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1 Introduction

This report outlines the situation following the publication of Lord Laming's Report on his Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié, and seeks to update Members. A verbal briefing was given at this Committee on 14 March.

The report was presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Health on 28 January.

Alan Milburn's statement to the House of Commons summarised the main conclusions drawn by the Government from the Report and the Government's initial position in response to the Recommendations.

Immediately following, letters were sent in the name of Alan Milburn to the Chief Executives of all local authorities with social services responsibilities. This letter included an initial `good practice checklist' drawn from the Report's findings. Similar letters have been sent to the chief officers of the other key statutory agencies.

A second letter, in the name of the Social Services Chief Inspector Denise Platt was sent to Directors of Social Services (or the equivalent), outlining the steps to be put in hand by the SSI on behalf of the Government; the most significant being the requirement for every Social Services department to submit by 30 April a self-assessment of its services for child protection in particular and children in need overall, using an `Audit Framework' devised by the Social Services Inspectorate.

The two other key organisations, Health and Police have been similarly obliged by the government to carry out audits.

2 Summary

2.1 Victoria Climbié was brought to England from the Ivory Coast, via France, by her great aunt Marie-Therese Kouao and her boyfriend Carl Manning. They were convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2001.

As a result of this, the Government commissioned Lord Laming to chair an Independent Statutory Inquiry into the actions and performance of the Health, Social Care, Police and other statutory and voluntary services, and to make recommendations as to how such an event could be avoided in the future. The Laming Report:

2.2 Describes events leading up to the death of Victoria Climbié following extensive physical abuse and neglect by Kouao and Manning.

2.3 Sets out each agency's part in the events and finally

2.4 Makes 108 recommendations with timescales for improvements ranging from three months to two years, most (82) requiring action with six months.

2.5 There is an important distinction to be drawn between Lord Laming's recommendations and the government's current position in terms of response and decisions on actions. The government is reserving its position, pending further work which will include an assessment of the audit of services and standards now underway in each of the key agencies.

3 Main Findings of the Laming Report

There are three main themes:

3.1 The importance of maintaining good practice in the provision of effective frontline services with regard to:

3.1.1 Prompt responses to reported concerns about a child's welfare between agencies

3.1.2 Effective and timely sharing of information between agencies

3.1.3 Recording

3.1.4 Supervision

3.1.5 First-line management

3.1.6 Maintenance of social work caseload sizes such that workloads and capacity are reasonable

3.1.7 Allocation of sufficient resources by councils which would assist significantly the basic safety of children at risk.

3.2 Governance: new arrangements at national and local levels for the governance and oversight of children in need of protection and support. These involve nine recommendations which redraw the responsibilities of government ministers, chief executives, directors or social services and the elected Members of local authorities with social services responsibilities, in particular:-

3.2.1 A ministerial Children and Families Board "at the heart of government"

3.2.2 A new National Agency, for Children and Families, to incorporate the responsibilities of a Children's Commissioner for England

3.2.3 Each local authority to establish a Committee of Members for Children and Families, to include representation from each of the key services.

3.2.4 The local authority chief executive should chair a Management Board for Services to Children and Families, which amongst other responsibilities will replace the Area Children Protection Committee (ACPC).

3.2.5 The Management Board to appoint a director responsible for ensuring that inter-agency arrangements are appropriate and effective.

3.2.6 The budget of each of the agencies should be identified by the Board so that staff and resources can be used in the most effective way.

3.3 Radical restructuring of services into a single separate specialist agency (whether in a national or local setting) Lord Laming considered not to be appropriate. He stresses further the importance of child protection being set in the broader context of Children in Need defined in the Children Act 1989.

4 Initial Responses

4.1 The `good practice' checklist received in February was completed and used subsequently to set the context for the completion of the SSI `Audit Framework', which was submitted by the due date of 30 April.

4.2 The Audit Framework is laid out in seven themes - `Standards' - which draw on the Recommendations in Lord Laming's Report, identifying key criteria against which each social services department describes and rates its performance.

4.3 The seven Standards are -

4.4 An outline Action Plan has been drawn up to guide the department through the process and has included, reports to social services DMT, the County Council's CMT, briefing managers and staff, liaison with the key statutory agencies, and the Area Child Protection Committee (ACPC). A key event was the multi-agency Conference hosted by the local ACPC's on 11 March which was addressed by Lord Laming.

5 Next Steps

5.1 The SSI will carry out an evaluation of the completed audit framework, which will be set alongside evidence already available on each council's children's service from e.g. previous inspections, Annual Review Meeting (ARM) action plans, and the Quality Protects Management action plan.

The SSI will check on the quality of the audit and the progress that councils are making in achieving improvements through:

The ongoing performance assessment and improvement dialogue between the business link inspector and the council;

Programmed children's services and child protection inspections;

Visits to verify the audit response in a sample of councils. This will include inspecting some aspects of service. If selected for a follow up inspection this will take place between May and July;

Assessment of any additional assistance a council may need to improve its services.

Whilst the timescale is not yet finalised, latest information is then formal feedback to local authorities will in late June.

5.2 Work is underway through the ACPC to tackle those matters which need a joint approach, and in preparation for coordinating the outcomes of the audit evaluations by the various government departments.

5.3 The Green Paper - provisional title `Children At Risk' is expected by June and it is likely to deal with the wider ranging, macro issues identified in the Laming Report, and to confirm arrangements regarding preventative services.

5.4 The NSF - National Service Framework - for Children's Services is being published in modules over the year, the first - on acute health services, has now been released.

5.5 The Leader is hosting a County Council Member Conference on the Victoria Climbié Inquiry on 19 May.

6 Conclusion

6.1 There is much activity underway in the field of children's services, in terms of policy development and service initiatives, both nationally and locally. It will be important for social services and the County Council as a whole to seek to coordinate work with its key partners and stakeholders in order to maximise use of resources and to ensure accessible services to its users.

Recommendations

1) That this report be noted.

2) That a further report on children at risk be presented, following the outcome of the evaluation of the Victoria Climbié Audit.