Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to present the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) Annual Report 2023-24 to the Health and Wellbeing Board. The report provides an overview of the work carried out by the MSCP in the last year. It sets out the progress the partnership has made against key priorities and gives an overview of the learning and improvement role of the MSCP including case reviews that have been undertaken. It also includes a section on scrutiny and assurance, providing details of the independent scrutineer activity in the reporting year.

The report was presented at the Health and Wellbeing Board on 21 November 2024 and will be presented to the Community Safety Partnership in line with the Joint Working Protocol between the boards in Medway.

Discussion:

The Committee received a report which detailed the work undertaken by the MSCP in the last year and sets out the progress made by the partnership against key priorities.

Members then raised several questions and comments:

Members raised several questions in relation to Oasis Restore and the Democratic Services Officer undertook to collate the questions and ensure they are addressed in the report that is expected to be presented at the 9 January meeting on the secure school.

Safeguarding partnership - in response to a question on how the partnership worked effectively, noting some of the financial challenges of the Integrated Care Board (ICB), Members were informed that the partnership worked on the basis of openness and transparency. Conversations regarding pressures took place and there was also the independent scrutiny function in place.

Engagement - it was asked how effective engagement was between the partnership and the secure estate, in particular, since the recent change in management. The Committee learned that engagement worked well, there was an MSCP sub group in place for the secure estate and the plans regarding their monitoring had been developed and agreed.

The Director of People and Deputy Chief Executive added that there were regular meetings with Oasis and would be meeting with the founder in December. Additionally, she received notification of placement of all young persons.

Children of prisoners - in response to a comment as to whether there was any information regarding children of prisoners as this was an emerging vulnerable group, officers said that it was expected that all officers in contact with prisoners and families would make the appropriate referral to children’s social care if there were concerns or a need identified.

The work being undertaken under Priority 4, violence against women was welcomed, and it was asked if the body of work would include the practice of virginity testing and hymenoplasty in some cultural communities following a report in 2022 that Medway as well as some London Boroughs continued to be hotspots for these practices. The officer undertook to look into this and provide a briefing note to the Committee.

It was asked if there had been any changes in ensuring representation on the partnership by SEND Headteachers, additionally it was noted that there were no child death figures included in this annual report. The Committee was informed that there was primary, secondary and post 16 representation and there was also representation on a school by school basis in multiagency group work. There was a delay in production of this year’s child death data which was why it had not been included in the report.

Start for life - it was asked if it was anticipated that the Start for Life Programme would result in savings for children’s social care and what the thresholds of needs were in the service. Members were informed that it had been announced that another year of funding would be made available to support the programme. There were no savings made as the money received was a grant, all of which was expected to be spent or returned if not spent. The team had undertaken work to develop a sustainable programme beyond the life of the grant funding. In terms of thresholds, there was a multiagency threshold guidance in place led by the MSCP. This was currently under review with soft changes being made in relation to respective language. Training on threshold guidance continued to the accessible to practitioners across Medway.

Temporary accommodation - in response to a question on how often out of area temporary accommodation placements in Medway were becoming early help, child in need and child protection cases. The Committee learned that if a family was placed in Medway with no previous statutory involvement but developed a need during their time in temporary accommodation, this need would be the responsibility of Medway. If a family was already an open case to the placing authority, that authority would retain responsibility for the family. If the family then secured permanent residency in Medway, the placing authority were able to transfer their statutory responsibility to Medway. If the need for the family fell under the Early Help service, it would be Medway’s responsibility as this was not a statutory service.

It was further clarified that across Medway and Kent there were approximately 3,500 children in temporary accommodation and in Medway this amounted to 422 households and 990 children.

Decision:

a)    The Committee noted the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) Annual Report 2023-24.

b)    The Committee requested that a briefing note to be provided on the prevalence of Virginity Testing and Hymenoplasty in Medway.