New local teams to disseminate lessons learned from child deaths

Local Safeguarding Children Boards are to set up teams to learn
lessons about safeguarding children and apply them locally, when
the new structures outlined in the Children Bill come into force,
writes Amy Taylor in Newcastle.

Speaking at the National Social Services Conference, Althea
Efunshile, the director of safeguarding families and supporting
children at the Department for Education and Skills, said the
government was currently developing its policy on the local
screening teams, although so far the plans were in the early
stages.

She added that the teams would make sure that there was an
appropriate response to a child dying in the local area, as area
child protection committees currently do, but that they would also
aim to improve the dissemination of the lessons learned from the
incident across local services.

“We are expecting local safeguarding children boards to
establish local screening teams to learn lessons and apply those
lessons at a local level,” Efunshile said.

She added that the teams’ objectives would include
identifying child abuse or neglect and providing protection for
surviving children. The proposed teams will be accountable to the
local safeguarding children boards.

Efunshile stressed that the government was engaged in
discussions with professionals in children’ services over how
the plans would look and that they had held consultations over the
summer.