Appendix 2: Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board - Constitution

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:

• Protecting children from maltreatment;
• Preventing impairment of children's health and development;
• Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.

and undertaking that role so as to enable those children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully.

The purpose of Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board will be achieved through:

Engaging in activities that safeguard all children and aim to identify and prevent maltreatment or impairment of health and development, and ensure children are growing up in circumstances consistent with safe and effective care. For example:

• Mechanisms to identify abuse and neglect wherever they may occur;
• Work to increase understanding of safeguarding children issues in the professional and wider community, promoting the message that safeguarding is everybody's responsibility;
• Work to ensure that organisations working or in contact with children, operate recruitment and human resources practices that take account of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children;
• Monitoring the effectiveness of organisations' implementation of their duties under section 11 of the Children Act 2004;
• Ensuring children know who they can contact when they have concerns about their own or others' safety and welfare;
• Ensuring that adults (including those who are harming children) know who they can contact if they have a concern about a child or young person;
• Work to prevent accidents and other injures and, where possible, deaths; and
• Work to prevent and respond effectively to bullying.

Leading and co-ordinating proactive work that aims to target particular groups. For example:

• Developing/evaluating thresholds and procedures for work with children and families where a child has been identified as 'in need' under the Children Act 1989, but where the child is not suffering or likely[0] to suffer significant harm; and
• Work to safeguard and promote the welfare of groups of children who are potentially more vulnerable than the general population, for example children living away from home, children who have run away from home, children missing from school or childcare, children in the youth justice system, including custody, disabled children and children and young people affected by gangs.

Leading and co-ordinating arrangements for responsive work to protect children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer Significant Harm including:

• Children abused and neglected within families, including those harmed:
  • In the context of domestic violence;
  • As a consequence of the impact of substance misuse, or of parental mental ill health.
• Children abused outside families by adults known to them;
• Children abused and neglected by professional carers, within institutional settings, or anywhere else where children are cared for away from home;
• Children abused by strangers;
• Children abused by other young people;
• Young perpetrators of abuse;
• Children abused through sexual exploitation; and
• Young victims of crime.

The functions of Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board are set out in policies and procedures including those on:

• Action taken where there are concerns, including thresholds for intervention;
• Training of people who work with children or in services affecting the safety and welfare of children;
• Recruitment and supervision of people who work with children;
• Investigation of allegations concerning people who work with children;
• Safety and welfare of children who are privately fostered;
• Co-operation with neighbouring children's services authorities and their LSCB partners;
• Communicating and raising awareness within the area of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and raising awareness of how to do so;
• Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of what is done by the Board and its partners individually and collectively;
• Participating in planning and commissioning services for children;
• Reviewing the deaths of children;
• Undertaking Serious Case Reviews.

Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board's Annual Report and Work Programme will be presented by Strategic Core members to their relevant governance bodies.  The role of such bodies is to hold their organisation and its officers to account for their contribution to the effective functioning of the LSCB.

 The Chair will meet with the Lead Member for Children's Services (who has a statutory responsibility for safeguarding) and the non-executive children's lead on the NHS Peterborough to discuss the Annual Report and Work Programme.

The core membership of Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board is consistent with the statutory requirement, set out in Section 13(3) of the Children Act 2004.

• Director of Children’s Services;
• Designated Doctor;
• Designated Nurse;
• Assistant Director, Families and Communities;
• Primary and Secondary School Representatives;
• Psychologist Youth Offending Service;
• Service manager Integrated Safeguarding;
• Senior Police Officer;
• Assistant Director Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Probation Trust;
• Assistant Director Adult Social Care;
• Director of Nursing, Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;
• Director of Nursing and Quality, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust;
• Service Manager CAFCASS;
• Service Manager NSPCC;
• Lay Member.

The involvement of other relevant local organisations and professionals with specific responsibility in respect of safeguarding has been secured through membership of the wider Board.

• Head of Neighbourhoods and Communities;
• Chair Domestic Violence Forum;
• Safeguarding Nurse, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust;
• Inspector, Child and Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit;
• MAPPA Manager;
• Head of Workforce Development Peterborough City Council;
• Legal Advisor, Peterborough City Council;
• Education Safeguarding Lead.

The work of Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board will be supported by the following staff, with Children's Services acting as the host agency:

• Business Manager responsible for progressing the Board's day -to-day business in achieving its objectives, including its co-ordination and monitoring/evaluating work;
• Strategic Learning and Development Manager responsible for taking forward the Board's training and staff development work, in the context of the local workforce strategy;
• Business Support Officer to provide administrative and organisational support for the Board and its operational groups and Business Manager
• Training Co-ordinator to provide administrative and organisational support for the Strategic Learning and Development Manager in undertaking the training responsibilities of the Board.

The Strategic Core: - The Strategic Core of the Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board is made up of the core membership as described at Section 8.3. Meetings will be held bimonthly.

Role and responsibilities:

• To ensure the Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board and its Operational Groups fulfil the statutory functions as aid out in Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2010;
• To provide strategic direction, co-ordination and planning in respect of the inter-agency safeguarding functions of the Board;
• To be an effective motivator for setting and maintaining standards for the work of Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board;
• To undertake the Board's monitoring and inspection role in respect of any partner organisation that is not performing effectively;
• To agree the budget for the Board;
• To maintain a focus on safeguarding during times of organisational change;
• To work in conjunction with the CYPSP with respect to the Staying Safe agenda.

The Wider Board: The members of the Wider Board will contribute to the work of Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board through applying their expertise to the Operational Groups or time limited task groups

Roles and responsibilities:

• To carry out specific tasks, e.g. reviewing serious cases or identifying inter-agency training needs;
• To provide specialist advice, e.g. in respect of children with disabilities or adults who pose a risk to children;
• To bring together representatives of a sector to discuss relevant issues, e.g. the voluntary and community sector, faith groups.

The Operational Chairs Group will be drawn from the Wider Board and will meet together bimonthly to ensure that the business of the Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board is coordinated and focussed.

Roles and responsibilities:

• To devise the draft Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board Work Programme based on the priorities agreed by the Strategic Core;
• To ensure all operational groups establish their own work plan based on the Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board Work Programme to ensure review progress of the work plans;
• To ensure/review progress of the work plans;
• To identify and coordinate any work which crosses over between groups;
• To produce the draft Annual Report;
• To bring to the attention of the Strategic Core any matter which is a potential challenge to the Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board achieving its aims.

Operational Groups: - The following groups will be responsible for their part in the work programme of Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board as detailed in the Work Programme.  Each group will draw up their own work plan, with priorities and measurable objectives, to guide its work. The frequency of meetings will be decided on the basis of each group's work programme but will be no less than three monthly.  Groups will set up time-limited task groups as required.

The membership of the Operational Groups will reflect a broad range of statutory and voluntary organisations.  Members will be selected on the basis of the contribution they can make through their professional roles and responsibilities.

Serious Case Review Group: - is responsible for: 

• Undertaking Serious Case Reviews and Individual Management Reviews in accordance with government guidance;
• Monitoring the action plans developed as a result of reviews;
• Ensuring the dissemination of the learning from reviews.

Child Death Review Process: - The Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board is working with the Cambridgeshire Local Safeguarding Children Board to ensure a coordinated response to all child deaths across the county. A joint Child Death Review Panel has been established to

• Collect and analyse information about the deaths of all children in the area and ensuring any necessary action is taken;
• Put in place procedures for ensuring a co-ordinated response by all relevant agencies to the unexpected death of a child and, once those procedures are in place, to monitor their effectiveness.

Policy, Procedures and Practice Group is responsible for:

• The development of inter-agency policy, procedures and practice in response to government guidance or locally identified need;
• Reviewing current policy, procedures and practice in relation to responsive work to protect children who are suffering, or at risk of suffering harm. This will be on both a routine basis and if issues of concern about effectiveness are raised;
• Respond to government consultations at the request of the LSCB.

Communication and Information Group is responsible for:

• Raising public and organisational awareness of safeguarding;
• Providing information about the work of Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board, e.g. via leaflets, Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board website;
• Providing information for children and parents involved in child protection processes;
• Consulting on relevant issues with children, young people, parents and carers;
• Establishing a media strategy on behalf of the Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board.

Strategic Learning and Development Group is responsible for:

• Ensuring that single-agency and inter-agency training on safeguarding and promoting welfare is provided to meet local needs;
• Evaluating the quality and effectiveness of this training.

Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board will contribute to, and work within, the framework of the workforce strategy.

Quality Assurance Group is responsible for:

• Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children by member organisations.  This will be achieved through a peer review process, based on self-evaluation, performance indicators and joint audit;
• Monitoring the organisations with a duty under Section 11 of the Children Act 2004, or section 175 or section 157 of the Education Act 2002 to ensure they are fulfilling their statutory obligations.

Safer Employment Group is responsible for:

• To enable the development and planning of safe recruitment procedures and practice;
• To contribute to a safe recruitment strategy/policy for all partner agencies;
• To monitor the effectiveness of safe recruitment policies and practice;
• To ensure training and awareness raising is provided on safe employment practice (in conjunction with the Strategic Leaning and Development Group).

Affiliated Groups

The following groups, who have a particular focus on safeguarding within their areas of interest, are affiliated to the Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board:

• Safeguarding in Education Group;
• Peterborough Safeguarding Children Team (Health).