Joint Follow-through inspection of services
to protect children and young people in the
Dundee City Council area
3 February 2011
Contents
Page
Introduction
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1.
The inspection
2
2.
Continuous improvement
2
3.
Progress towards meeting the main points for action
3
4.
Conclusion
8
5.
What happens next?
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How can you contact us?
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Introduction
The Joint Inspection of Children’s Services and Inspection of Social Work Services
(Scotland) Act 2006, together with the associated regulations and Code of Practice,
provide the legislative framework for the conduct of joint inspections of the provision
of services to children. Inspections are conducted within a published framework of
quality indicators, ‘How well are children and young people protected and their
needs met?’. 1
Inspection teams include Associate Assessors who are members of staff from
services and agencies providing services to children and young people in other
Scottish local authority areas.
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‘How well are children and young people protected and their needs met?’. Self-evaluation using
quality indicators, HM Inspectorate of Education 2005.
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1. The inspection
HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) published a report on the joint inspection of
services to protect children and young people in the Dundee City Council area in
June 2009. Working together, services within the Dundee City Council area
prepared an improvement plan indicating how they would address the main points
for action identified in this report.
Inspectors revisited the Dundee City Council area, at the request of Scottish
Ministers, in December 2009 to assess early progress in responding to the main
points for action. A Joint Interim Follow-through inspection report of services to
protect children and young people was published in March 2010.
In November 2010, inspectors returned to the Dundee City Council area to assess
the extent to which services were continuing to improve the quality of their work to
protect children and young people, and to carry out an evaluation of progress in
responding to the main points for action from the original inspection report.
2. Continuous improvement
Elected members were conducting a review of services to protect children and had
increased their expectations of receiving progress reports regularly from officers
within the Council. Members of health and police boards had given a higher priority
to child protection. Significant additional resources had been committed by partner
agencies to improve the protection of vulnerable children and better meet their
needs. Work had started on a purpose-built child protection centre with the aim of
developing a more integrated response to immediate concerns about children. This
was due to open in August 2011.
The Chief Officers Group (COG) had expanded its remit from child protection to
public protection including adult protection, domestic abuse and the management of
sex offenders. Creating a strategic overview of public protection provided them with
opportunties to deliver these inter-related services more effectively and efficiently.
The approach taken by the COG to implementing the child protection improvement
plan through a number of multi-agency groups coordinated by a project manager
had proved successful. Some main points for action were prioritised rightly over
others as requiring more immediate attention.
Strong leadership by the current chair of the Children and Young Person’s
Protection Committee (CYPPC) had ensured that the committee worked
purposefully with a clear sense of direction. Members of the committee were now
fulfilling their roles and responsibilities much more effectively.
Services to protect children were being strengthened due to better integrated
systems and more joint working. The knowledge and skills of staff had been
increased through training programmes, improved access to specialist advice and
stronger support and challenge.
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3. Progress towards meeting the main points for action
The initial inspection report published in June 2009 identified seven main points for
action.
3.1 Improve the actions taken in immediate response to concerns about
children
Services had made good progress to improve the actions taken in immediate
response to concerns about children.
Staff were now much clearer about how to raise concerns and more confident in
doing so. Staff across services, including adult services, shared information more
effectively to help protect children. Advanced nurse practitioners ensured a
consistent approach was taken by community nurses when they had concerns about
the care and protection of children. They offered very helpful advice and support to
staff across health services.
A recently set up Multi-Agency Assessment Team (MAAT), made up of
representatives from social work, health, education and police, offered very effective
advice and support to staff when they had concerns about children. These
representatives made certain that a single agency assessment took place before a
multi-agency discussion was arranged. They screened cases on a daily basis and
reached decisions about the best response needed to ensure children were safe and
their needs met. The MAAT did not yet consistently communicate and monitor the
implementation of decisions based on all available information. Children involved in
domestic abuse incidents did not always get the help they needed when they
needed it. Health and education staff who knew these children well were not
routinely informed about what had happened so that they could offer timely and
appropriate support.
The CYPPC had successfully launched a single telephone number for anyone to
report child care and protection concerns. Managers were beginning to analyse the
calls received and action taken. Plans were well advanced to bring together those
social work teams which provide an immediate response to ensure consistent and
effective action is taken in response to children at risk of significant harm.
A new manager had recently been appointed and a review of the emergency
out-of-hours social work service was underway. The quality of information available
to social workers responding to concerns out-of-office hours had improved, resulting
in better actions to keep children safe. Relocation of the emergency out-of-hours
social work service to the new child protection centre was planned to further improve
information-sharing and joint working with police and health services. The suitability
of emergency placements with relatives and the availability of foster placements
out-of-hours were now monitored more closely.
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3.2 Improve the processes of assessment of risks and needs and the system
for jointly assessing the risks associated with parental substance misuse
Overall, satisfactory progress had been made in improving the processes of
assessment of risks and needs and the system for jointly assessing the risks
associated with parental substance misuse.
There had been significant improvements in the processes to support the early
recognition of children who may be at risk of abuse and neglect due to parental
substance misuse. The quality of more comprehensive assessments of risks and
needs was still too variable. A joint approach to fully assessing the risks associated
with parental substance misuse had yet to be introduced.
NHS Tayside had introduced an electronic information system, which enabled a
wide range of health staff to have easy access to relevant health information about
children and families. This was beginning to help with the identification of patterns of
risk. Staff across a wide range of services, including those working primarily with
adults, were working closer together with a common purpose of protecting children.
As a result, they were sharing concerns about children and providing relevant
information more readily and at an earlier stage to aid further assessment. Staff
working with adults, particularly those affected by substance misuse, were better at
identifying those children who may be at risk or in need of additional support. Staff
across services now had a common approach to reporting their concerns about
children. This was helping them to carefully draw together relevant information and
consider what more could be done to keep children safe and meet their needs.
Children were starting to benefit from more coordinated assessments of initial
concerns.
Public health nurses were more confident in carrying out assessments. The quality
of assessments was improving, with a greater focus on the different aspects of
children’s well-being. Vulnerable unborn babies were identified at an early stage
and assessments of risks and needs were completed in good time before babies
were born. The extended New Beginnings Service carried out prompt and
comprehensive assessments of risks and needs for a larger number of very
vulnerable babies affected by parental substance misuse, mental ill-health and
learning disabilities. Improved assessments were helping staff to make earlier
decisions about children whose needs could not be met by their parents. Tayside
Police had introduced new and improved approaches to assessing the risks
associated with domestic abuse and missing persons.
There was a growing awareness amongst staff about the need to identify patterns of
risk in a child’s life. A shared understanding of how to put together and make use of
a dated list of significant events in a child’s life was still at an early stage of
development. Staff across services had benefited from training on assessment of
risks and needs. The framework for carrying out comprehensive assessments had
been improved further. Decisions to carry out assessments of risks and needs were
made quickly when there were concerns about children. However, assessments
sometimes took too long to complete to prevent further crises or risky situations
arising. The quality of these assessments remained inconsistent. There were
examples of full and effective assessments which provided sound analyses of risks
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and needs in the short and longer term. When assessments were of a higher quality
they led to more specific actions to reduce risk and meet needs. Poorer quality
assessments often overlooked significant risk factors and lacked robust analysis.
The role of managers across services in ensuring that assessments of risks and
needs were of a consistent quality had not been developed sufficiently.
3.3 Improve the processes for joint planning to meet children’s individual
needs
Services had made good progress in improving the processes for joint planning to
meet individual children’s needs.
Procedures and practice following a child protection investigation had been
strengthened to keep children safe until an initial child protection case conference
could be held. Much improved participation by police officers, school nurses,
voluntary sector staff and some staff working with parents had resulted in more
effective joint decision-making at review case conferences. Substance misuse staff
did not always attend when it would have been helpful for them to do so. Written
information to assist decision-making was presented in more helpful formats. Case
conference minutes were distributed more quickly to ensure all relevant staff were
informed of decisions.
A helpful standard format for recording child protection plans had been developed
and was being used consistently. Overall, the quality of child protection plans had
improved. More plans now gave details of the actions required to reduce risks.
Greater attention was starting to be given to planning an alternative course of action
if progress was not made or risks increased.
There had been improvements in the coordination of inter-agency work where
children’s names were on the Child Protection Register (CPR). Through core
groups, staff from different services were working together more effectively to ensure
children at risk were kept safe. In most cases, core groups were meeting regularly
and were more clearly focused on implementing the child protection plan. Managers
monitored attendance to ensure relevant staff were involved. Greater involvement of
children and parents in making and implementing plans to keep children safe was
recognised as an area for further improvement. More effective planning was
required to sustain improvements once children’s names had been removed from
the CPR.
A single plan for each vulnerable child, detailing how services will work together to
meet the child’s needs was being tested out. This work was being supported by a
growing acceptance of a shared responsibility to meet the needs of vulnerable
children and increasing trust and understanding amongst services. Managers were
encouraging staff to recognise longer-term needs and starting to equip them with
skills in planning for clear outcomes to improve children’s lives.
Information gathering by the MAAT was freeing up time for social workers in the
Access Team to make some improvement in the number of assessment reports
submitted without delay to the Children’s Reporter. A clear action plan and extra
resources had helped achieve some success in progressing plans for children in
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temporary foster care who required permanent family placements. However, the
steps taken so far had been insufficient to ensure children’s future care
arrangements were secured within acceptable timescales.
3.4 Review and update policies and procedures to guide staff in their work to
protect children
Very good progress has been made by the CYPPC in reviewing and updating
policies and procedures to guide staff in their work to protect children.
A systematic approach was now in place to improve the quality and availability of
inter-agency child protection guidance. Practice was regularly reviewed to identify
any gaps or areas which required further clarification. Consultation with staff
identified what changes to guidance they would find helpful to support practice and
improve service delivery. Published enquiry and inspection reports were analysed
routinely and the learning used to further enhance guidance for staff. Updated
inter-agency child protection guidance had strengthened the quality of Initial Referral
Discussions (IRDs) and the effectiveness of child protection case conferences and
core groups.
Staff demonstrated an increasing level of awareness of recent changes to policy and
practice. Greater consistency was starting to be achieved through ensuring that any
changes to procedures were agreed by the CYPPC before their introduction.
Procedures were more readily available to staff across health services. The CYPPC
was now consolidating the changes and ensuring that improved procedures were
adhered to consistently. Revised education policy and improved partnership
working with social work was successfully reducing the number of looked after
children excluded from school. There was a strong commitment to further improving
policies and procedures making effective use of external sources of expert advice
and good practice.
3.5 Improve the joint planning of integrated children’s services to take full
account of the needs of children at risk of harm, abuse and neglect
Satisfactory progress had been made in improving the joint planning of integrated
children’s services to take full account of the needs of children at risk of harm, abuse
and neglect.
A new Integrated Children’s Services Plan (ICSP) for 2010/2012 was launched in
March 2010. Vulnerable groups of children were given priority in the plan and
actions set out to improve their well-being. These actions were not yet specific
enough. It was not clear how progress in improving outcomes for children and
families would be measured as a result of these actions being implemented.
Increased and more productive multi-agency working had proved to be effective in
delivering better services for children in need of protection. This experience had
persuaded many staff of the benefits of working more closely together to meet a
wider range of children’s needs. There were good examples of joint working taking
place at Joint Action Teams (JATs) and Practitioner Forums. However, the quality
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and effectiveness of integrated working was variable across localities and for
different ages of children and young people.
A number of important areas for service improvement, including early intervention,
parenting support and children’s participation had been at the planning stage for too
long. Vulnerable children and families had still to experience the benefits of these
planned changes. Chief Officers were taking further steps to ensure that integrated
children’s services planning delivered improvements over time in the life chances of
vulnerable children.
3.6 Provide clear leadership and direction to the work of the Children and
Young Person’s Protection Committee
Very good progress had been made in providing clear leadership and direction to the
work of the CYPPC.
Strong collective and visible leadership from the Chief Officers Group had
transformed the work of the CYPPC. Working together they had successfully
created a shared sense of purpose for protecting the city’s children. Chief Officers
held the CYPPC to account for its work and directed and communicated the
progress being made effectively. Commendably, Chief Officers produced high
quality monthly newsletters which were circulated widely, held regular large scale
meetings with staff and visited services to see for themselves how these were
improving. An increasing number of staff and community groups were committed to
the vision and understood the relevance of the COG and CYPPC to their own roles
and responsibilities in protecting children. The leadership and contribution of staff
from the voluntary sector in protecting children had become more influential and
effective.
The long term commitment of Chief Officers to improving services to protect children
was reflected well in the CYPPC’s production of a three year business plan. Chief
Officers had reviewed and further strengthened membership of the Committee.
There were enhanced links to research findings through the University of Dundee.
The protection of children from black and ethnic minority groups had been
strengthened through partnership working with ROSHNI, an organisation raising
awareness of child protection issues for families from black and ethnic minorities.
Open debate and challenge now took place at meetings of the CYPPC. Chief
Officers had established additional sub-groups to support practice change.
Chief Officers had made a positive start to gathering data to monitor the
effectiveness of key processes. Identifying ways to measure improvements over
time in the quality and consistency of services to protect children was now an agreed
priority for the CYPPC.
3.7 Introduce a systematic approach to self-evaluation across services
Very good progress had been made in developing and introducing a more
systematic approach to self-evaluation across services.
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The commitment to self-evaluation evident in the interim follow-through inspection
had been further strengthened. Both the COG and the CYPPC had ensured that
plans to coordinate a programme of single agency and joint self-evaluation were
acted upon. Joint self-evaluation was beginning to lead to notable improvements.
An impressive range of activities had been introduced to help staff review their work.
These activities identified improvement priorities which were brought together in a
single action plan. A Scrutiny sub-group of the CYPPC had been set up to ensure
the quality of evaluation and improvement of joint service delivery and to take a
closer look at performance. It was at an early stage in the development of its remit.
The impact and effectiveness of key child protection meetings were now routinely
evaluated using a questionnaire. This information was analysed and reported to the
CYPPC for appropriate action. The CYPPC had still to gather and analyse the views
of children and young people about the effectiveness of child protection meetings in
making decisions about their lives.
The introduction of the multi-agency Case Based Evaluation Team and the Practice
Review Sub-Group of the CYPPC were significant and encouraging developments.
The practitioners taking part in the Case Based Evaluation Team had been well
prepared and supported in the task of reading children’s case records and follow up
interviews with children, parents and staff. They had gained valuable learning from
this experience which they were now applying to their own practice. A very useful
process had been developed which highlighted some emerging strengths and
aspects for improvement. Services were starting to gain a better understanding of
their own performance. A report had been produced and encouragingly the intention
was to act on the findings and further develop the process as a routine activity. The
Practice Review Sub-Group was led by an independent chair. A positive start had
been made to reviewing specific cases resulting in reports highlighting lessons to be
learned from practice.
These measures together with other developments, such as improved consideration
of significant case reviews and external inspection reports, demonstrated that a
more robust approach to help staff review their work was being adopted. As a result
sound evidence was beginning to be gathered as a basis upon which further service
improvements could be planned and implemented.
4. Conclusion
Overall, renewed leadership and direction by the COG and CYPPC had resulted in
very positive and encouraging progress in driving forward improvements in
performance. Significant developments had taken place in the early recognition,
immediate response and initial risk assessment of concerns about children at risk of
abuse and neglect. Further improvements were at an advanced planning stage.
The MAAT provided very strong evidence of the development of effective
partnership working to protect children. Improved child protection guidance,
information-sharing and standardised formats within and across services were
having a positive impact on the effectiveness of key processes. Improved joint
decision-making at child protection case conferences and core groups was helping
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to reduce risks and better meet children’s needs. There was a strong commitment
to continuous improvement through integrating services and a growing enthusiasm
amongst staff to learn about and adopt good practice. Both within and across
services staff had begun to look more closely at different areas of practice to identify
strengths and areas for improvement. Effective coordination of multi-agency groups
of staff tasked with different remits had created a successful model for the continued
delivery of service improvements for vulnerable children and families.
5. What happens next?
Following publication of this report, inspectors will return in February 2012 to
conduct a full inspection as part of the second cycle of joint inspections of services
to protect children.
Emma McWilliam
Inspector
2011
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How can you contact us?
If you would like an additional copy of this report
Copies of this report have been sent to the Chief Executives of the local authority
and Health Board, Chief Constable, Authority and Principal Reporter, Members of
the Scottish Parliament, and other relevant individuals and agencies. Subject to
availability, further copies may be obtained free of charge from HM Inspectorate of
Education, First Floor, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale
Way, Livingston EH54 6GA or by telephoning 01506 600262. Copies are also
available on our website www.hmie.gov.uk.
If you wish to comment about this inspection
Should you wish to comment on any aspect of this inspection you should write in the
first instance to Neil McKechnie, HM Chief Inspector at HM Inspectorate of
Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way,
Livingston EH54 6GA.
Our complaints procedure
If you wish to comment about any of our inspections, contact us at
HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or alternatively you should write to BMCT,
HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park,
Almondvale Way, Livingston, EH54 6GA.
If you are not satisfied with the action we have taken at the end of our complaints
procedure, you can raise your complaint with the Scottish Public Services
Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is fully independent and has powers to investigate
complaints about Government departments and agencies. You should write to the
SPSO, Freepost EH641, Edinburgh, EH3 0BR. You can also telephone
0800 377 7330, fax 0800 377 7331 or e-mail: ask@spso.org.uk. More information
about the Ombudsman’s office can be obtained from the website: www.spso.org.uk.
Crown Copyright 2011
HM Inspectorate of Education
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