Issue - meetings

Helen Jenner, Corporate Director of Children’s Services presented the report to the Board and pointed out the significance of it being the first Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) annual report that was a Partnership report, rather than a Council only report.  The purpose of the annual report was to provide a rigorous and transparent assessment of the effectiveness of child safeguarding and promotion of children’s Welfare in the local area. 

Helen explained that the annual report was set out in five chapters and covered key conclusions reached by the LSCB, which included an assessment of how well children and young people were safeguarded, the level of need and useful demographic information, significant developments that had taken place within partner agencies during the year, the statutory functions of the LSCB, how the LSCB operated in the Borough and the work it had undertaken during 2014/15.  The Board’s attention was specifically drawn to priority groups of vulnerable children and young people, which included children subject to, or at risk of sexual exploitation, children affected by domestic violence, privately fostered children or missing children as well as the Prevent agenda and the LSCB’s work to safeguarded those groups.  The report also set out the priorities for 2015/18.

The Board noted:

(i)  The Barking and Dagenham Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report 2014/15 was a partnership report and the strength of the partnership was better reflected in the report this year than previously;

(ii)  The maturity of the partnership was clearly underpinning the five priorities, the capacity to learn from Case Reviews, the sharing of information and challenge and joint work on aspects such as Prevent and Child Sexual Exploitation; and

(iii)  Partners were recognising of the need to improve prevention and early intervention support across the partnership to reduce families going into crisis and to drive down the need for safeguarding and children being taken into care.