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ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on Lord Laming's report on child protection.
Speaking at the publication of his report, Lord Laming said:
"Keeping children safe and promoting their wellbeing is a responsibility of us all, but more needs to be done to inject energy and drive into safeguarding and child protection across all frontline services.
"Throughout this task it has been clear that the vast majority of people working in this area aspire to improve the lives of the most vulnerable children and young people.
"I am convinced that with vision and ambition more can be done. That is why the recommendations I am making today herald the need for step change in expertise and leadership for front line workers, backed up with commitments from Government and other national bodies to drive this change forward."
To view the full press release click here.
To read the full report click here.
Stakeholder Response: Chance UK
A spokesperson for Chance UK told ePolitix.com: "Chance UK are very pleased to see that Lord Laming's report highlights the need for early intervention as well as effective resourcing of child protection work. Early intervention plays a key part of child protection work in reducing the number of children who reach crisis point.
"The Audit Commission has estimated that if just one in ten young people who have entered the criminal justice system had been provided with an effective early intervention public services could annually save over £100m. Many of the children and families that we work with on our early intervention mentoring programme are known to Social Services.
"Our mentoring services help children to build resilience to deal with the challenges that they face in their day to day lives and the supporting parent work enables parents to understand their role and improve their parenting skills, helping to prevent crisis within the family household."
Stakeholder Response: General Social Care Council
Rosie Varley, chair of the General Social Care Council (GSCC), said: "Social workers make a huge contribution to the lives of those children, adults, and families who face difficulties and challenges. It is vital that social workers are properly trained, supported and valued for the work they do.
"We therefore wholeheartedly welcome Lord Laming's recommendations, which will have a significant impact on raising standards in social work and helping those who practice it to perform to the best of their abilities."
"Central to this is the training available to social workers, throughout their careers. We are currently reviewing whether we have the right system to ensure robust inspection of social work degree courses and will be working closely with the government on this. We also welcome the importance Lord Laming has placed on post-qualifying training. The initial degree is only the beginning of what should be a continuous process of learning throughout a social worker's career.
"The role of the employer in keeping standards high is fundamental. We are delighted that Lord Laming agrees that compliance with our code of practice for employers, which sets out their responsibilities around providing training opportunities and supervising staff, should be mandatory. This is something we have urged for some time as we think it will make a significant difference to social workers and the standard of their work.
"It would also compel employers to inform us of misconduct on the part of a social worker, something that does not routinely happen at present and which hinders our ability to uphold standards in the profession. With this information we could act swiftly to establish whether any individual has committed serious misconduct and take action where needed to safeguard standards and protect the public."
Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers
Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "Lord Laming's criticisms of Children's Services cannot be met by simply increasing the training requirements of the Directors of those services. The post Laming decision by government to require local authorities to appoint Directors of Children's Services was a mistake, which led to many local authorities dropping Directors of Social Services and Directors of Education in order to appoint someone to a combined job which is almost impossible to do. This decision did no favours to either service.
"Now the government is seeking to make local Children's Trusts compulsory, thereby, adding another layer of bureaucracy to the tasks of hard pressed directors.
"The solutions to preventing future tragedies such as 'Baby P' lie not in top-down bureaucracy but in the provision of proper resources, back-up and training for frontline services such as social work, and in enabling local authorities to construct effective co-ordinated services in the knowledge that they will face tough action if they fail."
Stakeholder Response: Voice the union for education professionals
Voice senior professional officer (childcare) Tricia Pritchard said: "We must ensure that the whole workforce is adequately trained not only in safeguarding children, but in communicating with, and working alongside, all other professionals. There is a long way to go before we have a fully integrated workforce. Professionals are still not communicating with each other in a way that gives them the confidence to be constructively critical of others' practice, especially when the practice in question is at a more senior level.
"We must make sure that safeguarding children is completely embedded in all that we do and that all those working with children have their training reviewed and updated. Whistle-blowing must be highlighted as everyone's duty rather than something done only by the brave or, sadly as it's seen by many, the foolhardy.
"We would like to see a comprehensive programme of professional development for all practitioners working with children, from those in key roles to those on the periphery. The training has to be comprehensive and tackle some controversial issues.
"There must be a requirement to look critically at all that we do and the practices of our colleagues, including that of our seniors. There should also be a requirement to report bad practice or even the suspicion that something is not right – not doing so should carry the risk of disciplinary action. It's far better to have a complaint investigated and found to be of no consequence than to withhold information for fear of personal reprisals – the stakes are too high.
"Rigorous training on safeguarding is required for all but so is training on managing complaints. Even the slightest concern should be investigated and become the responsibility of two if not more people so that it cannot get lost on someone's desk or is reliant on the actions of just one person. A complaint is serious in all cases and should not be dismissed unless and until it has been fully investigated and considered closed by more than one senior officer. This would also safeguard individuals making sure that decisions reached are not theirs alone.
"The recent pledge by Ofsted Chief Inspector Christine Gilbert to introduce a 'whistle-blowers' hotline' for social workers and other frontline professionals was therefore welcome. However, Voice urges the Children's Workforce Development Council to undertake a review of training across the board, encompassing all those working with children and young people with a requirement of emphasis on safeguarding, working alongside fellow professionals and how to question practice when concerned.
"Safeguarding our children should never be second to safeguarding our own positions. Thankfully the vast majority of those working in the sector are highly professional but even they fail at times when the systems in place fail them."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
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