National Guidance for Child Protection Committees for Conducting a Significant Case Review

Ministerial Foreword

As Acting Minister for Children and Young People, I am committed to improving the life chances of children and young people in Scotland. Keeping our children and young people safe is a priority for this Government and, along with my colleagues, I will do all I can to ensure they are protected from harm.

We are very fortunate in Scotland in terms of our workforce. We have many dedicated, motivated and highly skilled people across a range of services who are committed to protecting vulnerable children and young people from harm and neglect. Each of us, whether at national or local level, across different sectors and specialties, has a role to play in preventing, identifying and acting on child protection concerns.

Although there have been significant improvements made over recent years, we must continue to ensure that, where necessary, any lessons are learnt and improvements are made. For this Government, the improvement journey never stops. We are committed to ensuring that the Scottish approach to protecting children and young people is as robust as possible.

That is why we have revised the Significant Case Review guidance. It seeks to support a consistent approach nationally and improve the dissemination and application of learning both at a local and national level.

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all those who contributed to the development of this revised guidance. Their expertise and insight was crucial to this revision, and is a good example of partnership working in practice. By continuing working together in this way we can make Scotland the best place for children and young people to grow up.

Fiona McLeod

Acting Minister for Children and Young People