Collective responsibilities for child protection

Getting it right for every child & young person in Highland: interagency practice model & child protection procedures 2024

All agencies have a responsibility to recognise and actively consider potential risks to a child, irrespective of whether the child is the main focus of their involvement. There must be consideration of the needs, rights and mutual significance of siblings in any process that has a focus on a single child (more information can be found here).

Effective partnerships between organisations, professional bodies and the public are more likely if key roles and responsibilities are well defined and understood. This section therefore outlines collective responsibilities for child protection. This encompasses Chief Officers, Child Protection Committees, local communities and the general public.

Effectiveness and continual improvement within child protection services relies upon:

  • collaborative leadership from chief officers and senior managers
  • planned workforce development
  • communication, information and partnership with communities
  • communication and commitment to partnership with families

Concerns about a child at risk of significant harm may come from family, friends, neighbours, carers or any other source in the community. Children may disclose abuse directly or express anxieties about their treatment indirectly.

Agencies working with children and families must provide clear and relevant information about how they work together with families and the community to promote the wellbeing and safety of children. This includes information about the ways in which early help can be provided to avoid escalating need and risk, and about relevant protective processes when this becomes appropriate.

Relevant information includes advice about:

  • what to do if a member of the public has concerns about a child
  • sharing of information between core agencies, as defined in Part 3 of this Guidance, if there is concern about risk of harm to a child (as necessary, in a manner that is proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely and secure)
  • next steps and follow-up when concerns are reported
  • the role and responsibilities of named persons or of those professionals in universal services who hold a similar role
  • Leadership in child protection: Chief Officer's Groups and Child Protection Committees

The roles, responsibilities and accountability of Chief Officers and Child Protection Committees have been reviewed and revised. They are outlined in the document entitled Protecting children and young people: Child Protection Committee and Chief Officer responsibilities (Scottish Government, 2019).

Chief Officers

Police Scotland, NHS Boards and local authorities are the key agencies that have individual and collective responsibilities for child protection. They must account for this work and its effectiveness.

The Chief Constable and the Chief Executives of health boards and of local authorities are referred to as Chief Officers. They are the members of Chief Officer's Groups, responsible for ensuring that their agency, individually and collectively, works to protect children and young people as effectively as possible.

Local Police Commanders and Chief Executives of health boards and local authorities are responsible for ensuring that their agencies, individually and collectively, work to protect children and young people as effectively as possible. They also have responsibility for integrating the contribution of those agencies not under their direct control, including the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service; and they will engage with the Third Sector and private sector as appropriate.

Chief Officers are individually and collectively responsible for the leadership, direction and scrutiny of their respective child protection services and their Child Protection Committees (CPCs).

Child Protection Committees (CPC)

CPCs are the key local bodies for developing, implementing and improving child protection strategy across and between agencies, bodies and the local community.

A CPC is expected to perform a number of crucial functions in order to jointly identify and manage the risk to children and young people, monitor and improve performance, and promote the ethos that: "It's everyone's job to make sure I'm alright" (Scottish Executive 2002; Scottish Government 2017). CPCs must ensure all of these functions are carried out to a high standard and are aligned to the local GIRFEC arrangements.

Further information relating to Highland Child Protection Committee and local services is available here.

Further information on the role of Chief Officers and CPCs is available at: Protecting children and young people: Child Protection Committee and Chief Officer responsibilities (Scottish Government, 2019).

Chief Social Work Officers

The Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 requires local authorities to appoint a single Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO). The CSWO will advise and assist local authorities and their partners in relation to governance and fulfilment of statutory responsibilities. This includes corporate parenting, child protection, adult protection and the management of high-risk offenders, as well as the role of social work in achievement of a wide range of national and local outcomes. The CSWO also has a contribution to make in supporting overall performance improvement and management of corporate risk (The Role of Chief Social Work Officer, 2016).

NHS Highland

NHS Boards must have designated professional leads for child protection. This is usually a Chief/Consultant/Lead Nurse, and Consultant Paediatrician. These officers have pivotal roles to play in building strong collaborative relationships with professional leads in Health and Social Care Partnerships, and with other key stakeholders. The health board accountability framework for child protection is referenced in Protecting children and young people: Child Protection Committee and Chief Officer responsibilities (Scottish Government, 2019).

Self-evaluation and inspection

Self-evaluation is central to continuous improvement. It is a continuous, dynamic process which establishes a baseline from which to plan and set priorities for improvement. Used effectively, continuous self-evaluation helps to monitor progress and impact. Self-evaluation is therefore integral to the work of the child protection committee and children's planning processes. It should not just be an episode in preparation for inspection.

The Care Inspectorate has published a Quality Framework for children and young people in need of care and protection. This supports both self-evaluation and inspection, through identification and analysis of:

  • strengths to be maintained and areas for improvement in systems and practice
  • positive impact on and gaps within service provision for children, young people and their families

Child Protection Committees should use the quality framework to evaluate the efficacy and impact of child protection practice in their area. Through its programme of joint inspection of services for children in need of protection, the Care Inspectorate identifies key local and national messages to promote good practice and learning.

Inspection

Scottish Ministers have requested the Care Inspectorate to lead a programme of joint inspections that focus on the care and protection of children and young people, and on their experience of services. These inspections are undertaken in collaboration with Education Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS).

A self-evaluation and inspection framework informs inspection reports. These consider a continuum of services, which include prevention, support, protection and care.

Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland (www.cypcs.org.uk). The general function of this office is to promote and safeguard the rights of children and young people. This includes promoting awareness and understanding of the rights of children and young people; and review of the law, policy and practice relating to the rights of children. Scotland has incorporated the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots law. The Commissioner's office has a key role in promoting the effective protection of the full range of children's rights within protective processes.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (www.spso.org.uk). The SPSO's statutory functions include providing a final stage for complaints about most devolved public services in Scotland, including (from April 2021) the role of the Independent National Whistleblowing Officer (INWO) for the NHS in Scotland. In order to promote improvement, the SPSO provides resources on approach to complaints. This includes encouragement of resolution-focussed and restorative approaches when there has been conflict. The SPSO also publishes the outcomes of individual cases, some of which involve failure to listen to and take the views of children into account; and failure to gather all relevant evidence and provide a clear rationale for key child protection decisions.