Terms Of Reference
Core Objectives
The LSCB is the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how the relevant organisations in each local area will co-operate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in that locality, and for ensuring the effectiveness of what they do.
To co-ordinate what is done by each person or organisation represented on the Bournemouth and Poole Local Safeguarding Children Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in Bournemouth and Poole and to ensure effective responsibility is taken by all members of the LSCB.
Statutory Core Membership, Roles and Responsibilities
Bournemouth and Poole Local Safeguarding Children Board (joint LSCB) shall have representation on the joint LSCB from each of the following statutory partners or their representatives.
Local Authority
Police area
Local Probation Board
Youth Offending Team
Strategic Health Authority
Primary Care Trust
NHS Trust and NHS Foundation Trusts
Connexions Service
CAFCASS
The Steering Group will consist of the Chairs and Vice Chairs of the standing Working Groups who will feed back the work of their group. Senior legal representatives from Bournemouth and Poole will also attend as required. The Directors of Children's Services in Bournemouth and Poole, and a representative from the Strategic Health Authority will be able to join the Steering Group on an as and when basis.
The full membership of the joint LSCB extends to ALL members of the Steering Group and the Working Groups.
The Working Groups will work to a set of objectives agreed by the Board and will report to the Steering Group at each meeting. The full LSCB will meet twice a year for development days and agreement of the joint LSCB Business Plan.
A role specification will be drawn up by the joint LSCB to ensure that members representing the above core agencies have sufficient knowledge of safeguarding to contribute to the work and sufficient delegated authority to allow them to speak on their agency's behalf. Each Organisation will agree to abide by these Terms of Reference.
The Role Specification will require group members to:
be pro-active within their group and regularly attend meetings and development days;
be authorised to make decisions on behalf of the service or organisation they represent;
work in partnership with colleagues, sharing information, resources and a commitment on behalf of the organisation or group they represent;
undertake a specific role on behalf of their agency;
update the group on national and local developments within their service area which may impact on LSCB duties;
ensure links are made between LSCB duties and developments and other plans and performance frameworks within their own organisation or service;
promote LSCB and safeguarding issues in other groups and partnerships they are involved in;
be responsible for the cascading of safeguarding information and actions from the LSCB within the agency/organisation they represent.
Governance and Accountability
"It is important that, whist operating in the context of a children's trust and developing a strong working relationship with the wider strategic partnerships within a local authority area, LSCBs exercise their unique statutory role effectively. They must be able to form a view of the quality of local activity, to challenge organisations as necessary, and to speak with an independent voice. To ensure that this is possible LSCBs must have a clear and distinct identity within local government children's trust governance arrangements. They should not be an operational sub committee of the children's trust board." - Chapter 3, para 3.8 Working Together To Safeguard Children 2006.
The position of Bournemouth and Poole LSCB in relation to the Change for Children Board and Scrutiny and Review Panel in Bournemouth and the Children's Services Governance Board and Community Support and Education Scrutiny Committee in Poole is shown in Appendix 2.
The joint LSCB will directly report to Project Executive Team, Bournemouth and Executive Group, Poole, both chaired by Bournemouth and Poole Children's Directors via minutes of Steering Group.
LSCB will also report via minutes and exception reporting to the Change for Children Board, Bournemouth and the Children's Services Governance Board, Poole chaired by Lead Members.
Exception Reports (including serious case overview reports), Annual Reports and Business Plans will be presented to the above groups and also to both Bournemouth and Poole Scrutiny Groups.
Initially, Chairing responsibilities for the LSCB will be shared by Bournemouth and Poole on an annual rotation basis, and the Chair will be appointed initially for 1 year through discussion with the Directors of Children's Services of Bournemouth and Poole. The Chair will then be accountable to the Directors via reports to the appropriate boards. During the first year, the Steering Group will evaluate the merits of an independent chair.
LSCB Compact
The LSCB Compact (Section 4) aims to support and monitor agencies and organisations' ability to safeguard children effectively. The Compact requires agencies to have in place, and work towards, a set of standards covering areas such as safe recruitment, policies and procedures, safe working practices, suitably trained and experienced staff, clear lines of accountability and information sharing protocols. Senior representatives from each organisation will be asked to sign up to the ten standards of the joint LSCB Compact.
The Performance and Quality Assurance Working Group will have the power to audit those standards as and when circumstances require this. Standards of compliance will also be identified through auditing processes.
Where it is found that a board member or partner agency is not performing effectively in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and the joint LSCB does not believe that any planned action to improve performance will be adequate, the joint LSCB chair must inform those individuals and agencies that need to be aware of any such failings and ensure these are addressed. The lack of compliance may have to be reported to the relevant Boards and, thereafter, to the relevant inspectorate.
Functions of the LSCB
The joint LSCB will establish Working Groups for the purpose of carrying out effectively the functions and priorities of the joint LSCB and will also determine the terms of reference for the respective Working Groups. This will include the appropriate and relevant consultation with children, young people and their families and carers. Appendix 1 shows the Steering and Working Group structure.
Appendix 3 shows how the joint LSCB's objectives pursued through the joint LSCB functions help produce outputs that contribute to overall outcomes.
Policy & Service Development Working Group - To develop policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, including those who are privately fostered. This group will link into the Pan Dorset Policy Group for pan Dorset inter-agency protocols and procedures.
Workforce Development Working Group - To ensure the appropriate frameworks are in place for safe recruitment, learning, development and supervision of people working with children or who are in services affecting the safety and welfare of children.
Performance and Quality Assurance Working Group - To monitor performance on safeguarding activity and evaluate the effectiveness of practice and actions of all agencies working in both Bournemouth and Poole who are charged, individually and collectively, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (including thresholds of intervention). The group will advise on actions for policy and practice improvement.
Community Awareness Working Group - To communicate to the general public and to agencies within Bournemouth and Poole the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, to raise awareness of how best to do this and to ensure effective consultation with children and young people regarding safeguarding activity.
Child Protection Conference Complaints and Serious Case Review Working Group - To undertake serious case reviews where appropriate (following guidance from Working Together) and investigate complaints made by service users or agencies about the child protection process.
Safeguarding Children & Young People Health Advisory Working Group - In recognition of the complex nature of health services this group is to ensure a focal point for the National Health Service community to be aware of and proactively participate in the safeguarding and promotion of welfare of children.
Safeguarding Children in Education Working Group - To ensure that appropriate frameworks, processes and procedures are in place so that all individuals working within education settings have the skills, means and training to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Pan Dorset Adults Who Pose a Sexual Risk to Children - To ensure effective multi agency working, co-ordination and service provision relating to adults who pose a risk to children. It will also provide strong linkage with the MAPPA agenda and any potential joint commissioning for new services. Pan Dorset Children and Young People Who Pose a Sexual Risk group is in the process of being formed, and will ensure effective multi-agency working, co-ordination, and service provision for children and young people who pose a risk of sexual harm.
The Bournemouth and Poole LSCB will need to review procedures for co-operation with neighbouring children's services authorities and their LSCB members.
Members of the joint LSCB will be required to actively participate in the planning of services within the local authority.
From the 1 April 2008 Bournemouth and Poole Local Safeguarding Children Board will have to follow functions in relation to the deaths of any child normally resident in Bournemouth and Poole. This will be undertaken by the Pan Dorset Child Death Review Group which will be:-
Collecting and analysing information about each death with a view to identifying any matters of concern affecting the safety and welfare of children in Bournemouth and Poole;
putting in place procedures for ensuring that there is a co-ordinated response by the authority, their board partners and any other relevant persons, to an unexpected death;
the Bournemouth and Poole Local Safeguarding Children Board may also engage in any other activities that facilitate or are conducive to, the achievement of its objective.
Budget
The joint LSCB will work towards the setting up of a pooled budget made up of agreed contributions from the partner agencies. The membership organisations' shared responsibility for the discharge of the joint LSCB's functions includes shared responsibility for determining how the necessary resources are to be provided to support it.
Planning
Bournemouth and Poole authorities are each required to produce a Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) which is a shared strategy between all agencies to improve children's services. The joint LSCB's activities will influence those plans and from April 2006 the respective CYPP's will inform the Business Plan of the new joint LSCB.
The joint LSCB will have a clear work programme which includes SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound) objectives and a budget. It should include an annual report with relevant information on the previous year such as progress against objectives. That annual report will be presented to the Change for Children Board, Governance Board and Scrutiny Committees. This will enable the joint LSCB's work to be scrutinised by other local partners and stakeholders.
Standards of Operation
The Bournemouth and Poole LSCB Steering Group will meet quarterly.
Steering Group meetings will be held alternately in Bournemouth and Poole.
The entire joint LSCB will meet twice yearly for ‘Event Days'.
The Working Groups will meet quarterly prior to each Steering Group meeting.
The joint LSCB will draft and agree a COMPACT - A Memorandum of Agreement setting minimum standards for safeguarding that member agencies will be asked to sign up to through their chief executives.
The joint LSCB will agree a role specification for membership of both the Steering Group and Working Groups.
Each member must be aware of their statutory duty regarding attendance at meetings.
The joint LSCB will create an annual business plan and an annual report.
Agendas and supporting papers will be circulated at least 5 working days in advance of the meeting.
Working Group minutes will be presented at each Steering Group.
Steering Group minutes will be circulated to each member of the Working Groups.
Every Steering and Working Group member will receive all minutes.
The joint LSCB minutes will be circulated to the Change for Children Board and Project Executive Team (Bournemouth) and Children's Services Governance Board and Executive Group (Poole) with a covering report from the chair highlighting any recommendations.
The joint LSCB will review its terms of reference on an annual basis.
A register of all partner agencies and LSCB board members will be maintained by the joint LSCB.