Children and Social Work Act 2017

Local arrangements for safeguarding and promoting welfare of children

16 Local arrangements for safeguarding and promoting welfare of children

After section 16D of the Children Act 2004 (inserted by section 15 of this Act) insert—

“Safeguarding partners for local authority areas

16E Local arrangements for safeguarding and promoting welfare of children

(1) The safeguarding partners for a local authority area in England must make arrangements for—

(a) the safeguarding partners, and

(b) any relevant agencies that they consider appropriate,

to work together in exercising their functions, so far as the functions are exercised for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area.

(2) The arrangements must include arrangements for the safeguarding partners to work together to identify and respond to the needs of children in the area.

(3) In this section—

• “relevant agency”, in relation to a local authority area in England, means a person who—

  (a)

  is specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State, and

  (b)

  exercises functions in that area in relation to children;

• “safeguarding partner”, in relation to a local authority area in England, means—

  (a)

  the local authority;

  (b)

  a clinical commissioning group for an area any part of which falls within the local authority area;

  (c)

  the chief officer of police for a police area any part of which falls within the local authority area.”

17 Local child safeguarding practice reviews

After section 16E of the Children Act 2004 (inserted by section 16 of this Act) insert—

“16F Local child safeguarding practice reviews

(1) The safeguarding partners for a local authority area in England must make arrangements in accordance with this section—

(a) to identify serious child safeguarding cases which raise issues of importance in relation to the area, and

(b) for those cases to be reviewed under the supervision of the safeguarding partners, where they consider it appropriate.

(2) The purpose of a review under subsection (1)(b) is to identify any improvements that should be made by persons in the area to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

(3) Where a case is reviewed under the supervision of the safeguarding partners, they must—

(a) ensure that the reviewer provides a report on the outcome of the review;

(b) ensure—

(i) that the reviewer makes satisfactory progress, and

(ii) that the report is of satisfactory quality;

(c) provide the report to the Secretary of State and the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

(4) The safeguarding partners must publish the report, unless they consider it inappropriate to do so.

(5) If the safeguarding partners consider it inappropriate to publish the report, they must publish any information relating to the improvements that should be made following the review that they consider it appropriate to publish.

(6) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about—

(a) criteria to be taken into account by the safeguarding partners in determining whether serious child safeguarding cases raise issues of importance in relation to the area;

(b) the appointment or removal of a reviewer by the safeguarding partners, including provision for a reviewer to be appointed by the safeguarding partners from a list provided by the Secretary of State;

(c) the time when a report is to be provided to the Secretary of State or the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, or published;

(d) the procedure for a review;

(e) the form and content of a report.

(7) In this section “reviewer” means any one or more persons appointed to review a case under the supervision of the safeguarding partners for a local authority area.”

18 Further provision about arrangements

After section 16F of the Children Act 2004 (inserted by section 17 of this Act) insert—

“16G Further provision about arrangements

(1) This section applies in relation to arrangements made under section 16E or 16F by the safeguarding partners for a local authority area in England.

(2) The safeguarding partners must publish the arrangements.

(3) The arrangements must include arrangements for scrutiny by an independent person of the effectiveness of the arrangements.

(4) The safeguarding partners and relevant agencies for the local authority area must act in accordance with the arrangements.

(5) Subsection (6) applies where a person is specified in regulations under section 16E(3) for the purposes of the definition of “relevant agency”.

(6) The regulations may make provision for the enforcement against the person of the duty imposed by subsection (4), if the Secretary of State considers that there would otherwise be no appropriate means of enforcing that duty against the person (but the regulations may not create criminal offences).

(7) At least once in every 12 month period, the safeguarding partners must prepare and publish a report on—

(a) what the safeguarding partners and relevant agencies for the local authority area have done as a result of the arrangements, and

(b) how effective the arrangements have been in practice.”

19 Information

After section 16G of the Children Act 2004 (inserted by section 18 of this Act) insert—

“16H Information

(1) Any of the safeguarding partners for a local authority area in England may, for the purpose of enabling or assisting the performance of functions conferred by section 16E or 16F, request a person or body to provide information specified in the request to—

(a) the safeguarding partner or any other safeguarding partner for the area,

(b) any of the relevant agencies for the area,

(c) a reviewer, or

(d) another person or body specified in the request.

(2) The person or body to whom a request under this section is made must comply with the request.

(3) The safeguarding partner that made the request may enforce the duty under subsection (2) against the person or body by making an application to the High Court or the county court for an injunction.

(4) The information may be used by the person or body to whom it is provided only for the purpose mentioned in subsection (1).”

20 Funding

After section 16H of the Children Act 2004 (inserted by section 19 of this Act) insert—

“16I Funding

(1) The safeguarding partners for a local authority area in England may make payments towards expenditure incurred in connection with arrangements under section 16E or 16F—

(a) by making payments directly, or

(b) by contributing to a fund out of which the payments may be made.

(2) The payments that may be made include payments of remuneration, allowances or expenses to a reviewer or an independent person.

(3) The safeguarding partners for a local authority area in England may provide staff, goods, services, accommodation or other resources to any person for purposes connected with arrangements under section 16E or 16F.

(4) Relevant agencies for a local authority area in England may make payments towards expenditure incurred in connection with arrangements under section 16E—

(a) by making payments directly, or

(b) by contributing to a fund out of which the payments may be made.

(5) In this section an “independent person” means an independent person mentioned in section 16G(3).”

21 Combining safeguarding partner areas and delegating functions

After section 16I of the Children Act 2004 (inserted by section 20 of this Act) insert—

“16J Combining safeguarding partner areas and delegating functions

(1) The safeguarding partners for two or more local authority areas in England may agree that their areas are to be treated as a single area for the purposes of sections 16E to 16I and subsections (3) to (5) of this section.

(2) References in sections 16E to 16I and in subsections (3) to (5) of this section to a local authority area are to be read in accordance with any agreement under subsection (1).

(3) Where a local authority is a safeguarding partner for the same local authority area as another local authority (as a result of an agreement under subsection (1)), the authorities may arrange for one of them to carry out functions under sections 16E to 16I on behalf of the other.

(4) Where a clinical commissioning group is a safeguarding partner for the same local authority area as another clinical commissioning group, the groups may arrange for one of them to carry out functions under sections 16E to 16I on behalf of the other.

(5) Where a chief officer of police is a safeguarding partner for the same area as another chief officer of police, the officers may arrange for one of them to carry out functions under sections 16E to 16I on behalf of the other.”

22 Guidance by Secretary of State

After section 16J of the Children Act 2004 (inserted by section 21 of this Act) insert—

“16K Guidance by Secretary of State

(1) The safeguarding partners and relevant agencies for a local authority area in England must have regard to any guidance given by the Secretary of State in connection with functions conferred on them by sections 16E to 16J.

(2) Guidance given by the Secretary of State in connection with functions conferred by section 16F may include guidance about—

(a) circumstances in which it may be appropriate for a serious child safeguarding case to be reviewed;

(b) matters to be taken into account in deciding whether a review is making satisfactory progress or whether a report is of satisfactory quality.”

23 Interpretation

After section 16K of the Children Act 2004 (inserted by section 22 of this Act) insert—

“16L Interpretation of sections 16E to 16K

In sections 16E to 16K—

• “reviewer” has the meaning given by section 16F(7);

• “safeguarding partner”, in relation to a local authority area, has the meaning given by section 16E(3);

• “serious child safeguarding cases” has the meaning given by section 16B(9);

• “relevant agency”, in relation to a local authority area, has the meaning given by section 16E(3).”