Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 sets out the responsibilities of the three safeguarding statutory partners, and within that those of the Lead Safeguarding Partners (LSPs), who are named as the Chief Officer of Police, the Chief Executive of the Local Authority and the Chief Executive of the local Integrated Care Board (ICB)
The joint functions of the lead safeguarding partners are to:
- Set the strategic direction, vision, and culture of the local safeguarding arrangements, including agreeing and reviewing shared priorities and the resource required to deliver services effectively.
- Lead their organisation’s individual contribution to the shared priorities, ensuring strong governance, accountability, and reporting mechanisms to hold their delegates to account for the delivery of agency commitments.
- Review and sign off key partnership documents: published multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, including plans for independent scrutiny, shared annual budget, yearly report, and local threshold document.
- Provide shared oversight of learning from independent scrutiny, serious incidents, local child safeguarding practice reviews, and national reviews, ensuring recommendations are implemented and have a demonstrable impact on practice (as set out in the yearly report).
- Ensure multi-agency arrangements have the necessary level of business support, including intelligence and analytical functions, such as an agreed data set providing oversight and a robust understanding of practice.
- Ensure all relevant agencies, including education settings, are clear on their role and contribution to multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
Each LSP should appoint a delegated safeguarding partner (DSP) for its agency who should be named in the arrangements. The DSPs should be sufficiently senior to be able to speak with authority, take decisions on behalf of the LSP and hold their sectors to account. The DSPs should have the authority to carry out these functions, while ultimate accountability remains with the LSP as the individual responsible for the delivery of the statutory duties of the safeguarding partners.
In Leeds there is work ongoing in relation to the full implementation of Working Together to Safeguarding Children 2023 and the LSP roles, with the DSPs forming an Executive Group to ensure that their functions and accountability are addressed.
The LSCP Executive consists of the three statutory agencies that have equal and joint responsibilities for local safeguarding arrangements and ensuring that responsibilities under Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 are discharged. They set and lead the strategic safeguarding vision, provide leadership across the city, and identify the LSCP priorities.
The three statutory agencies and representatives for the city are:
- Chief Superintendent - Leeds District Commander, West Yorkshire Police
- Director of Children and Families, Leeds City Council
- Director of Nursing and Quality, Leeds office of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
Currently the Executive also includes:
- LSCP Independent Scrutineer
- LSCP Business Unit Manager
- LSCP Legal Advisor
The LSCP Executive have reviewed and agreed some improvements to the safeguarding arrangements this year, including the purpose, functions and chairing arrangements of all the subgroups and the Children and Young People’s Partnership meeting, to ensure that they are aligned to the vision of the partnership, identified learning, and priorities.
This year has seen the introduction of an Audit and Review group, in place of the previous Performance Management group.
The Policy and Procedures group has been revitalised as the Policy and Practice group, to strengthen the focus on improving safeguarding practice, learning and responding to the voice of children, young people and practitioners.
The previous Risk and Vulnerabilities group, which included the arrangements for Silver MACE has been repurposed to ensure a more focused remit on risks that children face outside the home environment.
The LSCP Executive made the decision this year to make the change from the employment of an independent chair to that of a scrutineer.
The LSCP Executive have made a commitment in the coming year to consider how education can be a fourth partner within the Leeds Safeguarding Children arrangements, and this will be implemented within 2024.