Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership Yearly Report 2023-24

1. Introduction

Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (Devon SCP) has been established under Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 (WT18) arrangements since September 2018, and from December 2023 has been working towards the implementation of the requirements within Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 (WT23)

WT18 arrangements state that a Safeguarding Partner in relation to a Local Authority area in England is defined under the Children Act 2004 (as amended by the Children and Social Work Act, 2017) as:

• the Local Authority
• a Clinical Commissioning Group (amended to Integrated Care Board from 01/07/2022) for an area any part of which falls within the Local Authority area
• the Chief Officer of Police for an area any part of which falls within the Local Authority area

Safeguarding partners must jointly report on the activity they have undertaken over a 12-month period (1 April to 31 March). Our annual report should be transparent and easily accessible to families and professionals with a focus on the multi-agency priorities, learning, impact, evidence and improvement.

Our local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements for children and young people in Devon were published in 2019 and include our arrangements for the safeguarding partners to work together to identify and respond to the needs of children in the area, arrangements for commissioning and publishing local child safeguarding practice reviews and arrangements for independent scrutiny of the effectiveness of the arrangements. These arrangements are currently being reviewed as required by WT23 and will be re-published by 31 December 2024. This yearly report is written in a way which is required by the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel and the Department of Education.

This document was agreed by the DevonSCP Delegated Safeguarding Partners on 30 September 2024.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and 2023

In April 2017, the Children and Social Work Act received Royal Assent, this ended the role of Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB) and all sections of the Children Act 2004 that relate to them. The Department for Education (DfE) published the revised Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance in July 2018, which sets out what organisations and agencies who have functions relating to children must do to safeguard and promote their welfare in England. The major shift has been the responsibility for safeguarding children, now being shared between the Local Authority, Health partners and the Police.

In addition, further statutory guidance was published to support LSCB’s, the new safeguarding and child death review partners, and the new Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) Panel in the transition from LSCBs and Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) to a new system of multi-agency arrangements and local and national Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPRs).

In March 2020, the transition period ended, but as early adopters, the new safeguarding arrangements were fully implemented in Devon by September 2018. The new Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 (WT2023) were published by HM Government in December 2023, and these are required to be implemented by December 2024.

Partnership Change of Name – In May 2023, Executives decided upon a change of name and structure for the Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (Devon SCP) – previously referred to as Devon Children and Families Partnership (DCFP). The view was that the role and remit of the DCFP had become too wide, and consequently the choice of priorities and the impact of the work carried out was not easy to capture. It was also felt that the re-shape of the Partnership would better fit the new WT23 arrangements when published. The revision of working groups, the new name and structure was agreed.

Our Priorities for 23/24

1. Improving outcomes of pre-birth services and for infants.
2. Improving partnership working in compliant with Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and 2023, focusing on areas of shared responsibility and multi-agency responses to families.
3. Improving response to adolescent need through developing multi-agency contextual safeguarding approaches
4. Improving the partnership response to domestic abuse to prevent harm to children

2. Strategic Leadership and Accountability

Within the current reporting period, the following represented the Safeguarding Partners at Executive Level (Delegated Safeguarding Partners):

• Roy Linden, Policing Commander for South Devon, Devon and Cornwall Police and Chair of the Devon SCP Executive Group.
• Julian Wooster, Interim Director of Children’s Services, Devon County Council, followed by Stuart Collins who was appointed as Director of Children’s Services in September 2023
• Darryn Allcorn, Chief Nursing Officer, Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB), followed by Penny Smith (Interim) in January 2024
• Newly implemented from April 2024, is the Executive position for Education taken by Helen Casson, Director of Education, Wave Multi-Academy Trust

Joint functions of delegated safeguarding partners (DSPs)

1. Delivery and monitoring of multi-agency priorities and procedures to protect and safeguard children in the local area, in compliance with published arrangements and thresholds.
2. Close partnership working and engagement with education (at strategic and operational level) and other relevant agencies, allowing better identification of and response to harm.
3. The implementation of effective information sharing arrangements between agencies, including data sharing that facilitates joint analysis between partner agencies.
4. Delivery of high-quality and timely rapid reviews and local child safeguarding practice reviews, with the impact of learning from local and national reviews and independent scrutiny clearly evidenced in yearly reports.
5. The provision of appropriate multi-agency safeguarding professional development and training.
6. Seeking of, and responding to, feedback from children and families about their experiences of services and co-designing services to ensure children from different communities and groups can access the help and protection they need.

Our Devon SCP Delegated Safeguarding Partners (DSPs

• Roy Linden – Policing Commander for South Devon Devon & Cornwall Police
• Stuart Collins – Director of Children’s Services Devon County Council
• Penny Smith – Chief Nursing Officer (interim) Devon Integrated Care Board, NHS Devon
• Helen Casson – Chief Executive Officer, Wave Multi-Agency Academy Trust

From April 2024, all Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships (LSCPs) must demonstrate strong, joined-up leadership and clear accountability. As stated in WT23, page 26, “strong, joined-up leadership and clear accountability is critical to effective multi-agency safeguarding, bringing together the various organisations and agencies.” We are proud to have achieved this within the DevonSCP since becoming a Partnership as early adopters in 2018.

The head of each statutory safeguarding partner agency plays an active role in these arrangements and are named as Lead Safeguarding Partners (LSPs).  They have been named this because they are able to:

• speak with authority for the safeguarding partner they represent
• take decisions on behalf of their organisation or agency and commit them on policy, resourcing, and practice matters
• hold their own organisation or agency to account on how effectively they participate and implement the local arrangement

Joint functions of lead safeguarding partners (LSPs)

1. Set the strategic direction, vision, and culture of the local safeguarding arrangements, including agreeing and reviewing shared priorities and the resource required to deliver services effectively.
2. Lead their organisation’s individual contribution to the shared priorities, ensuring strong governance, accountability, and reporting mechanisms to hold their delegates to account for the delivery of agency commitments.
3. Review and sign off key partnership documents: published multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, including plans for independent scrutiny, shared annual budget, yearly report, and local threshold document.
4. Provide shared oversight of learning from independent scrutiny, serious incidents, local child safeguarding practice reviews, and national reviews, ensuring recommendations are implemented and have a demonstrable impact on practice (as set out in the yearly report).
5. Ensure multi-agency arrangements have the necessary level of business support, including intelligence and analytical functions, such as an agreed data set providing oversight and a robust understanding of practice.
6. Ensure all relevant agencies, including education settings, are clear on their role and contribution to multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

Our Lead Safeguarding Partners (LSPs) for safeguarding partners in Devon

• Donna Manson – Chief Executives of Devon County Council Local Authority.
• Steve Moore – Chief Executives of the Integrated Care Board (ICB).
• Jim Colwell – Acting Chief Constable Devon & Cornwall Police.

Independent Scrutiny

Functions of independent scrutiny role:

• Provide safeguarding partners and relevant agencies with independent, rigorous, and effective support and challenge at both a strategic and operational level.
• Provide assurance to the whole system in judging the effectiveness of the multi-agency safeguarding arrangements through a range of scrutiny methods.
• Ensure that statutory duties are being fulfilled, quality assurance mechanisms are in place, and that local child safeguarding practice reviews and national reviews are analysed, with key learning areas identified and effectively implemented across the safeguarding system.
• Ensure that the voice of children and families is considered as part of scrutiny and that this is at the heart of arrangements through direct feedback, informing policy and practice.
• Be regarded as a ‘critical friend’ and provide opportunities for two-way discussion and reflection between frontline practitioners and leaders. This will encourage and enable strong, clear, strategic leadership.
• Provide independent advice when there are disagreements between agencies and safeguarding partners and facilitate escalation procedures.
• Evaluate and contribute to multi-agency safeguarding published arrangements and the annual report, alongside feeding into the wider accountability systems such as inspections.

 

Keith Perkins, Independent Scrutineer reports that the Devon SCP has adopted the one dedicated independent scrutineer model. Although there are plans to appoint a permanent independent scrutineer, the current person has been appointed on a monthly rolling basis and has been in place for the whole of this reporting period. Given the close relationship between the Devon SCP and the multi-agency Devon Improvement Partnership Board, the partnership benefits from additional independent scrutiny through this Board’s appointed commissioner.

Within this reporting period, the partnership became the Devon Safeguarding Children’s Partnership. This change of name enabled the partnership to focus on key child safeguarding matters. At times, the partnership was overwhelmed by being perceived as the single entity in responding to all matters relating to children. To help this transition, the Executive commissioned the National Safeguarding Partner facilitator (LA Lead) carry out a ‘health check’ of the partnership. This valuable exercise allowed the delegated safeguarding partners a much clearer picture of the strengths of the partnership together with a clear understanding of priorities to improve the effectiveness of the partnership further.

In addition to multi agency case audits, there have been 2 independent scrutineer led reviews. The first one focused on the ‘front door’. This review highlighted the need for the delegated safeguarding partners to have a clearer ‘line of sight’ to the Front Door, demonstrating a systems leadership approach on the service offering to children & families who need timely assessment, support & intervention. This has improved through regular briefs provided to both the DSP’s and the partnership’s Business Group, allowing barriers to be discussed at an appropriate level. The review also recommended that another statutory partner chaired the Front Door strategic group to foster a multi-agency ethos. A senior police officer now chairs this meeting, which has led to the intended improvements. The Front Door Strategic Group is somewhat limited in identifying emerging issues and trends from the absence of a dashboard. Although work is ongoing in this respect, it is taking time to progress to a stage where leaders can have a clear understanding of the operational effectiveness of its front door.

The second independent scrutineer led review looked into the partnership’s response to how it learns from serious incidents. Although this review identified that there is a clear and robust process in the identification and reporting of serious incidents, there were significant areas of improvement required around rapid reviews and Local CSPRs (LCSPRs). The delegated safeguarding partners have tasked the partnership Business Group to progress key actions to ensure that learning from serious incidents is embedded effectively into the partnership.

The partnership benefits from a strong and proactive Quality Assurance Workforce Delivery Group, chaired jointly by Children Social Care’s Head of Academy, Quality Assurance and Practice and the Head of Public Health Nursing. The detailed quality assurance work around Physical Harm to Infants 0-2 is a good example of the level of detail practitioners examined to understand the enablers and challenges to improving practice.

There are strong links between the Devon SCP and other strategic Devon partnerships such as its Safer Devon Partnership. These close links allow for sound matrix management of issues such as the Serious Violence Duty.

The Devon SCP benefits from experience and skill amongst its leaders and practitioners that will enable it to be adaptive to demands and tackle some of the major obstacles to progress that it is facing. However, its capability to do so is currently impaired by not having the benefit of a data dashboard which impacts upon the executive’s ability to challenge and cause enquiry to be made. The absence of a partnership dashboard has been identified as a critical issue not only in the review of the Front Door, but the aforementioned Health Check.

Impact of Independent Scrutiny Arrangements – before September 2022, the Partnership had been without an independent scrutineer for six years. The introduction of this role has brought a focus on areas needing improvement, such as tracking actions and implementing recommendations from rapid reviews and LCSPRs.

Impact of learning from Independent Scrutiny Arrangements – the learning from being independently scrutinised over the past 12 months includes ensuring that our Quality Assurance framework meets the requirements of all Partners, addressing the lack of learning from serious incidents, and recognising the need for more oversight by our delegated safeguarding partners regarding activities in the Children’s Front Door and the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). This scrutiny has prompted several reviews of the MASH, resulting in revised ways of working within the MASH and the establishment of the Partnerships Priority 2.

3. Governance and Structure – 2023-24

In Summer 2023, the Devon SCP streamlined its structure, significantly reducing the number of sub-groups and encouraging focus on safeguarding and the chosen priorities. The current structure is growing again and includes, amongst others, multi-agency sub-groups for each of the 4 priorities including: the Front Door Strategic Group (Priority 2), the Child Exploitation Strategic Group (Priority 3), and the Pre-birth Planning Task and Finish Group (Priority 1) led by Children’s Social Care and Public Health Nursing. Safer Devon Partnership’s Local Partnership Board for gender-based violence (Priority 4) is strongly linked with the Devon SCP.

The Business team has lacked a permanent Partnership Manager since January 2023, with interim cover provided by existing team members. The role was advertised on July 29, 2024. The potential for data analysis has been limited due to the Quality Assurance Lead whilst covering Partnership Manager duties and the absence of a dedicated data analyst. The Children’s Commissioning Policy Officer role has also been vacant since February 2024, but a new Policy Officer will start in mid-September. Due to funding, over the last few years, the Business Support Officer capacity has gone from 10 days per week to 6.5 days per week.

Reshaped Governance Structure 24/25 – following change of name

Our Groups

Executive Group

Chair – Roy Linden, Policing Commander for South Devon, Devon & Cornwall Police.

Oversees the work of the partnership, promoting and supporting multi-agency practice across all areas of local safeguarding. The local Police, Integrated Care Board and the Local Authority are equally responsible for the Devon SCP and its outcomes.

Business Group

Chair – Louise Arscott, Head of Devon & Torbay Probation Service followed by Steve Liddicott, Deputy Director, Children’s Social Care, Head of Wellbeing and Health, Devon County Council.

Responsible for maintaining oversight/workflow and actioning the strategic decisions made by the Executive, sits under the Executive Group and ensuring oversight of actions from child safeguarding practice reviews and rapid reviews through to resolution. By aligning data, scrutiny and learning from serious incidents, we can be consistent across Devon in the way we support children and young people to get the right help, in the right place at the right time.

Below the Business Group sit five sub-groups and one proposed task and finish group, each being established to focus on the business and priorities of the partnership.

 

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Group

Chair – Michele Thornberry, Head of Safeguarding, NHS Devon

Responsible for considering all Serious Incident Notifications to make decision on next steps, commissioning/undertaking Rapid Reviews to identify learning, Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPRs) and/or other reviews as required under WT2023, liaising with the independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel as required, contributing to the development of a practice culture characterised by high support/high challenge, submitting all reviews for implementation of learning recommendations into actions and then sharing those with Devon SCP Business Group to ensure local multi-agency practice improves in line with that agreed in review reports.

Quality Assurance and Workforce Development Group

Chair – Vicki Whitehead, Head of Academy, Quality Assurance and Practice, Children’s Social Care, Devon County Council

Undertakes multi-agency audits, thematic reviews and appreciative inquiries to identify learning, has oversight of the Devon SCP audit activity and actions, converting learning review recommendations into actions. The recommendations from the audits feed into Workforce Development remit of the group, which supports the implementation of learning within the partnership, and is responsible for multi-agency training, events and learning opportunities.

Child Exploitation Group

Chair – Louise Arscott, Head of Devon & Torbay Probation Service

Devon’s multi-agency response to child exploitation and is responsible for developing and reviewing Devon’s multi-agency Child Exploitation Strategy and Tools. The Group is also the Devon SCP’s link into local exploitation services.

 

Other Groups

These groups sit outside of the Partnership but the work from these groups informs the Partnership via representation at Business Group meetings.

Best Start in Life – vision: “all children in Devon have the best possible start in life, live safely, be healthy and happy and be supported to fulfil their potential and thrive” culminating in planning for the transfer of children centres to family hubs.

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) – chaired by Louise Barraclough, Devon SARC, this group has flourished from a “networking” opportunity to a working group. This group was set up to examine the reasons for the lack of knowledge and confidence in recognising CSA and harmful sexual behaviour.

Devon Interpersonal, Gender-based Violence and Abuse (IG-BVA) Local Partnership Board – chaired by Michele Thornberry, Head of Safeguarding, NHS Devon. Work produced includes the IG-BVA needs assessment and strategic plan for Devon 24/25.

Early Help Locality Partnership Meetings – these meetings have focussed on several key areas:

• Delivery and Monitoring: These meetings have monitored the delivery of our multi-agency priorities and procedures, in compliance with published arrangements and thresholds.
• Partnership Working and Engagement: Promotion of close partnership working and engagement with education (at both strategic and operational levels) and other relevant agencies, allowing better identification of and response to harm.
• Information Sharing: Providing a forum for sharing information and implementing sharing arrangements between agencies, including data allowing joint analysis.
• Reviews and Learning: Ensuring that learning from local and national reviews and independent scrutiny is promoted and shared amongst agencies attending.
• Feedback and Co-design: The meetings seek feedback from agencies, children and families about their experiences of services to help co-design services to ensure children from different communities and groups can access the help and protection they need.
• Family Hubs: Family hubs are intended to be a local innovation developed to meet local needs and better support families. They will operate as part of the wider Early Help offer in Devon, where children and families are placed at the heart of what we do. The family hub development in Devon focuses on several key areas:
  • Best Start in Life: The vision is that all children in Devon have the best possible start in life, live safely, be healthy and happy, and be supported to fulfil their potential and thrive. This includes planning for the transfer of children centres to family hubs.
  • Multi-Agency Collaboration: The development and delivery of the Devon Early Help offer and Family Hub networks will involve close partnership working and engagement with various agencies, including education, health, and social care.
  • Evidence-Based Programmes: Family hubs will focus on delivering evidence-based programmes and interventions.
  • Data and Evaluation: Robust and up-to-date multi-agency data will be routinely analysed to identify target groups, design services, agree priorities, forecast trends, and plan strategies. Routine monitoring and tracking of family hub service performance will be conducted using valid and reliable outcome metrics and reported back to the Early Help Strategic Group. Here is a summary of the Early Help Strategy 2023-26:

 

Early Help Strategic Group – Devon’s approach to early help is outlined in the Devon’s Early Help Strategy 2023-26. The strategy focuses on providing support to children, young people, and their families at the earliest opportunity to prevent issues from escalating, through a range of staff in different organisations, such as health services, schools, youth services, early years providers, and voluntary, community, and faith sector services. The aim is to ensure families receive the right support quickly to prevent concerns from escalating. This support is accessed in local communities where families live. The multi-agency strategic group work together to operationalise statutory guidance, outlining pathways to early help and underlying the principles that the delivery of the Early Help System requires multiple partners to work together, providing integrated and joined up early help support.

 

Devon Children’s Front Door and MASH Strategic Board – The shared priorities of the MASH Strategic Board in Devon include: Strategic Direction and Vision: Setting the strategic direction, vision, and culture of the local safeguarding arrangements, including agreeing and reviewing shared priorities and the resources required to deliver services effectively.

• Governance and Accountability: Leading and agreeing shared priorities, ensuring strong governance, accountability, and reporting mechanisms to hold partners accountable for the delivery of agency commitments.
• Review and Sign-Off: Reviewing and signing off key partnership documents, including multi-agency safeguarding, information sharing guidance and protocols, local threshold tool and MASH operational guidance
• Partnership Working and Engagement – promoting close partnership working allowing better responses within the Children’s Front Door to identification and response to harm.

New Groups

These groups will be set up in financial year 2024/25 based on findings from our audits, reviews and appreciative enquiries:

• Education Advisory Group – this group will be set up so that our safeguarding partners have adequate representation and input of education at operational level and strategic level (as required in WTG23). And from January 2024, we have representation at DSP level from an Education Executive at our DSP/Executive Group.
• CSA Group – will transfer from its current independent status to become a Devon SCP group
• Pre-birth and pregnancy pathway task and finish group
• Neglect task and finish group (under the Business Group)
• Family Hub Focus Groups (under Early Help Locality Partnership meetings)

Devon Improvement Partnership Board

Over the past 12 months, our Executive Delegated Safeguarding Partners (DSPs) have collaborated closely and extensively with the multi-agency Devon Improvement Partnership Board to help identify areas for improvement and to make changes accordingly. Below summarises our working with this Board.

• Quality Assurance and Governance – by providing regular updates and reports to the Improvement Board, we have avoided duplicative efforts related to multi-agency reviews and quality assurance. This collaboration has helped maintain a strong focus on safeguarding and child protection.
• Strategic Planning and Reporting – joint work on detailed reports and strategic plans have enhanced our multi-agency working through improved communication. This has enabled us to discuss progress, challenges, action plans, and impact ensuring we are all aligned in our efforts to improve child safeguarding practices.
• Collaborative Initiatives – the Devon SCP and the Improvement Board have worked together on various initiatives, including implementing the requirements within Working Together 2023, refocusing the scope and remit of the Partnership, and ensuring that we are aware of what our agencies need to improve. This will enable children and families to get the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

We have fostered greater involvement and communication with partners through various ways including a set of multi-agency learning events during the year. These sessions provided a greater multi-agency understanding of thresholds, duties and family rights for family safeguarding as allowed us to hear the view views of our multi-agency partners in respect of the way we work together.

4. Achievements During the Last 12 months

Themes of work

As a result of our annual safeguarding arrangements, and child safeguarding practice reviews, our themes of work have emanated from methods of scrutiny, thematic reviews, appreciative enquiries, CSPRs, rapid reviews and multi-agency audits linked to our priorities and included:

Thematic review learning briefings – Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (devonscp.org.uk)

• Eating disorders and childhood obesity
• Children returning to school
• Non-Accidental injury to infants 0-2
• Domestic Abuse (this is due to be published in October 2024)

 

How effective have our safeguarding arrangements and the work of the safeguarding partners and relevant agencies been?

When considering the effectiveness of our safeguarding arrangements, the work of the safeguarding partners, and relevant agencies, we have looked at how our themes of work have impacted on professionals’ practice and the effectiveness of the Partnership.

 

Suicide review (Priority 3)

Suicide awareness and prevention resources provide our partners with the confidence to offer support that can save lives by increasing knowledge about suicide risk, promoting healthier attitudes towards mental health, and reducing suicide attempts.

 

Adolescents (Priority 3)

Multi-agency collaboration in respect of this priority has enabled practitioners to develop confidence in providing consistent interventions across Devon, which are tailored to the unique needs of young people whilst making sure that they effectively with their inter-agency partners to support adolescents development and well-being appropriately.

This year’s review and update of the Adolescent Safety Framework review has enabled our safeguarding partners to grow their understanding of this multi-disciplinary tool, which has helped them to identify and analyse the risk of exploitation and contextual harm to young people. This assessment tool has helped practitioners to understand the broader picture of contextual risk and has supported them in their decision-making on the type of risk, level of harm and the necessary support or next steps, thus helping to keep young people safe by assessing current vulnerabilities, risk factors and protective factors where exploitation concerns have been identified.

The use of the Adolescent Safety Framework and Safer Me assessment enables the Partnership to consistently safeguard vulnerable adolescents which is crucial for their development and well-being, leading to significant positive outcomes, reducing the likelihood of harm and promoting healthier transitions into adulthood.

 

Development of ABE Protocol (Priority 2)

The ABE protocol, will help capture evidence effectively, sensitively and uniformly across the Partnership using a victim-centred and restorative approach. It will improve the quality of evidence presented in court and bring together a consistent approach in achieving best evidence.

 

Child Sexual Abuse and Guide to Strategy Meetings where Sexual Abuse is reported or suspected (Priority 2 & 3)

The new strategies and guidance on child sexual abuse brought together by the CSA Group will create a safer environment for children by reducing the risk of abuse and ensuring that there are systems in place to support children who have been sexually abused. This includes piloting within MASH and subsequent development of the “Strengthening our Response to Childhood Sexual Harm and Abuse – a Guide to Enhancing Practice”, as well as the Safe & Healthy Sexual Behaviour Forum.

 

Harmful Sexual Abuse and HSB Strategy (Priority 2 & 3)

The Devon SCP purchased a five-year licence so that multi-agency partners can access the AIM Checklists. The AIM Project recognises the importance of education, health, police, children’s services and anyone working with children and young people having clear pathways for responding to children and adolescents exhibiting harmful sexual behaviours. The AIM Checklists help to put those sexual behaviours in perspective and to identify those that need short interventions and those which require further assessment. There are four separate checklists that cover: adolescents; adolescents with learning disabilities; children under 12 years old; children under 12 years old with learning disabilities.

When practitioners feel confident in identifying and addressing behaviours that are inappropriate or abusive, it can prevent escalation. Having a multi-agency approach to Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) will lead to early risk assessment and intervention, supporting individuals displaying HSB, their peers and community. Effective implementation of our multi-agency HSB guidance will protect children in Devon by fostering a safe environment for their development.

 

Child Exploitation – planning for revised strategy and tool kit, in partnership with Safer Devon Partnership; conference planned for practitioners to draft up local action plans around child exploitation (Priority 2 & 3)

The Adolescent Safety Framework (ASF) is a pioneering approach to managing contextual risk which supports children, young people, families and professionals from across the partnership. It launched in December 2019 to support a multi-agency approach to Contextual Safeguarding across Devon and during 23/24 we embarked on a review of the framework to inform its future development. The ASF is a strengths-based model, harnessing the already trusted relationships that practitioners have with the young person, and it enables us all to follow a process and pathway to mitigate the risks for all concerned.

 

Devon Interpersonal, gender-based violence and abuse Local Needs Assessment (Priority 4)

Better understanding of:

• The needs of children victimised through familial Domestic Abuse
• The needs of older victims
• The needs of those not accessing specialist services
• What life is like in recovery and if there are additional unmet needs
• The needs of the family, existing/possible support networks to empower and increase resilience
• How long/ short term need differs in the context of the different types of abuse for all people affected by the abuse
• Prevalence and impact of so-called ‘honour’ based violence and abuse
• Needs of victims with suicidal ideation and attempting suicide
• Peer to peer sexually harmful behaviour and interpersonal violence in young people
• The prevalence and nature of abuse from those in a position of power and trust
• The needs of those subjected to sexual exploitation, the prevalence of the problem and the ‘abuser’ profile.
• Relevance, prevalence and impact of misogyny group

 

Physical Harm to Infants (Priority 1)

Strengthening recommendations from our report about physical harm to infants will safeguard children in Devon.  There is now an increased awareness among our multi-agency partners about the signs of abuse and the importance of early intervention to enable infants to get the protection they need. These recommendations have influenced changes to our SWCPP multi-agency and local policies and procedures which support partners to be aware of what action to take, and provide a framework for identifying, responding to and preventing instances of abuse.

 

Pre-birth and Pregnancy Pathway policies and protocol (Priority 1)

A multi-agency pre-birth and pregnancy pathway will prevent an unborn child from suffering harm. The aim of this pathway is to ensure the well-being of the child at birth and beyond, by providing tailored support and planning for a safe environment for the child’s arrival. Effective and consistence pre-birth planning and guidance across agencies is essential to reduce the risk of harm and promote a healthy pregnancy and childbirth.

 

Quality Assurance Framework

Establishing that the quality assurance frameworks used by our partners in Devon provide consistent standards and practices, can ensure that the services delivered to children and their families across Devon are effective and of high quality. These frameworks highlight best practices, identify areas for improvement, and ensure that any necessary changes are implemented. By conducting joint case audits and monitoring the effectiveness of training, quality assurance frameworks help to safeguard the welfare of children and promote positive outcomes. Additionally, they support a culture of continuous learning and improvement, which is essential for adapting to the evolving needs of children and families.

What impact have we made?

In this financial year, we have used Table 2 below to track the impact we have had on:

• Children and families
• Professionals
• The effectiveness of the Partnership

We have used verbal feedback in meetings, from practitioner forums and day-to-day discussions to gather this information, together with surveys and questionnaires.

During the next 12 months, we will end each meeting with a discussion about the content, the outcomes and the impact, using the table above.

Impact on children and families

• How is the partnership making a difference to outcomes for children?
• Feedback from children and families to inform your work and influence service provision.

 

Impact on professionals

• How is the partnership making a difference to local practice?
• Identify performance measures that will help evidence impact
• Feedback from staff
• Develop approaches to measure how training influences practice and the dissemination of learning.

 

Impact on effectiveness of the partnership

• Focus on impact to determine the effectiveness of the safeguarding partner activities
• Analysis of any areas where there has been little of no evidence of progress on agreed priorities
• Impact and learning from independent scrutiny arrangements.

Impact on Professionals and effectiveness of the Partnership – this has been measured through discussion, surveys and review of outcomes and is detailed above.

Impact on children and young people – we have struggled to measure the impact on children and young people effectively due to a lack of available data. This should improve over the next 12 months when we employ a data analyst. Their role will be to develop methods for obtaining evidence of this impact.

 

We have also acknowledged that we haven’t been very effective at using feedback from children and families to inform our work and influence service provision. We are currently working to improve this. Employing a data analyst in the next financial year we help with this.

During 23/24 we spoke to one young person as part of the CSPR report to national panel. Learning from this discussion included:

• Listening to young people when they want to talk about their situation
• Ensure that young people are aware of what’s going to be happening to them (in respect of placement in residential care/transitions)
• Understanding that a young person does want to be helped and supported even if it appears that they don’t want intervention
• Not “writing off” a young person because of the decisions and things they have previously done and “adultifying” those actions

 

Over the next 12 months, we will collaborate closely with our Participation Team to plan how we can capture the voices of children and young people to influence our work and multi-agency services.

Analysis of areas where there has been little or no evidence of progress on Devon SCP priorities –  in analysing the areas where there has been little or no evidence of progress on Devon SCP priorities, it is important to note that in the last 12 months, we believe there has been substantial progress in all our priority areas. This includes independent scrutiny, which we lacked from 2019 until 2022. However, there has been minimal progress in obtaining the views of, and measuring the impact of our work with, children and young people.

5. Serious Incident Notifications, Rapid Reviews and Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews

The infographic above “Statutory Review Summary 2023 to 2024” highlights several key findings related to serious incident notifications (SINs), rapid reviews (RRs), and child safeguarding practice reviews (CSPRs). It shows that out of seven SIN discussions held, six notifications were agreed upon, and four of these were turned into RRs, with only one progressing to a CSPR. The infographic also categorises the incidents, revealing that the majority involved serious harm or abuse, with a significant portion related to neglect. The average timeliness of RRs was noted, with some delays observed. Additionally, the age range of affected children varied, with a notable number involving children aged 0-2 and 11-18.

Learning from Serious Incidents (Local and National)

Emerging practice themes from the RRs included a lack of professional curiosity, early intervention, and information sharing, indicating areas for improvement in safeguarding practices. This analysis underscores the need for timely and effective interventions to protect vulnerable children.

How have we implemented the recommendations from this learning?

We have produced one-minute briefings and guides, learning briefings, held practitioner forums, online workshops, and linked to Early Help Locality Forums. Additionally, we have included these recommendations in newsletters and as agenda items in group meetings. We have also requested our safeguarding partners to disseminate the recommendations within their agencies. Historically, the Devon SCP held in-person learning and best practice briefings, but these ceased during the pandemic. We will be resurrecting these in November 2024.

6. Learning and Development Opportunities and Training

Despite a reduction in funding by £25,000, the quality of the training has not reduced although the amount of learning and development opportunities have decreased. Savings have been made by commissioning a provider on a fixed price basis, for 12 months. Also, by reducing in-person training, we have minimised venue costs and concentrated on webinars and online sessions. The latter has increased attendance and collaborative training efforts but the lack of networking opportunities, that face to face events offer, has been commented on.

During the next 12 months we will incorporate more in-person events, with an emphasis on multi-agency collaboration and integration whilst ensuring we keep costs down by finding free or subsidised venues (offered by our partners) and reducing the provision of refreshments and paper resources.

Courses and attendance

 

These courses were developed due to the gaps found from carrying out CSPRs (Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews), case audits, annual reviews, appreciative enquiries, practitioner surveys and manager/senior leader interviews.

All courses/workshops were delivered virtually or as blended courses up until June 2022, when we introduced in-person Restorative Practice workshops.  There is still an appetite and a preference for on-line courses, making it easier to free-up time for practitioners to attend as there is no travel and it’s easy to access where-ever you are based.  We intend to deliver a handful of in-person courses from October 2024 onwards as there are some learners who prefer to learn in this way.

82% of practitioners surveyed stated that they would prefer to continue to complete virtual, blended courses because:-

• It saved time on travel and fuel costs
• It was easier to release staff to log-on rather than attending face to face training
• The content of the courses was easier to learn and digest due to the pre-course learning and home study modules
• The sessions were easier to fit into diaries due to being broken into modules of no more than 3 hours at a time. This also helped with attention span and interaction.

Feedback and impact

• Before attending courses/workshops, confidence in recognising or responding to/dealing with the subject manner was on average marked as 3 (with 1 = not very confident and 5 = very confident). At the time of completing the course/learning, this score had increased to 4.75.
• 94% stated that they would be able to use the knowledge learned in their day to day practice with ease.
• Trainers and facilitators were always rated between 4.75 to 5 (out of a score of 5) in respect of the way they delivered and their knowledge/experience of the subject matter.
• 100% stated that their manager had either recommended the course to them or, if not, had supported them to prioritise and attend.
• 18% of attendees stated that they felt unsupported by their manager to use the knowledge gained in their practice
• 98% felt that courses & workshops felt very relevant to practice rather than full of theory

Even though evaluations stated that managers had been supportive, there was a 48% drop-out rate on on-line courses/workshops.  When asked why this was, practitioners stated that they were asked to re-prioritise their work calendar and were unable to attend.

In Summary

The Devon SCP has provided over 9054 places for practitioners in their training during the last 12 month period.  This represents good value for money, working out at approximately £5.52 per person.  This was all managed on a reduced budget of £50,000 from the previous year when it was £75,000.

We have become well known for the quality of our courses and their content, our responsiveness in providing what practitioners want and need, as well as closing the learning gaps identified throughout a 12 month period.

7. Key decisions on workplan and priorities

• Reviewing our 2023/24 priorities influenced our safeguarding partners to retain the priorities into the next 12 months. It was felt that this would provide more focus on data collection and impact as well as giving more time to embed recommendations and learning.

 

• Priorities for 24/25 will remain the same with the addition of a focus around neglect. This decision was made in order to be able to embed a more pan-Devon approach to learning from these priorities, reflect further on data, national and local trends, research, best, practice, audit reviews and voice of the child.  Due to the interim nature of some of the Executives/DSPs during this reporting period, it was agreed that this would enabled more detailed work to continue.  Neglect as an area of priority was chosen due to the number of serious incident notifications received in a 12 month period, including three that went forward to CSPR.

 

• Role of Leadership and Scrutiny – throughout the 12 months of this report, Execs/DSPs inputted, via the Executive Group meetings various themes for future priorities. These were decided on because of the priorities surrounding them from their own agency view, the Devon Improvement Plan priorities and where single-agency audits had brought more learning to the table which required further investigation.

8. Financial Arrangements

Funding Received

 

Expenditure and income

• For the core budget, there was an underspend of £18,630
• For the training budget, there was an underspend of £27,791
• This means there was a total underspend of £46,421

 

Funding Received

 

Impact of funding

• Unable to attract Devon & Cornwall Police to mandatory Safeguarding and Child Protection multi-agency training due to their non-contribution.
• Reduction in business support (10 days to 6.5 days per week)
• Smaller training programme with less flexibility to fill learning gaps by running briefings, conferences and training sessions
• Unable to recruit a data analyst due to insufficient funding, so unable to measure impact and look at themes across Devon to prioritise

LSPs have agreed to review the level of funding needed during 24/25 to be able to deliver the revised multi-agency arrangements to ensure it is equitable, fair and proportionate.  So far no agreement has been reached but discussions continue to be held and a decision made before the end of the financial year 24/25.  Currently Devon & Cornwall Police to not contribute to the multi-agency workforce development funding so are unable to attend training courses.  A pay-as you go approach was decided upon in 22/23 for police colleagues but this hasn’t come to fruition.

How we use data to encourage learning and how the sharing of this information has improved practice?  During 2023-2024, we did not have a data analyst or researcher working with the partnership business team. Additionally, police partners were not providing the LSP data sets due to issues with their recording and data collection systems.  However, a wide range of Children’s Social Care data, some very much multi-agency faceted, was informing the Children’s Services Improvement Board over this period.  The Safeguarding partners at Executive level were party to the Improvement Board’s data sets and there was a productive crossover with discussions and crossover within the Devon SCP Executive Group.

Other groups under the Devon SCP such as the Business Group, Child Exploitation Group, Child Sexual Abuse Group and Quality Assurance and Delivery Groups have all had access to bespoke data, provided across agencies, at point of need.  An example of this is, when carrying out thematic reviews, data and research is the starting point for developing a ‘terms of reference’ and is considered all the way through to the outcome of the review through ‘key lines of enquiry’. Thematic reviews culminate in producing considerations for change in practice and this, in turn is acted upon in the post review phases like dissemination of learning and testing of impact.

• National Reform – we have analysed the requirements in WTG23 through the delivery of practitioner workshops, feedback from partner agencies, via Executive Group meetings and by setting up regular meetings for LSPs. LSPs were invited to discussions from early January 2023, are now in place and have agreed Terms of Reference and written a Statement of Intent.  This also includes regular meetings as a Pan-Devon LSP Group to look singularly across Devon at priorities, thresholds, learning and training. An implementation plan has been developed and we are on track to be in a position to implement the requirements of WT23 by the end of 2023.

 

• Barriers – barriers so far to implementation have been a succession of interim leaders, Execs/DSPs and LSPs. The ICB Executive is an interim appointment so further change in personnel may occur in the year ahead. Time is another barrier for our Executives which can affect the implementation due to pressures from their single agency roles. Restricted funds has also prevented the employment of a data analyst, and expansion of the business team, to assist with implementation. as well as development of the training programme in line with the priorities.

 

Conflict Resolution and Escalation – during the period 23/24, we did not receive any requests for case resolution or support with professional differences.

Threshold Document – in Devon we produced a multi-agency Levels of Need tool and phased out the previous Threshold Document in August 2022.  This Levels of Need tool is an indicator of needs which sets out the criteria for action in a way that is transparent, evidence-based, accessible and easily understood.  This tool was devised by a multi-agency partner task and finish group and is also applied consistently in the Children’s Front Door by the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub practitioners.  We revise the tool on an annual basis.

 

^#1Response to WT23 – the Devon SCP needs to show that the requirements of Working Together to Safeguard Children has been implemented by December 2023.

9. Feedback and Key Priorities from Statutory Partners

Devon County Council Children’s Services

• Responding to increased demand
• Improvements in functioning of the Front Door and MASH
• Increase use of Early Help systems due to improvements in the Front Door

Measures

• Comprehensive data set QA and audit framework
• Staff surveys
• Beginning to develop more family and child feedback
• Child’s voice in social care system

Evidence

Audits and dip sampling show:

• Improvements seen in management grip of children being seen following referral, and those at highest risk e.g. on child protection plans
• Improvements in quality of social work practice (audit, Ofsted etc) Positive staff feedback in response to better leadership communications

 

NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB)

• Improved multi-agency working and communication enabling a joined-up approach to our work and keeping children safe. Re-shape of ICB due in August 2024 could influence this negatively.
• Training to identify signs of abuse and vulnerability and what to do, when to report and signpost for support

Measures

A wider governance structure, data sets with the integrated performance reports, contract monitoring and improvement processes have now been embedded

Evidence

Ongoing development although seeing improvement in trajectories and recorded qualitative improvements

 

Devon & Cornwall Police

• Internal process improvements made to utilising the Intelligence Directorate researchers in building reports particularly around contextual safeguarding
• Philomena Protocol developed across Devon
• Daily dial-in (open missing children cases) has been introduced (as required by WTG 23) to improve contextual risk appreciation during missing episodes involving children in the Devon SCP area

Measures

• Various performance points used to assess processes in respect of contextual safeguarding
• Exploitation but has oversight of processes and links with DCC in respect of the assessment process

Evidence

• Review of the police internal process to date to increase quality of research products

PEEL assessment 2023-2025 inspection shows that the police are good at:

• Preventing and deterring antisocial behaviour and reducing vulnerability
• Are adequate at protecting vulnerable children and people
• Building, supporting and protecting the workforce
• Leadership and management requires improvement and this could lead to inadequate representation in the Partnership

 

Prevention and Early Help

• Strengthening multi-agency support and family networks to achieve better outcomes
• Development of Family Hubs in Devon
• Supporting families to find their own solutions
• Children and families will receive the help, support and protection they need at the earliest opportunity
• Every interaction is a chance to build positive change for children and families
• Building confidence by building restorative practice and restorative practitioners
• Sharing of information to safeguarding and promote the wellbeing of children who are missing and identify agencies who know the child

 

Improving Lives

• Young people will see services become more responsive and person-centred, working better together and towards common aims
• Child’s voice heard
• Outcomes measured
• Noticeable improvement to children’s lives

 

Workforce Development

• Improving retention and recruitment
• Building confidence and skills to support families and their children and develop their confidence and resilience in supporting themselves
• Implementing trauma-informed and restorative practices
• Strengthening supervision through restorative and trauma-informed approaches

Key Priorities

The Partnership will know we are working restoratively when we embody the following principles:

• Reflective: flexible, responsible and outcomes bound
• Relational: trustworthy, caring and collaborative
• Respect: Participatory, honest and inclusive
• Responsibility: Empowering, informed and risk-aware
• Resilience: trauma-informed, curious and patient

What will success look like?

• There will be an increase in the number of families supported by our multi-agency partners at the earliest opportunity to access identified information, advice and guidance
• Children and families we support will tell us that there has been a positive difference made to them and who are satisfied with the support they receive
• Through the provision of data analyst and a data dashboard, we will be able to measure impact

10. Reports from Partners

• Restraint Report – Atkinson PI 23 to 24 005 HB.docx
• LADO Report – LADO Service Report 2023-2024.docx
  • WTG23 emphasises the requirements for reviewing the use of restraint in secure homes, ensuring that such practices are monitored and reported to maintain the safety and well-being of children in these settings. The findings of this report will be reported to the Youth Justice Board, the Youth Custody Service and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (as required in WTG23, para 108, p41).  The LADO service agreed to take on the task of satisfying the requirements of WTG 23 in respect of reviewing the use of restraint in the Atkinson secure home. This review has now commenced and will be summarised in our next annual report.

• Child Protection Chair – Independent Reviewing Officer Service – Annual Report 2023-2024.docx
• Youth Justice Service – Devon YJS Strategic Plan 24 25
• Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) South West Peninsula – CDOP-annual-report 2022-23

11. Next Steps

Priorities for 24/25 will currently remain the same as it is agreed there is further work to be done

• Inter-agency collaboration and production of a new multi-agency Front Door and MASH Manual
• Thresholds – annual review of Level of Needs Tool
• Practice guidance booket for multi-agency practitioners
  • to recognise and respond to Neglect to develop our shared understanding, and chronic consent
  • on developing professional curiosity
  • to understanding of consent and when it can be overridden in order to safeguard children
• Review and implementation of Devon’s Early Help Strategy and System and supporting the implementation of LINKS, previously REACH (Reducing Exploitation and Absence from Care or Home), a service which supports children and young people who run away, go missing or who are at risk of exploitation.
• Child Exploitation conference to start the first steps of drafting up and implementation of multi-agency locality plans to recognise and respond to child exploitation
• Publication of newly revised and review Safeguarding Arrangements – December 2024
• Statement of intent from LSPs – December 2024
• Revised business plan based on priorities and impact – March 2025
• Recruit a permanent Partnership Manager – by November 2024
• Recruit a data analyst by – by January 2025

Summary – Roy Lindon, Safeguarding Chair

In conclusion, the Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (Devon SCP) has made significant strides in safeguarding children in the local area. The partnership has focused on delivering and monitoring multi-agency priorities and procedures to protect children, ensuring compliance with published arrangements and thresholds.

Close partnership working and engagement with education and other relevant agencies have allowed for better identification of and response to harm. Effective information sharing arrangements between agencies have been implemented, facilitating joint analysis and improving the overall safeguarding process.

The partnership has also delivered high-quality and timely rapid reviews and local child safeguarding practice reviews, with the impact of learning from these reviews clearly evidenced in yearly reports. Additionally, the provision of appropriate multi-agency safeguarding professional development and training has been a key focus.

We have more work to do in respect of seeking and responding to feedback from children and families about their experiences of services; this will ensure that the voices of those most affected are heard and considered in the design and delivery of services.  Overall, the Devon SCP has demonstrated a strong commitment to safeguarding children through collaborative efforts, continuous learning, and improvement. The partnership’s dedication to protecting children and ensuring their well-being is evident in the comprehensive and effective measures implemented throughout the reporting period.