The Protection of Children in England:

A Progress Report
Lord Laming’s findings and the Government’s
response

Jeanette Pugh
Director
Safeguarding Group

25 March 2009
 Background
ƒ Announced by Ministers 12 November 2008

ƒ Wide ranging remit. Set out in letter from Secretary of State 17 November:

– What good practice has been successfully achieved in safeguarding

children since the publication of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report?
– What are the key barriers, including in the legal process, that may impede
efficient and effective work with children and families that may be
preventing good safeguarding practice from becoming standard practice
everywhere, for example in deciding whether an application should be
made to take a child into care?
– What specific actions should be taken by Government and national and
local agencies to overcome these barriers and accelerate systematic
improvements in safeguarding practice across the country?”

ƒ Report, and Government’s immediate response, published 12 March 2009

 Methodology
ƒ Over 100 written submissions from key stakeholders and over 200 letters
from a range of individuals including professionals across the children’s
workforce
ƒ The report team visited six local areas and met key staff from local
authorities, education, health and the police
ƒ Three national seminars to gather the views of national stakeholders, local
leaders and frontline staff
ƒ Lord Laming and the team also met national stakeholders, trade unions,
Government officials and some MPs
ƒ They also surveyed chairs of Local Safeguarding Children Boards and
asked 11 Million to survey young people
 Lord Laming’s headline findings (1)
ƒ Robust legislative, structural and policy foundations are in place.
Every Child Matters:

– “clearly has the support of professionals, across all of the

services, who work with children and young people” and
– provides “a sound framework for professionals to protect
children and promote their welfare”

ƒ Progress is being made and the frontline is making a positive

difference to children:

– “A great deal of progress has been made”

– “Every day, thousands of children are helped, supported and in
some cases have their lives saved by these staff”
 Lord Laming’s headline findings (2)
ƒ But he is also clear that:

“There now needs to be a step change in the arrangements to

protect children from harm”

ƒ He challenges national Government to “inject greater energy and

drive into the implementation of change and support local
improvement..”

ƒ And he challenges leaders of local services to “accept their

responsibility to translate policy, legislation and guidance into day to
day practice on the frontline of every service”
 Recommendations
ƒ 58 recommendations designed to strengthen the implementation of
child protection arrangements
ƒ They seek to:
– strengthen national leadership to ensure that best practice in
many areas of the country is being universally applied in every
area of the country;
– improve local accountability so that all services know exactly
what they need to do to keep children safe; and
– provide more support for both local leaders and the front-line
workforce.
 The Government’s response (1)
ƒ Government accepted all 58 recommendations and published an
immediate response, in the form of a reply from the Secretary of
State to Lord Laming, on 12 March

ƒ The response goes beyond Lord Laming’s recommendations in

some key areas

ƒ Immediate action set in train to take forward some recommendations

ƒ Detailed Government response promised by the end of April

 The Government’s response (2)
National leadership and accountability

ƒ Sir Roger Singleton has been appointed to a new role of Chief Adviser on
the Safety of Children – to advise on the effective implementation of policy
and report annually to Parliament on progress
ƒ Government will establish a new cross-Government National Safeguarding
Delivery Unit - reporting to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Children, Young
People and Families - to provide stronger national leadership and effective
support and challenge to Children’s Trusts and local authorities as they
carry out their safeguarding responsibilities
ƒ Working Together to Safeguard Children will be revised and updated to
reflect Lord Laming’s recommendations on policy and practice, including in
relation to Serious Case Reviews
 The Government’s response (3)
Local leadership and accountability

ƒ Government will strengthen local governance arrangements and clarify the

relationship between Children’s Trusts and Local Safeguarding Children
Boards (LSCBs), building in more robust challenge, a presumption of
independence for the chairing of LSCBs, and greater engagement of the
local community through the appointment of two lay members
ƒ DCSs and Lead Members have central roles. Both should always be
members of both the Children’s Trust Board and the LSCB
ƒ LA Chief Executives and Council leaders also have critical roles. They
should make an annual assessment of the effectiveness of local
governance and partnership arrangements
 The Government’s response (4)
Local leaders and the front-line workforce

ƒ Better support for DCSs, aspirant DCSs – a new leadership programme

from autumn 2009, an Executive Leadership programme from 2010/11 and
a succession planning strategy
ƒ A programme of intensive support and coaching for social work team
leaders and first line managers, particularly those working in child protection
ƒ Action to improve skills and capacity in child protection in police forces
ƒ A new `Action on Health Visiting Programme’ and work to improve training,
development and support for the health workforce on safeguarding
 The Government’s response (5)
Local leaders and the front-line workforce

ƒ Social Work Task Force (SWTF) established to carry out a `nuts and bolts’
review of the social work profession and look at how frontline social work
practice should be improved
ƒ Immediate action announced to improve support for frontline social workers,
address recruitment and retention, and to begin to raise the morale of the
profession, e.g. access to intensive induction for all newly qualified social
workers starting this year, a new Advanced Social Work Professional status,
and action to attract social workers back into the profession
ƒ SWTF to review the Integrated Children’s System and the way in which it is
being implemented locally
ƒ An independent review, led by Francis Plowden, of the impact of court fees
in the care proceedings system
 Next steps

ƒ Work with partners to develop detailed Government response in the

form of an action plan by end April, and put in place arrangements
for monitoring its delivery

ƒ Define more precisely the role of, and establish, the new National
Safeguarding Delivery Unit, working with the Chief Adviser and
others
 Some key issues
ƒ How can the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit best work with
partners to support improvements in standards of safeguarding and
child protection? What would help? What would not?

ƒ What improvements in local practice can be made quickly, in

advance of the Social Work Task Force’s findings? How can we
inject immediate pace into this?

ƒ What further guidance would be helpful in clarifying the roles of

Children’s Trusts and LSCBs?
 The Protection of Children in England:
A Progress Report
Lord Laming’s findings and the Government’s
response

Jeanette Pugh
Director
Safeguarding Group

25 March 2009