Agenda item

Nicky Pace, Chair of the Lewisham Safeguarding Children Board

Nicky Pace, Independent Chair of the LSCB introduced the report.

The following points were noted in discussion:

·         The MET dashboard is a visual way of providing clear performance data that can be shared across agencies

·         Consultation on changes to the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children, new child death review guidance and new regulations was open until late December and the Committee was encouraged to respond to it. A link to the consultation would be circulated to Members after the meeting.

·         CAMHS waiting times –the service had been redesigned to focus on clearing the waiting list and was currently meeting demand. There was no wait for initial assessment and the length of wait for treatment depended on need. All treatment was commencing within the 18 week target.

·         Self-harm prevention and suicide prevention protocols were in place and the LSCB was working with schools and others on this priority area.

·         Peer on Peer abuse is a big part of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). The council successfully bid for Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC) funding and a year-long piece of work was commissioned from a national lead in the field of Child Sexual Exploitation, Violence and Trafficking, resulting in several pieces of work to improve the council’s CSE work.

·         Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) - BME children accounted for 89% of all child deaths. This was disproportionate to the local population and repeated the pattern of previous years.

·         Members felt it would be helpful if the report provided figures on the percentage of BME children in the overall local population as a comparator. BME children make up 74% of school age children in Lewisham. The % BME children in the under 5s and secondary school populations would also be useful to see in subsequent reports. The Executive Director for CYP to feed this back to CDOP.

·         CAMHS outcomes - It was not easy to provide a comparison between Lewisham’s outcomes and other London boroughs. CAMHS outcomes were measured via the Children’s Global Assessment Scale and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, which was a subjective measure. However, as the measures were used across SLAM, Members felt it would be helpful to compare outcomes in Lewisham with Southwark.

·         LSCB Training - The diagram on page 26 of the agenda pack did not capture the large amount of training that was happening in individual schools, agencies etc. For examples, schools are required to provide safeguarding training for all staff, including Chartwells who provide catering services to schools.

·         Performance of the Disclosure and Barring System (DBS) – additional staff had been brought in to clear the backlog and the situation was improving. The backlog was a particular issue for foster care. A risk based approach was being taken in respect of overseas checks.

·         Members asked the LCSB to think about opportunities for income generation through providing training to other boroughs. 3 independent schools were already buying training through the South East London Teaching Partnership for social work with Greenwich and Southwark.

·         S11 self-assessment – measuring the cooperation of agencies around arrangements for safeguarding children. Moving away from a single person within the agencies replying on the agency’s behalf. Instead front line staff were now responding to questions to get a richer picture and to provide the LSCB with great assurance.

·         Previously there had been inconsistent use of toolkits. All agencies reporting Domestic Violence were now expected to use the same risk assessment toolkit. The Committee felt this should be highlighted in the report.

·         The CAMHS threshold was very high. Signposting of alternative services such as Kooth for online counselling could improve.

·         The council had competing interests in cases of peer on peer abuse, being responsible for the education welfare of both the alleged perpetrator and the alleged victim.

RESOLVED that

1.    the contents of the report be noted.

2.    Scrutiny Manager to circulate the link to the consultation on changes to the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children, new child death review guidance and new regulations.

3.    Executive Director for CYP to feed back to CDOP.