Following the Serious Case Review last month into the serious injuries suffered by Child A in Torbay, local MP Adrian Sanders has raised the issue in Parliament.
While the review has prompted authorities in Torbay to review their procedures, Mr Sanders questioned Children’s Minister Dawn Primarolo on how to improve guidance to councils to ensure children at risk do not come to harm.
The Minister confirmed that the part of Government guidance telling councils how to deal with child protection cases is now being reviewed. The Minister also committed to doing more to improve how various agencies share information, which was highlighted as a serious problem in Torbay’s serious case review.
The Minister was not able to resolve the problem over when to use different procedures such as Family Group Conferences and Child Protection Procedures, saying it was up to local councils to decide. A further criticism of the case in Torbay was the inappropriate use of a Family Group Conference.
Adrian commented: “Luckily Child A survived but it is essential that national and local Government take steps to prevent cases like this happening in the future. There are key areas where best practice needs to be followed more closely and where agencies need to work together proactively and hopefully the action being taken by the Minister and the review being carried out by Lord Laming will go some way to improving how child protection procedures work.”
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