Bradford Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB) has produced an annual report covering the period April 2015 to March 2016.    The report of the Director of children’s Services (Document “AB”) sets out the context of partnership work to safeguard children in the Bradford District, outlines the key areas of work and the key challenges and successes.  The report also contains information about the governance, resources and accountability of the Board.

 Recommended -

That the Committee read and note the attached Annual Report of the Bradford Safeguarding Children Board.

                                                                        (Jenny Cryer - 01274 434333)

Bradford Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB) had produced an annual report covering the period April 2015 to March 2016.    The report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “AB”) set out the context of partnership work to safeguard children in the Bradford District, outlined the key areas of work and the key challenges and successes.  The report also contained information about the governance, resources and accountability of the Board.  It was noted that the Board had undertaken significant work on Child Sexual Exploitation(CSE) and that a full update would be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 14 February 2017.  Reference was made to the work of the Child Death Overview Panel and it was noted that death rates of children in the District were reducing year on year although they were still higher than the national rate.

The following answers were given to member questions:

·         The difference in the number of child deaths and those which were reviewed was because delays in inquest and other investigations could effect the year in which the death was reviewed.

·         Newer challenging forms of abuse to which children were vulnerable included on line grooming, on line bullying and issues regarding social media.

·         Parents were communicated with to advise them that the Child Death Review Panel reviewed all child deaths.  Officers would look into a instance raised by a member of a parent that had not been notified.

·         Work had been undertaken with GPs on raising awareness of genetic conditions.  Specific work had been on going for a number of years with staff to talk about cousin marriage and consanguinity.  Steps were taken to ensure that families that had been effected were offered input and appropriate advice.  A generic leaflet was provided on genetic conditions and a specific leaflet  on cousin marriage and risk was provided to ensure that families had the right information to make the right choice.  A simpler version of the leaflets was going to be produced and a short video was to be made pointing families to the leaflet or to their GP.  People specifically trained about cousin marriage had been working with communities to increase understanding and encourage discussion among communities.

·         It was noted that the on going work had been successful in bringing down infant mortality rates but that they were still high.

·         Interviews were taking place on 7 February 2017 to appoint a new Chair of the Bradford Safeguarding Children Board.

·         The Child Death Overview Panel worked very closely with the Born on Bradford project and analysed data from the project.  Recommendations from the Panel would have an impact on improving heath in the district.

·         Information on the number of taxi licences that had been revoked in 2015-16 as a result of involvement in CSE offences would be provided for members.

·         It was noted that Madrasahs could be encouraged  to take up safeguarding training for staff but that the authority could not insist on this.  However there was a good working relationship with supplementary schools and training was offered which was undertaken by the Safeguarding Education Team on an on going basis.

·         The Adult Safeguarding Board  was working on providing CSE training in special schools.

Caroline Henry (an advocate for families and victims of CSE) attended the meeting and in response to a question was advised that the serious case review of Autumn on 6 December 2016 would be included in the report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 14 February 2017.  She asked whether the report would include that over 200 people in Keighley were asking for a Professor Jay style enquiry into CSE.  She was advised that the Independent Safeguarding Board was not a Council body and that its report would not include all the detail of what the Council had looked into.  She asked whether additional support would be put in place to help victims and families move on from the trauma and impact on them.  She was advised that therapeutic input had been identified and would be included in the report on CSE, however the services that would be needed were not yet fully in place.  It was noted that a joint scrutiny between Children’s Services and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees had looked into young people’s mental health.  Safeguarding for children and adults was included in the new mental health strategy.

Angela Sinfield (Keighley mother who had campaigned for a public inquiry into how grooming had been addressed in the past) attended the meeting and stressed that despite her request to the Home Office there had been no public inquiry into CSE.  She added that failings continued to the present day and that until there was a public inquiry into CSE in Bradford by gangs there was no assurance that statutory services  were safeguarding children in Keighley and Bradford.  She added that it had not been identified what the failings were or who was responsible for them.  She refuted the police contention that they did not know what they were dealing with in 2012.

The Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder confirmed that the leadership of the Council did not feel that there would be added value in undertaking a separate CSE inquiry in Bradford but would participate in the national inquiry.  

The Chair confirmed that all relevant documents would continue to be referred to Professor Jay’s independent inquiry into CSE.

The following comments were made by members of the Committee:

·         The work of the Safeguarding Boards was recognised.  Information on the work of the education sub-group in developing the safeguarding curriculum would be forwarded to the Chair in response to an interest expressed by a co-opted member.

·         There was a need for the work of the education sub group on safeguarding issues to be disseminated to all schools in the district in a consistent and sustained way.

·         It was suggested that accreditation for organisations that had undertaken safeguarding training would allow parents to identify that training had been undertaken.

Resolved –

(1)                  That the Bradford Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report and Business Plan be welcomed and the thoughtful nature in which all of the issues are dealt with in the report be noted.

(2)              That the Strategic Director of Children’s Services be requested to circulate to all local MP’s and members of the Committee a copy of his submission to the Department for Education about the regulation of supplementary schools.

(3)              That all relevant documents continue to be submitted to the Professor Jay inquiry into CSE.

ACTION:  Strategic Director of Children’s Services