National guidance for child protection in Scotland - Scottish ...

Chief Officers will determine their own local membership and business
arrangements. They will ensure that they are transparent and accountable to
elected members and Scottish Ministers. Their partnership working will focus on
providing better outcomes for vulnerable children and families.
They will set up arrangements for gathering and presenting performance
management and monitoring information that is relevant to achieving these
outcomes in their areas and taking appropriate action in response to
unsatisfactory performance. They will ensure that there is an interface with adult
protection, offender management/Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements
(MAPPA), Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and other planning fora.
Child Protection Committee
Child Protection Committees are the primary strategic planning fora for
developing and implementing multi-agency child protection work and are
established in each local authority area.
Chief Officers are responsible for ensuring that their agencies, individually and
collectively, work to protect children and young people as effectively as possible.
Chief Officers must ensure that their Child Protection Committees are properly
constituted, resourced and clearly focussed. The guidance “Protecting Children
and Young People: Child Protection Committees 2005”² provides further
information.
Chief Officers across Scotland are individually and collectively responsible for the
leadership, direction and scrutiny of their respective child protection services and
their Child Protection Committees.
Chief Officers are responsible for overseeing the commissioning of all child
protection services and are accountable for this work and its effectiveness. They
are individually responsible for promoting child protection across all areas of their
individual services and agencies, thus ensuring a corporate approach.
The specification for a child protection service should include preventative
strategies using the GIRFEC approach which supports prevention and early
intervention to reduce the number of children within the child protection system
(e.g. services to promote the wellbeing of children and provide support to families
where health inequalities, parental substance misuse or domestic abuse is an
issue). These services are not only involved in providing healthcare but also in
the promotion of health, in reducing health inequalities and meeting the wider
public health agendas. The implementation of GIRFEC will create a network of
support around the child to promote wellbeing. Concerns regarding a child’s
wellbeing should be identified early often within universal services that will either
result in a single agency plan co-ordinated by the child’s Named Person or where
the Named Person requires support from another agency a Lead Professional
will be appointed to co-ordinate the child’s plan.
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