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Recruitment procedures and arrangements for checking that staff are suitable to work with children are still inadequate new research warns today, writes Amy Taylor.

The joint inspectorate report on safeguarding children found that the checking of recruitment agency staff, contractors and staff from outside the UK and rechecking of existing staff with the Criminal Records Bureau were particularly inconsistent.

The inspectorates also warn that physical control on children is being used inappropriately and too often in young offender institutions, secure training centres and secure children’s homes. They add that staff in these settings lacked training on how to avoid causing injury when carrying out physical control methods and call on the government to issue one agreed set of principles for when they can be used.

The eight independent government inspectorates, which include the Commission for Social Care Inspection, Ofsted and Her Majesty’s Chief Inspectorate of Constabulary, go on to state that children are still being put at risk due to some councils applying inappropriately high thresholds in their child protection and family support work due to resource pressures. The same warning was made in the first joint inspectorate safeguarding review published in 2002.

The study says these continued problems “raise questions” about whether all councils have the capacity to protect and promote children’s welfare while achieving the balance between preventative and universal services in line with the Every Child Matters arrangements.

“Considerable concerns” about the welfare of asylum seeker children held in detention with their families are also discussed. The report says that there is a lack of effective guidance from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, agreed with local Area Child Protection Committees, on child protection arrangements to be followed in immigration removal centres.

Other children covered by the research include those looked after, those receiving universal services and those involved in family court proceedings.

A DfES spokesman said, "There is actually a tremendous amount that has been achieved, and this report recognises that. We have come a long way since the Victoria Climbie inquiry with greater accountability and safeguards in the system than ever before. 

"But of course there is still more to do, and we will consider the report's findings carefully. We are already addressing a number of the key issues raised by the report through policies such as the workforce strategy, children’s trusts, the Integrated Children’s System and the Common Assessment Framework. " 

Safeguarding Children from: www.csci.org.uk