annual report 2014 -2015 - metropolitan borough of...

1 Final September 2015

Annual Report

2014 -2015


Contents Page

Foreword

Summary

3

5

Part A Context

1 Rochdale Borough. 7

2 Children in the Borough 7

3 Services to Children 9

4 What do we know about the quality of services available

for these children and their families

11

Part B The Board 2014-2015 18

5 Structure 18

6 Business planning and effectiveness of the Board 2014-15 20

7

8

Financial Arrangements

Challenges 2015-2016

39

40

Appendices

End of Year Financial Position

Attendance at RBSCB and Subgroups

Links to:

Business Plan 2014-16

RBSCB Membership


Foreword

This Annual Report covers the period from 1st April 2014 to the 31st March 2015.

I was appointed as Independent Chair of the Board in February 2013 so this report reflects on the

work carried out during my second full year as Chair. As in previous years, the compilation of the

report has given me a valuable opportunity to reflect on the challenges and achievements of the

year, both for the Board itself and agencies providing services across the Borough.

The report provides information about children in Rochdale and what we know about their

vulnerabilities in terms of safeguarding. It considers the range of services in place to meet their

needs and sets out what we know about how effective services are. It seeks to recognise

achievements and the challenges faced in making sure children and young people are safeguarded

from harm. It reports on the work of the Board itself and identifies further challenges for the

future.

The production of this report fulfils a statutory requirement under section 14a of the Children Act

2004 but the form and length makes the full report less accessible to some groups of people and I

would like to thank the group of children and young people who have assisted with the production

of a summary of this report targeted specifically at children and young people.

During 2014-15 agencies and the Board has continued to work to address required improvement

identified following an Ofsted Inspection in November 2012. This inspection had concluded that

safeguarding arrangements for children and young people in Rochdale were inadequate and had

made criticism of the Board itself. This report acknowledges the continued progress made by the

Local Authority and its partners. This progress was acknowledged in a more recent Ofsted

inspection in July 2015 which reported significant improvement. On 6th July 2015 the Minister

Edward Timson removed the improvement notice. Agencies remain committed to continuing

improvement and have developed a multi-agency framework designed to ensure a “Getting to

Good” programme is delivered collectively.

This report reflects on a number of audits, inspections and reviews, all of which provide evidence of

improving services and of the Board’s own improved performance. It is clear agencies are working

better together to improve safeguards for children and young people. Sound policies and

procedures are in place but it should never be forgotten that the work to support children and

families is carried out day by day by a committed and caring work force and to them I send my

thanks.


This report covers the period April 2014 - March 2015 and was written by Jane Booth Independent

Chair of the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB) in conjunction with Tony

Philbin, Board Manager.

The report was circulated for comment to Board members on 7th August and presented to the

Safeguarding Board for sign off on 17th September. It will be presented to the Rochdale Health and

Well-Being Board 27th October, The Children and Young People’s Partnership on 8th October and the

Council’s Health Schools and Care Overview and Scrutiny on 13th October. It has been sent to the

Chief Executive or equivalent of all member agencies.

Sources of information which informed this report include:

Data reports from RBSCB Partner agencies

Reports of the RBSCB Sub-groups

Minutes of RBSCB Board meetings

Reports submitted to the Council’s Children’s Social Care Improvement Board

Rochdale Borough Integrated Early Help Strategy

Ofsted Inspection Report published December 2012

Child Health Profile

Domestic Abuse Profile

Working Together March 2015

Multi-agency reports to the Board


RBSCB Annual Report Summary/Headlines

A significant number of children in Rochdale Borough are affected by socio-economic deprivation.

Most do well at key stage 2 in English and Maths. GCE achievement has improved by 4.2% in the last

year and by 7% at Early Years Foundation stage.

The Borough is ethnically diverse.

9% of households are occupied by a lone parent with dependent children and 6% of households with

dependent children have no-one in employment.

The overall crime rate is declining as is youth crime. Anti-social behaviour rates have decreased,

though these remain above the GM average. Reports of domestic abuse have increased by 22%.

Teenage conception rates show a 20% decrease on 2013-14 . A good range of services is in place to

support vulnerable children and their families. The number of children and families supported

through Early Help is at an all-time high. The multi-agency Safeguarding Screening Service continues

to receive high levels of contact but only around a third of these require a social work service with

the majority of the remainder referred back for Early Help.

The rate of child protection enquiries continues to be high but these are generally completed on a

timely basis. The number of children needing the support of a Child Protection Plan has reduced by

24% at the year end at 259. Neglect remains the most common reason for a child protection plan.

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) continues to be an ongoing issue locally, regionally and nationally.

Following the convictions of nine men in 2012 a greater emphasis has been placed on the

prevention, protection and prosecution of CSE across the borough.

The number of children “cared for” in the Borough has reduced but still remains high at the year end

at 527.

Independent inspections carried out during the year provide the following information:

Ofsted inspection of 19 schools found no schools to be inadequate and 10 to be either

outstanding or good.

Children’s Social Care Services and the Safeguarding Children Board are no longer judged to

be inadequate. “The calibre of the senior leadership team, combined with strong

partnership working through the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), has driven

improvements across children’s services from a very low starting point”. (Ofsted 2014).

The thematic inspection of multi-agency responses to Child Sexual Exploitation did not make

a judgement but described multi-agency and Board work as being good with some

exemplary practice (Ofsted 2014). The report produced by Ann Coffey MP also highlighted

good practice in Rochdale.

Police inspection re Domestic Abuse (March 2014) reported some concerns but a re-

inspection in November 2014 found there had been significant progress.


The Care Quality Commission inspected a review of health services for “Cared for” children. The review explored the effectiveness of health services for looked after children and the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements within health for all children

The Board audit of agencies’ compliance with their safeguarding responsibilities (section 11 audit) showed overall good levels of compliance across all requirements.

The RBSCB has reviewed all child deaths in the Borough (22 in 2014-15) - key concerns are unsafe

sleeping arrangements, over-heating, parental smoking and parental use of drugs or alcohol.

The Board has completed two Serious Case Reviews in 2014-15. Child D and Child G action plans to

meet findings have been fully implemented.

The Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB) has effective policies and procedures in place. It has a

robust quality assurance framework in place and audits and reviews in 2014-15 evidence continuing

improvement of practice. It provides a comprehensive range of training and has improved its

engagement with professionals and the community and children and young people in 2014-15.

There has been a positive response from agencies to the challenges issued by the Board in the

previous year.

Challenges for the coming year are:

Early Help –To ensure continued progress including application of thresholds/Use of CAF

Radicalisation- RBSCB needs to be assured as to how services and intervention are

developing re this emerging area of protection

To address increases in Domestic Abuse and ensure services effectively support children and

young people affected by Domestic Abuse.

Continue the development of services for children and young people who go missing from

home and develop a greater understanding of the cohort and service provision

Achieve a continuing reduction in CP plans in line with progress on early help offer and

outcome findings of audit of CP

Monitor the still high number of “Cared for” children to ensure the early preventative

interventions offered impact on the reduction of escalation of cases through the needs and

response framework.


Part A Context

1. Rochdale Borough Rochdale Borough covers 62 square miles and over two thirds of the borough is countryside. It

contains four townships based on Rochdale, Middleton, Heywood and the Pennines and has strong

links across Greater Manchester. These were enhanced in April 2014 by the extension of the Metro

running from Manchester Victoria Station into Rochdale town centre. There is easy access to the

Pennine countryside. The borough has a rich history and is seen as the birth place of the Cooperative

Movement.

In terms of deprivation the borough is currently ranked 23rd out of a total of 326 using the indices of

multiple deprivation. Deprivation is highest in parts of West Heywood, West Middleton, Kirkholt,

Smallbridge, Firgrove and the centre of Rochdale. There is a higher proportion of children and young

people in the population living in the highest areas of deprivation and 12,857 children are recorded

as “income deprived”. This is higher than both the Greater Manchester (GM) and England averages

and means 27% of Rochdale children live in poverty.

2. Children in the Borough Rochdale Borough is an ethnically diverse area of England and its population is growing and

changing. There are a higher proportion of younger people in the population than the England

average and the proportion of older people is growing.

The birth rate in the most socio-economically deprived groups is almost twice that of those in the

wealthiest and increases the proportion of children vulnerable due to socioeconomic deprivation.

The number and proportion of children and young people living in the poorest areas is predicted to

continue to increase.

The health and well-being of children and young people, although improving in many areas, is

poorer than that seen across England as a whole.

Good educational performance has been maintained for those achieving Level 4 or above for Key

Stage 2 English and Maths with improvement from around 80% last year to 89% for Reading; 86% for

Writing and 87% for Maths. At GCSE Level 56.2% of pupils are achieving Grade A-C, an increase of

4.2% since in the last year. This is helping to reduce the gap in educational attainment between

Rochdale and the rest of England. The percentage of children reaching the desired standard of

educational attainment at Early Years Foundation stage has risen in 2014 to 57%

In respect of its child population the ethnic breakdown across the Borough has a majority of 69%

White British with the second largest population being Asian or Asian British Pakistani, representing

16%. This figure includes a significant number of children from a Kashmiri background and Rochdale

has the second largest population of Kashmiri residents across England & Wales, which comprises

1,658 residents (with Luton being the largest). Of the remaining child population Asian British

Bangladeshi represents 3.7%, Asian British – Other Asian 21% (1.4% whole borough population) and

Black British African 1.7% (1% whole borough population).


Census 2011 analysis told us that there are 87,552 households across Rochdale Borough, 7,931 of

which are occupied by lone parent with dependent children. 5,311 households with dependent

children have no adults in employment.

The Borough’s crime rate has declined significantly since 2007-08 apart from a reported increase in

rates of domestic burglary (NW Regional Crime Tracker) in 2011. Victim based crime accounts for

around 90% of crimes committed and although a drop in the rate was seen in 2012/13 the latest

figures show an increase in both the rate and the gap to GM. Antisocial Behaviour rates have

decreased in each of the last 3 years and while they remain above the GM average the gap has

narrowed in the latest figures. When Anti-Social Behaviour and victim based crimes are compared

with the level of local deprivation we see clear correlations between areas of high deprivation and

areas of high crime. The YOT now delivers a service across both Rochdale and Bury as an integrated

Youth Offending Service. In Rochdale there has been a decrease in the rate of reoffending, from 45%

to 41.2%. The YOT continues to target those most at risk of offending behaviour with a range of

interventions including prevention work for those at risk of offending, resettlement support for

young people leaving custody and restorative work for young people on community sentences. The

number of first time entrants into the justice system has fallen due to an increase in the use of

restorative justice and the effective early help strategy in operation in the borough.

Reports of Domestic Abuse (DA) increased by 22% in 2013/14 from the rate seen in 2012/13.In 2013,

18% of perpetrators of DA were repeat offenders, committing 35% of offences seen during the year.

Reported Hate Crime followed a similar trend with a decrease of the rate in 2012/13 followed by an

increase of 16% in 2013/14.Violence against the person motivated by race accounted for the largest

proportion of hate crimes. Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) continues to be an ongoing issue locally,

regionally and nationally. Following the convictions of nine men in 2012 a greater emphasis has been

placed on the prevention, protection and prosecution of CSE across the borough.

The most recent data for under 18 conceptions in Rochdale shows both a 55.3% reduction on the

1998 baseline and a 20.2% decrease on the same period in 2013. The proportions of under 18

conceptions leading to an abortion, however, were higher in Rochdale with more than one in four

women under the age of 25 having had a repeat abortion in 2013 which was slightly higher

compared with England and the North West.

The Prevalence of private care homes in the Borough remains similar to recent years and averages

about 40 homes from 10 providers. Some of these units are single occupancy homes.


3. Services to Children

The RBSCB has agreed an approach to access to services through its threshold model, the

Rochdale’s Children’s Needs and Response Framework which was introduced in 2011, and most

updated in this business year, in October 2014. It is an agreed approach to identifying and

responding to the needs of children and families and is illustrated by the ‘windscreen’ diagram.

Changes in the October 2014 update included further guidance in respect of the following:

Making a Referral to Multi Agency Screening Service

Escalation and Resolution

Step Up Step Down Process.

Indicators

Definitions

Contact Details The RBSCB has produced a number of documents to support understanding and implementation of

this framework:

Full guide

Quick guide

Young person’s guide

Level 1 – Universal services:

These are the services available to and accessed by all children and include mainstream health

services and education. Most children’s needs continue to be met at Level 1 by mainstream services

together with support from within the family, friendships and community networks. The Rochdale

Children and Young People’s Partnership publish a Family Services Directory and this reflects that a

comprehensive range of services are available.

https://www.rbscb.org/professionals/children-s-needs-response-framework/



http://rochdale.fsd.org.uk/kb5/rochdale/fsd/home.page


Levels 2 and 3 – services for children with additional needs:

Children can and do move from one level to another as children‘s needs change over time e.g. a

particular event within their family, the death of a parent or sibling, a child becoming disabled, will

result in additional needs being identified which require a time limited agency response. At levels 2

and 3, early help and the common assessment framework seek to establish a team around the child

and family to ensure coordinated early help is put in place.

Level 4

Children who have complex needs, whose health and development is likely to be affected without

more targeted help. At this level the child’s needs have not been met consistently by the multi-

agency action plan or concerns have escalated. The “Team Around the Child” meeting view is that

specialist assessment and intervention is necessary to reduce risk and needs will best be met via a

multi-agency action plan involving specialist and, if necessary, statutory services. At this level a

Common Assessment may have been completed previously, if not it is required to request access to

a specialist service. Advice and guidance can also be sought from the Multi Agency Screening Service

(MASS - details in useful information section) The Rochdale Children’s Social Needs and Risk - Local

Assessment Protocol also helps decision making at this level it can be found here: Click here for child

protection procedures

Level 5- Children at risk of or suffering significant harm with immediate needs for Protection and or

Substitute Care

Where a child is in immediate danger an urgent referral is made to the Police and/or Children’s

Social care via the MASS. If the danger is not immediate the child’s needs are met through an urgent

referral to the MASS (Multi agency screening service).

http://www.rbscb.org/professionals/multi-agency-procedures/

http://www.rbscb.org/professionals/multi-agency-procedures/


4 What do we know specifically about the quality of services available for

these children and their families?

We learn about the quality of services from a variety of sources both external to the Board and

through our own quality assurance activity. All public sector agencies are subject to periodic

external inspections most of which assess the effectiveness in terms of children’s safeguards. Note:

Where no recent inspection has taken place reports have reflected on the last inspection outcome.

The RBSCB has received quarterly data reports through its quality assurance sub group and full

board has received alerts. The board business plan and audit is premised on the findings so that

partners can test out responses.

In 2014-2015 the RBSCB was sighted on alerts in relation to complex and specialist services.

Complex The RBSCB was sighted on alerts in relation to low numbers of CAFs and how threshold were being

applied. The RBSCB received reports from the Director for Early Help. The RBSCB had evidence that

the numbers of children supported through early Help/CAF across the year 2014-15 showed an

increase on the comparable periods for the previous year which represents a significant increase

throughout the year. One particular agency is designated “lead professional” for each family. The

lead professional role has continued to be most often schools and Children’s Centres. However

health partners, particularly Health Visitors have made a significant contribution during quarter 3

which continued into quarter 4. The overall number of open CAF's has decreased towards the end


of 2014-15 which was as a result of data cleansing whilst transferring existing CAFs to the e-CAF

system.

From April 2015 requests for Family Support have been responded to via a new Supporting Families

Continuum. The continuum began operating in July 2014 and has gradually increased its volume of

cases as agencies have become more aware of the process and how to access it. In its first 9 months

of delivery the continuum has received 570 requests for support, 190 of which are from schools.

The over-all volume of requests exceeds that previously processed by the school panels which

averaged about 470 per year. The number of cases coming from schools has however reduced for a

number of reasons which are seen as positive, including schools becoming more used to using the

MASS for higher level cases and because more schools are now delivering aspects of Early Help

including family support themselves.

As part of the RBSCB response to increase understanding of the use of CAF across the partnership

the board led on the refresh of the threshold of needs document which was relaunched in October

2014 through a number of multi-agency briefings. The impact of this appears to be evident in a

continued rise in the use of CAFs and will continue to be tested out in 2015- 2016 through the

quality assurance report card and further audit.

The full data set in relation to the early help offer through CAF is available through the quality

assurance sub group score card and reports to board.

The RBSCB has kept oversight of the developments in the newly established MASS, specifically it has

had reports on the numbers of referrals and conversion rates. This data has linked closely with the

boards oversight of CAFs and rise in child protection plans.

The numbers of contacts into MASS during 2014-15 remained high with significant percentage not

subsequently meeting the threshold for a social work service or child protection investigation. These

exceptions were also part of the impetus for the introduction of a Demand Management Strategy

which had a target to achieve a 20% reduction in the numbers of contacts into the MASS and a

consequent increase in the delivery of early help. Head teachers from schools have, and are

continuing, to observe the work of the MASS and it is hoped that this is replicated across other

partnership agencies to support their understanding of the thresholds. Links to the new locality

teams and early help panels were starting to be established at the end of the reporting year and will

further support the increases in early help and 20% reduction on contacts into Children's Social Care

by end of Quarter 1 in 2014-15.

The MASS is due to be reviewed in 2015 to ensure continuous learning and service development.

The board has been kept informed of progress through its data score card and individual reports

through its excellence in practice subgroup. A full break down of the data in relation to referrals and

conversion rates is available through the quality assurance sub group.

The board will continue to request oversight of the operation of the MASS in relation to service

provision and specifically in the application of thresholds and numbers of children receiving a service

at the specialist level, through 2015


Specialist In 2014 -2015 the RBSCB was made aware of escalation in numbers of section 47 enquiries, child

protection conferences and children being subject to child protection plans for only three months,

with numbers of children on CP plans peaking in October and November 2014.

In response to alerts presented to board the Local Authority, social care carried out a specific audit

and made recommendations in relation to the partnerships management of risks. A demand strategy

was written and presented to board for agreement in January 2015 which provided guidance to

partners on the assessment and management of risk. By the end of the reporting year the board had

started to see the impact of this strategy with a fall in numbers.

The full data set in respect of trends in child protection is available through the Quality assurance

sub group and is reported to board each quarter

The RBSCB has continued to be sighted on private fostering arrangements and has received the

annual report and copy of the detailed action plan being completed by the partnership which looked

at raising awareness across agencies, changing referrals in for school allocation to pick up on any

private fostered children and borough advertising and training. Whilst numbers remain low the

RBSCB has been reassured by the approach and will continue to monitor this through its reporting

schedule

Throughout 2014 -2015 the RBSCB has requested oversight of the new missing strategy with

progress being reported into the excellence in practice sub group and the CSE sub group. The RBSCB

has received regular updates on this through the excellence in practice sub group reports.

A new missing score card with detailed data on missing children has been available to the quality

assurance sub group with alerts being available to the board. One of the years MACFA audits was

completed to look at baseline information across the partnership and findings and alerts were

reported directly into the RBSCB. The RBSCB has been reassured at the agency commitment to the

missing panel which was observed to be good practice at the ofsted inspection in 2014. The

recognition of the links between CSE and missing has resulted in clear reporting mechanisms

between the missing panel and CSE sub group and is reflected in the strategy and action plan for

both areas of work. The RBSCB will continue to scrutinise the impact of services for missing children

in 2015 through its excellence in practice subgroup. The full data set in relation to missing children

and audits is available through the quality assurance sub group

External Scrutiny

Children’s Services

In November 2012 Ofsted’s inspection of arrangements for the protection of children assessed

Rochdale Borough Children’s Services as inadequate. As a result an improvement notice was issued

in April 2013 and a further notice issued in April 2014, this was at the request of the service to

ensure continued scrutiny of the improvement journey in additional areas.

The Local Authority, whilst still under an improvement notice, was subject to a further inspection

between 30 September 2014 – 22 October 2014. The published report (December 2014) gave an


overall judgement that children’s services are no longer judged to be inadequate but still “required

improvement to be good”.

Although not yet good the report states “The calibre of the senior leadership team, combined with strong partnership working through the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), has driven improvements across children’s services from a very low starting point”.

The judgements on areas of the service that contribute to overall effectiveness were:

1. Children who need help and protection - Requires Improvement

2. Children looked after and achieving permanence - Requires Improvement

2.1 Adoption performance - Requires Improvement

2.2 Experiences and progress of care leavers - Requires Improvement

3. Leadership, management and governance – Requires Improvement

4. The Local Safeguarding Children Board requires improvement

Ofsted found that the arrangements in place to evaluate the effectiveness of what is done by the

authority and board partners to safeguard and promote the welfare of children required

improvement.

The RBSCB Under the new Ofsted inspection framework the RBSC was also inspected in November 2014. The

findings from that inspection was that the RBSCB “required improvement to be good”. Ofsted found

that the RBSCB had made significant progress during the last 18 months and benefited from strong

independent leadership, supported by effective business management. Details of the findings and

the Boards response are noted later in the Board section in this report

CSE Thematic Inspection Following Professor Alexis Jay’s report into the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham Ofsted

conducted a series of thematic inspections to assess how well local authorities and their partners

were carrying out their duty to prevent child sexual exploitation in their area, to offer protection to

its victims and to pursue and prosecute its abusers. Rochdale was one of the LA’s identified for

inspection. Six broad themes in relation to child sexual exploitation were identified from the

evidence collected and the findings in relation to Rochdale are set out below:

Strategic leadership/ Role of LSCB Good strategy and action plan in place which is updated by a RAG system and reported regularly

to the LSCB. The strategy is led by the DCS from the LA with appropriate multi-agency

membership.

Performance management A full range of quality assurance measures are in place including performance indicators,

auditing, and supervision processes, of a single and multi-agency basis – this is enabling

comparison and trend analysis to be undertaken

Raising awareness Ground breaking engagement work carried out with taxi drivers, licensed premises. Full training

programmes in place and accessed. Learning from SCR is evident.

Findings from practice


Good use of quality assessment tools. Policy and procedures are good with accessible referral

pathways

Disruption and prosecution Ongoing criminal and court processes are successful in protecting children and prosecuting

offenders well established intelligence systems with high quality data analysis underpin this

success. Proactive response to perpetrators with good engagement and planning by the

probation service

When children go missing The Panel which reviews work with children who go missing from home and associated process

are well established. For future development the Missing from Home and CSE strategies should

be more connected/aligned.

Feedback was given to each LA following the inspection and a final report and recommendations

were published in November 2014.

The Annual report of the Multi-agency CSE Team, Sunrise, evidences good and sometimes

exemplary practice and will published as a separate document by the Board.

The Coffey Report

The independent Coffey Report into CSE was commissioned by Tony Lloyd, the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner and published October 2014 The inquiry into child sexual exploitation was chaired by Ann Coffey, MP for Stockport (and Chair of

the All Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults). Under the title

Real Voices, the report gave prominence to the voice of children and young people and the inquiry

looked at what changes have been in safeguarding children from sexual exploitation.

“In Rochdale, CSE awareness sessions have been undertaken with schools, colleges and youth centres

for young people involving more than 9,000 pupils and 300 parents. Work has been done to embed

CSE into the PSHE curriculum. This seems to have resulted in a higher level of awareness, which can

be demonstrated by the high number of pieces of intelligence reported to the police in Rochdale.”

Real Voices Ann Coffey, MP. October 2014

The focus of the report was Greater Manchester and it contains a number of recommendations for local agencies about what can be done to improve services and raise awareness. In November 2014 Project Phoenix conducted a peer review of the Sunrise CSE team One of the key

objectives of Project Phoenix is to support the improvement and development of specialist CSE

teams and one approach to doing this is to create a system of peer support and challenge in which a

panel of CSE experts from a range of organisations and agencies act as a critical friend in relation to

how live cases have been managed. The aim is to highlight examples of good practice and explore

opportunities for improvement by asking searching questions of officers in Sunrise and discuss

whether alternative approaches to managing the case may have resulted in better outcomes for the

victim. Findings and recommendations can be found in the Sunrise Annual Report.


HMIC Inspection In March 2014, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) reported concerns about how Greater

Manchester Police tackled domestic abuse. HMIC was concerned with how the force operated in

certain areas and recommended improvements it should make. HMIC carried out a follow up

inspection in Greater Manchester Police in November 2014 to check on the progress of those

recommendations. Inspectors found that Greater Manchester Police has made significant

improvements to the way it approaches domestic abuse, and is now providing a higher level of

service to victims. There are still areas where the force can improve, such as learning lessons that

are identified following reviews into domestic related homicides.

Care Quality Commission Inspection

The Care Quality Commission conducted a review of health services for Children Looked After and

Safeguarding in Rochdale during 12th May 2014 - 16th May 2014 and published its findings and

recommendations 3rd July 2013. The review was conducted under Section 48 of the Health and

Social Care Act 2008 which permits CQC to review the provision of healthcare and the exercise of

functions of NHS England and Clinical Commissioning Groups.

The review explored the effectiveness of health services for looked after children and the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements within health for all children.

The focus was on the experiences of looked after children and children and their families who receive safeguarding services.

The following recommendations were made:

NHS England Greater Manchester Area team, NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG and

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council together with Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust should:

Ensure all early help related activity is underpinned by effective and sustainable systems for the co-ordination, delivery and reporting of work undertaken by health professionals with

children and their families.

Ensure information sharing between agencies is child centred and provides a clear and up to date picture of their individual needs and risks.

Secure stronger partnership working and good two way information sharing and communication between GPs, midwives, the young person’s sexual health team and the Cared for Children health team.

Address outstanding gaps in access to contraception and sexual health services for young people and improve management information in relation to the incidence of unplanned teenage pregnancies.

Strengthen arrangements for the delivery of accessible and culturally appropriate services including support for children and families from minority ethnic communities and children with disabilities.

Put in place a robust hospital liaison system for sharing concerns about children who attend unscheduled care settings.

Ensure the capacity of named safeguarding professionals meets local demands and intercollegiate requirements.


Strengthen the designated looked after children professional role and capacity to provide comprehensive analysis of the health needs and impact of work undertaken.

Further strengthen local commissioning and performance management systems to embed learning from young people and their families, and provide a comprehensive picture of their experiences and of the quality of local health services.

Ensure safeguarding training, supervision and peer review arrangements fully meet intercollegiate requirements

NHS England Greater Manchester Area team, NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG and

Rochdale Borough Children’s Safeguarding Board should:

• Ensure all GP’s are clear about their roles and accountabilities for safeguarding and looked

after children, are appropriately informed about and engaged in work with partner agencies, and

have clear audit systems to evidence improvements in child health outcomes.

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG and Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council

together with Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust should:

Strengthen management oversight and quality assurance of initial and review health assessments and support plans to support effective monitoring and reporting of risk and promote continuous improvement in child health outcomes.

Ensure care leavers routinely receive a health care summary/health passport to actively support them in managing their transition from child to adult health and social care services.

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG together with Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust should:

Ensure midwifery staffing levels and skill mix fully meets local needs and continuously improves outcomes for Rochdale women and their babies.

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust should:

Effectively use information about children on child protection plans and those who are looked after living in the area to inform its local safeguarding arrangements.

Enhance coverage of paediatric trained nursing staff working in the Rochdale Infirmary Urgent Care Centre and Royal Oldham hospital A and E department.

Schools

Over the Academic year 19 of Rochdale’s schools have been inspected in 2014-15. Two were graded

as outstanding, 8 graded good and 9 graded as requires improvement. Overall 80% of Rochdale

Schools have a current judgement of good or outstanding. None have been found to be inadequate

in terms of safeguarding

For those that are judged as “Requiring Improvement, they are supported and challenged by the

Councils’ school improvement service with a range of strategies drawn together through a bespoke

school improvement action plan.


Part B. The Board 2014 -2015

5. Structure

The work of the Board is supported by one over-arching Board supported by a number sub-groups.

Statutory and legislative context The Children Act 2004 requires each local authority to establish a Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) and government guidance specifies the organisations and individuals who should be represented. The objectives of an LSCB are set out as follows:

To coordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area; and

To ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes.

Regulation 5 of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006 sets out that the functions

of the LSCB, in relation to the above objectives under section 14 of the Children Act 2004, are as

follows:

(a) developing policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the

area of the authority, including policies and procedures in relation to:

(i) the action to be taken where there are concerns about a child’s safety or welfare,

including thresholds for intervention;

(ii) training of persons who work with children or in services affecting the safety and welfare

of children;

(iii) recruitment and supervision of persons who work with children;

(iv) investigation of allegations concerning persons who work with children;

(v) safety and welfare of children who are privately fostered;

(vi) cooperation with neighbouring children’s services authorities and their Board partners;


(b) communicating to persons and bodies in the area of the authority the need to safeguard and

promote the welfare of children, raising their awareness of how this can best be done and

encouraging them to do so;

(c) monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of what is done by the authority and their Board

partners individually and collectively to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and advising

them on ways to improve;

(d) participating in the planning of services for children in the area of the authority; and

(e) undertaking reviews of serious cases and advising the authority and their Board partners on

lessons to be learned.

There is also guidance (Regulation 5 (2)) which relates to the LSCB Serious Case Reviews function and

to the LSCB Child Death functions (Regulation 6).

Regulation 5 (3) provides that an LSCB may also engage in any other activity that facilitates, or is

conducive to, the achievement of its objectives.

Governance and accountability frameworks Whist the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board is responsible for coordinating and

monitoring the effectiveness of agencies in safeguarding children, it is not directly accountable for

their operational work. It does however have a role in holding them to account. Each member

agency is directly accountable to its own governing body and is required to ensure it carries out its

safeguarding activity in accordance with the RBSCB policies and procedures as well as statutory

guidance and appropriate professional standards. The Board reviewed its Terms of Reference once

Working Together to Safeguard Children HMSO 2013 was published to ensure full compliance. At

the end of the year (21st March 2014 the Department for education issued a further update to

Working Together and the Board’s governance and activities are being reviewed to ensure continued

compliance with the statutory requirements. The RBSCB arrangements document can be found

here

Roles and responsibilities of members Although the majority of the members of the Board are nominated by their agency, they are

accountable for their work as a Board Member to the Independent Chair of the Board. The Board

has two Lay Members whose role is to provide a local perspective of the Boards business plan and

implementation this provides additional independent challenge to the Board. In addition Rochdale

Borough Council has nominated the lead member for children to serve on the Board as a participant

observer and for a period of time the lead member for adults also attended the Board. A table of

membership can be found in section a) of the appendix to this report.

Accountable body Rochdale Borough Council acts as the accountable body for the Board and provides support in

administration of its HR and financial functions. It is the formal employer of the Board’s Business

Unit and provides accommodation and IT support to the Board. The Council does not however have

decision making powers in respect of the Board other than through its representation on the Board.

https://www.rbscb.org/professionals/board-information/


Relationships with other strategic forums During 2014-15 the Chair of the RBSCB continued to sit on the Children and Young People’s

Partnership and this ensures that plans and strategies reflect and are informed by the Safeguarding

Board’s business plan and priorities. The Board has maintained links with the Community Safety

Partnership and Domestic Abuse Partnership and Health and Well-being Board through Members

who sit these bodies. The chair has also attended the Improvement Board. 1

The Improvement Board receives regular reports on the Board’s own development programme and

on quality assurance activity undertaken by Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB).

This work includes detailed audits providing information on a range of issues including the quality of

information sharing and management oversight of safe practice and decision making.

6. Business planning and effectiveness of the Board 2014-15 The RBSCB’s business plan was developed as a two year plan in 2014 and therefore the strategic

objectives remained the same, with additional actions added in relation to the findings from 2013-

2014 .

External Scrutiny and Response

In 2014 the Board was independently inspected as part of the OFSTED single inspection. Ofsted

found that the RBSCB had made significant progress during the last 18 months and benefited from

strong independent leadership, supported by effective business management. The Board sub-

structure was found to be fit for purpose and effectively coordinated. Members were appropriately

senior to enable the RBSCB to drive forward its key priorities and the wider safeguarding agenda.

Achievements were noted:

The RBSCB has made a significant contribution to overseeing the development of the Multi-Agency Screening Service (MASS),

The Board’s safeguarding policies and procedures are good.

Attendance at the Board is mostly good.

The sub-groups are chaired by RBSCB members all of whom are senior officers in their own agencies. Partners are increasingly confident about holding one another to account, and the chair maintains a record of challenge. These indicate an increasingly mature partnership.

Governance arrangements are clear and enable the RBSCB to fulfil its statutory responsibilities.

Accountability arrangements are clear.

The Strategic Performance Management and Quality Assurance Framework informs the priorities set out in the Board’s business plan. It is helping the RBSCB to improve its monitoring and evaluation of safeguarding practice.

a well-managed programme of multi-agency themed audits, enabling partners to identify good practice and areas for improvement.

an effective programme of Section 11 audits, involving the annual completion of an audit by all partners.

1 Following the Ofsted inspection at the end of 2012, the council received an Improvement Notice. This notice

includes details of the targets the council and its partners must reach to improve the situation and better protect children. In response to the notice, the council and its partners have developed a Single Improvement Plan which brings together everything we and our partner agencies need to address. This plan is monitored by the Improvement Board.


The Learning and Improvement Framework includes a rigorous process for screening for serious case reviews (SCRs) and for disseminating learning from SCRs and other case reviews.

The learning from SCRs has significantly contributed to a number of strategic developments in safeguarding, such as inter-agency responses to child sexual exploitation, neglect and domestic abuse.

The Board’s development and effective implementation of a CSE strategy has resulted in significant improvements to multi-agency responses to young people at risk of child sexual exploitation.

a comprehensive and good-quality training programme, benefiting from a large pool of committed trainers from various partner agencies.

The RBSCB is focusing on improving the engagement of children, young people and families.

Parents and carers views have been included as part of the thematic audit programme and young people have been directly involved with the re-design of the Board’s website. The RBSCB receives regular information in respect of parents’ experience of child protection conferences.

While the RBSCB is judged to be “not yet good,” the Board has made significant progress in terms of

its priorities and is now well placed to continue to drive improvements in the coordination and

effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements for the children and young people of Rochdale.

The LSCB requires improvement because:

Scrutiny, assurance and challenge

The oversight of allegations management has not yet resulted in effective or timely involvement of all agencies in the process.

The coordination of multi-agency arrangements for responding to children who go missing from home is at an early stage and does not provide sufficient assurance.

The RBSCB’s challenge to some partner agencies about their engagement with early help has yet to have sufficient impact.

The work of the RBSCB to improve understanding and application of thresholds by partners is not yet reflected consistently enough within practice.

Awareness-raising, learning and engagement

The work to identify and raise awareness of privately fostered children has not been effective to date.

The RBSCB’s engagement with young people to drive improvement to safeguarding practice and effectiveness is at an early stage.

The RBSCB chair is not sufficiently engaged with the Health and Well-being Board and is therefore not maximising opportunities to strengthen the coordination, focus and impact of the RBSCB within the health and well-being agenda.

The work of the Child Death Overview Panel in identifying modifiable factors in respect of childhood death is not having sufficient impact on learning.

The table below sets out the areas which were identified for further work and the actions taken

What does the LSCB need to improve?

Priority and immediate action RBSCB Actions

Management of allegations Ensure that arrangements for the effective management of allegations against people who work with children are sufficiently robust, including the full engagement of partners with the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)

Quarterly reports now presented to Quality Assurance and Practice Improvement sub-group and exception reports to the Board


and the capacity to respond to concerns or allegations in a timely manner.

Thresholds Ensure that all partners have a good understanding of the Needs and Response Framework and are applying the thresholds consistently in their practice. Ensure that all agencies are fully engaged in delivering the early help offer and applying the common assessment framework.

Refresh of Threshold document completed – step up and step down arrangements currently being updated. Partner understanding and consistency of application to be included in future S11 audits Theme included in Audits Regular update reports to come to the Board Theme to be picked up in audit of MASS

Areas for improvement RBSCB Actions

Scrutiny, assurance and challenge Further review arrangements for inter-agency responses to children who go missing from home or care, including the provision of independent return home interviews and the collation of themes arising from these to inform service planning. Ensure that managers and practitioners have a good understanding of how to access safeguarding policies and procedures and an up-to-date knowledge of their content. Review current governance arrangements to ensure that the RBSCB is having sufficient influence and impact and that the Health and Well-being Board is focusing sufficiently on safeguarding children.

Inclusion of required data incorporated in data set Review of arrangements referred to Excellence in Practice Sub-group to be included in updated work-plan with report back to Board Missing and CSE Strategies aligned Awareness raising exercise throughout January 2015 Agency target for inclusion in safeguarding induction to be set and monitored through S11 Audit process Monitoring of web-site access by agency introduced Chair has requested question of membership of H&WBB be considered – response awaited

Awareness raising and engagement Ensure that all partner agencies maximise opportunities to disseminate learning from serious case reviews, lessons learnt reviews and themed audits. Ensure that opportunities to learn from the reviews of unexpected child deaths are maximised to inform safeguarding practices. Strengthen its work in promoting safeguarding within the voluntary, community and faith sectors, with a particular focus on raising awareness of private fostering within communities.

Included in SCR action plan sign off. Tested through Section 11 process. Newsletter Quarterly reports requested from CDOP with analysis of themes. Dissemination of messages and learning via C&C sub-group and newsletter Referred to EIPG to review with LADO the LA action plan Referred to C&C sub-group to ensure dissemination of messages as widely as possible

The following tables set out the work undertaken by the Board’s sub-groups. The groups are made up of agency representatives generally at a middle management and operational level. They are chaired by Members of the Board and report in on a quarterly basis.


Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement

Achievements Narrative Outcome/Impact

Subgroup

Chairing and membership Chaired by Board member Lesley Mort Chief Operating Officer HMR CCG. Membership - key professionals who provide knowledge re QA and PI’s. The QAPI is supported by Lesley Foylan. The group is supported in its work by a multi-agency auditors group and agency PI coordinators. We use the RBC performance manger system to generate reports.

In 2014/2015 QAPI has delivered all actions within the work plan, the details of which are specified on the left. Following the first year’s implementation of the revised QA Framework agencies fully recognise the need and value of these processes from both a multi-agency and single agency perspective. This recognition has strengthened agency investment and engagement with the QA Framework processes. They have been proactive in their contributions and their openness and transparent approach has resulted in a richness of information that is more targeted and has helped to identify practice improvements. Viewing the processes as more than a paper exercise has contributed significantly to the success of themed audits, Section 11 and the risk register in particular.The themes for multi-agency audits in 2014/2015 were Neglect, Children Missing from Home, Thresholds and MASS and Domestic Abuse. The outcomes from multi-agency audits can be seen as the drivers for improvements across agencies including where they have been highlighted as areas to celebrate. It is evident they have changed practice, influenced the content of single agency and multi-agency training programmes and encouraged a reflective and ‘think family’ approach in practice. Creative thinking by group members when considering audit findings has resulted in challenging recommendations for some agencies. QAPI explored alternatives to paper audit processes in 2014/2015 and evaluated the outcomes from these. A combination of case file audits, focus groups and an audit of the impact of a local strategy has been adopted in 2014/2015. Moving forward, having explored these different methods this year will support the matching of most appropriate methodology to future audit themes Documents used to support QAPI processes are described as ‘living documents’ eg Section 11, Risk Register, Multi-Agency Audit action plan. The links across these qualitative processes are robust and clearly established. The partnership impact this year has broadened beyond the membership of RBSCB and QAPI. Learning from all the findings are considered for practice learning by agencies. Agency specific issues are also considered to support the agenda to build on the widest form of change. Links across RBSCB sub groups have been further strengthened this year. QAPI considers the recommendations from Serious Case Reviews within its work and builds within its tools any relevant areas to check and test. QAPI demonstrates links to the Excellence in Practice sub group through shared priorities EIP for themed areas eg Domestic Abuse, Missing Children, Neglect and with Training and Development sub group by feeding audit outcomes and Section 11 findings into training programmes. In addition to QAPI planned work, members have supported and informed the work of the CSE sub group, Early Help Steering Group,Missing Panel and FGM

Audit findings are shared by single agencies through a variety of methods designed to reach a wide audience.

QA Framework Development

The aim of the framework is to help the Board answer How effective are we at keeping children safe?’ the framework activities: MACFA, Section 11 audit and challenge panel, PI’s and alerts, thematic analysis, focus group and triangulation of data and information, Turning the Curve review and Deep-Dive review

Framework

Implementation

The framework activities meet the activities required for the RBSCB to deliver on Strategic objective 4: Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of agency safeguarding arrangements This year we have completed: MACFA – Neglect Missing MASS/thresholds Section 11 – challenge panel this month Quarterly PI report to Board top 10 indicators to note

QAPI Work plan

Updating the work plan gives the Board assurance that the subgroup is delivering on its work plan. We RAG rate at each meeting and the update is fed into the RBSCB Business Plan. This document sets out in detail how we will meet our strategic priorities over the next 12-18 months. It identifies actions responsibilities and time frames. It is RAG rated quarterly. This is the key document and by updating and evaluating outcomes at our subgroup meetings we can identify good practice, focus areas and escalations. Implementation informs future Business Plan development and associated work streams


Training and Development Achievements Narrative Outcome/Impact

Sub Group

Chairing & Membership The sub group is chaired by Board member, Michele Bennion - Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Service Director, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. The subgroup Terms of reference were updated in 2014/15 to strengthen oversight of training delivery and the quality assurance role of the group.

The group has a clear remit and the roles of individual members are clearly defined. A detailed work plan is developed and delivered by the sub group and all actions for 2014/15 were completed. A full programme of multi-agency training courses and seminars, informed by Training Analysis and by the RBSCB Learning & Improvement Framework, is easily accessible to practitioners via the RBSCB website & online application process. New courses are added to the programme to meet emerging needs – a course on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was included within the programme for 2014/15. The Training Pool Agreement was updated. The revised agreement sets out a role description and person specification for pool trainers and commits the agency to providing appropriately qualified & experienced staff to develop/update and deliver specified courses. 40 training events were delivered in 2014/15 and a total of 1,386 professionals, drawn from all RBSCB partner agencies, accessed the multi-agency courses. Post course evaluations indicated a high level of satisfaction with courses and provided evidence of learning including an increase of 12% (to 97%) of those practitioners who could name the designated safeguarding officer within their team. The use of post course action plans identified some direct impact from training on practice and the outcomes for children and young people – however - the

Training & Development Strategy The aim of the Training & Development Strategy is to ensure that all staff working with children and/or adults are alert to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and are appropriately skilled and competent in carrying out their responsibilities for safeguarding appropriate to their role. The Strategy was refreshed in 2014/15 to provide additional clarification on the safeguarding children training requirements for all Staff across Rochdale Borough.

Strategy Implementation The sub group completed a multi-agency Training Needs Analysis and on the basis of this analysis developed the 2014-2015 multi-agency safeguarding children training programme. A new process to evaluate the impact of multi-

Quarterly report to RBSCB

We update the Board quarterly – this is the mechanism for reporting on attendance, action plan implementation update, work plan update, escalation Board intervention/direction and/or agreement We also maintain the RBSCB risk register

QAPI members also feed information into relevant groups within their agency and specifically with their strategic lead for RBSCB. A quarterly newsletter is now produced by RBSCB that includes the key messages from QAPI work and is accessible via the RBSCB website. A thematic analysis of all 5 audits completed in 2013/2014 has been undertaken and the themes shared. Future audit activity will consider these themes and suggested improvements. In 2014/2015 developing an outcome focussed suite of performance indicators was a priority for QAPI. A review of existing data required a commitment from partners to identify and ensure delivery of refreshed information. The impact of this revised dataset will be seen in 2015/2016. Opportunities to network through QA processes have resulted in shared improvements and created a better sense of people working together. Areas to strengthen or further develop in 2015/2016 include information sharing, new employee induction and delivery of RBSCB key messages from QA programmes. Further embed the QA processes and for agencies to fully realise the benefits of their contributions to these intensive processes. The audit priorities for the next year are Thresholds, Missing Children, Early Help, and Transitions.


agency safeguarding children training on practice was established and learning from local & national Serious Case Reviews and Multi Agency Audit was incorporated into course programmes.

evaluation of impact remains challenging and further developmental work is needed in 2015/16. FGM training added to training programme

Work Plan The Training & Development work plan is regularly reviewed by the sub group and is RAG rated. The document is linked to the RBSCB Business Plan and sets out in detail how the sub group will meet the Board’s strategic priorities. It identifies actions, responsibilities and time frames.

Quarterly Report The sub group Chair updates the Board quarterly – this is the mechanism for reporting on attendance, action plan implementation update, work plan update, escalation Board intervention/direction and/or agreement

Communities Engagement


Sub Group

Chairing & membership The sub group is chaired by Board member, Michael Cross - Youth Offending Team Manager, Children's Social Care. The group is supported by RBSCB Development Officer, Alyson Harvey. New terms of reference for the sub group were agreed for 2014/15 and membership of the group was reviewed.

Members of the sub group are key professionals who provide knowledge and expertise of participation and engagement within their own organisations and support the direct engagement work of the Board. The group has a clear remit and the roles of individual members are clearly defined. A programme of engagement activity was agreed and delivered by the sub group for 2014/15. All actions within the work plan were completed. Direct engagement with children, young people and their families. The sub group developed and conducted a “Staying Safe” survey to identify any issues or concerns for young people across the borough. The survey indicated that key safety messages around CSE, e-safety and bullying have been received by the majority of young people and that this information is valued by them. Consultation was also undertaken with young people in residential care within the borough. Feedback from the consultation was reported by the sub group to the Private Providers forum & resulted in a review of the information provided to children and young people coming into the borough. RBSCB officers delivered sessions on internet safety to approximately 1,700 Year 6 pupils as part of Crucial Crew - an annual, multi-agency safety event available to all Primary Schools in the borough. The children confirmed that they had also received relevant information from their school about keeping safe on-line. Consultations with children and young people in youth centres, young carers and in school have also been conducted by the Board. Their feedback has influenced the content of the RBSCB website and has also resulted in the publication of a young person’s version of the

Engagement Strategy The sub group developed the RBSCB Engagement Strategy for 2014/15. The strategy seeks to:

Develop and deliver a direct engagement that seeks the view/opinion of children, young people and their families/carers in respect of Board business priorities

Develop and deliver effective engagement with third sector, local communities and faith groups to increase knowledge of safeguarding children and safer working practices

Develop and deliver an engagement strategy


that seeks the view/opinion of practitioners.

RBSCB Annual Report and of the Children’s Needs and Response Framework. Articles from youth groups are now included in every issue of the RBSCB quarterly Journal and a “Working Together” course, aimed at young people in mentoring and peer support roles, has also been developed by the sub group. The course has received positive feedback from young people and a full evaluation of its impact will be conducted in 2015/16. Focus groups have been conducted in Children’s Centres with the aim of engaging parents in an exploration of their views and experiences in relation to keeping children safe. Feedback from the groups was reported to the Board and informed the RBSCB January awareness campaign, the RBSCB website and the decision to develop an online parent newsletter in 2015/16. Engagement with third sector, local communities and faith groups Following contact with the Rochdale Multi Faith Forum, a faith group survey was conducted by the sub group in 2014 to canvass views on effective engagement with the Board. Results from the survey indicated that a regular evening meeting for safeguarding leads would be of most value. The first of these forums will take place in May 2015/16. Work with the Rochdale Council of Mosques led to the delivery of safeguarding awareness training to 96 mosque leaders and teachers in September 2014. Each mosque has now identified a dedicated safeguarding lead and the Council of mosques has worked in partnership with RBSCB to review its safeguarding policies and procedures. Engagement with Practitioners A series of practitioner surveys were conducted by the sub group to evaluate the impact of/response to key messages from the Board. Feedback has led to changes in the information on the website, the inclusion of good practice guidance with the new Multi-Agency Referral Form, increased promotion of the on line procedures and the development of “Learning from Practice” posters . January awareness campaign A publicity campaign was delivered in January 2015 to raise awareness of the Board and its priorities. Partner agencies contributed to a programme of events which was co-ordinated by the Communities Engagement sub group. Activities included an interview with RBSCB Chair on Crescent Community radio, a full time community radio station aimed at the Asian Muslim audience of Rochdale and the surrounding areas which attracts approximately 5,000 listeners. During the month, visitors to the Board website increased by almost 50% from the previous year and the number of practitioners registered to receive updates from the website increased by 83%.

Strategy Implementation The Engagement Strategy is implemented and monitored by the Communities Engagement sub group via its work plan

Work Plan The Communities Engagement work plan is regularly reviewed by the sub group and is RAG rated. The document is linked to the RBSCB Business Plan and sets out in detail how the sub group will meet the Board’s strategic priorities. It identifies actions, responsibilities and time frames.

Quarterly Report The sub group Chair updates the Board quarterly – this is the mechanism for reporting on attendance, action plan implementation update, work plan update, escalation Board intervention/direction and/or agreement


Excellence in Practice


Subgroup

Chairing and membership The Subgroup is Chaired by Board member Paul Marshall AD CSC RBC. Membership – the group has a core membership and also calls in key strategy holders, in line with its work plan, to challenge key strategies, test impact and provide assurance to the RBSCB

Missing A missing panel was established in June 2014. The panel was a response to the concerns across the partners that there was little grip and oversight of children missing. This work stream has reported into the Excellence in Practice Group on three occasions and has included

Oversight of the missing strategy Oversight of the action plan

Oversight of the panel activity In addition the chair of the missing panel has attended the CSE sub group to ensure that information is shared across the two work streams. The Sunrise manager attends panel so that the links between CSE and missing are discussed and actioned appropriately. The panel was observed by OFSTED inspectors and noted as good practice in the report. In addition the chair of the panel has attended the greater Manchester working group for missing a work stream of Phoenix. In 2015-2016 the panel will move to a monthly meeting and will look to carry out more qualitative work on audits of return interviews/case files and strategies in place to protect. The subgroup coordinated the development of the RBSCB Neglect strategy 2014-16 and provided, on behalf of the RBSCB: Oversight of the strategy

Oversight of the action plan

A focus group was held across key agencies to look at transition re key indicators

Domestic abuse

Drug and Alcohol Use Mental Health

The group found some good practice examples of transition particularly in relation to drug and alcohol services and this was fed back to the board. It was agreed that the work on how services are commissioned sat with the Health and Wellbeing board and therefore this was referred to this board for further work The subgroup tasked the FGM working group to develop the RBSCB FGM strategy and action plan in January 2015. The development of this work stream will be reported on in detail in the 2015-16 Report Domestic Abuse The subgroup requested and received the Community safety Domestic Abuse Strategy

Oversight of the strategy

Oversight of the action plan The Children's Needs and Response Framework The framework was refreshed in the autumn of 2014 to include more detail on dispute process, and the step up and step down guidance. The RBSCB delivered 4 briefing sessions to the Multi Agency partnership

Work plan

STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2: Improve outcomes for children in need and in need of protection by testing developing if appropriate range of services, which reflect good practice models are in place that meet the RBSCB identified priorities Missing PI exception reports Early Intervention/Thresholds Neglect Transitional Planning FGM Domestic Abuse Adolescents The Children's Needs and Response Framework



CSE Subgroup


Subgroup

Chairing and membership Chaired by Board member Gail Hopper DCS RBC who also sits on Project Phoenix. Membership - key professionals who provide knowledge re CSE and linkage to strategic priority development and implementation. This is not an operational group. Key performance information goes to the Board through other Subgroups (QAPI, Training, and Excellence in Practice) and operational CSE team oversight sits with the LA CSC.

Prevention We have clear and easily understood pathways are in place to guide children and their families and made available clear and easily accessible means and methods of contact Raised awareness in schools & community using the GW theatre productions to schools and community. Clear policies and procedures are in place and are communicated to the children’s workforce. Professionals understand information sharing guidance and responsibilities All staff receive regular CSE service development updates from the RBSCB Processes are in place to measure the impact of policy/guidance on practice. We Continue to contribute to training of key players in the community who can identify and respond to risks e.g. taxi drivers and hotel staff Protection Multi-agency team is fully operational All staff are trained and receive regular Staff briefings MAPPA Process and Children's service engagement The RBSCB will receive and challenge audit findings and performance information to test the quality and impact of specialist and multi-agency CSE interventions Prosecution We have ensured that operating protocols are fully informed by developments in the criminal justice approach to CSE We Collaborate at a pan Manchester level with Phoenix development and implementation We have clear disruption policies are in place understood and used The children’s workforce understands their role in providing information to assist specialist team interventions. By engaging in national CSE research, development and policy and protocol development Engage in work undertaken by Phoenix project to share learning and experiences across GM Public & Professional Confidence We seek assurances from agencies and partnerships that CSE is considered as part of strategic plan development The development of the RBSCB and Phoenix communication strategies around CSE is proactive in engagement and briefing around CSE issues and developments The children’ s workforce is informed and updated regarding policy and practice developments We will measure the impact of training on CSE interventions and refresh programmes as required All staff are aware of and understand the process for case escalation for interventions across the needs and response framework Partners to the RBSCB understand and use the RBSCB escalation policy

CSE Strategy

The four key strategic priorities for 2014-2015 are: 1. Prevention – We engage YP’s & Families and all staff understand CSE & how to respond. We ensure information and resources are available and we fully engage in the work of Project Phoenix 2. Protection – Multi agency operational team - Sunrise, identify Children at risk of CSE & respond. We support victims’ families 3. Prosecution – The Police and CPS provide a coordinated approach 4. Public & Professional Confidence – through all our work we increase confidence in the community and throughout the multi-agency workforce and protect children.

Strategy

Implementation

The Strategy is reviewed at each subgroup meeting and the action plan is RAG rated. The Strategy will run from 2014 -2016. We review the strategy when legislation changes, reports are published and when learning is generated from local and national reviews.

Work plan

Updating the work plan gives the Board assurance that the subgroup is delivering on its work plan.


We update the Board quarterly – this is the mechanism for reporting on attendance, action plan implementation update, work plan update, escalation Board intervention/direction and/or agreement


Child Death Overview Panel Statute requires that every LSCB establish a Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP). In April 2008 Bury,

Rochdale and Oldham joined to form a tripartite arrangement following the recommendation made

by the Department for Education (DfE) that CDOPs require a total population of 500,000 or higher.

The joint working of the three local authorities provides a wider data set to conduct analysis and

investigate emerging trends. As a subgroup of each of the LSCB, the CDOP reports information and

themes back to each of the LSCBs via the annual report and on an ad hoc basis. In January 2014

Oldham’s Director of Public Health started to chair the CDOP meeting, it has been agreed that this

will run for a year and then be taken over by either Rochdale or Bury’s Public Health. Between 1

April 2008 to 31 March 2015 there have been a total of 466 child death notifications reported to

panel.In 2014-15 the CDOP received a total of 57 child death notifications. 22 of these deaths were

from Rochdale.

Child Deaths Child Population Rate per 10,000

Bury 10 41,952 2.38

Rochdale 22 50,772 4.33

Oldham 25 56,557 4.42

Greater Manchester 239 601,624 3.97

20 of the total cases were identified as having “modifiable factors” – this is a definition required by

the Department of Health when the circumstances of the death may have been influenced by a

factor which is avoidable. The largest number of deaths were as a result of trauma/other external

factors (25%) and sudden unexpected, unexplained death (25%). A number of the children were

involved in a road traffic collision, either as the driver of the vehicle or as a pedestrian. A number of

these deaths also found that underage drinking had occurred whereby the consumption of alcohol

and the use of illegal substances contributed to the death.

Of the 5 sudden unexpected, unexplained deaths there were a number of contributing risk factors

which panel members deemed as being modifiable:

Co-sleeping in bed

Co-sleeping on a sofa

Family history of co-sleeping

Overheating

Alcohol consumption on the night of the death

Parent/carer of child presented as intoxicated to professionals

Maternal smoking during pregnancy

Parental smoking and/or smoking within the family home

Prone sleeping

Parent/carer taking prescribed medication

Policy and procedure Sub-group The Policies and Procedures sub group reports to the RBSCB on a quarterly basis. It is responsible for

ensuring that RBSCB fulfils the responsibilities placed on it to have in place robust policies and

procedures as set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015.

Serious Case Review – Screening and Panel and Sub Group


When a child dies and abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a factor in the death, LSCBs

should always conduct a Serious Case Review (SCR). LSCBs should also consider undertaking a

review whenever a child has been seriously harmed and the case gives rise to concerns about the

way in which local professionals and services worked together to safeguard the welfare of the child.

The RBSCB has two subgroups which coordinate and operate business within the Learning and

Improvement Framework.

Serious Case Review Screening Panel

The Panel meets on a case by case basis to screen and make recommendations for SCR’s during

2014/15 when referrals are made.

Activity

Cases screened: 2

Case recommended for SCR: none

All decisions and recommendations are reported to the National Panel of Experts in accordance with

statutory requirements

Serious Case Review Panel

The subgroup meets on a case by case basis following the presentation and final sign off of the SCR

at the RBSCB. The subgroup monitors the implementation of single and multi-agency action plans.

The RBSCB published the following SCR’s during 2014-15:

Child D

Court restrictions mean that this report cannot be published

This SCR has been completed following Child D’s admission to hospital in a comatose and acutely ill

state. Medical assessment determined that this child had suffered significant harm. A range of

statutory agencies had been in contact with Child D and family over a number of years. This case is

subject to review because there are questions about how those organisations and professionals

worked together to safeguard the child’s welfare.

The RBSCB commissioned the NSPCC to undertake this review. This allowed a sufficient level of

independent scrutiny of the case and the agencies involved.

The Independent Reviewer in collaboration with the Reference Group made a number of findings

arising out of the contact professionals had with the child and family and identified where there

were missed opportunities or where more could have been done. These findings relate to the

following areas of practice:

Thresholds for intervention: the recognition and response to concerns & indicators of risk,

Assessment, information sharing, intervention and decision making by the professional network,

The visibility and presence of the child in professional contacts,

Local operating context for the multi-agency safeguarding network at the time, particularly Children’s Social Care and Community Health Services.

Child G

This report considered the suicide of a child in Rochdale. Child G had been the subject of a child

protection plan earlier in his life but at the time of death this had ended and there had been no

service intervention above the level of universal services.


Key areas for learning were:

Understanding the Impact of Domestic Abuse

Balancing children’s wishes with their right to be protected.

A robust framework for planning and review

Effective safeguarding requires everyone’s proactivity & vigilance.

Information exchange between schools. All published SCR reports can be found Here

Allegations Management

In 2014-2015 the RBSCB has had oversight of the allegations management system through reports

and presentation of data to its Quality Assurance and Practice Improvement sub group.

The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) has a responsibility for the management and

oversight of allegations against adults who work with children.

An allegation may relate to a person who works with children who has:

behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child;

possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; or

behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children.

Total number of contacts in 2014-15 was 356 which resulted in 60 management meetings. The

majority of contacts with LADO are not referrals but consultation and advice seeking and this has

increased considerably following steps being taken to raised awareness of the Process & LADO The

total number of individuals considered was 73 and 65% of total meetings took place within the

timescale of 5 working days.

Q Number of

Contacts

Number progressed

to Allegations

Management

Meeting

Number of

Individuals

referred that

progressed to

Allegations

Management

Meeting

Meetings

held within

5 working

days

Outcomes

Sub

stan

tiat

ed

Un

sub

stan

tiat

ed

Un

fou

nd

ed

Mal

icio

us

Fals

e

Oth

er

Still

Pen

din

g d

ue

to

on

goin

g in

vest

igat

ion

s

Q 1 81 15 22 5 2 13 3 1 3 0 1

Q 2 78 19 23 13 4 7 3 1 0 0 5

Q 3 82 10 12 7 2 2 1 0 0 2 (N/A)

3

Q4 115 16 16 14 1 1 1 0 0 2 11

Year 356 60 73 39 9 23 8 2 3 4 20

https://www.rbscb.org/professionals/serious-case-reviews/


Referrals

Evident from the data on referrals is that there is now a more even spread of referrals from many

services not just Children’s Social Care & Police. The highest being from residential care settings,

Foster Care Services, Education services. ‘Other’ contacts are high but will include many

consultations, Ofsted checks & Licensing checks – these will be reported on in much more clarity

next year due to the changes made in recording. Splits will also be recorded next year to show Foster

Care services into RMBC & Private, Education Services into RMBC & Private / Academies and

Residential Services into RMBC & Private to ensure understanding of where referrals are coming

from.

The RBSCB has received the LADO annual reported will continue to request regular updates on activity and response through it Quality Assurance Sub Group. Any exceptions will be raised at the RBSCB through this group.

The Challenges for Partnership Working 2014-16 Update In addition to the external scrutiny and the work of the sub groups the RBSCB set some additional challenges 2013-2014 based on findings in its Annual report. The tables below record agency responses. Challenge 1: Agencies need to ensure that the gap in outcomes for those at the greatest risk of vulnerability due to their socio-economic circumstances as compared to their less economically deprived peers continues to reduce and accelerates with the end of the recession and associated economic recovery.

Agency Response

Adult Care Adult Care work with all socio-economic groups and upon assessment, identify any needs and signpost accordingly in order to address outcomes for children. Along with other agencies, Adult Care has been part of the ‘Kirkholt project’, which aims to change the way agencies and engage with families to provide a more effective multi-agency response to identified need.

NHS England NHS England will work with partners to understand the current position. NHS England does not employ staff that have direct involvement with children/families. NHS England does hold contracts with primary care providers i.e. GPs, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists

Pennine Care PCFT regularly review the service offer to ensure those at greatest risk of vulnerability due to their socio-economic circumstances are identified early and supported appropriately utilising tools and techniques such as CAF. Another example includes a programme of work between CCG and PCFT to consider pathways and access to services leading ultimately to a single point of entry within a multi-agency hub. This will seek to understand the demographics of referrals received and ensure that access for the most vulnerable members of the community is made simpler. Integrated networks across the fine townships are also addressing bespoke neighbourhood needs such as in Pennine Locality they are focussing on children with additional needs and substance misuse with young people. In Rochdale West Locality they are focussing on early help pathways for asylum seekers and European immigrants.

Children’s Services The end of the year evidenced an economic upturn; however the impact of


RBC this on more vulnerable families in relation to socio economic circumstances is not yet felt.

Hopwood Hall College

The college already collects this data and reports against this as part of the equality groups under deprivation. Data is presented in relation to profile (stats) and outcomes (retention, achievement and success) with any improvement targets set alongside it. Vulnerability indicators have also been extended to include LAC, Safeguarding, Young Carers, Care leavers, LLDD, ‘At Risk’ and YOT. All vulnerability factors are reported against including outcomes and any associated gaps. All data sets are compared against different levels including by overall college and against its counterpart. These are reported to the E&D Group, Senior Management Team and Governors.

Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust

Reducing health inequalities and ensuring those at greatest risk are in receipt of services at the point of need are issues that are monitored and challenged throughout the organisation. The Patient Experience, Equality and Diversity Committee scrutinise arrangements and quality of practice and report to Trust Board via the Quality and Performance Committee. The Trust Safeguarding Children and Safeguarding Adults groups provide assurance to the Trust Board regarding the protection of those at greatest risk of vulnerability whether this be through socio-economic reasons or other reasons such as disability. Improved internal and external information sharing systems provide the opportunity for challenge and a revised incident reporting structure ensures that any practice variance is thoroughly scrutinised.

Greater Manchester Police

GMP Rochdale works with those who need emergency response and/or longer term police input to support problem solving irrespective of socio-economic circumstances. The focus of policing response locally is on providing the service the victim wants, with the victim’s decision making and views being core to how officers deal with incidents, emergencies or long-term problems. GMP have been central to engagement at Kirkholt and both officers and PCSOs have worked with partners to align local support to those who need it most. PCSOs are also being trained as key workers to support those who are vulnerable due to their socio-economic circumstances.

Cafcass Information sharing and working together.

Challenge 2: While good progress has been made in ensuring more families receive early help through the CAF process those agencies who still do not regularly take a lead role need to consider how to ensure the early help strategy and use of CAF are embedded in agency practice.

Agency Response

Adult Care This year, Adult Care have targeted Adult Care Team Managers and assessment workers in the Vulnerable Adult Teams to undertake CAF training. All team managers were asked of their team’s experience of using CAF, and the findings were fed back to Children Services.

NHS England NHS England does not have involvement with children/families. NHS England does have contract with primary care providers i.e. GPs, dentists, pharmacists and optometrists. Under the contract these practitioners are obliged to co-operate with the local policies and procedures. NHS England has developed a ‘Primary Care Toolkit’ which further reinforces this requirement.

Pennine Care The total number of CAFS in the borough rose rapidly during 2013/14 and has


continued to do so. We are currently involved in over 700 CAFS: HMR PCFT has very high levels of Level 3 safeguarding training (91%) which reinforces CAF use and the use of CAFs remains on the agenda at all team meetings. It is important to note that there are many multiagency forums and circumstances under which a family may decide that a CAF is not their best route to services and whilst HMR staff encourage families to access a CAF, we also try to support families should they make alternative safe choices. As schools/educational settings are generally the service in most regular contact with children, it seems appropriate that they would initiate and lead a high number of CAFS. Health has the second highest CAF numbers although a breakdown between secondary and community care would be helpful. Further work is underway to examine referrals to social care to ensure appropriateness and identification of any issues which require addressing. The role of CAF is well embedded in CAMHS. It is raised regularly via team meetings and in supervision. All clinicians have regular case supervision that explores possibility of stepping cases down and full use of the step up step down process and the possibility of the use of CAF. While CAMHS (as a specialist service) is not a significant initiator in the number of CAFs, it is involved in a high number of CAFs and offers availability for attendance via its duty system. The Safeguarding team also include this in single agency training at level 2 and 3. To ensure this is embedded in practice this is audited annually via audit of safeguarding processes.

Children’s Services RBC

Whilst the LA, social care has seen an increase in CAFs it has not yet seen a reduction of contact/referrals into MASS. The LA would want to continue to seek the RBSCB support in moving to request all referrals have a CAF in place, recognising that there will be some cases that will need to be referred in at level 5.


As a FE college we are often not the lead agency in a CAF but we do have students who are on CAFs and we both support and monitor the interventions that go alongside CAFs.

HHC often have CAFs transferred over to us when a student transitions from secondary to college. We have data on this if the Board requires it.

All Student Support Tutors and DSOs have had training on CAFs.

Single agency training also emphases the importance of early help and CAF.

Engagement and consent from 16+ year olds is often difficult. Also, if a young person turns 18 the CAF is no longer the appropriate support mechanism.

When we become aware of a concern, the MASS may inform us that it is beyond a CAF. We do highlight the concerns as soon as we get them but this could also be a level 4 or 5.

An associated agency may be the lead agency in a CAF. There should be away to identify what agencies are involved in the CAF.

Early help can be met through in house pastoral support through dedicated student support team.


PAHT continue to work with those professionals within the organisation who have a opportunities to work with children and families over a long term period. Training and supervision has resulted in increased numbers of staff being aware of early help strategies across the Pennine Acute footprint and


accurately recording their involvement in early help processes.

Cafcass Cafcass involvement starts at the point of proceedings; our role is to critical evaluate the LA work with the family which would include effective use of CAF.

Challenge 3: Agencies need to ensure early help is appropriately targeted to reduce the escalation of need and increasing risk of harm to children.

Agency Response

Adult Care Team Managers continue to support workers who are working with adults to ensure that the needs of all household members, including children, are identified and targeted interventions are provided on assessment to prevent any escalation of need.

NHS England NHS England will work with partners to understand the current position. NHS England does not employ staff who have direct involvement with children/families. NHS England does hold contracts with primary care providers i.e. GPs, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists

Pennine Care Where a child’s needs cannot be met through universal, targeted or CAF processes, referrals to more specialist services follow. In February 2014 a new system was implemented to manage referrals through a multi-agency screening service (MASS) to ensure that appropriate referrals are processed and where an onward referral is not appropriate, signposting can be offered. Services within HMR PCFT understand the current model and refer children to more specialist services where required. It is recognised that the MASS service has been extremely successful and work examining the appropriateness of referrals, by agency is currently underway so that practices can be improved and lessons learned. It is hoped that this will ensure further targeting of appropriate intervention and support to families. The Integrated Health Visiting and School Health teams are developing a refreshed integrated model of delivery for the Healthy Child Programme. This will ensure we have the right care delivered at the right time by the right person. This work will enable the services to articulate the offer to CYP and families across the needs and response framework. This includes core delivery of the Early Help Offer. Also CAMHS has increasingly adjusted its resources to offer increasing availability of training and consultation. This is recognised via the Early Help Scorecard with significant increase in sessions offered to a range of agencies across HMR.

Children’s Services RBC

Whilst the LA, social care has seen an increase in CAFs it has not yet seen a reduction of contact/referrals into MASS. The LA would want to continue to seek the RBSCB support in moving to request all referrals have a CAF in place, recognising that there will be some cases that will need to be referred in at level 5. Numbers for CAF are attached at the bottom


Early help can be met through in house pastoral support through dedicated student support team. The college has a specific Student Support Team with a senior manager, 3 student support managers, 16 Student Support Tutors (SSTs) and a learning support team. The SSTs have a case load of approx. 300 students who they see weekly at tutorials. In addition to this, they see them 4 times a year for progress reviews and ‘vulnerable’ learners will also have ‘at risk’ one to one sessions


termly or more frequently if needed. Any student with safeguarding or child protection concerns are escalated to the DSO. The DSOs will lead on referrals to MASS or CAF. The SST will be responsible for day to day monitoring. All Student Support Tutors and DSOs have had training on Working Together, CAFs and other themed RBSCB training. We also have an in-house counselling service who has RBSCB training. We offer drop-in session hosting partner agencies such as health (nurse), crisis (sexual health) and CAMHS


Improved uptake of training and increased numbers of staff included at level 3 as well as improved information sharing mechanisms has enhanced PAHT staff ability to either provide early help or direct children, adults and families to services where early help is provided e.g. providing information about support services to children and young people who have attended A/E in an intoxicated state, providing direct contact with Victim Support to women felt to be at risk of domestic abuse, provision of teenage pregnancy midwifery services.


GMP Rochdale is supporting Early Help provision across the Borough. GMP has senior leaders supporting local delivery at Rochdale and a number of PCSOs have been appointed as key workers for individuals or families to intervene and resolve issues at an early stage, develop clear action plans for supporting children and young people and work towards a whole family approach to resolving issues with those who need such support at an early stage. Where additional formal support is required PCSOs are able then to refer children for further support and professional interventions and referrals to the MASS and other agencies as necessary. This work is focussed on dealing with issues at the first report, and focussing on early intervention, early assistance and a multi-agency problem solving approach and risk analysis to protect both children and adults in need of support.

Challenge 4: Agencies need to review resource allocations to ensure the quality of child protection work does not suffer given the significant increases in demand at a time when budgets are being reduced

Agency Response

Adult Care

NHS England NHS England does not hold a budget for Safeguarding as this was devolved to the CCG. It should be noted that NHS England has invested £12,500 per year to support the function of the Named GP.

Pennine Care Workforce: HMR are on track to achieve the Call to Action strategy target for WTE Health Visiting, with the current student cohort completing in October 2015, the WTE will be 65.8. At the month of August 2015 there is currently 1.99 WTE vacancy. The school health service is currently fully staffed and safeguarding responsibilities are prioritised. The Safeguarding service currently has one vacant post with the appointed candidate due to commence shortly. Safeguarding Supervision: The safeguarding team have ensured good quality safeguarding supervision is delivered to all staff with a paediatric caseload including allied health professionals this ensures formative challenge and action planning to ensure better outcomes for children young people and families and encourages smart working


practice Robust clinical and managerial supervision is in place to provide oversight of all safeguarding and child in need cases open to CAMHS. CAMHS approach to working with safeguarding cases is constant and is as determined by national and local policy, procedure and guidelines. Further to that, all staff are compliant with level 3

Children’s Services RBC Budgets have not been reduced in relation to child protection work. By the end of the year social care was not seeing any significant increase in demand and by the end of the year there was a significant reduction in children subject to child protection plans which has been central to the implementation of the demand strategy. The LA, social care can evidence a high level of work with children in need.

Hopwood Hall College This is given a high priority at HHC as mentioned in Challenge 3 above. The college has 3 named DSOs who are the Student Support Managers. Data and actions are managed by this team. There are 2 senior leads – the head of service and executive member who both lead on staff allegation management and attend RBSCB meeting. We are also members of 2 sub-committees and all 3 DSO have signed up to the RBSCB training pool. One DSO is currently helping shape and delivers the working together training. The college also has a named governor for safeguarding. Safeguarding and Child Protection is reported to the Senior Management Team bi-monthly and at least annually to governors. The team deliver the in-house training to all college staff (approx. 500)


PAHT has invested in increasing resource in the Trust Safeguarding Team to include a full time Named Midwife and a full time Learning Disability Liaison Nurse whose job includes ensuring appropriate services and reasonable adjustments are provided to children with learning disabilities. The Trust has established a Children and Young People’s Experience Group as a subgroup of the Patient Experience, Equality and Diversity Committee to ensure the participation of children and young people in the strategic direction of the Trust and development of services.

Greater Manchester Police Albeit there have been significant reductions in staffing across Greater Manchester those engaged as officers and staff in child protection, child sexual exploitation and vulnerability has not been reduced. Some staff redeployment has taken place, but core team numbers have not at present seen reductions. In relation to the Rochdale Sunrise team the staffing still consists of; a Detective Sergeant, two Detective Constables, a trainee Detective Constable, three Police Constables and a Seconded Police Constable (on 3 month rolling programme). In addition from the partnership there are four Social Workers, a Social Care Manager, a Parents Against Child Sex Exploitation (PACE) worker and a Health Care professional. Total staffing of the team is GMP Rochdale Police 8 Partnership 7. We continue to second an officer to Operation Madison who supports the MASS with children missing from home and child safeguarding remains the priority at Rochdale across all policing teams. It is recognised that budgets are reducing and will continue to do so, but that child protection, recognition of risk and harm and the focus on protecting those in need will continue.


Cafcass Resources are regularly reviewed to ensure that all cases are allocated in a timely manner. Development and training is a key aspect in ensuring that staff are up to date with current routes to support for children/families and Child Protection.

Challenge 5: Partners need to agree a sustainable funding framework that enables the Board to meet its statutory function

Agency Response

Adult Care As a council service, Adult Care fully support the need for partners to develop a sustainable funding framework for both RBSAB and RBSCB boards to meet their statutory functions.

NHS England In the NHS re-organisation, NHS England’s safeguarding budget was devolved to the CCG, consequently NHS England is not in a position to contribute to Boards budget. It is however of note that NHS England (Greater Manchester) has agreed investment of £12,500 to support the function of the Named GP model.

Children’s Services RBC In context of council needing save 37 million the Local Authority can no longer fill the gaps resulting from increasing board capacity without support from partners. The LA will work with the board to find more cost effective means to deliver statutory functions.

Hopwood Hall College Due to the current funding cuts and 24% reduction in college funding, Hopwood Hall College is unable to financially contribute to the board. However, Hopwood Hall College does contribute and support through other resources and is happy to continue with this commitment for the Board to meet its functions. Currently we offer: • In excess of 8 training venue days free to the Board for RBSCB • Three staff members who are on the training pool and delivering on the working together course • Staff on the sub-committee and on the RBSCB • Free use of college for special events eg ‘somebody’s daughter’ play.


The ‘health’ budget for the Board has been devolved from NHS England to the CCGs who commission our services.

Greater Manchester Police GMP has contributed significantly to the Rochdale RBSCB over recent years. GMP supports the need for Rochdale partners to develop and implement a sustainable funding framework for the Board to maintain and improve it’s statutory functions. Whilst it is recognised a number of agencies and partners have experienced significant funding reductions the role and purpose of the Board remains. By arrangement GMP is happy to provide meeting rooms at Rochdale police station for the benefit of partners and agencies without charge.


7. Financial Arrangements

To function effectively LSCBs have to be supported by their member organisations with adequate and reliable resources. Section 15 of the Children Act 2004 sets out that statutory board partners

make payments towards expenditure incurred by, or for purposes connected with, an LSCB, either directly, or by contributing to a fund out of which payments may be made; and

provide staff, goods, services, accommodation or other resources for purposes connected with an LSCB.

The RBSCB receives the following financial contributions from its partners

Rochdale Borough Council

167,803

Schools within Rochdale Borough

20,315

Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG

55,650


12,150

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing

5,000

Rochdale Probation Service

3,400

CAFCASS

550

Total

266,968

8. Challenges for Partnership Working 2015-2016

Early Help –to ensure continued progress including understanding of thresholds/use of CAF

To raise awareness and ensure staff have the skills and knowledge to respond effectively to the need to safeguard children and young people from modern slavery, forced labour, exploitation and sham marriages.

Understanding radicalisation and cohesion- RBSCB needs to be assured and fully understand

how all services are developing interventions and prevention in what is a new and emerging

area of both adult and child protection.

Domestic Abuse - to address increases in and ensure services effectively support children

and young people affected by Domestic Abuse.

Missing from Home - continue the development of services for children and young people

who go missing from home and develop a greater understanding of the cohort and service

provision

Reduction in CP plans - achieve a continuing reduction in line with progress on early help

offer and outcome findings of audit of CP

Achieve a reduction in the number of children needing to be “Cared for” by the LA


Appendices

End of Year Financial Position

Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board

Finance Position for 2014-15

Final

Outturn

2014/15

£

Income Partner Contributions

Rochdale Borough Council

167,803

Schools within Rochdale Borough

20,315

Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG

55,650


12,150

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing

5,000

Rochdale Probation Service

3,400

CAFCASS

550

Fees for Non Attendance of Courses

2,100

266,968

Expenditure Posts

Training & Development Officer

15,481

Business Manager

49,947

Development Officer

35,987

QA Officer

27,306

Administrators

46,202

Independent Chair

26,503

CDOP Expenditure

17,803

Serious Case Reviews

35,548

Greater Manchester Coordinator

2,500

Lay Member Expenses

540

Training events

1,927

Other

7,224

266,968


Attendance at RBSCB

Name Job Title Service 10.4.14 5.6.14 31.7.14 25.9.14 20.11.14 15.1.15 19.3.15 Attended

Jane Booth Independent Chair RBSCB √ √ √ √ Apols √ √ 6/7

Gail Hopper Director of Children's Services Rochdale Borough Council √ √ √ Apols √ Apols √ 5/7

Chris Sykes Chief Superintendent Greater Manchester Police √ √ √ √ √ √ 6/7

Paul Marshall Assistant Director-Children's Services Rochdale Borough Council Apols √ Apols √ √ Apols √ 4/7

Nigel Ell iott Assistant Chief Executive Cheshire & GM CRC Community Rehabilitation Company √ √ Apols √ √ √ √ 6/7

Nisha Bakshi Assistant Chief Executive Probation Services-Bury/Old/Roch √ Apols √ 2/4

Lesley Mort Chief Officer CCG √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7/7

Paul Laker Vice Chair CCG √ √ √ Apols √ Apols Apols 4/7

Suzanne Smith Safeguarding Lead Pennine Acute NHS Trust Apols √ √ √ Apols √ √ 5/7

Michele Bennion Service Director-HMR Pennine Care Foundation Trust √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7/7

Katie Charlton (fr Feb '15) Headteacher (Was Julia Sandiford-Mitchell) Early Help & Schools Apols √ Apols √ √ Apols √ 4/7

Kate Connolly Head Teacher Brownhill Learning Community Apols √ Apols √ √ √ √ 5/7

Councillor Donna Martin Portfolio Holder - Children Schools & Families Rochdale Borough Council √ √ √ Apols √ √ Apols 5/7

Vicky Maloney Chief Executive Early Break √ Apols √ √ √ √ 5/7

Dr Rob Rifkin Designated Doctor-Children's Safeguarding NHS HMR CCCG Apols √ √ √ √ √ √ 6/7

Hazel Chamberlain Designated Nurse-Children's Safeguarding NHS HMR CCCG √ √ √ √ √ √ Apols 6/7

Angela Havens Director of Services for Neighbourhoods Rochdale Borough Housing √ √ Apols √ Apols √ 4/7

Shabana Abasi Head of Service - Manchester Area CAFCASS Apols √ Apols √ Apols Apols 2/7

Michael Cross Youth Offending Team Manager Rochdale Borough Council √ √ √ √ √ √ Apols 6/7

Caroline Street Executive Director Hopwood Hall College Apols Apols Apols √ √ 2/7

Sandra Bowness Assistant Director-Early Help & Schools Rochdale Borough Council √ √ √ √ √ √ Apols 6/7

Jane Timson Interim Assistant Director Adult Care √ √ Apols √ √ Apols √ 5/7

D.I. Caroline Ward Detective Inspector-PPIU GMP PPIU √ √ Apols Apols 2/7

Simon Lord Lay Member Independent Apols Apols √ √ √ √ √ 5/7

Rev. Ron Hicks Lay Member Superintendent Minister √ √ √ √ √ √ Apols 6/7

Karen O'BrienControlled Drugs Accountable Officer/Asst.

Director Clinical StrategyNHS England n/a Apols Apols Apols √ √ 2/5

Janet Bailey Chair-St Gabriel's C.E. School School Governor Rep √ √ Apols √ √ √ √ 6/7

Paul Maher Children's Society n/a n/a √ √ √ Apols √ 4/5

Elizabeth Cooper Operations Manager Pathfinders n/a n/a √ √ √ √ Apols 4/5

Michelle Loughin Public Health Service n/a n/a n/a √ Apols √ √ 3/4

Martin Barber Community Safety Manager Manchester Fire Service n/a n/a n/a n/a √ √ 2/3

Gillian Bishop Interim Chief Executive Link 4 Life n/a n/a n/a √ √ √ 3/4

Kate Jones CEO Healthwatch Rochdale n/a n/a n/a n/a Apols √ √ 2/3

Sandra Bruce Safeguarding Unit Service Manager Rochdale Borough Council √ Apols √ √ √ Apols √ 5/7