Agenda item

Fran-Gosling-Thomas introduced herself to the Board as the new independent Chairman of the Local Safeguard Children’s Board (LSCB) and thanked them for inviting her to present. At the time of the previous LSCB Business Plan it was felt that a lot of activity was taking place however, this was largely within silos of individual organisations.

At a business planning session held in October 2014, West Berkshire LSCB had agreed five new top priorities for the next two years 2015-17 as follows:

·         Early Help;

·         The Child’s Voice and Journey

·         Child Sexual Exploitation

·         Domestic Abuse and Vulnerable Groups

·         Effectiveness and Impact of the LSC

The number of priorities within the new LSCB Business Plan had been reduced from the former plan to help maximise impact.  Each priority was owned and shared by the LSCB however, each also had its own designated sponsor.

The LSCB was seeking support from the Health and Wellbeing Board around four particular areas:

Early Help: Fran Gosling-Thomas explained that if they got this right it would affect many other areas. Further work was required across communities and within schools. Early Help had strong links to health visiting and school nursing. There was also a link between Early Help and self harm and suicide.

Childs Voice: It was acknowledged that there was already a lot of activity taking place with regards to consulting young people. It was important that this work was not duplicated. Consultation needed to be strengthened and not be tokenistic.

Regarding health checks for Looked After children (LAC), this was an area where West Berkshire had performed poorly in the past however more recently had seen a slight improvement.

Fran Gosling-Thomas stressed that focus was required to increase Practitioner (GP) attendance at Child Protection Conferences. The huge pressures GP’s were under was acknowledged however, information exchange was crucial.

Child Sexual Exploitation: It was reported that a Serious Case Review was about to be published involving a young woman who had been sexually exploited at 14 years old. There was a huge amount of learning to be taken from this case as the victim had reported the issue on numerous occasions however, nothing had been done.

Domestic Abuse and Vulnerable groups: Domestic violence had huge impact across many other areas. It was important that areas of work were not duplicated.

Effectiveness and Impact of the LSCB: Fran Gosling-Thomas explained that the aim within the new LSCB Business Plan was to have less bureaucracy.

Dr Bal Bahia referred to Fran Gosling-Thomas’ comment regarding GP attendance at Child Protection Conferences. He reported that the duty to provide information had been discussed with Mark Evans (Head of Children’s Services) along with the timeframes Social Services had to work to. GPs were happy to provide reports in a timely fashion. Dr Lise Llewellyn asked if a conference call system was a possibility for GPs. Rachael Wardell stated that although information sharing was required, there was also a need for conversation.

Dr Barbara Barrie reported that Social Services often did not feedback to GPs and therefore there was a disengagement issue that needed addressing. Fran Gosling-Thomas acknowledged this as a very valid point.