Stockport Council say Andrew Webb is accountable. ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Friday, March 07, 2014 10:29 AM Subject: FOI 8427 Please accept this message as a official request for information. - Response Dear Mr Mortimer, I am writing in response to your request for information (ref FOI 8427). The relevant Council Service(s) has searched for the requested information and our response is as follows. (a) the council authority, council officer and the name of that officer, who decides on what information on child neglect and abuse is collected & held by your council; The Director of Children’s Services (DCS), Andrew Webb, who is ultimately responsible for all matters concerning child abuse and neglect. There are clearly structures which sit underneath him which manage all matters concerning abuse and neglect . Information flows through the Contact centre and is all recorded and retained for the recommended timescales. Figures are retained for the purposes of performance management, monitoring trends and linked to resource issues (b) the means by which that person is held to account by a member of the public for their performance in discharging that public function; Andrew Webb is accountable to the Lead member of the Council and the Executive leader of the council. Scrutiny committees and council meetings are open meetings - and anyone can attend . Papers are published. (c) the council authority, the council officer and the name of that officer, responsible for your child protection policies; Ultimately the DCS is responsible. The work is carried out by officers underneath him. The Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) is responsible for multi- agency safeguarding policies and Greater Manchester share an agreed set of these policies across 9 Local authorities. The multi- agency child protection policies and procedures are maintained by the Performance and Development manager of Stockport Safeguarding Children Board . The multi-agency policies and procedures are shared across greater Manchester LSCBs and a Greater Manchester group oversees these policies supported by local sub groups. (d) the means by which that person is held to account by a member of the public for their performance in discharging that public function; The DCS and his officers report regularly to the Council scrutiny arrangements which are public meetings and agendas and minutes are published. LSCB has a role in holding all agencies to account in relation to their public duties in relation to all aspects of safeguarding. Until recently there were two lay members on the SSCB . SSCB minutes are published on the SSCB website. The LSCB also has a role in scrutinising the child abuse data for the authority and sets priorities in part from the picture that is presented by that data. LSCBs have a statutory duty to perform this role and they are chaired by an Independent person - that is independent from the Local authority but someone who has sound safeguarding knowledge. (e) how the function in (c) is properly discharged and held accountable for policies which would best effectively protect children from abuse if the person referred to in (a) does not collect any information on child abuse perpetratration? The LSCBs have a responsibility to have the whole picture in an authority and indeed they must report this in their Annual Report. DCSs are members of LSCBs and are therefore subject to scrutiny from their partners. Many of the allegations which come to the attention of authorities cannot be proved which makes data collection an unreliable source of information . There is also a high degree of underreporting. Child protection policies and procedures are designed to manage actual allegations - they cannot cover all eventualities . All authorities do a great deal of work to put early intervention and prevention in place to minimise the potential of child abuse by addressing risk factors in families. If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request for information, you are entitled to ask for an internal review; however you must do so within 40 working days of the date of this response. Any internal review will be carried out by a senior member of staff who was not involved with your original request. To ask for an internal review, contact [email protected] in the first instance. If you are unhappy with the outcome of any internal review, you are entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner. To do so, contact: Information Commissioner’s Office ico.gov.uk Yours sincerely, Simon Oldfield Freedom of Information/ Data Protection Officer & RIPA Coordinator Stockport Council stockport.gov.uk
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:12:58 +0000
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