Child Protection Improvement Programme

Child Protection Improvement Programme – Update #9

June 25, 2018 by Lewis Worobec No Comments | Category Uncategorized

As the Scottish Parliament breaks for summer recess this week, we thought it would be timely to provide an update on the work being undertaken to deliver the recommendations of the Child Protection Improvement Programme (CPIP).

Firstly, we would like to bring your awareness to the Child Protection Committees Scotland’s (CPC Scotland) media campaign ‘Eyes Open’ which was launched on Friday 22 June 2018.  We welcome the campaign ‘Eyes Open’ which aims to raise awareness of the important role everyone has to keep children safe from harm in the holidays.

In support of the campaign, Maree Todd MSP, Minister for Childcare and Early Years, said:

“For most children the summer holidays are a time for fun and a hard-earned break from school, but for some this period can bring an increased risk of harm, neglect, and disruption.

We all have a part to play in protecting children and keeping them safe from harm. I urge everyone to take an Eyes Open approach this summer and report anything you feel may put a child at risk.”

More information about the campaign can be found on the CELCIS website at: https://www.celcis.org/news/news-pages/eyes-open-scotland-child-protection-cpcscotland

Chief Officers’ Leadership Events

As part of the current Child Protection Improvement Programme (CPIP), the National Child Protection Leadership Group, which is chaired by Maree Todd,  Minister for Childcare and Early Years, hosted events for all Child Protection Chief Officers’ Groups and Chairpersons of Child Protection Committees across Scotland.  The first events took place  on 25 April 2018 in Glasgow, and 2 May 2018 in Perth.

We held two events to ensure as many senior leaders could attend as possible.  The programme included key input from a range of speakers, including Catherine Dyer, Former Crown Office Chief Executive,  Karen Reid, Chief Executive Care Inspectorate, and Iona Colvin, Chief Social Work Adviser Scottish Government. The events provided an opportunity for leaders to reflect, share experiences and discuss continuous improvement.

CELCIS will publish a summarised report on the two Chief Officers Leadership Events in due course and this will be located on the CELCIS website.

The link below will take you to the section of the CELCIS website where the presentations delivered at the event are now available: https://www.celcis.org/knowledge-bank/search-bank/child-protection-chief-officers-group-event/.

We intend to hold similar leadership events in the future and we will provide details in due course.

The National Child Protection Leadership Group

The last National Child Protection Leadership Group took place on 27 March 2018 and the next meeting will take place on 27 June 2018.  The main focus for the leadership group in the short term is the consideration of a draft work-plan for the group which covers the period from June 2018 to April 2019. The current draft work-plan suggests a number of priority areas for the group’s consideration and advice including strengthening the interface between child protection and health, ensuring that the implications of Named Person and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on information sharing are understood, how to embed a culture of learning and practice change and whether there are further ways to support Child Protection Committees (CPCs), Chief Officers and Chief Social Work Officers to undertake their respective roles.

Human Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy

The first annual progress report of Scotland’s Human Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy was published on the 14 June 2018. The report can be found at:  http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/06/7045.

Section 4 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy details 18 specific children’s actions, the implementation of which are being overseen by the multi-agency Child Trafficking Strategy Group. The Group met and held a joint learning session with the National Child Sexual Exploitation Group in January 2018 and met again in April 2018 to review progress of the actions. The key recent developments have been the publication of  revised age assessment guidance and the taking forward of the research looking at the presence of children and young people who have been trafficked and establish their routes to arrival in Scotland by The Centre of Child Wellbeing and Protection and the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice.

Child Sexual Exploitation

The second Annual progress report of the National Action Plan to Prevent and Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation was published on 11 April 2018. The report can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/04/6944.

The latest quarterly meeting of the Group was held on 21 May 2018.  Discussions focused on possible areas of work for the group over the course of the next 12 to 18 months and opportunities to link with a number of current Scottish Government policy areas, to ensure that tackling Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is considered throughout national policy. This includes the recently established Expert Group on Preventing Sexual Offending involving Children and Young People.

On Tuesday 19 June 2018, the Care Inspectorate published the report ‘Preventing and Responding to Child Sexual Exploitation: evidence from Inspections of Care Services for Children and Young People’. This was a focused piece of work the Care Inspectorate undertook, as part of our commitment to prevent and tackle child sexual exploitation, as outlined in our National Action Plan to Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation.

Expert Group on Preventing Sexual Offending involving children and young people

The Expert Group on Preventing Sexual Offending involving Children and Young People met for the fourth time on 12 June 2018. The Group is chaired by Catherine Dyer, and the Group’s remit is to identify fresh actions to prevent harmful sexual behaviour and sexual crime involving children and young people, and to better mitigate the effects it causes. This includes children and young people who cause harm, and  those who have been a victim of harm. The focus of the Group is currently on primary prevention, and the Chair is keen to encourage the Group to describe the “as is” scenario, before moving onto developing what could (or should) exist in the future. The Group will next meet at the end of August 2018.

Child Internet Safety

Work is continuing to implement actions within the National Action Plan on Internet Safety for Children and Young People and teams are working jointly across Government to fulfill our ambition for Scotland to be a world leader in cyber resilience.

Earlier this year the Scottish Government contributed to the UK Government’s Internet Safety Strategy consultation, launched by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). The UK Government’s response to the Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper was published on 21 May 2018.

The UK Government intends to publish a White Paper later this year, as a precursor to bringing forward online safety legislation, which will potentially include a social media code of practice, transparency reporting and online advertising.

On 31 May 2018, Lord Bracadale published his Hate Crime Legislation Review which considered, among other things, how well the current law deals in Scotland with hate crime behaviour, including within online platforms.

The Scottish Government welcomes Lord Bracadale’s Report and we accept his recommendation to consolidate all Scottish hate crime legislation into one new hate crime statute. We will use his report and recommendations as the basis for consulting on the detail of what should be included in a new hate crime Bill. We will then report to Parliament in the autumn setting out how we intend to move forward with its development.

Child Protection and Disability Issues

The Scottish Government has committed to developing a resource to Support Disabled Children, Young People and their Families.

The resource is rights based and has been developed through a process of co-production.  It aims to provide clear, accessible information on national policies, entitlements, rights and the different options for support available.  The guides to policies, legislation and service provision are interspersed with examples and real life case studies to showcase best practice.

The resource launched for consultation on 6 June 2018 and will run for the full three month period. Here is a link to the live consultation:  https://consult.gov.scot/children-and-families/supporting-disabled-children/

National Trauma Training Programme

We are very pleased to be able to share with you the recent developments around the National Trauma Training Programme.

On the 20 June 2018,  Deputy First Minister John Swinney announced that an additional £1.35 million from the Scottish Government will be invested to create a national trauma training programme. This will be developed for workers supporting people who have had adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and traumatic experiences in adulthood, such as physical or sexual abuse.

The programme will be led and co-ordinated by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) who will work with partners, including people with lived experience to create and deliver quality training resources. More information can be found at: https://beta.gov.scot/news/1-35-million-for-trauma-training/.

Tags: Child Protection, Child Protection Improvement Programme

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