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 has appointed a Delegated Safeguarding Partner (DSP) for its agency who are named within the Multi-agency Safeguarding Arrangements in Leeds (MASA), which has been updated and published on the LSCP website in line with the requirements of Working together to Safeguard Children 2023. The DSPs have the authority to carry out these functions, while ultimate accountability remains with the LSPs. The DSPs in Leeds form an Executive Group to ensure that their functions and accountability are addressed, consisting of the three statutory DSPs and as agreed last year, Education as the fourth partner within the arrangements.
The Executive members have joint responsibilities for local safeguarding arrangements ensuring that responsibilities under Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 are discharged, that they set and lead the strategic safeguarding vision and provide leadership across the city and agree the LSCP priorities.
The three DSPs 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
The Education partner is represented by:
- Executive principle of White Rose Academies
- Deputy Director (Learning), Leeds City Council
The Executive also includes:
- LSCP Independent Scrutineer
- LSCP Business Unit Manager
- LSCP Legal Advisor
As well as embedding Education as the fourth partner, this year the Executive has overseen the partnership undertaken a self-assessment activity with key partners, utilising a National Tool to evaluate the current position of the partnership, the impact of the work undertaken and identifying areas for further development.
The full day event considered the partnership performance, gaps and opportunities in relation to cross cutting themes:
- Voice and Influence
- Working in Partnership
- Leadership
- Governance
- Communication and Information sharing
- Impact and Outcomes
It was clear that the partnership was performing well in a number of areas. Some of the headlines were:
- Leadership was strong and the revised structure was seen as positive
- There is a learning culture at all levels across the partnership
- The multi-agency partnership arrangements work well at operational and strategic levels
- Safeguarding practice is seen as robust and responsive, with effective communication and partnership working
- Information sharing overall was thought to be good, in particular when dealing with individual cases
- There is recognition that there is significant activity across partner organisations in relation to the voice and influence of children, young people and families, and this routinely supports service development
- Partners were clear in terms of their roles and responsibilities, including the revised Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023
- Work of the business unit was seen as effective and supportive to the wider partnership
- The scrutineer role was recognised as a positive addition and offered a level of independence to the system and challenge to the partnership, with the scrutineer being visible
- Communication from the partnership was recognised as strong overall
- The development of a practitioner group was seen as positive
The self-assessment activity highlighted some areas for development, including:
- The partnership needs to strengthen how we learn from when things go well
- The new recently published Information Sharing guidance was still to be fully embedded
- There was a need to hear the voice of the those with lived experience
- Audit work that takes place across the partnership needs to be more widely shared and the voice of children and families should be included
- There needs to be improved confidence in the use and effectiveness of the Concerns Resolution Process
- Work with the other safeguarding partnerships/Boards in Leeds needs to be strengthened: Leeds Safeguarding Adults Board and Safer Leeds
- An induction pack would support new members taking up posts within the safeguarding partnership
The LSCP Executive through the work of the sub-groups has committed to addressing the areas of development throughout the year and some of this work can be seen within the annual report, such as a revised Learning and Improvement Framework, a new Information Sharing Toolkit and work across the safeguarding partnership in Leeds. A further event is planned for the coming year to review progress and further opportunities for development.
Throughout the year the LSCP Executive has also:
- Overseen the embedding of Working Together to Safeguarding Children 2023
- Revised and publicised the new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements
- Committed to work in relation to safeguarding in ethnically diverse communities, alongside the Leeds Safeguarding Adult Board (LSAB) and Safer Leeds
- Overseen the development of an annual self-assessment for partners in response to local and national practice and policy developments and identified learning
- Overseen progress with the JTAI action plan, following the inspection in March 2024
- Held a “Take over” event with young people and planned further events in the coming year
- Developed further opportunities for collaborative work with the Leeds Safeguarding Adults Board and the Safer Leeds Executive, including initiating more regular strategic planning across the three boards to commence in 2025-26
- Agreed the local action plan in response to the National Panel publication “I wanted them all to notice” concerning the need for all partnerships in the country to review and take steps where necessary to improve responses to concerns about intra-familial child sexual abuse
- Strengthened the voice of practitioners within the work of the partnership
- Begun to consider the implications of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
- Introduced an induction pack for new members to the partnership