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The FFC Programme Leader - Partnerships presented the report on behalf of the Director of Children, Families and Education, which set out activity undertaken by the WSCP and relevant agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in Wirral. 

The report included what had been done in the previous 12-month period as a result of the local statutory multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, including a summary of child safeguarding activity, statutory reviews, and progress against actions from previous reviews, and an assessment of how effective the safeguarding arrangements had been

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The report included evidence of the impact of the work of the safeguarding partners and relevant agencies, including training on outcomes for children and families, and an assessment of any areas requiring further improvement.  The report also included case studies highlighting good practice and examples of how children, young people and families had informed the work of the safeguarding partnership and influenced service provision.

Members discussed the work that had been carried out on Breaking the Cycle, they noted that the report indicated that there was some level of impact from auditing of cases and scrutiny of key performance data. They asked what officers felt was the best evidence of improvement in the Breaking the Cycle programme.

The FFC Programme Leader – Partnerships responded that a lot of work had been done through the Safeguarding Partnership. He stated that there had been improvements in training as having a skilled workforce was the best way to increase performance. He noted that co-location of services gave better access to a wider pool of expertise. He stated that in North Birkenhead, this way of working had led to a reduction in the number of cases being referred into the integrated front door and that by focusing on a cradle to career approach, less cases are having to reach the top end of children’s social care.

Members raised the issue of neglect of children and asked how the reported priority of improving how to tackle neglect was being carried out.

The FFC Programme Leader – Partnerships responded that neglect was a much harder issue to identify than physical abuse. He felt that just putting a strategy in place would not be enough and stated that a lot of work had been done with staff to help them to identify neglect and the nuanced evidence that can lead to that identification. He noted that it would be approximately 12 months before there was direct evidence that this approach was improving outcomes.

Members asked what the best safeguarding success had been, and what was the service finding hardest to improve.

The FFC Programme Leader – Partnerships responded the most successful area around safeguarding was the early help and prevention services, he stated that they had an incredibly skilled and motivated workforce with a strong model for around early help and prevention.

He stated that the biggest challenge for the service was the very complex, high-end cases such as child sexual abuse, which increasing on a national scale. He felt that grasping the complexity of safeguarding was a real challenge.

Resolved – That the report be noted.