The Family Services Select Committee were scheduled to discuss the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report, the Children's Social Care Reforms, and the Committee's work programme for the coming year. The meeting was scheduled to begin with 72 seconds of silence to remember those who lost their lives in the Grenfell tragedy¹.

Local Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report

The committee was scheduled to review the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) Annual Report for April 2024 to March 2025. The LSCP is responsible for the strategic oversight of local safeguarding arrangements across the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster. The three safeguarding partners - the local authorities, the police, and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) - share the duty to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the area.

The annual report highlights the work of the partnership in relation to its key priorities:

• Ensuring children are safe in their community and have access to mental health support
• Supporting children's healthy peer relationships, positive relationships within their family and wider community
• Supporting families to manage the cost of living crisis, access parenting and family support and access to housing
• Supporting safer transitions to adulthood (transitional safeguarding).

The report also provides an overview of multi-agency safeguarding training, learning from audits and reviews, and updates from partner agencies including the Integrated Care Board, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Central North West London NHS Trust (school nursing), and the Central West Basic Command Unit (BCU) Police.

The committee was asked to consider how elected members can continue to support the safeguarding children agenda and children's needs across the borough.

Children's Social Care Reforms

The committee was scheduled to discuss the government's Families First Partnership programme and its implications for children's social care in the borough. The Families First vision aims to transform the system by having practitioners from social work, police, health, education, and other services collaborate to support families, promote child wellbeing, and protect them from harm.

The four key pillars of the reforms are:

• The establishment of local multi-disciplinary Family Help services
• A child protection system led by a dedicated Multi-Agency Child Protection Team
• Increased use of family networks, with family group decision-making meetings being offered and supported at an earlier stage
• Stronger multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, including an increased role for education and better information sharing

The committee was invited to provide feedback on the report, including any areas of transformation that are of particular importance to the borough.

Select Committee Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to discuss and agree its detailed work plan for 2025/26. The committee has a remit to scrutinise topics related to social services provision for children and families; education, training and youth services and support; early years, childcare and play services; sports education; libraries and other related topics.

As part of the work programme, select committee members will undertake visits to services for families and children across the borough. A list of services was being prepared for the committee's consideration, including the relocated Youth Justice Service, St Quintin's Disabled Children's Centre, and providers commissioned as part of the Youth Offer. The committee was invited to make suggestions for additional services to be added to the list.