News archive
London toolkit for safeguarding trafficked children
This is an initiative to pilot a best practice multi-agency safeguarding children toolkit for responding to the trafficking of children, bringing together workstreams from London Councils, individual London LSCBs, the MPS and the Home Office (ACPO, CEOP and UKBA). A draft toolkit has now been sent to 11 local authorities for piloting throughout 2009, and is available via the link below:
London Toolkit for Safeguarding Trafficked Children - draft for piloting (1.7mb)
For more information on this initiative and related work around trafficking, please see http://www.londonscb.gov.uk/trafficking/.
October Child Sexual Abuse seminar - presentations online
All presentations and handouts from October's child sexual abuse seminar are now available to download via the links below:
Welcome and introduction (Tink Palmer)
An exemplar guidance flow diagram (Dr PWD Meerstadt)
Usual and less usual presentations of CSA (Dr Julia Hale)
September Child Sexual Abuse seminar - presentation online
Stephen Smallbone's presentation from September's child sexual abuse seminar is now available to download from the link below:
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Evidence, theory, policy and practice (Stephen Smallbone)
We anticipate posting a full report of the seminar online shortly - watch this space for details.
Child sexual abuse conference - papers now available
The London Safeguarding Children Board's 2008 summer conference, which focussed on safeguarding children at risk of sexual abuse, took place at the British Library on Wednesday June 18th. With presentations that highlighted the latest developments and emerging good practice from both the UK and abroad, the event was a great success and a number of presentations and supporting material are now available to download from the link below:
It is anticipated that additional papers will be made available via this link shortly, so watch this space for updates!
LSCB self-assessment governance tool and effective practice case studies now available to download
A voluntary Challenge and Improvement Tool for LSCBs is now available to download from http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/safeguarding/lscb/, together with two chapters of material provided by LSCBs as examples of their effective local practice.
The Challenge and Improvement Tool focuses on effective governance as a starting point for establishing strong relationships, clear accountability and transparency of operation and purpose. LSCBs may wish to adapt the tool to their specific context or stage of development.
The first chapter of effective practice exemplars consists of 13 case studies covering areas highlighted in Local Safeguarding Children Boards: A Review of Progress (June 2007), ranging from addressing local governance, to engaging effectively with partners, to developing local procedures. The second set of 8 case studies focus on two areas: how the child protection system can intervene to safeguard children and young people at risk of becoming involved in gang activity; and how local services identify and safeguard sexually exploited young people.
Competence Matters - a multi agency safeguarding children training framework for London
Competence Matters offers a framework for a London-wide comprehensive safeguarding children training programme. Used to inform local Safeguarding training strategies, it will provide a framework for a programme based on each London borough’s individual training needs. Please follow the link below to download a copy:
Competence Matters - a multi agency safeguarding children training framework for London
This document is intended to assist Children’s Trusts and/or Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) Training Officers and Sub-Committees with the planning, commissioning and delivery of a comprehensive safeguarding children training programme. LSCB partners, and those with responsibility for staff learning and development within LSCB member agencies will also need to be familiar with this framework.
It is not intended that Children’s Trusts or LSCBs should attempt to adopt everything within this document – rather, local areas should use this as a framework around which to base their own training programmes.
London Board January update
Follow the link below to download January's update on the work of the London Board:
London Board update - January 2009
Metropolitan Police Female Genital Mutilation Prevention Campaign 2008
The Summer Holidays have been identified as a time when girls are particularly vulnerable to becoming victims of FGM by being flown out to countries which openly practice FGM, or by having the procedure conducted on them at home, utilising the holiday period as recovery time.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has developed Project Azure to tackle this issue, and have developed an electronic FGM Training and Briefing pack to be widely disseminated to any agency or voluntary organisation whose staff has contact with children - this is available to download from the FGM resources section of this website.
London domestic violence pilots seminar - papers now available
All papers from the London Board's domestic violence seminar, which took place on Tuesday May 6th 2008, are now available to download via the link below.
Safeguarding children abused through domestic violence
The London procedure for safeguarding children abused through domestic violence has now been approved by the London Safeguarding Children Board. This procedure is one of the series of supplementary procedures to the London Child Protection Procedures (2007), and is cross-referenced in the main procedures. The full document is available to download from the supplementary procedures section of this website.
London Safeguarding Children Health Professionals Network - papers online
All presentations and related documents from the February 21st meeting of the London Safeguarding Children Health Professional's Network, a mini-conference focussing on the alignment between serious case reviews and serious untoward incident processes, are now available to download via the link below.
Community Partnership Project - training powerpoint now available
The London Board have now produced a training powerpoint to accompany the recently published community partnership project report - this powerpoint, the full report and related resources are available in the community partnership project section of this website. The aim of the project was to improve partnership working between statutory bodies and local minority ethnic communities and faith groups for the safeguarding of London’s children, by gathering and sharing information and promoting improvement in practice across London.
National reviews of serious case reviews
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has now published the latest two biennial reviews of serious case reviews. These reports are available to download at:
Community Partnership Project - final report
The final report of the Community Partnership Project was launched at the London Board's annual "Safeguarding London's Children" conference in December, and is now available to download via the link below:
Community Partnership Project - final report
The Community Partnership Project was a London Safeguarding Children Board action and audit project, jointly managed with eight London boroughs and funded by the London Board, the Department for Education and Skills, the Home Office and the participating London boroughs. The project commenced on 1st July 2006 and ended on 30th June 2007.
The aim of the project was to improve partnership working between statutory bodies and local minority ethnic communities and faith groups for the safeguarding of London’s children, by gathering and sharing information and promoting improvement in practice across London.
Safeguarding London's Children conference - 13 December 2007
All presentations and related documents from the London Board's annual Safeguarding London's Children conference, held on Thursday December 13th 2007, are now available to download via the link below.
Safeguarding children who may have been trafficked - new government guidance released
In December 2007, the DCFS and Home Office produced a guidance document intended to help agencies and their staff safeguard and promote the welfare of children who may have been trafficked. It is supplementary to, and should be used in conjunction with, the Government's statutory guidance 'Working Together to Safeguard Children' (2006). Please follow the link below to download this guidance document:
Safeguarding children who may have been trafficked
London Good Practice Guidance for Safeguarding Children Missing from School
The London Good Practice Guidance for Safeguarding Children Missing from School has now been approved by the London Safeguarding Children Board, and is available to download from the link below or via the Supplementary Procedures section of this website.
Safeguarding Children Missing from School
Safeguarding Children Missing from School - Appendix 3
This good practice guide is designed to support professionals in education services both within the local authority and in schools and other educational establishments, together with the Metropolitan Police, LA children’s social care and health services, in their combined efforts to safeguard children who are missing from school
The guidance is offered with the aim of providing a minimum standard of safety for children who are registered with London schools and who are or go missing from school, and give rise to concern that they may be classified as missing whereabouts unknown.
London Board datasets initiative
Information about the London Board's datasets initiative is now available online - follow the link below for steering group notes and the latest on the development of a consistent dataset for London.
FGM resource page
On June 1st 2007, the London Safeguarding Children Board published the supplementary child protection protection Safeguarding children at risk of abuse through female genital mutilation. Please follow the link below for a variety of resources aimed at helping LSCBs to implement this procedure and address the issue of FGM - this page can also be accessed via the link to the right, under "resource pages".
