local context - safeguarding · web viewthe dscb is a statutory body providing a central...

Business Plan 2017/18 PAGE 1

environment in which their needs are met and they are safe from harm.The Vision of DSCB is that children and young people in Dudley grow up in an

Introduction Welcome to the Dudley’s Safeguarding Children Board (DSCB) Strategic Plan and

Business Plan for 2017 – 2018. The DSCB is a statutory body providing a central co-ordinating function throughout Dudley for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare, agreeing how local organisations will co-operate in keeping children safe and ensuring the effectiveness of what they do as specified in Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfE 2015) This Business Plan sets out the strategic priorities that the DSCB has identified for 2015 – 2018. On an annual basis, DSCB uses a range of information to agree the actions required to deliver against these priorities. The annual work programme is co-ordinated and delivered through the Board’s sub groups and is designed to support continuous improvement in the child safeguarding system as well as to improve the effectiveness of the DSCB itself. DSCB will work closely with the Children and Young People’s Alliance, Health and Wellbeing Board and Safe and Sound Board to understand and influence how these partnership boards also address the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in Dudley. In addition, DSCB will work with the Dudley Adult Safeguarding Board to explore all age safeguarding matters as well as to create opportunities to jointly deliver their respective functions. In achieving the above, the DSCB is committed to using the arrangements that have been developed in Dudley to gather and use the views of children and young people to inform its work and strengthening how the Board and its constituent partners do this is a priority for 2017-18. Using the views of children and young people to inform our work will mean that we understand the issues that matter most to children and young people and their experiences of receiving services; our collective responsibility is to use this information to inform service planning, improvement and evaluation. All LSCB members, as part of their role and responsibility to the Board, will need to ensure that their agency or sector is aware of the Board’s priorities so that there is effective coordination of understanding and activity across the partnership. In turn, DSCB needs to ensure that it makes use of, or develops, arrangements to communicate with key stakeholders; including front line staff. Liz Murphy, DSCB Independent Chair July 2017



2018 - Priorities 2015DSCB Strategic

Local Context Through a variety of means including self-assessment, peer review and external inspection, DSCB recognises that further work is required so that DSCB is fulfilling its statutory functions as set out in Working Together 2015. Identified gaps include:

• Use of multi-agency performance data to effectively monitor front line practice • Use of single and multi-agency audit to improve safeguarding practice • Timely completion of learning reviews including Serious Case Reviews• Embedding learning and improvement activity in front line practice• Delivery of high quality multi-agency training and evaluation of single and multi-agency safeguarding training • Further evidence of challenge including via s11 and s157 audits to improve the safeguarding system and practice • Engagement with children and young people to inform the Board’s work• Engagement with front line practitioners

To address these gaps, this business plan is supported by Dudley Children’s Services Improvement Plan which sets out the actions that need to be taken so that DSCB delivers its statutory functions. Progress to deliver against the Dudley Children’s Services Improvement Plan is monitored by the DSCB Executive group and also reported to an independently chaired Improvement Board.Data available to the DSCB indicates that the following are areas of priority with regard to improving safeguarding outcomes for vulnerable children and so should remain the focus of DSCB activity during 2017-18:

• Recognition and response to neglect • Understanding and application of thresholds and embedding delivery of early help • Responding to children and young people harmed or at risk through CSE and/or missing • Robust management oversight and supervision

The DSCB will also seek assurance in relation to safeguarding activity carried out in respect of a range of vulnerable children and young people and as required will influence and challenge other agencies and partnership to take action to improve outcomes for groups of vulnerable children. The DSCB will ensure it focuses its attention on the following groups during 2017-18:

• Looked after children and young people • Privately fostered children and young people


• Children and young people with emotional health and wellbeing needs • Disabled children and young people • Unaccompanied children • Young people in custody • Young people at risk of radicalisation • Young people living with domestic abuse • Young people at risk of Female Genital Mutilation • Young people at risk of Forced Marriage and Honour Based Abuse • Children who are bullied

What we will do


Strategic Priority One - Children and Young People are safe from harm in the home, outside the home and online How we will evaluate and evidence our impact i.e. outcome measures:

• The vulnerabilities of children and young people at risk of harm from CSE or missing are identified at an earlier stage • Children are safeguarded from child sexual exploitation and perpetrators are disrupted and/or prosecuted • There is a reduction in the volume of repeat missing incidences• Children are safeguarded from neglect without drift and delay • The safeguarding needs of disabled children are recognised and addressed• Children and parents/carers recognise the risks associated with the internet, how to avoid these risks and how best to

respond if things go wrong• Practitioners identify how training has improved their practice

What we will do: • Devise a local CSE problem profile and use ‘missing’ data to inform strategy, commissioning and practice • Join up arrangements to respond CSE and missing • Continue to deliver the multi-agency neglect strategy • Deliver the e safety action strategy• Evaluate arrangements to safeguard disabled children and young people• Provide learning and development opportunities to enable the workforce to safeguard children and young people

Strategic Priority Two Children and Young People have access to the right service in the right place at the right

time

How we will evaluate and evidence our impact i.e. outcome measures:

• Professionals report they understand and are confident to apply locally agreed thresholds• Audit evidences the effective application of locally agreed thresholds• Partner agencies coordinate early help services • Early help cases end for positive reasons i.e. step down to single agency early help or return to universal services • Children, young people and parents/carers report the support they have received has made a positive difference


What we will do:

• Update DSCB thresholds document • Provide thresholds training• Audit the application of locally agreed thresholds • Evaluate the accessibility and impact of the early help offer

• Raise awareness of safeguarding in the local community

Strategic Priority Three - Effective partnership working and accountability to improve safeguarding outcomes for children, young people and their families How we will evaluate and evidence our impact i.e. outcome measures:

• Children and young people are engaged and influence Board business and activity• Serious Case review sub group performance data evidences timely submission of information and completion of

reviews• DSCB dataset contains multi-agency data and multi-agency learning is identified via audit• Professionals report, audits demonstrate and evaluation of the impact of training evidences that learning and

development has improved practice and so outcomes for children and families • Management oversight is robust and front-line staff have access to reflective supervision

• DSCB is fulfilling its statutory functions What we will do:

• Secure and use the voice of children and young people to inform our work; including evaluating the effectiveness of local service provision

• Embed a robust pathway for considering cases that may meet Serious Case Review threshold and as required carry out learning reviews in a timely way

• Disseminate learning and evaluate its impact on practice


• Expand the Board’s oversight, scrutiny and assurance of the multi-agency safeguarding system• Develop supervision standards and support managers to provide reflective supervision/promote reflective practice • Implement the DSCB section of the Dudley Children’s Services Improvement Plan

Implementation and Monitoring

The DSCB subgroups are accountable for ensuring that work of the DSCB is progressed. Each sub group will develop a detailed work plan which identifies the specific activity that will be carried out by the sub group. Responsibility for delivering the work plans rests with the relevant sub group chairs and members and each statutory partner is responsible for ensuring that the Board’s work is properly implemented and delivered within their own agency. Sub group work plans are monitored quarterly by the DSCB Executive group and as required matters can be escalated to the DSCB.

Other activity The activity described on the preceding pages can be considered the improvement priorities identified by DSCB for 2017-18. In addition, to this work, DSCB will carry out a range of other activities in relation to its statutory functions. Examples include:

• Review and update policy, procedures and practice guidance • Carry out a review of any child death • Publish an annual report

Reporting the impact of the DSCB Business Plan DSCB will publish a publicly available annual report on the work it has carried out in 2017-18. Self-assessment and external peer review as well as future inspections will assist the DSCB to evaluate and evidence the progress made in terms of delivering its statutory functions in accordance with the requirements of statutory guidance.

An important aspect of the DSCB annual report will be to provide a rigorous assessment of the performance and effectiveness of local services. This will allow the DSCB to evaluate and analyse the impact of its work in relation to its improvement priorities. The findings of the DSCB Annual Report will be used to inform future improvement activity.


local context - safeguarding · web viewthe dscb is a statutory body providing a central...

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