Child protection and Every Child Matters update

Report: 10
Date: 11 September 2008
By: AC Specialist Crime Directorate on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report updates members on work undertaken by the MPS in relation to the implementation of the Government’s Every Child Matters programme. It follows on from the previous update document dated 13 December 2007.

A. Recommendation

That Members note this report and support the activity of the Metropolitan Police in implementing the necessary change and improvements to deliver the benefits of the Every Child Matters programme to the children of London.

B. Supporting information

1. The Children’s Act 2004 is Her Majesty’s Government’s legislative response to the recommendations of Lord Laming’s public inquiry into the circumstances of the tragic death of Victoria Climbié. The act provides the legal framework for the national initiative 'Every Child Matters – Change for Children'. This sets out a statutory requirement that all agencies that engage with children must work in partnership to ensure their safety and welfare. This requirement is underpinned by five key ‘outcomes’ which every child in the United Kingdom should achieve:

• Be safe
• Be healthy
• Attain economic well-being
• Enjoy and achieve
• Make a positive contribution

2. The act and accompanying measures were enacted on 1 April 2008. The measures undertaken by the MPS to meet its statutory requirements were outlined in full in the report to this committee dated 13 December 2007. In summary, the MPS Territorial Policing Business Group has led a multi-agency Every Child Matters Programme Board, which has run for the last four years, currently chaired by Commander Rod Jarman. Two teams were established to deal with the ‘people’ and ‘systems’ aspects of the project, led by senior officers from the Child Abuse Investigation Command (CAIC) and the Violent Crime Directorate (VCD) respectively. The Service’s two main MPS strategies that relate to children, the Serious Violence and the Children and Young People strategies, both have the Every Child Matters ethos embedded within them. The CAIC leads the relevant strands in both of these strategies.

3. The following activities are being delivered by the MPS in order to meet its statutory requirements:

Introduction of Public Protection Desks (PPDs)

4. These have been established on all boroughs and have taken on the responsibility of receiving, evaluating, disseminating and collating intelligence pertaining to the welfare and safeguarding of children in that borough. It is planned that these PPDs will in due course have similar responsibilities for all vulnerable people, such as missing persons and those at risk from domestic violence. On most boroughs, each PPD team comprises a minimum of four people drawn from existing BOCU staff.

5. At present these desks research all information reports about children coming to notice (recorded on the MPS Merlin database) and assess whether there is a crime to investigate and if the information should be shared with partner agencies in order to safeguard that child, his/her siblings or associates. The Child Abuse Investigation Command is overseeing this process until such time as each PPD has been ‘accredited’ as fully effective. This is to ensure that risks to children and families are appropriately identified and managed and that there is consistency in service delivery while the new system is established.

6. The Violent Crime Directorate of TP is managing the implementation and accreditation process for the PPDs with support from CAIC. The CAIC has seconded specialist staff to assist with this project. At the time of writing, an inspection process of the desks has just begun. It is anticipated that full accreditation will be completed by January 2009, after which the desks will no longer require oversight from the CAIC. The main difficulty at present is around sufficiency of trained staff to cover 7-day functioning, which is a key requirement for accreditation.

Support Systems

7. The MPS continues to use the Merlin database, available through the corporate Aware computer network, to record, evaluate and disseminate intelligence relating to children coming to notice. The system has been enhanced and updated to better cope with the increased demands that will be placed upon it.

8. The changes to the Merlin system now enable the information gathered to meet the requirements of the Pre-assessment Checklist (PAC) process. The Merlin PAC came into use on 11th June this year.

9. The enhanced Merlin PACs are now e-mail compatible and each BOCU is committed to sharing information via the secure CJIT e-mail system. This is a much faster process than faxing data and complies with MoPi guidance and provides audit trails for the passage of information. This faster and improved process supports the increased volume in reports to be shared.

10. In support of this work all community support officers (PCSOs) will now be able to use the Merlin system, thus significantly increasing the “eyes and ears” recording intelligence to help safeguard children in the capital.

Training

11. Two new computer based training (CBT) packages on Merlin have been developed for both new and previously experienced users to ensure effective use of the system.

12. In order to comply with the requirements of the Every Child Matters programme, the MPS has devised specific mandatory training. This is being delivered to 38,000 members of staff of ranks up to inspector and executive officer from all commands deemed likely to come into contact with children in the course of their duties. This has naturally included community support officers, whose role in the safeguarding of children has been greatly enhanced. This delivery is all but complete; 29,000 staff have been trained to middle of July with a few exceptions such as for staff currently on long-term sickness or maternity leave for whom ‘catch-up’ training will be provided.

13. This training clearly sets out the Children’s Act requirements, including the ‘Common Assessment Framework’ (CAF), and what is expected of MPS staff who have a concern about the well-being or safety of a child, including how to record this information, identify issues that impact on welfare and the process for assessing and sharing that information.

14. Specialist training for officers within the PPDs was devised between the CAIC and the VCD to assist them in their new role and this has now been delivered across the MPS to current PPD staff.

15. A role specific training program for officers attached to PPDs has been developed by the Crime Academy in partnership with TP and the CAIC. The course is one week long and will include input from experienced child abuse investigators who are being provided from the CAIC on an ad-hoc basis. The provision of this training will begin in October 2008.

Vetting

16. The MPS, after consultation with trade unions and staff associations, and in line with national guidance, have undertaken to increase levels of vetting for current staff that are most likely to interact with children. Vetting Branch will lead in this area and are liaising with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to establish a service level agreement (SLA) for the delivery of this service. HR and the ECM People Project are managing internal communication to staff of changes to current vetting processes and engaging with Transforming HR to agree process changes.

Safe Recruitment

17. The MPS recruitment department have undertaken a review of their processes in light of the Children’s Act requirements. A new policy focussing on the recruitment of staff likely to work closely with children has been drafted and will be implemented once Vetting Branch and the CRB have established the vetting SLA outlined above.

Allegations Against Staff

18. As part of its Safe Selection Process, the MPS, working with Government Office for London allegation advisors, has agreed a system to ensure that the Service meets the statutory guidance pertaining to these matters. The process will ensure that where an allegation is made against an MPS employee and there are concerns as to the risk they may present to a child or young person, these concerns are brought to the attention of the appropriate local authority ‘designated officer’ and the Directorate of Professional Standards.

Increased Reporting of Children Coming to Notice and of Crimes Committed Against Children

19. One of the key intended outcomes of the implementation of the above listed actions was a significant increase in the number of children and young people reported as coming to the notice of police in need of safeguarding; this information being shared with partners to enable earlier interventions, leading to increased reporting of victims of crime.

20. To date, since the inception of the Every Child Matters programme in April this year, there has been a three-fold increase in the number of Merlin reports created. In the same period last year reports averaged 2000 per week, whereas this year the figure has already reached an average of 6000 per week across the MPS, allowing for seasonal fluctuations. This is a welcome measure of success for the Service. It is anticipated and expected that over the full twelve months from inception, we will see a maximum five times increase overall in Merlin reporting.

21. Public Protection Desks are currently managing this increase with the support and assistance of the CAIC. These desks, once fully accredited, will take over full responsibility for doing so. This increase, linked to an increased reporting of crimes against children, will provide opportunities for greater and more effective gathering and sharing of relevant intelligence with key partners and will enable earlier interventions to safeguard children.

22. Reported crime within the CAIC has increased by 13% over this time last year. This equates to an average of 784 crimes per month over the first quarter of this financial year compared to an average of 704 crimes per month over the same period last year. This figure is seen as a very positive outcome from ECM and should be perceived as an increase in reporting rather than in offending. It is anticipated that the CAIC will be able to manage this increase in demand by moving some detectives from referral desks to investigation teams, once a greater element of the referral work has been assumed by the PPDs and it is deemed that they can manage the information exchange relating to safeguarding in its entirety, without the need for oversight from the CAIC. This is not currently the case but it is anticipated that all BOCU PPDs will be accredited by the end of this year.

23. The success of ECM has already led to a significant rise in workload regarding information sharing, risk assessment and investigation which is now being shared between the BOCUs and CAIC. The Public Protection Desk Project Board is committed to ensuring that the PPDs are properly skilled, supported and resourced to fulfil their vital functions and to expand their remit to encompass the wider public protection roles in the near future.

Acronyms and Abbreviations:

CAF

Common Assessment Framework

CAIC

Child Abuse Investigation Command

CBT

Computer Based Training

DCSF

Department of Children Schools and Families

PAC

Pre-assessment Checklist

SLA

Service Level Agreement

VCD

Violent Crime Directorate

C. Race and equality impact

1. The Every Child Matters programme deliberately focuses on children by virtue of their age as warranting specific attention from the police and partners to safeguard their welfare and strive towards the five key outcomes that every child should attain.

2. Within this framework, the MPS is committed to ensure that the benefits of this program are delivered to all children irrespective of any other diversity factors.

D. Financial implications

1. Additional costs incurred by the staffing of PPDs and the support provided to them by this command are being absorbed within Borough OCUs and the CAIC from existing resources.

2. The greater use of Merlin has raised the significance of weaknesses in the system regarding an inability to provide useful management information on which evidence of ‘business change’ is partially based. The options of linking Merlin with ‘business objects’ and other solutions are being considered by the ‘responsible senior owner’, Commander VCD. The costs for this upgrade are not known at this time and will be part of a bid through DOI for further Merlin changes through the Commander VDC for funding in 2009 – 2010.

Public Protection Focus Desks

3. PPDs have been staffed from existing borough resources to ensure that they were in place to manage Merlin reports from June 2008 and this has placed pressure on other borough functions. To remove this pressure, additional funding has now been agreed to employ up to 70 researcher posts at a cost of 2.5 million, this will provide a minimum of two researchers per PPD. The funding for these posts is within the TP Mid term Financial Plan and will be available from the financial year 2009 – 2010, with additional funds being made available to begin the recruiting process prior to April 2009.

Contact Point-Information Communication Technology (ICT)

4. The MPS are required to develop an ICT system that can electronically link to ‘ContactPoint’ to enable a search and to populate the index with the name and contact details within a police force, where the police consider they hold important information to share with partner agencies relating to the child. Funding for this project has been discussed with DOI and it is estimated that the work will cost up to £600,000. This funding was originally committed by DOI in their 2007-8 financial plans, but due to national delays, this could not be progressed at that time. When finalised, this will be a statutory requirement for which DOI are planning. There will also be some additional costs in developing a training package for staff, but these costs will not be known until late October 2008 when the training materials are released on behalf of the Department of Children Schools and Families (DCSF). As a ‘national implementation partner’, any cost incurred to develop and deliver training for staff to search ContactPoint will be met by the DCSF; details of the funding arrangements have not been released.

Safe Recruiting

5. The MPS continues to review the current vetting procedures to ensure that all staff working with, or who come into contact with children, and young people are subject to an enhanced vetting process. Funding has been committed within the current Vetting Branch budget to ensure that 861 staff who are employed in roles that have regular direct contact with children and young people, will be subject of an enhanced CRB check during 2008-9; the cost to complete this has been estimated to be around £31,000. With the introduction of the Vetting and Barring Scheme, there is a distinct possibility that police officers will also need to be part of this scheme, but the national picture remains unclear with the full costs for this provision still unknown. Vetting Board is aware of the potential demand increase and is monitoring progress for future cost implications.

Contributions to Local Safeguarding Children Boards

6. The MPS currently provide £240,000 towards the funding of the 32 London LSCBs, this money is paid through the London Safeguarding Board who give £5,000 to each board with the remainder spent on pan-London issues. Although the MPS provide less per LSCB than other forces, our overall contribution is significantly higher and is supplemented by contributions to joint training and the work of the SCD5 partnership team.

7. LSCBs continue to ask for all partner agencies, including the police, to increase their contributions. The additional costs for this provision are not known but it is anticipated that at least an inflationary increase will be requested for the 2009 –2010 financial year

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Det. Supt Caroline Bates SCD5, MPS

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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