Agenda item

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People, and Helen Blackman, Director for Children’s Integrated Services updated the Committee on progress in implementing the action plan arising from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).  They highlighted the following information:

a)  A range of work has taken place to ensure that survivors have the appropriate support, including clearly communicating the support that is available, signposting to appropriate services and listening to survivors.

b)  There is now a dedicated Information Officer to support individuals in accessing their records as it is recognised how important this is to people.

c)  The Council has improved how it responds to victims and survivors by offering a written apology and taking a more empathetic approach.  The Council is working with counterparts at Nottinghamshire County Council to ensure a whole system response.

d)  Having listened to the feedback from survivors, and based on a needs assessment, a new service is being developed to support victims of violence and sexual abuse.  It is proposed that sexual violence and abuse commissioning is mainstreamed into the existing domestic violence and abuse governance structures.

e)  Partners, including the two local authorities, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and relevant clinical commissioning groups, have agreed to come together as a system and commission delivery of an Adult Sexual Violence Hub and Therapy Support Service for Nottinghamshire.  This Service will begin in January 2021.

f)  Work is ongoing in relation to reviewing the risks posed by current and former foster carers, including those from independent fostering agencies.  All agencies have been written to but completion of the work has been delayed by Covid-19.  A strong methodology for dealing with repeated concerns has been developed to ensure that they are appropriately scrutinised, and there has been a lot of learning about erring on the side of caution.  An external consultant has been engaged to provide external assurance on how the Council is responding on this issue.

g)  The NSPCC was commissioned to review practice against the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Framework and while individual agencies are responding, a partnership-wide feedback event to consider feedback had to be postponed due to Covid-19.  The review identified lots of strengths but also areas for improvement, which now have to be implemented across the safeguarding partnership.

h)  The Council is working with the National LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) Network to promote clearer scrutiny of allegations of sexual abuse of children in care by individuals in a position of trust or a peer.  The Independent Reviewing Officers’ Annual Report will also provide an independent view in relation to how the system is responding to allegations.

i)  As outlined at the Committee’s meeting in July, a lot of work is taking place to refresh the Service’s quality assurance framework and ensure practice standards reflect lessons learnt, for example ensuring the voice of the child is embedded throughout.

During the subsequent discussion the following points were raised:

j)  There are a number of actions that still need to be completed, including delivery of the Adult Sexual Violence Hub; and completion of the review of risks posed by foster carers.  The outstanding actions will be integrated into the overall improvement plan for the Service.

k)  It was questioned whether it is appropriate to incorporate the outstanding actions into the overall improvement plan rather than keeping it separate to ensure a specific focus on it.  In response, it was stated that one of the areas of learning from the Inquiry is that these issues relate to everything that Children’s Services does and therefore the work needs to be embedded throughout the Service rather than standalone as a separate piece of work.  This will magnify, rather than lose focus on the issues.  The Corporate Director stated that she is confident that there will be a clear line of sight on IICSA going forward.

Resolved to:

1)  schedule a review of implementation of the outstanding actions from the action plan arising from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse for a future meeting; and

2)  consider the Independent Reviewing Officers’ Annual Report for assurance at a future meeting.