Multi-Agency Safeguarding Reform - Sector Expert Services

Following the Wood Review into the role and functions of Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs), the government introduced legislation through the Children and Social Work Act 2017 to reshape the way in which local agencies work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Following commencement of the legislation on June 29 2018 - local authorities, police and clinical commissioning groups are under a joint and equal duty to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area. One of the key ambitions of the reforms is to see a culture shift in the approach of local areas to multi-agency safeguarding, strengthened accountability, and a system where learning is promoted and embedded in a way that local services for children and families can become more reflective of need. Now that all local areas have published their new safeguarding arrangements, we believe there is value in commissioning a sector expert to undertake a review of what has changed as a result of the reforms and whether a culture shift is happening at strategic level that will ensure the effective protection of children is founded on better information sharing and action taken beyond usual institutional and agency constraints and boundaries. The sector expert will lead this work, working alongside the health and police experts currently leading their own sectors through implementation. They will have extensive expertise in children's safeguarding on a national and local level, and prior experience of leading national reviews. The sector expert will provide additional support to local areas to implement their new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements on specific topics such as independent scrutiny or using data to improve local safeguarding arrangements. They will also look at how far the new arrangements are addressing the key issues as outlined in the Wood Review 2016 and the criteria set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018.