Agenda item

The Director of Social Care & Education submits a report which sets out the responsibilities of the Leicester Safeguarding Children Partnership Board (LSCPB) in relation to its functions and requirement to produce and publish an Annual Report 2019/ 20.

The Director of Social Care & Education submitted a report which set out the responsibilities of the Leicester Safeguarding Children Partnership Board (LSCPB) in relation to its functions and requirement to produce and publish an Annual Report. This report covered the period from September 2019 to June 2020.

The report was presented highlighting the following points:

·         It was a requirement to publish a report at least once in every 12-month period and this was the first one as the Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Board.

·         The partnership was now a shared and equal duty for the three safeguarding partners; the Police, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Local Authority, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Leicester.

·         During the period of the report and in the first six months of the partnership being in place, two local children safeguarding practice reviews were commissioned and the national panel commissioned and published one national review.

·         The national published report focussed on criminal exploitation and the learnings were picked up from the local criminal exploitation group.

·         As a result of Covid-19, a media and communications campaign was implemented by the three partners, to inform the children and communities that the safeguarding services were still available and open. In addition to this, leaflet drops, and posters were also distributed.

·         Furthermore, engagement took place with local young people and their input influenced the business planning and priorities for 2021, some of which included mental health & safeguarding, domestic abuse and the impact of children within the family.

Following Members comments the below responses were provided:

·         The video/ short film which was welcomed by a Member of the Commission, was noted to be directed/ designed by a young person and had now achieved international acclaim. It was aspired to build on aspects like this.

·         The national review which took place highlighted national concerns however Leicester City Council (LCC) already had a lot of things in place for local issues.

·         The first LLR annual report would be produced for the end of year and this would give an indication of where things would be moving next.

·         In order to avoid children ‘slipping through the gap’, the service delivered safeguarding to all schools and also did a year diagnostic to ensure it was implemented well. In addition, staff had multiagency training.

·         From a safeguarding perspective the service was well resourced especially as the budget was shared with the Police and Partnership funding, therefore there were no current resource concerns.

·         When the first lockdown took place due to the covid-19 pandemic, the referrals into the system declined significantly. The service then produced a marketing campaign to emphasise that the safeguarding system still existed and as a result, the referral numbers did go back up.

·         The safeguarding service had been maintained throughout the pandemic, although the face to face activity had to decrease. The team were committed to engaging with young people and not reverting to electronic communication entirely.

·         As a result of mental health concerns, there was a task and finish group working on this aspect. In addition, schools were being supported to address mental health concerns.

AGREED:

1.    That the Commission notes the report.

2.    The Commission requests a report from the task and finish group focusing on mental health to be bought back to a future meeting.

3.    The Commission recognises the good work of the partnership.