are looking to learn from.
-
Reduce the number of preventable child deaths as recorded
through the child death review panel process.
We work closely with Ofsted to oversee the serious case review process
undertaken by LSCBs when they are notified of a serious incident or
child death. We liaise with LSCBs on these cases to support and
challenge them throughout the process, which aims to establish whether
there are lessons to be learnt from the case. We are working with LSCBs
and Ofsted on the new arrangements for managing serious case reviews as
set out in Working
Together to Safeguard Children and have an agreed working
protocol in place.
-
Looked After Children.
We are members of the Regional Looked After Children and Leaving Care
networks and work with these groups to support the roll out of the
Care Matters
Implementation Plan.
