Agenda item - Brighton and Hove Safeguarding Children Partnership (BHSCP) Progress Report, October 2019- March 2020

Report of Statutory Safeguarding Partners: Brighton and Hove City Council, Sussex Police and Clinical Commissioning Group (on behalf of “health” partners (copy attached)

RESOLVED – That in respect of this report is submitted to the Board for the Board:

(1)        Notes the report the contents of the report and commends to partners the importance of promoting partnership working to safeguard children, young people and their families across the city.;

(2)      Notes the BHSCP’s business plan priorities which run from April 2020 to March 2023 (page 7 of the report) and consider how this work aligns to work being undertaken as part of the city’s joint strategic needs assessment relating to “Starting Well”. Priority 4 (below) will focus on implementation recommendations from the Sussex wide review of emotional health and wellbeing support for children and young people, ensuring that gaps in provision are addressed.

·       Priority 1 - Partnership Engagement and Accountability: The new arrangements will provide strategic leadership to embed the principles of safeguarding citywide.

·       Priority 2 - Safeguarding children from violence and exploitation: There is a clear understanding of the scale of complex and contextual safeguarding within Brighton & Hove and that the needs of children and young people affected by violence are identified and assessed effectively.

·       Priority 3 - Neglect: The needs of children and young people affected by neglect are identified and assessed effectively resulting in timely and appropriate intervention.

·       Priority 4 - Mental Health and Emotional Health and Wellbeing: Service provision for children who need support for emotional and mental health issues is consistently good across Brighton & Hove; and

(3)  Notes that the BHSCP is in the early stages of understanding the long-term impact of Covid-19 on safeguarding and supporting our children, young people and their families as well as considering how best to promote their wellbeing and targeting our resources accordingly.

34.1    The Board considered a progress report prepared by the Brighton and Hove Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (BHSCP). This body was comprised of Statutory Safeguarding Partners: Brighton and Hove City Council, Sussex Police and the Clinical Commissioning Group on behalf of health partners. The report was essentially an interim one, covering the period October 2019 to March 2020.

34.2    The BHSCP, Business Manager, Sally Kendal, explained that the Partnership comprised representatives from statutory and non – statutory agencies and organisations in Brighton and Hove who had shared responsibility for keeping children safe. It was noted under its partnership arrangements published in June 2019 the BHSCP oversaw the strategic direction and work of partners key activities which the Partnership had overseen during the 6 month period covered by the report were outlined. The purpose of this short report was to preface the first annual report under the new arrangements which would cover the period April 2020 to March 2021 and would run in accordance with the business year cycle to enable the BHSCP to utilise comparative data.

32.3    In answer to questions it was explained that notwithstanding the impact of the current pandemic the Partnership had continued to establish new ways of working flexibly. The key change was that the Board meeting had been replaced by a smaller strategic leadership body (the Steering Group), which was led by three safeguarding partners. This approach was aligned to the reforms introduced by the Department for Education under “Working Together 2018”, to improve efficiency and focus on core child safeguarding responsibilities across local authority areas. Between April 2019 and March 2020 training had been delivered to 866 including 399 attendees at the Partnership’s core training days.

32.4    In response to questions it was confirmed that the final week of the reporting period had seen the first national lockdown and safeguarding children had immediately identified as a key risk and that when looking to the future the short and longer term impact of Covid 19 was one of the key challenges facing the partnership.

32.5    RESOLVED – That in respect of this report is submitted to the Board for the Board:

(1) Notes the report the contents of the report and commends to partners the importance of promoting partnership working to safeguard children, young people and their families across the city; and

(2) Notes the BHSCP’s business plan priorities which run from April 2020 to March 2023 (page 7 of the report) and consider how this work aligns to work being undertaken as part of the city’s joint strategic needs assessment relating to “Starting Well”. Priority 4 (below) will focus on implementation recommendations from the Sussex wide review of emotional health and wellbeing support for children and young people, ensuring that gaps in provision are addressed.

·       Priority 1 - Partnership Engagement and Accountability: The new arrangements will provide strategic leadership to embed the principles of safeguarding citywide.

·       Priority 2 - Safeguarding children from violence and exploitation: There is a clear understanding of the scale of complex and contextual safeguarding within Brighton & Hove and that the needs of children and young people affected by violence are identified and assessed effectively.

·       Priority 3 - Neglect: The needs of children and young people affected by neglect are identified and assessed effectively resulting in timely and appropriate intervention.

·       Priority 4 - Mental Health and Emotional Health and Wellbeing: Service provision for children who need support for emotional and mental health issues is consistently good across Brighton & Hove; and

(3)  Notes that the BHSCP is in the early stages of understanding the long-term impact of Covid-19 on safeguarding and supporting our children, young people and their families as well as considering how best to promote their wellbeing and targeting our resources accordingly.