Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland

MINUTE Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland 08 January 2013 13:30, Lisburn Civic CentreM I N U T E - R E C O R D O F A T T E N D A N C EName Title & Organisation Present Apologies Hugh Connor Chair Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland  Neil Anderson National Head of Service for N. Ireland NSPCC  Ashley Boreland Chief Executive Ards Borough Council  John Devaney CMR Panel Chair  Paul Douglas Lay Member  Dr Brian Dunn Clinical Lead for East Antrim Primary Care  ACC George Hamilton Assistant Chief Constable PSNI  Liam Hannaway Chief Executive Banbridge District Council  Dr Carolyn Harper Director of Public Health  Mary Hinds Director of Nursing and Allied Health  Professions Paula Jack Chief Executive Youth Justice Agency  Paddy Kelly Director Children’s Law Centre  Pauline Leeson Chief Executive Children in N. Ireland  Dr Clare Mangan Acting Chief Executive WELB James Marshall Lay Member  Fionnuala McAndrew Director of Social Care and Children HSCB  Brian McCaughey Director PBNI  Carmel McKinney Lay Member  Paul Morgan Dir. Children & Young People’s Services SHSCT  Max Murray Northern Ireland Prison Service  Dawn Shaw Operational Director Action for Children NI  Ian Sutherland Director of Children’s Services SEHSCT  Marie Roulston Director of Children’s Services NHSCT  Una Turbitt Safeguarding Nurse Consultant PHA  Lynda Wilson Director Barnardo’s NI  Cecil Worthington Director of Child Care BHSCT  Koulla Yiasouma Director Include Youth  Kieran Downey Executive Director WHSCT  In Attendance Sharon Beattie Director of Operations SBNI Margaret Burke Professional Officer SBNI John Toner Independent Safeguarding Panel Chair Dr Bridie Pilkington Independent Safeguarding Panel Chair Stefan Curran Minute Taker Donna Ruddy DHSSPS, Grade 7 Child Protection (Child Care Policy Directorate)1 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTESummary of ActionsNI Ombudsman presentation to be circulated to 1 Page 3 the Board members. Draft MOU with NI Ombudsman to be circulated 2 Page 5 when available. 3 SBNI to make contact with Tink Palmer. Page 7 Dr Devaney and SBNI Officers to consider how 4 Page 12 CMR Procedures should be taken forward. Structure of Safeguarding Panels and sub- 5 Page 12 Committees to be added to Board Agenda. 6 Risk Register to be added to Board Agenda. Page 122 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTEI. Welcome and apologiesThe Chair introduced Marie Anderson and Donna Ruddy.Apologies were noted.II. MinutesThe Chair asked for any amendments of which there were none and the Chair signed the minutes.III. Matters arisingA written update on Matters Arising had been included in the papers.The Chair asked for comments, of which there were none.IV. Declarations of interestThe Chair asked for any possible declarations of interest, of which there were none.V. ComplaintsThe Chair confirmed there were no complaints.3 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE 1. Information Governance – A presentation from the Ombudsman’s OfficeThe Chair highlighted that Ms Anderson and the Ombudsman had been very helpful to the SBNI. The Chair thanked Ms Anderson and handed over to her.Ms Anderson confirmed she would make her presentation available to the Board.Action 1:NI Ombudsman presentation to be circulated to the Board members.Action By: Stefan CurranMs Anderson highlighted that the work of the Board is characterised by the need for confidentiality. Protecting the confidentiality of the information held by the SBNI is a priority but this can be difficult when dealing with many bodies with different approaches and cultures.Ms Anderson confirmed that the Data Protection Act (DPA) only applies to information held about living individuals. If information relates to a deceased person, a child death for instance, DPA doesn’t apply Ms Anderson stated that the SBNI is a designated body under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).Of the eight Data Protection principles the most fundamental for the Board is the first Data Protection principle which is that you can only hold or process personal data relating to living individuals, whose case you are renewing, if there is a lawful basis so to do.4 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE Ms Anderson informed the Board that under FOI there may be the ability to use the exemption in section 41 where an access request could be refused as the information is fundamentally confidential and obtained from another public authority.Ms Anderson informed the Board that all Health and Social Care bodies are in the jurisdiction of the NI Ombudsman and so an MOU will need to be developed with the SBNI. The Chair thanked Ms Anderson and asked for any questions.Ms Beattie asked whether all the member agencies come under the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.Ms Anderson stated they all do except the PSNI and the Voluntary Organisations.The Chair thanked Ms Anderson.Ms Kelly asked for the status of the Memorandum of Understanding with the NI Ombudsman as there is the potential for conflict if a complaint is received. Ms Kelly also expressed concerns that the Ombudsman’s administrative processes may not have the same interests as the SBNI i.e. the best interest of the child.Ms Beattie confirmed that there have been several meetings with the Ombudsman and that the MOU is being drafted by them The Chair made Ms Kelly aware that he would appreciate any thoughts or comments on the draft MOU before it is signed.Ms Kelly asked if it would be possible to circulate the draft MOU when available.5 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTEThe Chair agreed.Action 2:Draft MOU with NI Ombudsman to be circulated when available.Action By: Stefan Curran6 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTEVI. Chairman’s Business a) Meeting With Junior MinistersThe Chair informed the Board that he and Ms Beattie attended a meeting in which the Junior Ministers asked about the SBNIs plans on e-safety for the coming year. At ministerial level some thought was being given to the possibility of bringing forward new legislation. The Chair highlighted that the Junior Ministers were very engaged. The Chair and Director of Operations had suggested that however the Ministers plan to move forward, it would be important to compliment this action with some form of awareness raising or education to help children keep themselves safe and parents to protect their children. The meeting had ended with the Junior Ministers expressing a desire that OFMDFM should work with the SBNI on this issue.The Chair confirmed that a meeting had then been held with Dr Harper, Superintendent Skelton, Dr Mangan and himself to talk about what the SBNI might do. It was agreed that a scoping exercise should be taken forward of what material currently existed, and a review of any evidence base as to what worked. Consultation would also be given to inviting the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) to Northern Ireland for a briefing. The Chair highlighted that there may be some resourcing associated with this. The Chair asked for comments.Ms McKinney stated that from an Education background there was an enormous amount of material available which, in her opinion, hadn’t made a lot of impact. Ms McKinney put forward concerns on issues such as gambling, social networks and parental involvement in learning material. She thought it would be good to explore the issue and get a uniform approach across all agencies with a monitoring tool to evaluate whether it made a difference. She believed this was a priority for SBNI and was linked to the issues sexual exploitation and grooming.Ms Beattie highlighted that children and their parents required guidance and concurred with Ms McKinney’s on the need to find out what strategies were making a difference.Ms Yiasouma highlighted that CEOP are the current experts on this issue.7 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE Ms Ruddy wanted to inform the Board that she sits on The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) and highlighted Tink Palmer as a representative, with whom the Board should confer. Mr Anderson agreed with Ms McKinney that there is a mass of material on the subject and therefore believed that a legislative response would be the most effective especially if this involved working with the Internet Service Providers.Ms Wilson highlighted the importance of getting young people’s views on the issue.Action 3:SBNI to make contact with Tink Palmer and OFMDFM officials.Action By: Ms Beattie b) Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) UpdateThe Chair provided an update on CDOP. The Chair confirmed that the SBNI held a CDOP workshop with the help of Prof Peter Sidebotham from the University of Warwick. One of the suggestions that came out of the workshop was that every child death would not be subject to a full review; rather a triage process would occur and only those deaths where it was felt lessons could be learnt would be subject to a more in-depth analysis. The Chair informed that Board that discussions were ongoing with the Department and also a meeting with the Public Health Agency and Dr Harper was to take place. The Chair asked for any comments of which there were none. c) CMR Panel of ExpertsThe Chair informed the Board that there had been a problem with the advertisement of these posts. The posts had been advertised quoting a daily rate rather than a fee per case basis. The Chair confirmed that he was seeking approval from BSO and the Department to re-advertise on the fee per case basis.The Chair asked for any comments of which there were none.2. Strategic Plan8 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE The Chair informed the Board that it needed to make choices in relation to Section 3 of the Strategic Plan in order to ensure the Plan is ready to go for consultation around April 2013. The Chair thanked Mrs Beattie for the amount of work she had put into this paper. The Chair highlighted that the proposed strategic plan had 5 sections or headings. Section 3 centred in the outcomes of the committees; 4 was based on the SBNI Guidance and tasks that SBNI had to do and Section 5 was based on the governance arrangements and strategic priority. The Chair recommended that the Board accept these priorities given they must be done by SBNI and focus the discussion on sections 1 and 2 where choices had to be made. Mr Marshal proposed the adoption of sections 3, 4 and 5. Mr Worthington asked for confirmation that the strategic priorities had been developed from what was prescribed for SBNI to undertake and from the workshop held with CYPSP. Ms Beattie confirmed this. Ms Kelly stated she would have difficulty in accepting the proposal on the basis of potential differential adverse effects on children and the lack of an Equality Impact Assessment. She emphasised the Section 75 duties of SBNI and would be uncomfortable at this stage to endorse the Strategic Plan. Ms Beattie confirmed the Strategic Plan would be subject to an equality impact assessment which would be completed by the end of January. This would form part of the consultation process alongside the Strategic Plan. The Chair reflected that the paper endeavours to allow the Board to bring forward a document for9 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE consultation. And that he believed the proposed document would be subject to Equality Impact Assessment.Dr Harper stated that it is inherent that the Strategic Plan could not cover all groups and therefore making changes was necessary.Ms Kelly stated that by raising the issue of Section 75 duties it was not her intention for all groups to be covered but that as certain groups are being prioritised, the Section 75 process would ensure that the Board are prioritising in the best way.Dr Harper queried whether the plan was practicable as there are a lot of objectives for a Board that is not a ‘doing’ organisation.The Chair confirmed that while the plan is ambitious it is a three year document. The work could not be done by the SBNI professional officers, but would be a collective effort so SBNI would be heavily reliant on the member agencies but the plan must seek to compliment the operational objectives of the Member Agencies. The Chair asked for further comment.Ms Yiasouma highlighted that her understanding was that the Board had to agree the Strategic Priorities which would then form part of the Equality Screening process and would be part of the formal consultation. Ms Yiasouma stressed that sections 3, 4 and 5 were ‘must dos’ for the SBNI and choices had to be made regarding priorities 1 and 2. Ms Yiasouma affirmed that she was content on the basis this was not the final decision making process, but would be reviewed during the consultation process Ms Kelly confirmed that she was happy to move forward on that basis but that if a differential adverse impact is found a full EQIA would be required.10 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE Ms Ruddy confirmed that the Strategic Plan needed to be agreed by the Members in order for it to be part of an Equality Screening Process. If a full equality impact assessment was required the Department would respond accordingly in terms of time frames.The Chair asked whether the Board was content with this approach to which there was unanimous agreement.The Board accepted Sections 3, 4, and 5 on this basis.The Chair moved to Section 2 and stated that it is based on the learning from CMRs and research. The Chair asked Dr Devaney’s for his views.Dr Devaney highlighted the need for early intervention which is tied into thresholds and the need for assessments to take account of multiple adversities. He also highlighted the importance of communication and information sharing. Ms Turbitt suggested the wording around A&E needed to be amended to reflect a wider range of issues and not just assessment. This was agreed by the Board. The Board accepted the areas highlighted by Dr Devaney and also agreed that there should be a focus on young babies, A&E and G.Ps. Mr Worthington suggested that there be wording changes to the priorities to reflect the discussion. This was agreed. Ms Jack highlighted the importance of SBNI not creating additional sub-groups to take forward any work. Organisations could not resource these and consideration should be given to utilisation of already created groups. 11 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE Ms Jack highlighted that work needed to be done to the wording of the priorities which reflected the role of the Board to ‘Ensure and ‘Co-ordinate’ rather than ‘language’ that would indicate that SBNI would be undertaking the work. Words like overview and ensure could be used. There should be a review of work currently being done, to then task existing groups to perform the work reflected in the Boards Strategic Priorities.Ms Leeson raised the issue of disability. A strategic priority on disability is something that other local safeguarding boards have adopted. The Chair highlighted that everyone is aware that children with disabilities are underrepresented in terms of child protection. Ms Beattie suggested that there are existing groups looking at disability e.g. CYPSP which the Board could influence. Ms Jack confirmed that the choices selected by the Board should be based on the rationale that no other agency or partnerships were leading on that area. This was agreed.Mr McCaughey queried which group, if any, were dealing with Children at risk of exploitation by paramilitaries. Ms Jack confirmed that it is a key action under the Children and Young People and Offending sub group of the CYPSP which she chaired and the Board could ensure their interests are reflected in the outcomes for this sub-group.The Chair summarised the discussion and confirmed that the Strategic Plan would be amended. The groups of children that SBNI would focus on would include those Children and Young People at risk of sexual exploitation, children who were at risk of sexual and violent offending and those children at risk as a result of e-safety issues. The decision was based on the rationale that no other Body or Partnership was taking a lead in these particular areas. The Chair stated that for the March meeting officers would produce the next version of these agreed priorities, setting out in some more detail what work would be required to action the Board’s strategic direction.3. SBNI Guidance/CMR GuidanceThe Chair introduced Donna Ruddy.12 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTEMs Ruddy thanked the Board for the invitation to talk through the Guidance.Ms Ruddy stated that the Guidance was issued to the Board under Section 5 of the Act. Section 12 highlighted that all member agencies should have due regard to the Guidance when exercising their functions.Ms Ruddy informed the Board that the Guidance was written with the understanding that the SBNI would initially retain focus on child protection and gradually widen their remit to safeguarding. The Guidance supplemented the Regulations.The draft Guidance went out to consultation between June and August of 2012. Thirty-five responses were received which were all considered and the Department worked closely with the SBNI officers during this review. A summary document on the consultation would be available on the Department’s website.Ms Ruddy informed the Board that this is Version 1 of the Guidance and in due course it would be subject to change. Ms Ruddy stated that during the consultation the CMR annex raised most discussion and the Department had undertaken a considerable re-write on this issue. Concerns had been raised in relation to the CMR notification, the criteria for undertaking a CMR along with the timescales and publication of the reports. The new CMR Guidance outlined the broad principles for the CMR process and strengthened the criteria when a CMR must be undertaken. It also outlined options for publication of learning from CMRs. Finally, Ms Ruddy informed the Board that there was an amendment already as the CMR annex would replace Chapter 10 of ‘Co-operating to Safeguarding Children’ when this was launched in due course. 13 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE Ms Ruddy stated that she was happy to take any questions through the Chair.The Chair asked for any questions.Dr Devaney stated that the Guidance was a lot clearer and stronger than previous drafts. This would facilitate the SBNI and in particular the CMR Panel producing procedures to compliment the guidance.Action 4: Dr Devaney and SBNI Officers to consider how CMR Procedures should be taken forward. Action by: SBNI Officers and Dr. DevaneyMr McCaughey raised concerns about the number of sub-groups being created by Safeguarding Panels and the resourcing implications associated with this. For organisations such as his he informed the Board that Probation could not resource these. Ms Jack agreed with Mr McCaughey and has informed her staff within Youth Justice not to agree to membership of panel sub-groups for the very same reason. The Chair confirmed that some similar views were being raised by other members and thought that an opportunity should be provided at the next Board meeting to discuss this.Action 5:Structure of Safeguarding Panels and Sub-Committees to be added to Board Agenda.Action By: Stefan Curran14 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013 MINUTE 4. Risk RegisterMs Beattie informed the Board that a Risk Register had been developed with five key risks being identified.The Chair suggested that given the importance of the issue this should be deferred to the next Board to allow a more in-depth discussion. Action 6:Risk Register to be included on next Board Agenda.Action By: Stefan CurranThere being no other business the Chair thanked the Board members for their patience and brought the meeting to a close.Signed by Chair: Date: 15 Board Meeting 02 Minutes 08/01/2013

Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland

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