The Safeguarding and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report 2024-25, and to review their work programme for the coming year. Councillors requested more detail on specific data points in the annual report, and suggested that future reports include information on the impact of financial pressures and staff shortages on safeguarding capacity, as well as a lessons learned and impact tracker. The committee agreed to form a working group to examine elective home education.

Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report

Bernie Brown, one of the three designated safeguarding partners for the multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, and Victoria Lee, Detective Chief Superintendent, working for Staffordshire Police, Head of our Public Protection Team, and also Chair of Staffordshire Children's Safeguarding Partnership, presented the Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report 2024-25 to the committee.

The report summarised the partnership's vision, mission, and values, and outlined the new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements that have been published for Staffordshire. It also detailed the refreshed structure of the partnership, the new Safeguarding Children Partnership Advisory Group, and the strengthened involvement of education, with a wider representative group of headteachers.

The partnership's priorities for the year include:

• Focusing on the integrated front door, to improve the approach to and accessibility of agencies and the public for making referrals where they're concerned about a child.
• Contextual safeguarding, with a new strategy around engagement around child exploitation.
• A learning hub, with the aim of reducing missing episodes.
• A joint self-assessment and action plan for domestic abuse, with a focus on strengthening the child's focus in relation to domestic abuse.
• A graded care profile, used to assess families and children when neglect is a feature.

The report also highlighted the child safeguarding practice reviews across the partnership, the 49 child death notifications received, the ongoing work with HMYOI Warrington, and the significant amount of multi-agency training undertaken.

Several councillors raised questions and concerns about the report:

• Councillor Screen felt that the report fell short on tangible data, and asked for more information on the 30% of Staffordshire children who are not ready for school at the end of reception, the reasons why around 250 children were permanently excluded from school, and the findings of the thematic review into suicide.
  • Bernie Brown explained that the early years data is dealt with by the early years team, and that more detailed information around school exclusions would be covered in another scrutiny session on that specific issue.
  • Victoria Lee added that a separate document from the Child Deaf Overview panel would outline all of the detail sought in relation to suicide, and that a working group chaired by herself was driving forward tangible activity and outputs as a consequence of some of the findings from a review using the National Child Mortality Database methodology.
• Councillor Luca asked what percentage of feedback from people with real-life experience had been integrated into the report and would be put into forward plans to provide a better service.
  • Bernie Brown said that she could not give a percentage, but talked about how the various groups across the county are engaged with, and how the partnership responds to feedback.
• Councillor Wallens asked whether the voice of children findings are turned into specific measurable actions, and requested more detail on how the new integrated front door will reduce referral delays and what performance targets will be monitored.
  • Bernie Brown responded that the corporate parenting panel looks at the feedback from young people, and that a scrutiny session would be sharing an improvement plan outlining some of the work being done in relation to the integrated front door.
• Councillor Kelly asked how the council planned to prevent infant deaths, given that she had found it hard to access maternity services in rural areas after having a c-section.
  • Steph, the ICB representative, responded that maternity services play a huge part in ensuring that mums and babies are well, and that they do have a universal offer in terms of home visits.
  • Victoria Lee added that the Child Death Overview panel has a multidisciplinary team that is driven to identify any preventable or modifiable factors that can be changed for families in the future.
• Councillor Kelly also asked what was being done to prevent bias and improve safeguarding in private schools.
  • Victoria Lee responded that the council engages with education colleagues to reach into some of these children, provide opportunities for children to feel they can speak up in a safe environment, and sensitively considers the most effective way to engage with each child.
• Councillor Nixon asked if there was any evidence to substantiate claims of racial bias at Warrington facility, and if so, what was the plan to remedy this.
  • Bernie Brown responded that the discussion and oversight of Warrington is managed through the youth justice management board, and that the Howard League had also visited Warrington to talk to young people and look at their issues.
• Councillor Edwards asked if the Baroness Casey report¹ had had any major effects on the work done with child exploitation or grooming gangs.
  • Victoria Lee responded that the report had been received into the partnership, and that the council was working to service any national requests that are coming from ministers into policing and out into the partnership.

Work Programme 2025-26

The committee reviewed their work programme for the coming year, and made the following decisions:

• A family hub briefing, originally scheduled for next week, has been moved to 4 November to allow for the inclusion of additional officer experts.
• A visit to the children's integrated front door and the adult MASH² is scheduled for 7 November.
• The SEND report has been moved back to allow the committee to concentrate on the annual report.
• The committee agreed to form a working group to examine elective home education, and members were asked to email Helen Arnold by the end of next week if they wanted to take part.
• Phil Pusey from Skivvies, a support organisation for voluntary groups, will be invited to a meeting to discuss safeguarding in out-of-school clubs.