A function of the Bedford Borough Safeguarding Children Partnership is to conduct a Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review after a child has died or is seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect who’s permanent residence is within the Local Authority area.
The Child Safeguarding Practice Panel Review Guidance for Safeguarding Partners and Pan Bedfordshire Interagency Child Protection Procedures set out the arrangements that are in place to respond to these reviews and what happens once a notification of a serious incident is made to the Bedford Borough Safeguarding Children Partnership under Chapter 4 of Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018).
The purpose of reviews of serious child safeguarding cases, at both local and national level, is to identify improvements to be made to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Reviews seek to prevent or reduce the risk of recurrence of similar incidents. They are not conducted to hold individuals, organisations or agencies to account.
‘Serious child safeguarding cases’ are those in which:
Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) states that serious harm includes (but is not limited to) serious and/or long-term impairment of a child’s mental health or intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development. It should also cover impairment of physical health. This is not an exhaustive list. When making decisions, judgement should be exercised in cases where impairment is likely to be long-term, even if this is not immediately certain. Even if a child recovers, including from a one-off incident, serious harm may still have occurred.
Meeting the criteria does not mean that Bedford Borough Safeguarding Children Partnership must automatically carry out a local child safeguarding practice review. Locally it is for the Care Review Group, on behalf of the Bedford Borough Safeguarding Children Partnership, to determine whether a review is appropriate, taking into account that the overall purpose of a review is to identify improvements to practice.
Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews reports will be published on our website to enable the sharing of learning across the children’s workforce. All reports are anonymised for publication.
Where a local authority in England knows or suspects that a child has been abused or neglected, the local authority must notify the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (the Panel) if:
The duty to notify serious child safeguarding events to the Panel rests with the local authority. Information on the process to be followed using the Child Incident Notification System can be found on GOV.UK.
The local authority must notify the Panel of any event that meets the criteria within 5 working days of becoming aware that the incident has occurred. The local authority should also report the event to the safeguarding partners in their area (and in other areas if appropriate) within 5 working days. Where the child was Looked After, the local authority must also notify the Secretary of State and Ofsted that they have died, regardless of whether abuse or neglect is known or suspected.
Each agency must have arrangements for identifying cases where the agency considers that criteria for either a local or national child safeguarding practice reviews may be met (see sections 4 and 8). It is important that any practitioner or professional is able to discuss a case with their agency Case Review Group representative if they think a child safeguarding practice review may be required.
The Case Review Group representative should notify the Bedford Borough Safeguarding Children Partnership Business Unit of a referral and confirm this in writing within 48 hours using the referral form.
The Bedford Borough Safeguarding Children Partnership Business Unit will request agency information to enable the reports to be available to the Case Review Group so that the group can undertake a rapid review of the case and make a recommendation to the Independent Chair as to what kind of review should be commissioned, or if no further action should be taken.
Locally the three safeguarding partners have ultimate responsibility for deciding whether to conduct a local review. The Independent Chair will also be informed to allow independent scrutiny of the decision making process.
Please see the Pan Bedfordshire Serious Incident Notification & Rapid Review Process flow chart for further information.
Cases may be referred by the local Child Death Overview Panel. The Chair of the Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) may refer a case to the Case Review Group that appears to meet the criteria and which they considers is likely to have important lessons for inter-agency working.
Any partner agency may refer a case to the Case Review Group if they believe that there are important lessons for multi-agency working to be learned from the case.
The Case Review Group has several functions and tasks delegated to it. In summary, the Case Review Group will coordinate the following inter-related activity:
Learning Briefing in regards to a Thematic Review of Serious Youth Violence (SYV) commissioned by the Bedford Borough Safeguarding Children Partnership following two incidents of SYV which resulted in the death of one young person and the serious injury of another.
For both young people there were concerns about drug misuse/selling and potential involvement in gangs. The BBSCB was keen to ascertain if issues for vulnerable young people including county lines and other forms of exploitation, drug misuse, SYV and involvement in gangs are being identified and responded to early enough.
The cases of these young people have provided a lens through which to consider current service responses, informing a wider case audit of young people identified as vulnerable or at risk of SYV.
Dr Julie Harris from University of Bedfordshire was commissioned to lead the Review and sought support and advice from colleagues within the International Centre Research on Child Sexual Exploitation, Violence and Trafficking.
Whilst completing this Review the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s It was hard to escape – Safeguarding children at risk from criminal exploitation which looked at common patterns, similarities and differences between the approaches taken in local areas (including Bedford Borough).
Following the BBSCB signing off this Review the learning and recommendations have and are being addressed by the partnership and monitored by the Partnership’s Case Review Group.
Examples how the BBSCB and partners are working together to address all forms of exploitation and the risks posed to children in Bedford Borough:
In November 2013 the NSPCC in collaboration with The Association of Independent LSCB Chairs launched the National Case Review Repository. The repository provides a single place for published case reviews to make it easier to access and share learning at a local, regional and national level.
The NSPCC has put together a series of themed briefing documents highlighting the learning from published reviews. Each briefing focuses on a different topic, pulling together key risk factors and practice recommendations to help practitioners understand and act upon the learning.