Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report

Transcription

1 Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report Ensuring Newcastle is a safer city for children and young people at risk of abuse or neglect

2 Contents Independent Chairperson s Foreword 3 Commentary from Newcastle City Council Chief Executive 5 Commentary from Councillor Nora Casey 6 1. The Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board Explained 7 2. Delivering on our Business Plan 2016/ What Difference Do we Make? Partner s Contributions to the Priorities Structure Membership Budget Glossary References 48 Appendix 1 NSCB Performance Scorecard 2016/17 Models have been used in some of the images displayed in this publication. 2

3 I am writing this Foreword in my capacity as Independent Chairperson for Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board. It is in that guise I am required to produce an Annual Report which describes and sets out the effectiveness of the local arrangements to safeguard children and young people who live in and around the city of Newcastle. The Annual Report provides an overview of a range of key safeguarding activity driven and coordinated by the Board. This is the second Foreword that I have produced, which builds upon the objectives and priorities set out in 2015/16, and which now translate and move forwards into the financial year 2016/17. I am pleased to report that the NSCB has had an extremely productive year in progressing the work identified as its priorities, which are referred to in the main body of the Report. One of the key priority areas has been to strengthen the Voice of Children and Young People in the work of the NSCB. In this context and following the appointment of a newly elected Youth Council in January 2017, the NSCB has developed and approved a joint working agreement with the Youth Council as well as identifying a Youth Council member who will have lead for safeguarding children and young people and who will attend the Board a minimum of twice a year. The Board is keen and excited to further develop this important relationship during the course of this current year. The Board has also experienced a number of significant events including an Ofsted Inspection of Children's Services and a Review of the effectiveness of the Board in terms of ensuring that arrangements for safeguarding children and young people in Newcastle are functioning in the most optimum and effective Independent Chairperson s Foreword way. The Review also included an assessment of the way in which the range of Partners contribute to this most challenging of agendas including the reporting of a range of high profile criminal matters currently being processed by the Courts and which are related to child sexual exploitation (CSE) under the overall banner of Operation Sanctuary. These latter matters have been accompanied by the commissioning of a Serious Case Review, under independent authorship on behalf of both the Safeguarding Children and Safeguarding Adults Boards. Learning from the Serious Case Review will enter the public domain towards the end of the current calendar year with both Boards anticipating that the review findings will attract considerable public and professional attention. At the same time legislation has received Royal Assent setting out new arrangements for the safeguarding and promotion of the welfare of children and young people as well as reviewing the arrangements for the deployment of Child Death Overview Panel and Serious Case Reviews. A key focus of this is how the three key statutory partners (the Police, Local Authority, and Health representatives), can work together more effectively in order to discharge their revised duties and responsibilities. This includes exploring possibilities for wider collaborative working with neighbouring authorities (including geographical neighbours) - although this will only need to be considered if it is agreed that there will be positive benefits or outcomes to achieved from this. Discussions related to these matters and pertinent to Newcastle are currently at a very early stage and Ofsted s recent evaluation of the operation and functioning of the NSCB as being good would indicate that there are already strong, robust, and reliable arrangements in place to deploy and further develop its statutory duties and responsibilities. New arrangements are required to be in place by mid 2019 so there remains plenty of time to 3

4 craft a sensible, bespoke arrangement for Newcastle that continues to serve the needs of those most vulnerable living in the City in the best way possible. Finally, it would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to thank all of the Board members and relevant Partnership staff for their continued commitment, support, and enthusiasm to protecting those who are most vulnerable living in our City - without them it would be impossible for the Board to operate and function so effectively. I am very much looking forward to the year ahead and to the continued commitment from Partners as the Board sets out its transition arrangements that are required to address the stated responsibilities as identified in the Woods Review. Colin Morris, Independent Chair 4

5 Commentary from Newcastle City Council Chief Executive Officer I am pleased to receive the Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report for 2016/17 from the Independent Chairperson, Colin Morris. It is evident from the report that the NSCB has continued to provide strong leadership throughout the year and I am pleased to report that this was positively commented upon by Ofsted in their recent review of the Board s effectiveness. I acknowledge the significant amount of work that has been undertaken by partners to safeguard children and young people at risk of harm from sexual exploitation, neglect, female genital mutilation and the prevention of radicalisation. Newcastle City Council has worked very closely with Northumbria Police and others since the start of Operation Sanctuary over three years ago. Our priority has been, and always will be, to protect and support the victims regardless of whether or not they testify against their perpetrators. Our hearts go out to all those affected by the heinous crimes Operation Sanctuary has exposed. The NSCB, in conjunction with the Safeguarding Adults Board, will publish their joint Serious Case Review into sexual exploitation in Newcastle later in the year. We anticipate a significant amount of learning to come from the review, which will be fully shared with partners at local and national level. I am assured by the Independent Chair that any identified actions have been and will continue to be progressed and implemented in a timely manner. It is clear from the Annual Report that the challenges for the Board and its partners for the year ahead remain for us to continue to work to protect young people from sexual exploitation, safely reduce the number of children who need to be Looked After by the Local Authority or are subject to a Child Protection Plan, and work to improve the educational attainment of Children in Need. I will continue to meet with the Independent Chair on a regular basis to keep abreast of developments. During the course of the year we will also start to shape our new safeguarding arrangements as set out in new legislation and will enter into appropriate conversations with local and regional partners to ensure we explore every opportunity to improve. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work over the last year, which puts us in a strong position to move forward over the next 12 months and beyond. Pat Ritchie Newcastle City Council Chief Executive Officer 5

6 Commentary from Councillor Nora Casey, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People I welcome the opportunity to comment on the NCSB Annual Report. I would like to thank all the NCSB partners for their hard work over the past year, and for the welcome I have received as the new portfolio holder. I commend their diligence and dedication to the vital task of ensuring that our children and young people are as safe as possible, and that their development is supported and encouraged. In the year in which the results of Operation Sanctuary were made public, the importance of this work locally has never been more apparent. I would also like to thank Colin Morris, the Independent Chair of the Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board, for his leadership and tenacity. Newcastle City Council continues to face an unprecedented budget challenge. In 2016/17 we were required to make further savings of 1.9m from our Children s Social Care budget. Reductions were also necessary across our Education and Skills division, which itself makes a valuable contribution to supporting the most vulnerable children to remain in and achieve in education. It is clear that the next twelve months will be equally challenging. Nationally and in Newcastle, we are seeing increased demand within Children s Social Care. This is exacerbated by the scale of budget reductions faced by partners across the city. Recent events confirm to me the fundamental importance of partners across the city working as one to protect children and strengthen families. This is even more important given the financial challenge faced by both statutory and voluntary sector partners in Newcastle. I am delighted that the Youth Council has now taken a formal role on the NCSB. This will help to ensure that the voice of the child is heard and taken into account in our work to safeguard children and young people. At the time of writing, the Youth Council has just run a Staying Safe in the City event for children and young people, which went very well and was a credit to the young people who planned it. We have recently had the results of an extensive number-crunching exercise on the educational attainment of children in need, including looked after children, relative to the local and national averages at each key stage. While looked after children in Newcastle continue to do better than the average for looked after children nationally, it is important that we work to understand and to narrow the gap between them and their peers in how well they do at school. I look forward to engaging with the work of the NCSB over the coming year and to continuing to get to know each of the partners. Kind regards, Councillor Nora Casey, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People 6

7 1. The Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board explained... What is Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board? During the business year 2016/17 the Newcastle Safeguarding Child Board (NSCB) continued to be a statutory partnership, set up under the Children Act However at the time of writing the Annual Report the Children and Social Work Bill was given Royal Assent in May 2017, which abolishes the statutory framework for a Local Safeguarding Children Board. 2017/18 will see the review and introduction of new safeguarding arrangements once national guidance has been consulted upon and implemented. In the meantime the NSCB will continue in its work to safeguard the wellbeing of all children and young people and will continue to be proactive in driving forward improvements to minimise the risk of abuse and neglect. Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board Vision Partners in Newcastle, led by the Wellbeing for Life Board, have a shared ambition for people who live, work or learn in Newcastle to be safe and enjoy positive wellbeing and good health. To demonstrate and support this ambition the NSCB s vision for children and young people is to ensure that Newcastle is an increasingly safer city for vulnerable children and young people at risk of abuse and neglect. Key Roles and Relationships The Independent Chair of the NSCB is supported by a Board Co-ordinator and Administrative Officer. The Independent Chair is tasked with ensuring the NSCB fulfils its statutory objectives and functions. He is accountable to the Chief Executive of Newcastle City Council, with whom he formally meets with four times a year so that the performance and effectiveness of NSCB is closely monitored. The Independent Chair also works closely with the City Council Director of Wellbeing, Care and Learning (now People), who has responsibility for children and young people, on related safeguarding issues and challenges, and has similar reporting arrangements in place. Whilst the NSCB does not have the authority to direct organisations on what they need to do to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, NSCB does have the power to influence and hold agencies to account for their role in safeguarding children. This can touch on matters relating to governance as well as the robustness and effectiveness of individual organisations safeguarding arrangements. The NSCB has in place a formal Constitution that clearly defines the fundamental principles through which the Board is governed. Board members perform a strategic role within their organisations and are able to: speak with authority; commit to matters of policy; and hold their organisation to account. Member organisations demonstrate a commitment to ensuring the effective operation of the NSCB through regular attendance at meetings, leading on task and finish groups, chairing sub groups and committees and undertaking internal safeguarding assessments and audits, leading to continuous improvement. The NSCB has an important strategic interface with the Children s Trust Board, Safeguarding Adults Board and Safe Newcastle Board and reports annually to the Wellbeing for Life Board and City Council, which assists in the alignment of strategic priorities, actions and co-ordination. 7

8 How We Identify our Local Needs? The NSCB s approach to understanding its local needs is drawn from a number of sources, which includes what children and young people are saying; Newcastle Future Needs Assessment/Know Newcastle (JSNA); internal and external reviews; inspection; audit; performance information; and national drivers and research. The Newcastle Plan for Children and Young People 2015/2020 advises us that there are approximately 53,000 children and young people under the age of 18 in Newcastle; with 59% of 0-4 year olds; 61% of primary school pupils and 58% of secondary school pupils living in the 30% most deprived areas. 29% of children and young people under 16 years live in poverty compared to the England and Wales National average of 21%. Many such families may live in complex circumstances with multiple factors present which impact upon parenting capacity and family function. Domestic violence and abuse is identified as an issue in 33% of all initial assessments undertaken by Children s Social Care, which also includes concerns relating to parental mental health, parental alcohol misuse and physical abuse and neglect (Children s Trust Board 2015). Research shows that children and young people who grow up in poverty are potentially more vulnerable to maltreatment, particularly neglect and physical abuse. They also have an increased risk of adverse experiences and negative outcomes, both in the short and long term. Some of these outcomes include poor health (physical and mental), death from illness or accident, educational disadvantage, unemployment, poverty during adulthood, criminalisation for anti-social behaviour or offending, as well as becoming victims of crime. Children and young people who experience both poverty and maltreatment are potentially doubly disadvantaged because the experience of maltreatment may in turn further undermine life chances in the long term (NSPCC 2008). NSCB Business Plan The NSCB Business Plan is informed by a wide range of data sources which inform the strategic direction and priorities for the work. It is supported by a Delivery Plan produced annually, which underpins its priorities and sets out the NSCB actions for the year ahead; this is rigorously monitored and signed off by the NSCB. Priorities 2016/17 Protecting vulnerable children and young people Protection refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer significant harm. For those children who are vulnerable this means ensuring that services are targeted, responsive and efficient and everything that can be done is being done to achieve the best outcomes and reducing the risks and challenges they face. Leadership Working Together (2015) states that everyone who works with children has a responsibility for keeping them safe. It is vital that organisations and individuals understand the role they have to play and that these arrangements are strongly led and promoted by the chief officers in all organisations. Learning and Improving NSCB Learning and Improvement Framework provides the foundation for how the Board drives improvements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Newcastle. The framework covers a range of case review methods, practice audits and selfassessments, which support NSCB organisations to be clear about their roles and responsibilities, learn from experience and improve services. 8

9 2. Delivering on our Business Plan Priorities 2016/19 Priority 1. Protecting Vulnerable Children and Young People The NSCB has continued to co-ordinate, oversee and monitor on a number of key child safeguarding issues during the course of the year. What are we worried about? Missing children and young people, child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse Female genital mutilation Children and young people at risk of radicalisation The affects of child neglect; parental substance misuse; parental mental health; and domestic abuse on children and young people Missing young people and child sexual exploitation: NSCB and its partners recognise that those children who go missing are extremely vulnerable and at risk from multiple forms of abuse. The joint NSCB and Safeguarding Adult Board Missing, Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Group (M-SET) has strategic management and oversight of the arrangements in Newcastle; the group is chaired by a DCI from Northumbria Police. Trend data from the NSCB Annual Missing Report indicates that during 2016/17 there was a 4.9% increase in the number of children missing from home or care compared with 2015/16, which seen a reduction. This increase is a common theme across the Northumbria Police area, although Newcastle continues to have the highest numbers by comparison. The missing scorecard also suggests that there is a small cohort of individual young people that account for a significant proportion of the missing episodes. The NSCB Risk Management Data (RMD) Group has requested a more detailed interrogation of the missing data to better understand the story behind what is happening. A task and finish group will scope the work and report back to the NSCB on its findings in autumn As part of the work to manage and support those young people who go missing from home or care, Children s Social Care (CSC) and SCARPA carry out independent return home interviews (RHIs). The learning and themes from the RHIs is also considered by the RMD Group in order to support the deployment of targeted services, disrupt activity and raise awareness; the quality of return home interviews has been identified as an area for improvement and will be an integral part of the work going forward in 2017/18. For those young people whose behaviour is of a serious concern, e.g. regularly going missing, use of drugs and alcohol etc. the NSCB Risk Management (operational) Group oversees and scrutinises the multi-agency plans that are in place to safeguard these young people and challenges partners when it considers the plans to be ineffective. All of the work of the RMG is reported to the MSET on a quarterly basis, who monitor progress and escalate any issue or concerns to the Board for a senior level response. Northumbria Police have been instrumental in driving forward the work in Newcastle to safeguard children from sexual exploitation through a large scale Operation, which has targeted criminalised behaviour to exploit vulnerable individuals. The initial Operation, which was originally set up in 2014, has since evolved into a dedicated department with three core areas defining daily business via investigative response, intelligence 9

10 development and victim safeguarding and support. The department is not only charged with protection and prevention of offences being committed against vulnerable members of our community but also the pursuit of those individuals and groups who choose to offend against those persons. From the outset, support has been provided by social care resources as well as representatives from the third sector and health. These dedicated resources have evolved into a group of professionals with different skill sets that now operate as a strong team providing the best service possible in the interests of safeguarding the most vulnerable. A successful Home Office innovation bid has since allowed for the expansion of the victim team with the addition of social care and third sector resources. During the year we have seen a significant increase in the completion of the online CSE module from 252 in 2015/16 to 749 in 2016/17. This equates to a 197% increase, which we understand to be attributable in part to the provision of additional courses and more effective promotion and targeting across organisations and services. The spike in January 2016 is considered to be as a result of a conscious push on taxi driver and foster carer training during this period. A training follow up audit in October 2016 also indicated increased levels of practitioner confidence in recognising and responding to concerns about sexual exploitation. Case study CSE D was referred to Children s Social Care when she was 17 years old. The referral was made by a detective constable in the victim team based at Project Sanctuary following information being shared by another partner agency, Changing Lives, in relation to D associating with adults of concern where there were already concerns around sexual exploitation in relation to these adults. The referral was discussed in the Children s Social Care MASH where it was agreed that an assessment would be undertaken to explore the concerns. An outcome of this was for D to be offered support and 1:1 educational work around sexual exploitation through to which she agreed to engage with. During this time it was also established that D was pregnant, which led to another referral being made in respect of the unborn baby. Weekly 1:1 sessions were undertaken with D over a 6 month period at home, focusing on sexual exploitation; healthy relationships; keeping safe and online safety; along with work around the impact of all of these issues on the unborn baby. D engaged well with these sessions and demonstrated insight into the concerns. The outcome of the direct work with D was such that the identified risks reduced to the point of the case being closed; D s baby has since been born and remains in her care. The current plan for D is for to continue to receive support from the social worker based at Project Sanctuary as she approaches adulthood and makes the transition from children s services to adult services The current plan for D is to continue to receive support from the social worker based at Project Sanctuary as she approaches adulthood and makes the transition from children s services to adult services. Whilst D did not make any disclosures during the direct work she did share relevant information which passed on to Northumbria Police Force Intelligence. This has contributed to the understanding of the wider picture of concerns relating to sexual exploitation. 10

11 Sexual exploitation is a key issue for both the children s and adults safeguarding boards (NSCB/NSAB), who recognise and acknowledge that vulnerability does not end at 18 years of age. Both boards are committed to as much joined up working as possible and are currently jointly co-ordinating a Serious Case Review looking at sexual exploitation in Newcastle, the detail of which is contained on page 16; both Boards also jointly contributed to the CSE National Awareness day in March The NSCB is a member of the National Working Group (NWG) for tackling child sexual exploitation, who provide advice and guidance to the work, and at the time of writing the annual report we have rolled out the Unicef U-Report online app to year olds. The app asks specific questions about sexual exploitation and the findings from the research will be presented at a young peoples event on the 30th August The work to combat sexual exploitation in Newcastle is outstanding, a view shared in in a recent Ofsted review of the NSCB effectiveness. We are confident that through the continued effective work of Northumbria Police, the NSCB strategic oversight and the continued efforts of all our partners in Newcastle, the risk of harm to children and young people from sexual exploitation will continue to be significantly reduced. Female genital mutilation (FGM): In Newcastle we have a dedicated sub group of both the NSCB and the NSAB. The group has responsibility to co-ordinate the work and to ensure arrangements to safeguard children and young people at risk of FGM are robust and effective, the group is a good example of cross partnership joint working. NSCB has a local FGM strategy and multi-agency practice guidance and pathway to assist practitioners to know what to do if they have concerns. At the end of 2016 the NSCB considered the contacts into Children s Social Care (CSC) between April and October From the data we were able to establish there were 67 contacts made about FGM during the analysis period outlined above. These related to 54 individual children (31 Families) and of these 54, 26 progressed to assessment; 22 of which were subsequently closed as a result of no ongoing safeguarding concerns, and 4 remained open to for ongoing involvement. The majority of children identified as being at risk had not actually suffered FGM (49 or 91%). Only a small proportion of children were actual victims and for all of these FGM had been undertaken in their home country before entering the UK (5 or 9%). We were also able to establish a breakdown of the ethnicity of the families which assists in services understanding of local prevalence and identifying those communities where the highest risk of FGM is likely. 11

12 The FGM data set has been expanded to include CSC contacts with a presenting issue of risk of FGM, which enables us to more effectively monitor FGM activity. Newcastle upon Tyne Health Foundation Trust also provide data on number of cause for concerns; Northumbria Police offence data indicates that there were no FGM offences force wide during 2016/17 to date. In order to test if the NSCB FGM Referral Pathway was working effectively a multiagency audit was undertaken to consider if referrals were being made appropriately to Children s Social Care and that their response was timely and robust. Of the cases reviewed all referrals had been made in line with the current FGM guidance and had been assessed appropriately. An outcome from the data intelligence and the audit, will include the development of a more robust midwifery assessment tool. During 2016/17 we delivered 4 FGM courses (45 practitioners). These courses provide additional value and capacity to what courses are already provided through the Angelou Centre and the Home Office, which are promoted on the NSCB website. All of the NSCB courses evaluated with a 100% overall good or excellent rating. 5 more dates have been arranged during 2017/18. In the year ahead the FGM group will focus on: Giving me an awareness of FGM. The videos/speaker were excellent. They definitely broke up the training and made it more Engagement with BME community groups affected by FGM Greater consideration of adults affected by FGM Learning from the local picture Ensuring the systems in place regarding information sharing are affective Work in line with NHS England FGM priorities FGM guidance, a multi-agency pathway and the training are available on the NSCB website. newcastlescb.proceduresonline.com/ chapters/p_fem_gen_mut.html Child neglect: The NSCB recognises the damage done to young children living in situations of neglect, which continues to be significant priority area. Much work has been undertaken by NSCB to better understand the complex nature of family circumstances, local prevalence, the quality of frontline practice in Newcastle and what works in practice through audit activity practitioner forums and case consultations with the Early Help Team. NSCB also recognises that domestic abuse, parental mental ill health and/or substance misuse are common in households where children are neglected. Domestic abuse, parental substance misuse and parental mental health accounted for 32.2%; 37.3% (18% alcohol and 19.3% drugs); and 38.7% of concern factors recorded in Children s Social Care assessments during the period 1st November 2015 to 31st October At the end of January 2017 neglect accounted for 45% of all Child Protection Plans in Newcastle. The work of the Neglect Special Interest Group has continued to meet throughout the year. Learning from the group has recognised that practitioners continue to struggle with thresholds, diagnostic tools to assess need, risk and response; family engagement in non statutory interventions and engagement in early help; supporting and assessing parents with learning difficulties/ disability; and barriers to information sharing across agencies. This learning informs the NSCB Neglect Strategy and the action plan for 2017/18. During 2016/17 we delivered 5 neglect courses (92 practitioners). All courses evaluated with a 100% overall good or excellent rating. 5 more dates have been arranged during 2017/18. Details of the training are available on the NSCB website face-to-face 12

13 NSPCC 2016 In addition, there are a number of ongoing innovations and projects in Newcastle to strengthen practice around neglect e.g. Systemic Practice, Signs of Safety, MST- CAN, Thriving Families. All of these initiatives will take time to demonstrate any long term impact., therefore the NSCB will continue to maintain an oversight of the work as it develops. Thank you. A very good session. Excellent facilitator. Excellent communication skills of facilitator. Generated interesting Children affected by domestic violence: NSCB recognises that domestic abuse is common in households where children are neglected and is one of the highest indication of abuse in Newcastle. Domestic abuse is also frequently a prevalent factor for children who are physically abused; and is also a common indicator in other forms of abuse e.g. sexual abuse. It is recognised that a quarter of young people exposed to domestic abuse go on to demonstrate harmful behaviour within their own relationships. In 61% of cases the abuse is directed against their mother. Just under half of young people exposed to domestic violence are being directly harmed by a family member. With 94% of young people experiencing abuse within their intimate relationships NSPCC (2017) Newcastle continues to focus on the effects of domestic abuse on children, with statutory and voluntary agencies coming together through the Domestic Violence and Abuse, Children and Young People s Group. The group keeps children at the centre of its works and advocates and champions their needs. The main aim of the group is to ensure that the presence and voice of the child is not lost in the wide range of service development and delivery priorities for the group were: The delivery of the DARE (Domestic Abuse Recovery and Education Programme) which provides a safe therapeutic environment for children to develop while affected by the violence and abuse that has happened in their family To ensure that the effects of domestic abuse is integral to plans for children To recognise and respond to when changes to service delivery may have a negative impact on outcomes for children affected by domestic abuse To provide a forum for a wide range of statutory and voluntary sector services who support the needs of this group of children The outcomes and success of some of the initiatives from various statutory and voluntary services included: The continuation of the DARE programme being delivered on 3 occasions by Children North East with positive impact on children Supporting the delivery of Operation Encompass across all schools in Newcastle through awareness raising Continuation of engagement with key services e.g. Early Help to ensure that the child remains at the heart of service planning. In addition the Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) for Children & Young People s has worked along-side the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub A new Integrated Domestic Violence Service started in November The service provides integrated outreach support for both males and females; with supported accommodation (refuge) for women and children. The new provision also includes both IDVA and Independent Sexual Violence Advocate services The Angelou Centre delivering the Ma Simba Project which has 5 years funding for advocacy, therapy, children and young people s work, work with non-abusing 13

14 parents through group and work. The Angelou Centre also opened a new BME refuge Raising awareness and contributing to the response to emerging practices involving ethnic minority groups e.g. female genital mutilation and breast ironing Children North East s PIP (Parent infant Psychotherapy) work to repair attachment damage between mothers and babies impacted by e.g. drugs and alcohol, domestic violence and economic circumstances The group also demonstrates strong cross partnership, joint working between Safe Newcastle and Adult Domestic Abuse interventions which directly link to NSCB priorities. Young people suicide and self harm: The NSCB will be taking a closer look at young people who self harm and commit suicide during 2017/18. The Child Death Overview Panel has audit work ongoing which will contribute to this work, and the NSCB is also undertaking a Learning Review of a young person suicide. Safeguarding vulnerable babies: Is also another area for improvement identified in a Learning Review undertaken by the NSCB and is a business plan priority. Further exploration of this safeguarding issue will be undertaken by the NSCB during 2017/18. 14

15 SPOT LIGHT ON PREVENT Prevent is one of the four strands of the UK Counter-Terrorism Strategy aimed at preventing people from being radicalised to carry out extremist acts. Newcastle is generally a safe place where people from different backgrounds get on. We are a (non-priority) Home Office Tier 3 area and our approach to Prevent is proportionate to this assessment. Safe Newcastle (the local Community Safety Partnership) take the lead on Prevent locally, although where there is a concern that a child or young person has or is being radicalised, safeguarding children procedures are used to share information in order to safeguard their wellbeing. There is a close working relationship between Safe Newcastle and the NSCB on this issue. The Channel process is a key part of the Prevent strategy. It is a multi-agency approach to ensuring vulnerable children and adults receive support before their vulnerabilities are exploited. During 2016/17 there were 11 referrals for children under the age of 18 years old. The Prevent Coordinator has kept both the NSCB and the NSAB up to date on the development of local arrangements, including existing training and opportunities for shared training resources. NSCB also contributed to the 2015/16 Prevent Action Plan. NSCB members understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to Prevent and there is good communication between the NSCB and Safe Newcastle on Prevent. Opportunities for sharing resources and working together are acted upon. The Board will keep abreast of local and national developments as the national Prevent framework is currently under review. The Police and Newcastle City Council plan to develop a more sophisticated data-set in relation to Prevent, joining up existing data sources. 15

16 Priority 2. Learning and Improving The NSCB Learning and Improvement Framework provides the foundation for how the Board drives improvements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Newcastle. The framework covers a range of methods from which the NSCB can learn from practice to improve services as a result; this includes case reviews, audits and assessments. This section highlights the work undertaken during 2016/17 by the NSCB to learn from practice to continuously improve what we do to safeguard children and young people. The NSCB Learning from Practice Report 2016/17 provides more detail relating to the learning and the impact of this on service development and practice as a result of this. The full report is available on the NSCB website Practice How do we do this? Oversee and monitor the NSCB performance Scorecard Learn from practice through case reviews, audits and listening to frontline practitioners Individual organisation safeguarding audits Listening to the voice and views of children and young people Serious Case Reviews (SCR) - are co-ordinated by the NSCB Case Review Committee. The NSCB published one SCR in June 2016 and has two currently ongoing. Child J The NSCB published its Child J SCR in June The review recognised that cases involving child neglect require extra vigilance from agencies that are highly attuned to make immediate response to serious incidents, as the warning signs may not be so obvious. As well as some concerns with the way procedures were applied and the way that agencies worked together. A multi-agency action plan was developed and implemented and signed off as complete by the NSCB in November A follow up impact assessment undertaken by the NSCB in April 2017 confirmed that those organisations involved in the SCR had fully embedded the learning from the review and as a result had improved internal systems, processes and practice. In addition to single agency practitioner briefings, the NSCB held two multi-agency practitioner learning events in June and November last year to disseminate the learning. The learning has also informed the NSCB Neglect Strategy and associated action plan. The full review report is available on the NSCB website /Learning%20from%20Practice Joint NSCB/NSAB Sexual Exploitation SCR The SCR commenced in October 2015 and is ongoing. It adopts a thematic approach with cases specifically selected to reflect the characteristics of individual victims, types of abuse, settings and models of sexual exploitation. To date we have held 16 practitioner learning events using a strengths and systems approach and held a community based consultation event with BME communities in Newcastle. Publication of the final report is likely to be in early December Learning from the review so far tells us that there is an emphasis on the vulnerability of victims and various models of sexual exploitation used. The importance of having multi-agency victim and prosecution strategies in place, alongside dedicated victim support, cannot be over emphasised. Partners are also considered to be essential in disruption activities, safety planning for individuals and in developing the local profile. Once published there will be a number of multi-agency learning events arranged. Child K The child K SCR is considering the death of a 3 month old baby who died as a result of an inflicted and traumatic head injury. An Independent Reviewer has been commissioned and the review is underway. The final report will not be published until the criminal proceedings are concluded. 16

17 The NSCB Standards and Effectiveness Management Group is responsible for coordination of practice audits, self assessments and the performance scorecard. Safeguarding audits - the NSCB undertakes a multi-agency safeguarding audit biennially. At the time of writing the report the NSCB had rolled out its audit to partners therefore the findings and learning will be reported on its Learning from Practice website page in September 2017, incorporated into subsequent practitioner learning events and included in the 2017/18 Annual Report. NSCB performance scorecard - the NSCB performance scorecard provides the Board with a comprehensive multi-agency data set from which it can challenge partners and undertake deep dives on particular areas of good or concerning safeguarding activity. Outcomes from these pieces of work contribute to service improvement and organisational development. The chart below explains how the performance cycle works during the course of the year. A full copy of the NSCB performance scorecard for 2016/17 is available as an appendix to the Annual Report and on the NSCB website from September NSCB audits - the purpose of audit is to scrutinise and learn from existing practice in order to gain intelligence about what is working well to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people and to identify areas for improvement. Audits undertaken during the course of 2016/17 include child sexual exploitation, S47s enquiries; outcome focused plans; thresholds to Initial Child Protection Conference; Children s Social Care contacts and long term CPPs. Learning from the audits is contained on page 25. Action plans are developed for all of the findings from both the performance scorecard and audits and managed by the NSCB Standards and Effectiveness Management Group. During 2016/17 the NSCB will strengthen how it better understands the impact of learning through follow up impact assessments. NSCB training - the NSCB currently provides a multi-agency training programme for practitioners and volunteers. Access to this is through the website and includes both face to face and e-learning. Detail of courses delivered and evaluations are available in the NSCB Annual Training Report. Areas identified for further investigation during 2016/17 include emergency hospital admissions; female genital mutilation; care applications; educational attainment of children in need; child death modifiable factors; rates of s47s; private fostering. Findings from the further investigations is contained on pages The NSCB will consider the end of year performance data in August 2017 at which time further areas for investigation will be identified. Policy and Procedures - are maintained by a commissioned company Tri.x. This ensures that they are always as up to date as possible and will alert practitioners with details of any changes. Updates occur twice per year unless NSCB needs to update a specific procedure as a result of learning from a serious case review. The full suite of the NSCB procedures are available on the website 17

18 North of Tyne Child Death Overview Panel The North of Tyne Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) reviews all deaths of children resident in the three areas: Newcastle; Northumberland; and North Tyneside. Working Together (2015) defines preventable deaths as those in which modifiable factors may have contributed to the death. These are factors defined as those, where, if actions could be taken through national or local interventions, the risk of future child deaths could be reduced. The NSCB February 2017 performance scorecard review identified child death modifiable factors as an area for further investigation as there had been a 100% increase in the number of modifiable factors identified by the CDOP (3-6 cases in quarter 3). End of year CDOP data returned to the Department of Education for 2016/17 indicates that at the end of March 2017 the CDOP had reviewed 37 cases, an increase of 1 from 2015/ of the 37 cases were Newcastle children and of these 13, 9 were identified as having modifiable factors; this is an increase of 44% (n= 4-9) on 2015/16. For all cases the highest number of modifiable factors relates to the age groups for 0-1 year and 10-17, with an equal share of male and female. Only one of the cases identified as having modifiable factors was subject to Child Protection Plan; no children were the subject of a statutory order and one Newcastle case is the subject of a Serious Case Review. For the 9 Newcastle cases modifiable factors related to maternal smoking; infection (not immunised for e.g. meningitis); co-sleeping; and consanguinity (blood relationship). Caution however, is advised when considering the % increases as the numbers are very low. Whilst the figures are low for the North of Tyne CDOP alone, accumulatively across the region and the rest of the country, aggregated data provides a much richer picture from which to share learning, good practice, system and process changes. The CDOP also suggests there is an association between high levels of deprivation and rates of child deaths [page 12 CDOP Annual Report 2015/16] and of 26 deaths of Asian children in the previous 5 year period had chromosomal, genetic anomalies accounted for 16 of these a working hypothesis of this is that this could be as a result of cousin marriages [consanguinity], which was identified as an area for further investigation during 2016/17. For the age group 0-1 year modifiable factors related to infection, consanguinity, cosleeping, alcohol and smoking and for year olds, accidental deaths e.g. drowning, trauma What difference has it made? Ongoing individual organisations have immediate learning from the case review process; this learning strengthens internal practice, systems and processes. A research paper has been commissioned by the CDOP to better understand the issue of consanguinity and to consider how to reduce the associated risks. The findings and recommendations from this will be considered by the CDOP. An audit of all the young people suicides in the North of Tyne during is also being undertaken by the Public Health lead in North Tyneside, where a review of the death had been completed. Again the findings and recommendations of the audit will be presented to the CDOP for consideration and follow up action. Learning will be shared with the local lead in Newcastle responsible for the suicide prevention plan. A recent Ofsted Review of the NSCB indicated that the CDOP demonstrates a learning approach to improving its function and effectiveness. Priorities from the annual report are progressed and examples of positive impact include reduction in maternal smoking rates following targeted intervention, and increased awareness around safe sleeping. This is a very positive evaluation of the CDOP and re-affirms that its work makes an impact on the prevention of child deaths. The CDOP produces an annual report, this is are available on the NSCB website 18

19 NSCB Performance Scorecard Areas for Further Investigation Unintentional and deliberate injuries in children (UDIs): road traffic accidents, intentional self harm, assault, accidents in and around the home such as falls or exposure to mechanical forces. 2015/16 rate of per 10,000 indicates a reduction on the 13/14 rate of per 10,000. Newcastle is above the England average of per 10,000 and has the 2nd highest rate compared to core cities. There is a higher rate of UDIs in the 0-4 year old age group at per 10,000. The highest rates of UDIs for 0-14 year olds are in the most deprived areas of Newcastle. The main type of injury are falls and exposure to inanimate forces; 5-14 year admissions tends to be due to self poisoning. Trend data shows a downward trend or level trend in the overall rate of self harm, although there is an increase in the number of 0-14 year olds admitted for self harm, primarily female. Across Newcastle work will continue to reduce and to prevent inappropriate attendance at Accident and Emergency (A&E) and ultimately hospital admissions for unintentional and deliberate injuries to children. One of the key areas for improvement is with the 0-4 year olds and for incidents that occur in the home. This will require work with parents to ensure accident prevention messages and anticipatory guidance is provided to parents to enable them manage risk where possible. Further analysis locally will take place to allow for the separation of unintentional and deliberate injuries data. This will be explored through the HES data set that Public Heath access. It will include home safety advice, injury advice and support pathways i.e. health visitor, pharmacies and General Practitioners before Accident and Emergency (A&E) if appropriate. Community Family Hubs: work will continue with the Community Family Hubs around accident prevention work and messages to parents and carers. This includes joint working with the 0-19 service to deliver the Healthy Children Programme and delivering safety messages that are appropriate to the children s age and stage of development. Work will continue with school nurses to promote messages about staying safe, i.e. road safety advice, substance misuse including alcohol misuse, self harm and self poisoning. The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) project on admissions: work will continue with the CCG and partners to help support the work currently underway on reducing A&E attendance and hospital admissions. Partnership: work will continue with local partners to help support the accident prevention message, which includes working with the police, Fire Service and the voluntary sector. 19

20 CAFCASS* Care Applications: The graph below shows that Newcastle had a steady increase in care applications between 2013 and However there was a very significant increase (almost 100%) in 2015/16 and a continued increase in numbers into 2016/17. Analysis of the trend focuses on internal and external factors which are believed to have impacted on care applications. The potential impact from the implementation of new guidance and standards e.g. Public Law Outline in 2012, the impact of local Ofsted inspections: Sunderland 2015 and Gateshead 2016; and the Re: N judgement in November 2015 relating to Section 20 consent and the timeliness of care applications, are all indicative factors contributing to the continued increase in numbers of care applications in Newcastle between February 2012 and It was anticipated that the increased number of applications experienced in the last months would level out, albeit at a higher level than in previous years. However, the number of applications continue to rise, providing significant challenges to the local authority, courts and CAFCASS. Court timescales and delay Completion of cases within the 26 week timescale: 51 cases concerning 88 children were completed; the average timescale was 31.8 weeks; minimum 4 weeks; maximum 117 weeks. Where cases were out of timescale there are usually a number of reasons, set out below. Children s Social Care has established a legal panel to improve pre-proceedings processes, which is being effective in improving the timeliness of care proceedings. 20

21 Child Protection Plans: The high number of Child Protection Plans (CPPs), including long terms plans and second and subsequent plans, in Newcastle continue to be an area for further investigation. These have continued to be significantly higher than statistical neighbours and the England average for a number of years and attracted further scrutiny from the NSCB and at a political level in 2015/16. Rate of children subject to Child Protection Plans per 10,000 Newcastle vs Statistical Neighbours England and North East averages A City Council Cabinet Task and Finish Group was set up in January 2016 with the aim of reviewing previous NSCB audit work and actions that had been undertaken and making further enquiries in relation to any new trends, emerging themes and additional strategies for the safe reduction of CPPs. The task and finish group reported its findings in November and concluded that: Data shows when benchmarked against other authorities Newcastle has had significantly higher rates of repeat CPPs since around March However, this high rate of repeat CPPs must been seen in the context of higher rates of CPPs overall Newcastle has historically had higher than average rates of CPPs than other authorities particularly Newcastle compares more favourably with Core Cities than statistical neighbours therefore good inspection outcomes for core cities including Leeds and Sheffield suggested to the group that these were authorities to explore further in terms of existing practice The group was not able to find reasons for national increases to repeat CPPs in Ofsted or Department for Education annual reports, with the exception of a suggestion the increasing trend is perhaps down to improved data capture. Improved data capture is not seen as a factor affecting Newcastle s higher rates of repeat CPPs Analysis of the data highlighted a number of families with more than one child, half the families had 2 or more children. For most children the latest CPP was their second episode, however for one in five it was their third or fourth CPP 21

22 The majority of repeat CPPs were made for emotional abuse or neglect. Cases with multiple categories of abuse account for larger proportions of repeat CPPs suggesting a range of issues and increasing potential complexities are relevant in these cases More recently, fewer children are starting a repeat CPP plan within 2 years of the previous plan, suggesting the focus of social work appears to be successful in reducing risks in the short term. However, the overall high rate of repeat CPPs suggests that the ability of families to sustain change for longer periods is a challenge. This is an issue that the group heard was confirmed by an audit of repeat CPP cases by the NSCB. The audit identified those returning after short periods may have a very different set of circumstances to the cohort returning after longer periods and therefore a range of options are needed to support families in both cohorts to reduce risks Analysis demonstrated a correlation locally between areas with higher levels of deprivation and those which experience higher levels of both children becoming subject to a CPP overall and those who are the subject of repeat CPPs. This evidences that that intensive work needs to continue to be focussed on these areas of the City in order to improve outcomes for the most in need Analysis of admissions to care in the previous 12 months showed 58% of the children had been subject to a CPP in the previous 2 years, confirming that the CPP process continues to be a clear route to children becoming looked after by the local authority Plans for progressing the work of the task and finish group during 2016/2017 The Council and Cabinet will support the implementation of segmentation and systemic practice across the Children s Social Care (CSC) long-term social work teams CSC will continue to learn from examples of best practice from other local authorities such as those identified in this report, and develop its offer accordingly CSC, supported by the Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board, will work with its partners to raise the status of Child in Need cases to ensure they are given the same priority as CPP and LAC CSC will explore opportunities with partners for joint funding of posts that would support the raising of the status of Child in Need cases (for example Child in Need IRO posts) Given the importance of neglect in cases of repeat CPPs, the lead Cabinet member will review the progress made on the implementation of the NSCB Neglect Strategy The People Directorate will continue to seek ways to work innovatively with partners to build families resilience to improve outcomes for them The Council will work towards the implementation of the Social Work Standards in advance of any national requirements, including ensuring safe workloads and case allocation The Council and its partners will continue to ensure intensive work is focussed on the areas of the City that need it the most, to improve outcomes for the most in need Cabinet will receive a report from the People Directorate in 12 months which will set out how the learning from this group has been used and an update on progress of the recommendations 22

23 Educational Attainment of Children in Need (CIN): The starting point for the initial analysis of the attainment of Children in Need (CIN) was performance at each of the end-ofkey-stage assessment periods in the 2015/16 academic year. The initial findings revealed a gap between the attainment of CIN children and that of all pupil performance across all statutory assessments. While attainment for all children may be at the national average or above, attainment for CIN remains below the Newcastle average for all pupils. Overall, attainment for LAC and CPP was higher than that for Children with Complex Needs (CWCN). We investigated this further by considering additional factors that could affect attainment and we supplemented this with trend-data from , again by cohort group. There were 114 children on CIN Census 2016 in Key Stage 2 or Key Stage 4 who had a complex need. Of these, 60 (53%) also had a Special Educational Need (SEN). In 2016 in Newcastle, 60% of children live in the more deprived areas (based on 2015 IMD). Year on year, a higher proportion of children with CIN live in the more deprived areas (maps included in supporting information). The attainment gap between CIN and all pupils was greatest in KS2 and KS4 and we have, therefore, used this as our starting point for further analysis. Confining analysis to KS2 and KS4, in the first instance, enables us to look at attainment and progress for these children. To summarise, the CIN data ( ) has been matched to the attainment and progress of children in KS2 and KS4 cohorts who were resident within Newcastle and attending a Newcastle school. 23

24 Plans for 2017/18 Program in collection of data after final CIN submission Ensure consistency of data, accurate matching of data and a clear understanding of the cohort Introduce bi-annual collection repeat the CIN census as at 31 August to fit with academic year and track children Regular monthly electronic transfer of Social Care data and Early Help data to school headteachers Identification of all vulnerable children in schools Track children from Key Stage 1 or earlier Explore further the SEND cohort within this data Explore further the Yr10/11 cohort transferred to Linhope Map showing CIN rates in the city 24

25 Learning from Audits Audit of multi-agency practices: child protection enquiries (s47); thresholds to Initial Child Protection Conferences; outcome focused plans; Children s Social Care contacts and long term Child Protection Plans 25

26 Feedback from training The NSCB offers a comprehensive multi-agency training programme. The training includes various levels of knowledge and skills and covers everything from basic awareness to in depth knowledge of statutory safeguarding multi-agency working. Learning is available through various platforms including face to face and online learning and is free to all agencies working in Newcastle E-learning courses were completed last year, a 39% increase on the previous year. 99.4% Rated multi-agency safeguarding children training courses as either good or excellent. 98.5% Of 1,219 learners felt that the training would influence their practice. To find out more about the Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board multi-agency training programme go to the NSCB webpage 26

27 Priority 3. Leadership It is vital that organisations and individuals understand their roles and responsibilities for safeguarding children and young people and that single and multi-agency arrangements are robust and effective. Good leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximise efficiency and achieve goals. How do we do this? Independent NSCB Chairperson Clear lines of accountability with other strategic local partnerships Robust business planning process, informed by views of children and young people Scrutinise performance data Cross partnership working The NSCB and its sub committee members have continued to attend meetings regularly and display a strong commitment to the work of the NSCB despite competing priorities, economic pressures and organisational restructures and changes. The work of the committees, partnerships and groups (see structure chart page 44) demonstrate high levels of influence across all areas where the safety and welfare of children and young people need to be considered. Partners continue to demonstrate a high level of commitment through actively chairing committees and sub working groups, leading on task and finish projects and through the provision of financial support. This together enables the NSCB to fulfil its statutory functions and provide effective leadership for ensuring that arrangements to safeguard children and young people in Newcastle are robust and effective. The NSCB has reviewed its working agreement with the Children s Trust Board and Wellbeing for Life Board and is working in collaboration with these partnerships and the Safe Newcastle Partnership to consider cross cutting priorities. Of particular importance is the continued work between the NSCB and the NSAB on areas of joint importance such as female genital mutilation, domestic abuse, sexual exploitation and preventing radicalisation. These joined up approaches to the work promotes more effective information sharing, communication and strategic and operational development. In a recent Ofsted review of the NSCB they commented that the Board: Functions effectively and meets its statutory requirements. Strong governance arrangements and efficient processes support productive multi-agency challenge, oversight and effective delivery of the Board s priorities and business plan. The NSCB considers the views of children and young people in the development of its priorities and work significantly important. It currently uses existing forums and processes to ensure the views of children and young people inform discreet pieces of work, although intends to hold annual young people events to more effectively inform its broader business planning processes. The NSCB recently formalised its relationship with the newly elected Newcastle Youth Council. The photograph overleaf shows one of the Youth Council members formally signing our join working agreement. As part of our work for the coming year we have identified a Youth Council lead for safeguarding who will periodically attend the Board and have also agreed a joint work priority; young people and mental health. We look forward to the work and the relationship developing during the course of the year. 27

28 At the time of writing the Annual Report The Children and Social Work Bill received Royal in May The new Act has legislated for Local Authorities, the Police and Clinical Commissioning Groups to have in place new safeguarding arrangements. The detail of these new arrangements will be set out in statutory guidance, which will be nationally consulted upon. In the mean time we will continue to maintain and strengthen what we do during the forthcoming changes and transitional period. 28

29 3. What difference do we make? The NSCB through its strong leadership and robust business planning process identifies with partners and children and young people what the safeguarding priorities are for children and young people in Newcastle; this ensures that the right issues receive due consideration and attention. The NSCB works in close collaboration with other partnerships, such as the Safeguarding Adults Board and Safe Newcastle, to ensure that work on cross cutting issues e.g. female genital mutilation and sexual exploitation are effectively co-ordinated. Strong governance arrangements and efficient board processes support productive multiagency challenge, oversight and effective delivery of the Board s priorities. The NSCB and sub-committee members continue to attend meetings regularly and display a strong commitment to the work of the NSCB despite competing priorities, economic pressures and organisational restructures and changes. The work of the committees demonstrates high levels of influence across all areas where the safety and welfare of children and young people need to be considered, such as: sexual exploitation; neglect; safeguarding in schools; prevention of radicalisation; and the prevention of child deaths. Partners also demonstrate a high level of commitment through actively chairing committees and sub working groups, leading on task and finish projects and through the provision of financial support to enable the NSCB to function effectively. NSCB acknowledges that budget reductions continue to be a significant challenge for its member organisations. As a result of this partners continue to consider how to work differently together to provide effective multiagency working across the city to coordinate, prioritise and maximise their collective efforts to enable families and communities to become more empowered and resilient. The NSCB Learning and Improvement Framework provides the basis for learning from frontline practice; this is in terms of what works well and where things to need to improve (see pg. 16). The Board has been described as a learning organisation, effectively identifying and disseminating learning from case reviews and audits, therefore demonstrates that it has an impact on practice and workforce development. The NSCB safeguarding audit process challenges partners to review their internal safeguarding arrangements against a set of standards, which supports the development and implementation of robust internal policies, systems and procedures for safeguarding children and young people (pg.17). The current audit for 2017 is expanding the breadth and depth of practice. The NSCB performance scorecard provides the NSCB with multi-agency safeguarding data and intelligence, which enables the NSCB to identify key areas of safeguarding activity warranting further investigative work to be undertaken. Examples of this work and its impact on improving practice is contained in pages Given the scale of the work undertaken by the NSCB and its partners on audit and case reviews, a separate Learning from Practice Report supplements the Annual Report and provides much more detail of the learning and impact from these Learning%20from%20Practice The NSCB is a learning organisation that reflects on its effectiveness and evolves its approaches to discharging its functions. Whilst the NSCB is not required by statutory guidance to deliver a multi-agency training, the NSCB continues to provide a comprehensive annual training programme. This is funded through partner contributions and supports the development of a knowledgeable, skilled workforce. Practitioner and volunteers have access to up to date procedures and guidance to inform: what to do if they are worried or have a concern about a child or young person; frontline practice; case management; and decision making. The procedures are accessible online and practitioners can be alerted to updates as they occur if the sign up on the website. 29

30 4. Partners contributions to the NSCB priorities The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is required through the NHS Accountability Assurance Framework to have a named executive lead: Newcastle Gateshead CCG s named lead is the Executive Director for Nursing, Patient Safety and Quality, who has overall leadership and responsibility for safeguarding arrangements; as well as being actively involved in supporting the safeguarding agenda. As part of that responsibility there is a requirement to have a Designated Doctor and Nurse for Safeguarding Children. The role of the designated professionals is to seek assurance from those health services that the Clinical Commissioning Group commissions; and in addition to offer leadership, expert support and guidance to these services and to the NSCB. The Newcastle Gateshead CCG has continued to support the strategic priorities and work undertaken by the NSCB. During 2016/17 the CCG was audited twice in relation to its safeguarding arrangements: Firstly, NHS England carried out an audit in relation to the CCG s arrangements around the NHS England Accountability and Assurance Framework. The framework outlines the statutory responsibility and functions of NHS organisations; these arrangements set out the safeguarding roles, duties and responsibility (leadership) of the CCG s in terms of commission NHS health care. Key areas of enquiry related to the CCG s response to partnership working with the NSCB and how we fulfil those responsibilities ensuring that children and the services we commission keep children safe.; the second audit was part of the regular CCG audit cycle again relating to our safeguarding arrangements and responsibilities. The outcomes of both audits were highly positive. Both of these audits relate to leadership provided from the CCG to all commissioned health services. The CCG has supported work with Public Health colleagues regarding the delivery of the 0 19 services; and has been leading on the transformation of Mental Health Services for children and young people. The CCG s role is to gain assurance that health care providers deliver safe services which respond to the needs of the children and families they have contact with. During 2016/17 we have continued to focus, strengthen and prioritise the following areas: Female Genital Mutilation Multi-agency strategy, pathway and assessment Children Young People Domestic violence & Abuse group statutory and voluntary organisations CQC and Ofsted Inspections e.g. local learning regarding inspection of services on Child Sexual Exploitation In addition the Designated Nurses Safeguarding Children and Adults have jointly supported Channel Panel (Prevent) arrangements which have been agreed and rolled out in Newcastle. They have worked with Local Authority partners in relation to Domestic Abuse: additional funding has been secured for an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate working with those GP Practices who have high numbers of victims of Domestic Abuse. The Designated Nurse Safeguarding Children has also supported a range of multi-agency activity; which has included: chairing subcommittees, multi-agency training, a range of audits, learning from individual cases and effecting change to ensure improved service delivery for children and their families Newcastle Gateshead CCG has a range of designated professionals to safeguard children; the designated safeguarding role is to provide child protection expertise and leadership throughout health and multi-agency partnerships. The CCG is also required to have designated professionals for Looked After Children (LAC). The Designated Nurse for Looked After Children was appointed in post May 2016, and has actively supported the Multi-Agency 30

31 Looked After Children Partnership and health services. In September 2016 the Designated Doctor Safeguarding and Looked After Children Newcastle retired; recruitment to these posts is ongoing through Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals (NuTH). people to live in the community and can provide additional support if needed. They review processes to make sure support is being provided in the best way. The Designated Nurse LAC finalised a LAC Strategy for the CCG. Implementation of this strategy which is progressing will provide evidence of robust strategic direction and planning and will seek assurance that specialist health services commissioned for LAC are delivering quality and safe care to improve the physical, emotional and mental health outcomes for looked after children and care leavers. The Designated Nurse Safeguarding Children has lead on a health economy response to CQC s Report Not Seen Not Heard, which is ongoing. This has provided a significant amount of evidence of how organisation are responding to some of the key themes of the report. However, there has been challenge for some organisations to consider there were improvements that could be made. To make the process meaningful it is essential that there is challenge to stretch services to consider what more can be done to ensure that children and young people get the help they need where and when they need it. A continual challenge from the Designated Nurse to Provider organisations is the level of assurance they demonstrate (safe practice for children and families) during a time of continuous change. The Learning Disability Coordinator role makes sure there is extra support for children and young people in Newcastle Gateshead. Newcastle Gateshead CCG are supporting children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both to live in their own homes rather than in hospital. Their new learning disability coordinator is a key part of this. The role was created in August 2016, to help deliver the national Transforming Care programme. Case study - following intervention from the Learning Disability Co-ordinator E is a 16 year old girl, with a diagnosis of severe depression. She was supported within a local authority secure children s home, being supported within eyesight observation at all times, due to a grave risk of her seriously harming herself and potentially completing suicide. She was referred into Children and Young People Services inpatient services and was admitted in March 2017 after approval at a Community Care and Treatment Review. Since admission she has been assessed for possible diagnoses of learning disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). She was deemed to not have a learning disability and continued to undergo ASD assessment. Since admission, E s mental state has improved and she no longer poses an immediate risk to herself. Her care team feel that she is no longer detainable under the Mental Health Act and plans are being developed for her to be discharged to her aunt s house with robust wrap around support from community Children and Young People Services and her Social Worker. The Learning Disability Coordinator works with children and young people, their families and support staff, to prevent them from going into hospital unless absolutely necessary. They make sure there is capacity for the young 31

32 NHS England is committed to the work of Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board and working with our partners to ensure that all health services safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. NHS England, as the statutory commissioner of primary care (GPs, Dentists, Pharmacists and Opticians) and specialised services, is responsible for ensuring these services meet all required safeguarding standards. These standards include essential safeguarding training for all staff and how staff must listen to children and young people to improve the services they deliver. We monitor these standards regularly, through contract monitoring, or via co-commissioning arrangements with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) specifically in relation to GPs, and work with organisations to make improvements to the care they deliver. Below is the work undertaken by NHS England North (Cumbria and the North East) during 2016/17: NHS England (North Region) safeguarding assurance tool completed and audited across all Cumbria and the North East CCGs. The tool supported CCGs to demonstrate compliance with national safeguarding standards Inclusion of Child Sexual Exploitation/ Sexual Abuse (CSE/CSA) lead within standard NHS national contracts from April This requires all NHS Trusts to have an identified CSE lead to support implementation of national guidance and ensure voice of child is central to health services Distribution of NHS England CSE pocket guides to all frontline health staff including GPs, Pharmacists and Dentists Launch of NHS England Safeguarding App to all frontline health staff Promotion of national Seen and Heard campaign to all frontline health staff Continued promotion and implementation of health pathway regarding Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and mandatory reporting Distribution of NHS England FGM pocket guides to all frontline health staff including GPs, Pharmacists and Dentists A north regional Prevent conference was held in December 2016 to raise awareness of Prevent with evaluation from attendees being very positive Delivery of a series of executive masterclasses to raise awareness of Prevent; slavery and human trafficking at a senior level within health organisations and ensure that there was confidence in understanding the requirements under the new statutory duty Dissemination of information relating to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) to all NHS organisations to ensure awareness of duties in relation to the inquiry and management of allegations Regular liaison with IICSA to promote the Truth Pilot across Cumbria and the North East to all health providers and primary care staff Ongoing communication to all Cumbria and the North East LADO s to ensure allegations involving those professions managed via NHS England (GPs; Pharmacists; Dentists and Opticians) are referred to the NHS England Safeguarding Lead for investigation in accordance with safeguarding policies and procedures Hosting of the 2016 North regional safeguarding conference for designated and named professionals Input into serious case reviews and domestic homicides across Cumbria and the North East, including commissioning of specialist advice where needed. 32

33 The Trust is committed to safeguarding children and young people and this is championed by the Nursing and Patient Services Director as the Executive Lead for Safeguarding and the safeguarding teams within the Trust. This Executive level leadership underlines the Trusts commitment to this agenda. The Trust has strong representation on the NSCB and contributes to all of the Board s sub-groups as well as multi-agency audit and training. Within the Trust there are robust structures for safeguarding which are managed by the Safeguarding Management Operational Group and further monitored by the Trust s Safeguarding Committee with regular assurance reports to the Trust Board. There is a quarterly Safeguarding Communication Forum which serves to disseminate key messages across the Trust and is well represented from all directorates. In 2016 the CQC recommended that safeguarding supervision for staff in the 0-19 service should increase to four times a year. The Children s Safeguarding Team used this opportunity to complete a whole systems review and agreed a new model of supervision the Morrison 4x4x4 Model. Following consultation with the 0-19 service, a task and finish group was established to take this forward. A two day safeguarding supervisor training programme was also provided for the safeguarding teams in January 2017 to update their skills and knowledge base in working with the model. The changes in safeguarding supervision will be implemented from April 2017; this new model will provide a framework for all safeguarding supervision across the Trust for children, adults and midwifery services across acute and community settings. The Safeguarding Children s team has contributed to the delivery of multi-agency training programmes provided jointly by the NSCB and NSAB. There is regular representation at a range of sub-groups for NSCB and active participation and contribution to serious case reviews and learning events. Case study Ada sought asylum in the UK after fleeing her home country where she had witnessed extreme violence. She was pregnant, socially isolated and could not speak or understand the English language. A referral was made to Children s Social Care and she was supported to apply for an asylum seekers grant and housing. The Trust first became involved in Ada s care when she attended maternity services; an interpreter was booked for all appointments. Ada disclosed to her midwife that she had been a victim of FGM. The unborn baby was diagnosed with a complex medical condition during pregnancy. Following delivery, pharmacy staff colour coded baby s medicines to support safe administration of medicines at home. During a routine outpatient s appointment, staff raised concerns about Ada s mental health and care of baby. Ada and baby were admitted to Great North Children s Hospital for further assessment and the hospital social worker became involved. A multi-agency meeting was arranged to assess the level of risk and a child in need plan was devised to support Ada with the baby. Following discharge, the health visitor identified that Ada struggled to cope financially and to meet the needs of the baby; this information was shared with the social worker. Baby was re-admitted to hospital and further issues were raised by the ward staff, as Ada was leaving the ward for prolonged periods to visit unknown individuals from a local support group. Ward staff contacted the adult safeguarding team because they were concerned about possible financial exploitation; an adult social worker was allocated to support Ada and undertake further assessment. Mother and baby were subsequently discharged from hospital with a safe plan in place to meet the needs of both. 33

34 The Angelou Centre s delivers specialist integrated advocacy and therapeutic support for black, minority ethnic and refugee children and young people who have witnessed or been subjected to domestic and sexual violence, abuse and exploitation. Alongside the direct work with children and young people we offer holistic parenting support for their nonperpetrating mothers bridging the current gap in universal and localised service provision. This work is developed in partnership with a wide range of relevant statutory and voluntary agencies and also addresses related problems of homelessness, poverty, mental health, additional needs, insecure immigration status and empowers women and children to rebuild their lives free from violence and abuse. We specifically contribute to the protection of children and young people in the following ways: BME Children and Young survivors safety and resilience is increased through specialist domestic and sexual abuse advocacy and training The physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of BME children, young people and their mothers/carers is improved through integrated cultural activities and long term support Improved chances of long-term recovery for children and young people through increased access to specialist therapeutic resources and activities Angelou Centre s children and young people s advocacy, therapy and parenting support is currently funded by Big Lottery until 2021, we also work in partnership with Barnardos in relation to the children s therapy The Angelou Centre s children and young people s projects increases local statutory and voluntary agency s cultural competence and ability to work effectively with black and minority families and children and young people with complex needs whilst strengthening existing inter-agency relationships. The Angelou Centre s children and young people s services raise wider community and institutional awareness of issues relating to domestic and sexual violence. At a strategic level the service has membership on and informs national, regional and local domestic violence related forums and Safeguarding partnerships raising localised issues at national strategic levels All projects are developed in consultation with service users ensuring that black and minority survivors voices remain central to our work. Children and young people have told us: 'I like it when we do talking stuff with imagination and drama' ''I've done hard but good things, I love climbing!' ''I get to try new stuff...i never done group game or races outdoors before' I feel safe all the time in Angelou Centre only Child R s testimony I was always getting blamed at school cos I get angry and fight, I didn t think others in my class liked me...now I can see why- but I know its not my fault what my dad did to mum she cried a lot and I would cuddle her. Because I m the oldest boy I have to look after my brothers and my mum now she s alone. Sometimes its hard to do things together but I like being able to go to the beach or park or make things here (Angelou Centre) and Sarah (therapist) helps me to not be so angry and she understands me I feel like things are getting better and I can better think Mother s testimony (translated from Punjabi) I received most of the help I needed from the Angelou Centre. If I had not received this help I would have been stuck in the same place, I would not have my children living with me and they would have been living with an abusive family. I got everything I needed from the Support Workers at the Centre. If I had not come to the centre where would I have gone? I feel less frightened I used to be very scared of situations where I needed to speak English. If I didn t get the language support what would I have done? I will never be able to thank the workers enough for what they have done for me and my children- always being there when I needed help. 34

35 News and information about safeguarding children features regularly in Newcastle CVS bulletin e-inform which goes to over 2,500 contacts, most in the voluntary sector, On the Hoof newsletter, and CHYP IN, the forum for voluntary organisations working with children and young people. Newcastle CVS regularly responds to safeguarding enquiries from voluntary organisations. Newcastle CVS gives people who struggle to be heard a voice, supports voluntary and community organisations to be resilient and sustainable, and promotes a fair society by influencing and challenging the debate. Newcastle CVS committed resources to the NSCB providing Officer time to attend the Board, NSCB Business Group, and chair the NSCB Learning and Development Committee. The Newcastle CVS report Feeling good improving emotional wellbeing and mental health found that demand for voluntary sector services and activities to support emotional wellbeing and mental health is increasing but sustainability and just keeping things going is a struggle for many organisations. Newcastle CVS initiated pre meets for the voluntary sector NSCB members to meet before the Board meetings, in order to make best use of the time during the Board meeting itself. The voluntary sector agreed that their role as members of the NSCB from different parts of the voluntary and community sector includes: Bringing a non-statutory lay perspective to the Board Consider and question as non-statutory members, the critical friend. Asking about implications for the voluntary and community sector (VCS) Communication with the voluntary and community sector Representing general voluntary and community sector views A conduit to and from the Board with specific perspectives as relevant, currently: Voluntary and community Organisations Local communities, families, children and young people Local BAME communities, families, children and young people NSCB Learning and Development Committee The voluntary sector members committed to: Clarify understanding; Share perspectives; Consider and reflect; Be questioning. Throughout 2016/17 Newcastle CVS promoted the NSCB multiagency training programme and learning events to its growing membership of over 750 charities, voluntary organisations, community groups, and social enterprises, via a fortnightly bulletin, a monthly newsletter On the Hoof, and the Newcastle CVS website. Newcastle CVS updated its safeguarding tool kit, made freely available to the voluntary sector. The free tool kit includes the Summer Safeguarding Check Up, and information sheets: Safeguarding Children; Safeguarding Young People; Preventing Vulnerable People Being Drawn into Terrorism; Safeguarding and Social Media; and Risk Assessment Guidance in the Event of a Positive DBS check. Are you happy for our team to continue using this [safeguarding] toolkitit s brilliant. If there are any changes from last year then please let me know Newcastle CVS reviewed the written safeguarding policies and procedures of two local charities during their organisational strength review, making recommendations for improvements 35

36 Safeguarding in schools: Newcastle City Council supports schools to keep children and young people safe in a range of ways. This includes school improvement support to help schools to consider how well teaching and the curriculum promotes and embeds the social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of pupils and develops learners understanding and belief in the fundamental values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance. Specific leadership and curriculum guidance, support and training is also provided around key issues, such as child sexual exploitation, violence against women and girls and mandatory reporting duties (PREVENT and female genital mutilation). The City Council Education Service (ES) support and quality assure schools responses to the Ofsted framework judgement personal development, behaviour and welfare (Ofsted 2015). The ES facilitate a close working relationship between Newcastle schools and the NSCB to ensure children and young people at risk of neglect or abuse, including child sexual exploitation, are kept safe from harm. The NSCB has Headteacher representatives on the Board itself alongside the Lead Assistant Director for Education and Skills. The Newcastle Schools Safeguarding Partnership (NSSP), a sub-group of NSCB, brings together representative Headteachers and designated safeguarding lead teachers from across the city. The NSSP acts as a forum to share good practice from and between schools, enable schools to contribute to the development of Local Authority s safeguarding policy and practice, disseminate NSCB information and discuss Local Authority support and challenge for safeguarding in education. A Secondary Pastoral Lead Teacher network also feeds into it. The local authority launched a review of all its statutory attendance responsibilities in Policy and procedures around Children Missing Education (CME) were reviewed and strengthened in December CME are vulnerable children and young people who are not receiving a suitable education, including those that stop attending school. The ES work jointly with schools to carry out comprehensive checks of local and national systems and 21 agencies within agreed timescales, to identify and minimise any potential safeguarding concerns. The procedures entail close working relationships with Children s Social Care and the Police. Work is progressing to extend the strong multi - agency approach in place for statutory education into early education. Ofsted have recently expressed concerns about the rapidly growing number of young people nationally whose parents elect to educate them at home. In Newcastle, the number of Elective Home Education (EHE) pupils has grown over the last ten years from 43 (6 primary, 37 secondary) in 2006 to 152 (77 primary, 75 secondary) in Newcastle s policy and procedures around Elective Home Education were revised in December Where parents/ carers exercise the right to home-educate, they take sole responsibility for all aspects of their child s education. The emphasis still remains, however, on providing a suitable education with appropriate outcomes. Home visits are carried out by a qualified teacher to offer educational advice and intervention support to all EHE families, and there is strong multiagency working practice where families require additional support or there are potential safeguarding concerns. We also actively monitor, review and intervene where required to secure school places for children and young people who are new to the city and have no school place. 36

37 Multi-agency working ensures parents are offered support and challenged where necessary to ensure that their children and young people attend school. Effective implementation of the Fair Access Protocol ensures that vulnerable children and young people are placed quickly into appropriate provision, and if required, we will use our statutory powers to challenge schools and academies and direct them to admit children and young people. schools and Newcastle College provision, submitted an audit. Analysis of the audits indicated that educational establishments have a good understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities and fulfil their statutory responsibilities successfully. Children and young people may be at increased risk of harm if they are missing from school or their attendance noticeably reduces. Data is held on all children and young people for whom we are responsible who are not educated in the usual way, including those not in receipt of full time school education. We ensure that appropriate, good quality placements are found quickly to meet a student s needs or to support them to make effective transitions between placements and improve their attendance. Schools are subject to statutory guidance and must have due regard to this, under section 175 of the Education Act 2002, when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (Keeping children safe in Education, DfE 2015). Schools are expected to: Provide a safe environment in which children can learn Identify children who may be in need of extra help or who are suffering/likely to suffer, significant harm Take necessary action, working in partnership where appropriate, with other agencies such as the police and children s social care Work to agreed NSCB policies and procedures. In order that the local authority can monitor safeguarding provision in schools and academies, they are asked to complete and return an annual Section 175 audit, the results of which are reported to the NSCB. In April 2016, all 108 schools in Newcastle, including independent schools, non-maintained special 37

38 Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Company (NCRC) works directly with adult service users. However where possible children s views are taken from service users (SUs), drawn from CPS documents, gained from safeguarding meetings etc. and are reflected in the assessment of risk and intervention plans. NCRC promotes the early identification of any risk issues, and consideration is given to individual need of the SU. Where possible, the views of children and the impact of any risk management or sentence plan is given consideration. The focus of NCRC is protection of the public, making communities safer and reduce reoffending. These aims contribute to the safeguarding and welfare of children. NCRC promotes the early identification of any risk issues. Routine checks with Children s Services are made at the commencement of the sentence. An investigative approach is taken by Responsible Officers (ROs). A sentence plan is completed and in relevant cases a risk management plan. If there are any safeguarding issues or concerns around risks to children, these should be acknowledged in the risk management plan and appropriate risk management activities identified. In our work with adult service users we offer advice, support and referral to relevant agencies if there are issues around mental health or substance misuse. Specific interventions can be delivered to service users who are identified as perpetrators of domestic abuse. There is an accredited programme Building Better Relationships, and Positive Pathways Plus which is generally delivered on a one to one as part of a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. Those vulnerable to or experiencing domestic abuse can be offered assistance and referred to partnership agencies for support. Jan Hannant, Northumbria NCRC Director, has senior/strategic responsibility for safeguarding. Deputy Directors for North and South have responsibility for their own three local authority areas. Senior managers attend the NSCB. The Reviewing and Quality Assurance Manager has the operational lead for safeguarding. The lines of accountability are represented on an organisational chart and information is available on the Intranet. The Safeguarding Children Policy and Safeguarding Children Guidance applies to all staff across the organisation. Safeguarding is a major focus of CRC work. There are clear lines of accountability for NCRC via the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS. The NCRC is subject to a number of audits and inspections. Monthly QA monitoring of cases includes evaluating safeguarding work. NCRC has a long standing commitment to partnership working and works with a number of specialist providers to support service users. This includes liaison with police, the NPS, health, local authority etc. as well as out operational partners and local services. Laurus, our external training provider, run Safeguarding training on a regular basis which is equivalent to the LA level 2 training. NCRC expects ROs to attend SGC training minimum of every three years. Workshops addressing safeguarding will be rolled out across the organisation over the next 12 months. We will continue to attend LA training and development events as well as internal events within the NCRC. The Regional Learning and Development Manager oversees identified training needs and what training has been attended. In addition, the Reviewing and Quality Assurance Manager keeps a training log of safeguarding training. Local Authority training brochures are uploaded on to NORIS and staff alerted to them. The Practice Advisory Group (PAG) is led by the Head of Quality Assurance and Practice Improvement, and is made up of managers and practitioners. PAG assists in development and improvement activities in response to lessons learnt from case reviews. PAG is over seen by Senior Management Team. NCRC has recently developed a monthly report for Senior Management Team which incorporates feedback on all quality assurance activities and reviews. This is in the early stages and the progress of this will be monitored. All ROs should receive supervision from their line manager, and have yearly appraisals. NCRC is in the process up updating the Supervision Guidelines. These revised guidelines ask the officer to consider cases with specific safeguarding issues to discuss with the team manager. These have yet to be formally rolled out so the impact of the updates is not yet know. 38

39 National Probation Service( NPS ) - North of Tyne Cluster: Safeguarding checks are routinely undertaken at Court, using a process agreed locally with Northumbria Police. When an adult offender is assessed as presenting a risk of serious harm to children, the Offender Manager in Custody and in the Community develops a risk management plan which contains a specific objective to manage and reduce the risk of harm to children. Multi Agency Public Protection Guidance is underpinned by Safeguarding Children Procedures and there are defined procedures for 16/17year old offenders who are ordered to do Unpaid Work in the community Offender Managers are expected to consider the impact of parental responsibilities upon planned interventions and whether these interventions could contribute to improved outcomes for children, known to an offender. Information sharing processes are in place to enable Offender Managers to share timely information with Safeguarding agencies There is no routine contact with Children but when Home Visits are undertaken, safeguarding concerns would be assessed and communicated to Safeguarding Children Services where necessary There are procedures in place to manage visitors to Approved Premises, to support Care Leavers as well as guidance in relation to child sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation. NPS also works with Victims of violent and sexual crime when the Offender receives a prison sentence of 4 years or more At local level the Head of the NPS, North of Tyne Cluster is the Senior Manager for Safeguarding Children as detailed in their job description. At local level there is a Senior Probation Officer Cluster Lead. All agency Job descriptions incorporate safeguarding children duties. NPS Policy Statement- Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children-January 2017, incorporates the principles of Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015 and the Children s Act 2004 and outlines expectations at all levels in the agency. Additionally, it highlights the Joint Transitions Protocol 2015, which details processes for managing the cases of young people moving from Youth Offending Teams to Probation Services. All processes in relation to safeguarding children are mapped on a process management system, it is part of NPS commitment to ensure staff are able to access the most up to date and accurate information needed to carry out all aspects of NPS work. Staff receive regular supervision at all levels in the agency and safeguarding issues across each caseload are discussed. Staff Practice and Development Reviews incorporate objectives to undertake mandatory internal safeguarding training as well as the expectation that they will attend courses provided by the NSCB. Learning points from Serious Case Reviews, Serious Further Offence Reports, Inspections and Audits are disseminated across the North East NPS Division down to Practitioner level. At strategic level a clear line of accountability exists for the commissioning and/or provision of services which address the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. At Divisional level there is a Head of Cluster who is the designated Safeguarding Children Lead, to promote a consistent response to Safeguarding Children s Boards across the Clusters. 39

40 Case study YHN Young People s Service. 2016/17 was another really busy year at Your Homes Newcastle with Safeguarding Children continuing to be a top priority for our organisation. Our employees come into contact with children and young people on a regular basis, either through the direct provision of housing related support via our Young People s Service or as part of our day to day management of over 25,000 tenancies on behalf of Newcastle City Council and Leazes Homes. Because of this we have continued to work hard to promote to our staff that Safeguarding is Everyone s Business, reinforcing the message that no matter what your job title we all have a responsibility towards protecting children and young people from harm. In February we embarked on an internal review to thoroughly scrutinise our approach to safeguarding. We wanted to ensure that all previously identified actions have been successfully implemented and that our policies and procedures continue to be fit for purpose. We have also been carrying out a gap analysis which has enabled us to highlight further areas for improvement. We are working through this programme of work and hope to complete this financial year. One of the outcomes of the ongoing review to date is the introduction of Top 10 discussions within our frontline Tenancy and Estate Teams. Teams now regularly meet to discuss their Top 10 cases with colleagues as a way of ensuring that high profile cases are kept on the agenda, considered objectively, and action is progressed where necessary. If there are staffing changes this approach helps to ensure that local knowledge is not lost. Our Assistant Director of Supported Services, Lisa Philliskirk, is our Strategic Lead for safeguarding across our organisation. As such she has overall responsibility for keeping our Executive Team and Board updated on safeguarding activity and ensuring that safeguarding remains a top priority. To help achieve this we produce reports on a periodic basis which provide a detailed update on safeguarding activity across the organisation and areas for improvement. B left the family home following ongoing and escalating arguments with her parents over her relationship with a new boyfriend. Consequently she spent a number of months sofa surfing between her boyfriend s family home and other friends houses before being referred to YHN homeless prevention. She was referred to YHN supported accommodation however within a week of moving in to her own flat issues relating to her boyfriend s controlling behaviour began to emerge. B began to normalise his behaviours and felt obliged to him for what she perceived as his loyal support toward her following the time she spent with him after she left her family home. Working with her YHN key worker around issues of control and abuse B gradually came to realise how dysfunctional her relationship was. YHN supported her boyfriend to engage with professional help to enable him to better understand and realise how his behaviour was affecting them both. Over a period of eight months B learned to manage her tenancy in terms of budgeting, benefit entitlements and maintenance. B was also supported by her key worker into a training course related to health and social care. Her self-esteem and confidence increased during this time and she re-established family links. B secured a work placement but issues relating to her boyfriend s controlling behaviour re-surfaced and she lost her work placement. B s realisation that her boyfriend s behaviour was not going to change led her to distance herself from him and she was supported to take out a restraining order against him. Ten months after moving into supported accommodation B was supported by her key worker to move to full independence into a YHN tenancy. She secured a full time job and has maintained links with her family. 40

41 YHN are represented at a senior level on several groups across the city which, have a shared responsibility to protect children and young people from harm. Examples include the Newcastle Safeguarding Children s Board and some of the Board s sub groups including the Missing, Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking group. Additionally we also attend the Newcastle Children and Young People s Risk Management Group which brings together organisations from across the City to identify and address the needs of some the city s most vulnerable young people Over the past year we have continued our ongoing programme of staff training. The table below sets out our staff training figures 16/17. Category YHN Safeguarding Children Level 1 NSCB E-learning (first time completed) Total Trained 53 YHN Safeguarding Children Level 1 NSCB E-learning (Refresher) 13 YHN Safeguarding Children Level 2 (first time attended) 99 YHN Safeguarding Children Level 2 (Refresher) 66 YHN Safeguarding Children Level 2 Focus Group 10 YHN Safeguarding Children Level 3 70 TOTAL 311 One area in which we have sought to further develop our understanding is Child Sexual Exploitation. Several members of staff have attended multi-agency information sessions to increase their awareness of the issues and better understand the signs and indicators that a person might be at risk. Consequently we have increased our resources for staff and have plans to introduce a new e-learning training course. In addition to organisational training, our YPS managers carry out regular file audits on their cases to enable them to identify learning points for discussions with the team and implement any changes that might be needed in order to improve practice. 41

42 Northumbria Police is one of the largest and top performing police services in the country, serving a population of 1.5 million people from a wide range of communities, covering an area of more than 2,000 square miles in North East England. Northumbria Police is dedicated to building trust and confidence and reducing crime and disorder in the communities within the North East of England. In 2016/17 Northumbria Police submitted: 10,812 Adult concern notifications; 30,278 Child concern notifications 29,141 Domestic abuse incidents Northumbria Insight Team conduct customer satisfaction with victims of crime which informs service delivery in addition to this a bespoke survey s for victims of domestic abuse and hate crime have also been embedded to improve victim outcomes. A recent survey was conducted with domestic abuse victims 92% felt safer as a result of contacting police, 74% felt their children were safer as a result of that contact with Northumbria Police. In addition to the survey methodology the team provide a feedback opportunity for individuals and families. This provides victims with the opportunity to raise issues around the service they have experienced. The Safeguarding Department was initiated in May 2016 as part of the force vision to be outstanding in the service we provide. Safeguarding is split into three locations; south covering South Tyneside and Sunderland, central covering Gateshead and Newcastle, north covering North Tyneside and Northumberland. Each location has specialist officers working within Child Abuse Investigation, Vulnerable Adult Abuse investigation, Rape, Domestic Violence and Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements. The co-location of these areas of public protection ensures that information, resources and specialism s are shared thereby further meeting the needs of Children and young people, Young People and families. In addition to this two multi-agency co located hubs are in place providing an enhanced victim focused approach to sexual exploitation, trafficking and modern day slavery this is Operations Sanctuary. Strategic Objectives for the Force are set within the Police and Crime Plan which is produced by the Police and Crime Commissioner as a result of direct contribution by communities across the region. The priorities for 2017 are; Putting Victims first Domestic and Sexual Abuse Reducing Crime Community Confidence Dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour Although still one of the top performing forces, the Chief Constable is committed to achieving outstanding in all areas of vulnerability. Together with partners we have also been inspected by Ofsted, HMIC, CQC and HMIP. Northumbria Police has been subject to numerous inspections by HMIC including vulnerability and honour based violence (HBV), the force was one of a few forces assessed as good in respect of Vulnerability and prepared in all aspects of HBV. Operation Sanctuary is a Police led multiagency operation which began in 2014 to target sexual exploitation and modern day slavery and human trafficking. An innovation bid has allowed us to develop a comprehensive, sophisticated partnership approach to sexual exploitation. Whilst the innovation funding has ceased partners have come together to find a way to continue with the approach. A sanctuary multi-agency hub is geographically located north and south of the region. Together with partners the force believes there is much to be proud of in the performance of Sanctuary. Northumbria Police has embarked upon a major programme of transformational change in order to establish an approach which places a response to vulnerable individuals at the heart of processes in order to deliver an outstanding service; to remodel the current approach based upon close and effective integration with partners and a clear focus on early intervention and prevention. A project team has been established. The project seeks to improve the capability of the workforce through ongoing learning and continuous professional development. 42

43 Additional initiatives are currently on-going following successful innovation bids Polygraph and innovative eye detect technology to assist in the management of sex offenders, this has already delivered positive results. Further transformational project work has commenced across the North East Region in conjunction with the OPCC hoping to utilise funding through the Police Innovation Fund. The funding bid, led by Northumbria Police and OPCC includes seven other Forces is a transformation bid for a whole system approach to domestic abuse. The approach has four themes: Effective working within the criminal justice system Safeguarding with Schools Partnership work with Civil and Family Courts Multi Agency Victims Support and Offender Management Last Year the Force delivered to all public facing staff a comprehensive input on the psychology of abuse delivered by Zoe Lodrick (Sexual Trauma Specialist) aimed at improving the capability of staff to recognise and understand why victims may present to Police in a certain manner. undergone 2 days Safeguarding Training. This is an interactive event which includes 1 day CSE and 1 day Safeguarding for children/ adults. Within Safeguarding there is a strategic Team. They have oversight of all Serious Case and Domestic Homicide Reviews, in addition to scanning for best practice from other forces or bodies such as the College of Policing. Any learning which forms part of the outcome of any such review is taken to the Safeguarding Board and is used to inform the shaping or review of procedure and guidance or training requirements. The force for some time has had a successful memorandum of understanding/protocol with The Tyne & Wear Foundation trust, hospitals, Local Authorities in the force area for the provision of place of safety for those individuals detained under Section136 of the Mental Health Act There are assessment suites across the force area. Children are specifically catered for and the 136 suites are suitable for under young persons under 18. Together with an effective street triage scheme no adults or children detained under 136 have been taken to police custody facilities. Building upon the Zoe Lodrick training all l safeguarding staff and front line Officers have 43

44 5. NSCB Structure Quarterly meetings Policy & Procedures Committee 3 meetings per year Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board Structure (NSCB) 2016 Case Review Committee Quarterly meetings Appreciative Inquiry Champions Group Quarterly meetings Learning & Development Committee Quarterly meetings Trainers Group Quarterly meetings Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board NSCB Business Group 8 meetings per year Standards & Effectiveness Management Group Quarterly meetings Multi-Agency Practice Audit Group Quarterly meetings Missing Sexual Exploitation and Trafficked Group Bi-monthly meetings RMG Data Group Bi-monthly meetings North of Tyne Child Death Overview Panel Quarterly meetings Newcastle Schools Safeguarding Partnership Bi-monthly meetings 44

45 6. Membership 2016/17 Colin Morris - NSCB Independent Chairperson Sue Kirkley - NSCB Coordinator, Newcastle City Council Chris Piercy - Director of Nursing, Newcastle Gateshead CCG Ewen Weir - Director of Wellbeing, Care and Learning, Newcastle City Council Helen Lamont - Nursing and Patient Services Director, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Lindsay Blackmore - Director of Offender Management (Newcastle), Community Rehabilitation Company (from March 2017) D/Supt Peter Storey - Northumbria Police (from November 2016) Carina Carey - Head of Northumbria Probation Trust, North of Tyne Rosemary Muffitt - Senior Solicitor, Newcastle City Council Jayne Forsdike - Service Manager, Children and young people s Safeguarding Standards Unit, Newcastle City Council Karen Simmons - Assistant Director, Children and Young People s Social Care, Newcastle City Council Linda Gray - Safeguarding Adults Coordinator, Newcastle City Council Paul Brownlee - Service Manager, Services to Young People, Newcastle City Council Cllr Joanne Kingsland - Cabinet Member for Children and Young People s Services, Newcastle City Council Anna Kurkiewicz - Lay Member Umme Imam - Director, Angelou Centre David Jones - Named GP for Safeguarding Children and Young People, Newcastle Gateshead CCG Alliance Eugene Milne - Director of Public Health, Newcastle City Council Helen Robinson - Senior Public Health Specialist, Newcastle City Council Patrick Wilkins - Executive Head Teacher, Arthur s Hill Federation Ann Brennan - Head of Service, Cafcass Judith Corrigan - Designated Nurse, Newcastle Gateshead CCG Alliance Jonathan Richardson - Group Medical Director Specialist Care, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust Pat Buckley - Service Manager for Neglect, NSPCC Rachel Baillie - Assistant Director Commissioning & Procurement, Newcastle City Council Alice Witherow - Head Teacher, Benton Park Primary School Pam Jobbins - Newcastle CVS Policy Advisor, Newcastle CVS Ben Dickenson - The Children and young people s Society Dean Jackson - Assistant Director, Education Service Anne Graney - Quality and Safety Manager, NHS England Neil Scott - Director of Tenancy Services, Your Homes Newcastle Board members who left during the year: Mohammad Farsi - Lay Member Alison Steele - Designated Doctor, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust D/Supt Lisa Orchard - Northumbria Police Mick McCracken - Assistant Director Family Insights, Newcastle City Council Shiv Pabary - Lay Member Elizabeth Kelly - Director of Offender Management (Newcastle), Community Rehabilitation Company (left Feb 2017) 45

46 7. Budget 2016/17 46