Agenda item

(To receive a report from Councillor R Oxby, Chairman of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Scrutiny Sub-Group, which enables the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to have an overview of the activities of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Boards Scrutiny Sub-Group, in particular the Sub-Group's consideration of child safeguarding matters)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee with an overview of the activities of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Boards Scrutiny Sub-Group, in particular the Sub-Group's consideration of children's safeguarding matters.

The Committee received an update from the Chairman of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Boards Scrutiny Sub-Group, Councillor C R Oxby, and the following was reported:

·         The Lincolnshire Safeguarding Boards Scrutiny Sub-Group last met on 16 July 2014;

·         The Scrutiny Sub-Group received an update from the Independent Chair, Chris Cook, on the work of the LSCB and its sub-groups.  It was noted that two serious case reviews had been commissioned by the LSCB and would begin shortly;

·         The Sub-Group also considered a confidential report from Caroline Mogg, the LSCB's Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Officer, which provided a picture of the current situation in Lincolnshire in relation to child sexual exploitation.  This was particularly pertinent given the recent events in Rotherham.  It was highlighted that there were no CSE gangs working within Lincolnshire.  The Sub-Group would continue to monitor the LSCB's work on CSE and an update would be due in early 2015;

·         The next meeting of the Scrutiny Sub-Group was scheduled for 15 October 2014, and would be considering the LSCB's Neglect Policy, and its audits of the Pre-Birth Protocol and Child Protection Conferences.

Members of the Committee were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         A lot of work had been undertaken in Lincolnshire around combatting child sexual exploitation. A multi-agency hub (SAFE) had been created, which included representatives from local authority, health, police and education;

·         Pro-active work around missing children was also being carried out;

·         The police problem profile did not indicate that there were any gangs operating in Lincolnshire;

·         The Assistant Director for Children's Safeguarding would look into whether the LSCB's e-learning course on safeguarding could be made available to Members;

·         There was a 'hotline' number that children could use to contact the local authority, which was actively promoted;

·         The Committee was reassured that Lincolnshire had robust processes in place for placing children in other local authorities, but notification remained the statutory duty of the placing authority;

·         There were concerns that there were children being placed in Lincolnshire that the local authority was not informed about.  It was important to raise awareness of this issue particularly with schools, so that if they became of aware of new pupils they could alert the local authority;

·         There were 430 children from out of county which were registered with the local authority, and they were all monitored by the placing authority;

·         One area of concern was Looked after Children who were placed back within the home environment, and then moved from county to county, as they were more difficult to monitor;

·         It was requested that the Committee received an update in relation to Child Sexual Exploitation at its next meeting.

RESOLVED

1.    That the draft minutes of the meeting of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Boards Scrutiny Sub-Group, held on 16 July 2014, be noted;

2.    That the Committee receive an update on Child Sexual Exploitation at its next meeting.