Child Protection in Angus

National Guidance - the Role of Chief Officers

Working within the accountability structures of their respective organisations, Chief Officers in each local authority must work collectively to identify and commission inter-agency activity with respect to protecting children and young people. They must account for this work and its effectiveness.

It is recognised that a number of areas have developed arrangements that cross local authority boundaries, either in the geographical coverage of the CPC itself or working in a consortium with neighbouring CPCs. It is for Chief Officers collectively to determine the most appropriate arrangements for their area(s).

The local CPC is the inter-agency mechanism to take forward this work, whether the CPC is comprised of the Chief Officers themselves or whether it is a group clearly mandated by Chief Officers to do so.

The Chief Executive of the local authority or, where it is agreed that a Child Protection Committee should cover more than one local authority area, the largest local authority in population terms will ensure that a Chief Officers Group is initially established in such a way as to exercise fully the roles and responsibilities set out within this document.

Arrangements for convening and chairing the Chief Officers Group will be agreed by that group. This may be set up as a bespoke forum on child protection or be integrated into other structures already in place where Chief Officers convene. However, the protection of children and young people must feature as a primary focus.

This group will meet to agree the annual report of their CPC and the business plan for the next year. In addition, it will come together with sufficient frequency to effectively discharge its responsibilities in relation to the protection of children and young people. There will also be a formal process to evaluate progress against agreed objectives through the course of the year and to ensure increased integration into other planning structures, in particular integrated children's services planning.

Chief Officers, working together, have the following roles and responsibilities:-

individually and collectively, to demonstrate leadership and accountability for child protection work and its effectiveness on behalf of their agencies including the effectiveness of the CPC itself;
agree a business plan, including operational priorities for protecting children, and ensure the allocation of resources to the CPC who will support the implementation of the Framework for Standards and the Children's Charter across agencies;
ensure that the CPC links to other planning fora under their control, in particular the structures for integrated children's services planning;
agree the constitution for the CPC, including the delegating of roles and responsibilities, to take forward multi-agency issues in respect of child protection on their behalf and invest it with the authority to do so;
agree the agencies to be represented at their CPC;
appoint, or agree the appointment of, the chair of the CPC and in doing so ensure that the chair has the time, resources and dedicated professional and administrative support to properly fulfil the role;
appoint representatives from their own agencies to the CPC with the appropriate authority and responsibility to best take forward the functions required;
invite nominations from other agencies to be represented on the CPC;
agree reporting mechanisms with elected members and board members that cover the work of their CPC and the implications for their locality. This will include at least annual reporting; and
agree and endorse an annual report and business plan of the CPC.

Alignment with integrated children's services processes and planning structures is essential. Initially, it is expected that separate CPC reports and business plans will be prepared to demonstrate implementation of this guidance and the contribution of CPCs to the protection of children and young people.

The following extract from the Framework for Standards (Scottish Executive 2004) sets in context the policy base for Chief Officers.

Standard 8: Agencies, individually and collectively, demonstrate leadership and accountability for their work and its effectiveness:

The needs and risks for the child come first in all professional decision making. Agencies have in place:

policies;
procedures;
systems;
structures; and
resources and personnel to support this.

Agencies rigorously monitor and review their work in protecting children and implement steps which lead to continuous improvement.

Agencies demonstrate they understand the needs of the communities they serve and direct sufficient resources to services for the care and protection of children.

Agencies have systems and policies in place to share information within and across agencies or professionals.

Agencies actively promote joint working through joint planning, training and monitoring arrangements. Agencies are responsible for ensuring that their staff work with other professionals to achieve better outcomes for each child.

Agencies seek to ensure that their staff are effectively and relevantly trained and that they are:

supported;
supervised; and
accountable in their work.
Staff and managers adhere to their relevant codes of conduct.

Agencies seek to ensure they have access to a sufficient range of expertise and services to meet the care and protection needs of children.

Agencies ensure that staff are adequately protected from violence and aggression and that in undertaking their duties the risks to both the professional and children are minimised.

Agencies have robust information systems that effectively account for the work of their staff and have systems to support the monitoring and review of outcomes for the child.

Agencies have quality assurance mechanisms to ensure that these standards are met and that this can be demonstrated.

Resources

The next section outlines the key functions that the CPC will fulfil. In order to fulfil these functions, agencies will be required to commit resources. Chief Officers have a collective responsibility to ensure that their CPC has the resources, including staff time and finance, to fulfil the agreed business plan. Resources will be agreed by the Chief Officers Group and reviewed as part of the business plan for the annual report.

Resources will include:

provision of sufficient dedicated time for CPC members to fulfil their roles and responsibilities;
provision of finance to support the activities of the CPC, including inter-agency training;
professional, operational and administrative support to the CPC itself;
commitment of time from staff not directly involved in the work of the CPC to contribute to specific projects, for example redrafting procedures or delivering multi-agency training; and
provision of sufficient staff time in their agencies for child protection work and for activities, such as staff development, that are necessary to ensure competent and confident staff and continuous improvement.

Resolution of differences or disputes

CPCs will reflect the commitment of key agencies, working together, to improve the protection of children and young people and will be dependent largely on developing consensus. In the event of the work of the CPC being significantly impaired by failure to reach an agreement, it is the responsibility of the Chair to notify the Chief Officers Group as a matter of urgency, who will then arbitrate on the matter.

In the event of the Chief Officers Group failing to reach an agreement, it is their responsibility to bring the issue to the attention of the Scottish Government to agree a course of action to resolve any dispute.

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