(KEY DECISION)

Report No. 82/2019

Report No. 82/2019 was received from the Strategic Director for People.

Mr Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning, Early Years, SEND, Inclusion, Safeguarding Children and Young People, introduced the report the purpose of which was to set out the proposals for the new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements for children. These changes are required by the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and Working Together 2018 (statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children) and would replace the current Leicestershire and Rutland Local Safeguarding Children Board (LRLSCB) by September 2019.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         This was the final approval stage of the new arrangements as they would be published by the end of June and implementation would take place in September. However, once established, the new partnership would be open to evolving further.

·         The Strategic Director for People confirmed that he was happy with the proposals but conceded that, like anything negotiated across a partnership, more efficiencies could have been made.

·         Given the relatively small amount of money that Rutland contributed it was unlikely that the new arrangements would produce savings.

·         Independent scrutiny was built into the model to ensure the safety of children and also to provide independent challenge between partners.

DECISION

Cabinet APPROVED the approach to the new multi-agency safeguarding partnership arrangements for children to be known as Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Children’s Partnership

Reasons for the decision

It is a requirement for all local authority areas to have in place by the end of September 2019, multi-agency partnership arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children.  It is also a requirement to publish these arrangements by 29 June 2019.