National Child Protection Leadership Group: March 2018

Attendees and apologies

Members

• Maree Todd, Minister for Childcare and Early Years (Chair)
• Neil Hunter, Principal Reporter/Chief Executive, SCRA
• Alison Gordon, Chief Social Work Officer & Head of Children Families and Justice Social Work Services, North Lanarkshire
• Claire Burns, Co-Director, CELCIS & Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures
• Wendy Mitchell, Head of Nursing, Performance and Strategic Management for Child Protection, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
• Anne Houston, Chair, Child Protection Committees Scotland
• Judith Ainsley, Head of Child Protection, Scottish Government

Others

• DS Elaine Galbraith, Public Protection, Police Scotland (attending on behalf of DCS Boal)
• Eddie Follan, Children and Young People Policy Manager, COSLA (attending on behalf of Cllr McCabe)
• Kevin Mitchell, Executive Director of Scrutiny and Assurance, Care Inspectorate (attending on behalf of Karen Reid)
• Sharon Glasgow, Child Protection Programme Lead, CELCIS
• Alex McTier, Evidence and Evaluation Specialist, CELCIS
• Paul Beaton, Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill Team Leader, Scottish Government
• Lindsay MacDougall, Child Protection, Scottish Government (Secretariat)
• Susan Downes, Child Protection, Scottish Government (Secretariat)

Apologies

• Cllr Stephen McCabe, Spokesperson for Children and Young People, COSLA (Vice Chair)
• Karen Reid, Chief Executive, Care Inspectorate
• Peter Diamond, Head of Leisure and Lifelong Learning, Orkney Council and Association of Directors of Education in Scotland representative
• Kay Tisdall, Professor of Childhood, Edinburgh University
• Angela Leitch, Chief Executive, East Lothian Council and Strategic Lead for Children and Education, including Child Protection, SOLACE
• DCS Lesley Boal, Head of Public Protection, Police Scotland
• Iona Colvin, Chief Social Work Adviser, Scottish Government
• Susan Hannah, Head of Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative, Scottish Government
• Helen Fogarty, Head of Better Life Chances, Scottish Government
• Sally Ann Kelly, Chief Executive, Aberlour, and Chair of Committee on Care and Support for Children and Young People, Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS)

Items and actions

Minute of last meeting

One amendment was agreed to add Anne Houston to the task and finish group reviewing the Protecting Children and Young People: Child Protection Committees Guidance (2005). [Action 1, Secretariat] There was one outstanding action which was to provide a paper to the group on joint investigative interview dual reporting. [Action 2, Police Scotland]

CPIP actions update – paper 1

Judith Ainsley presented the CPIP actions update paper. In discussing the recommendations relating to engaging with health, the group noted that:

• the review of the 2005 CPC guidance would provide an opportunity to highlight the need for multi-agency training to include health professionals;
• a SIGN guideline on child protection might be a way of raising awareness of child protection issues;
• there is a particular need to make access to child protection training as easy as possible given the time constraints of many health professionals.

It was agreed that Wendy Mitchell would be invited to a future meeting of the CPC Scotland National Child Protection Learning and Development Group. [Action 3, CELCIS] The group noted the wide range of work being progressed by delivery partners and asked for a workplan to be prepared for the next meeting to assist consideration of how it provides strategic support. [Action 4, Secretariat]

Chief Officer Leadership Events – paper 2

Sharon Glasgow presented a paper on planning arrangements for the leadership events to be held on 25 April in Glasgow and 2 May in Perth. Invitations had been sent from the Minister to Chairs of Chief Officers Groups, local authority and Health Board Chief Executives, Divisional Police Commanders, Chief Social Work Officers, Child Protection Committee Chairs and Child Protection Committee Lead Officers. A good response had been received with 101 participants booked to attend the Glasgow event and 69 participants booked for Perth. The group asked that Chairs of Integration Joint Boards and other scrutiny partners (Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Education Scotland and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland) be invited. [Action 5, CELCIS]

The group agreed that it was important to clearly set out that the purpose of the events was to support continuous improvement and improve consistency. Members indicated that they were happy to be placed at tables and be visible throughout the events.

National Standards for Reviewers of Initial Case Reviews (ICRs) and Significant Case Reviews (SCRs) – paper 3

Sharon Glasgow provided an update on work to develop the national standards. A first draft had been prepared for further engagement with key stakeholders including CPCs, CPC Scotland and Chief Officer Groups given their role in commissioning ICRs and SCRs. The standards would be reviewed in the light of comments and brought to the Leadership Group meeting in October for final sign off.

Review of the Protecting Children and Young People: Child Protection Committees Guidance (2005)

Kevin Mitchell provided an update on the work of the Leadership Group Task and Finish Group overseeing the review. He noted that the focus of recent discussion had been on ensuring an appropriate balance between local flexibility and consistency. The current draft had been circulated to Leadership Group members and leadership event attendees. Feedback from workshop discussions at the leadership events would be collated by CELCIS for the Task and Finish Group and a final draft would be shared with the full group for sign off.

Shared dataset – paper 4

Alex McTier presented a paper outlining work to develop the shared dataset for vulnerable children and young people. It was agreed that the group would write to CPCs and Chief Officer Groups once the dataset was finalised to set out a clear expectation that the core set of child protection information within the dataset is collected and available to inform local discussions in line with the original CPIP recommendation.

Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Bill – paper 5

Paul Beaton presented an update on the Bill which was noted by the group.

Dates of future meetings

27 June 2018
2 October 2018
16 January 2019
16 April 2019

Secretariat to confirm dates with members. [Action 6, Secretariat]