Safeguarding and quality assurance
The Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit consists of five teams who all share the same mission statement but who each have specific core functions and responsibilities and provide administrative support to all staff in the Unit.
Cheshire West and Chester Local Safeguarding Board (LSCB)
The Cheshire West and Chester Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) agrees how the relevant organisations will cooperate to safeguard and promote the effective welfare of children.
The LSCB is responsible for:
- Setting practice standards and developing policies and procedures
- Monitoring performance against those standards
- Ensuring staff are appropriately trained
- Cheshire West and Chester Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB)
Child protection chairs
Child protection chairs have a key responsibility in managing the Child Protection Conference process so that children and young people in Cheshire West and Chester receive quality safeguarding service in line with national legislation, policy and procedures.
They convene and chair conferences for children who are at risk of significant harm. They also provide consultancy and advice to all professionals working with children. Conference chairs also chair a three month child in need meeting after a decision has been made to discontinue a child protection plan.
Independent reviewing officers
Independent Reviewing Officers are responsible for chairing Statutory Reviews for children who are looked after by the local authority. They also have a responsibility to monitor the activity of the authority as a corporate parent in ensuring that care plans have been given proper consideration and weight to the child’s wishes and feelings and that, where appropriate, the child fully understands the implications of any changes made to his/her care plan.
One Independent Reviewing Officer is responsible for reviewing foster carers. The team also includes the fostering and adoption panel adviser.
Inclusion and participation services
The main role of this team is to promote the views, values and opinions of cared for children and young people within Cheshire West and Chester. Providing opportunities for them to have an input into the strategic development, design, delivery, and evaluation of all services provided for them by Cheshire West and Chester.
Safeguarding Children in Education (SCIE)
The team is responsible for ensuring that all children in Cheshire West and Chester schools are "safe to succeed". They will achieve this by ensuring that all schools are aware of and effectively discharge their safeguarding responsibilities by providing advice, support and challenge and training in respect of safeguarding policy, procedure and practice. The team also offer advice, support and challenge to schools regarding the Ofsted inspection process upon which they base their programme of preventative and responsive whole school audits and reviews.
Accountability
The Safeguarding Unit is directly accountable to the Director of Children’s Services.
Mission Statement
We:
- are child focussed
- challenge to improve
- work together in partnerships
- are inclusive and respectful