Committees block voluntary sector

Area child protection committees need to work
with service users and the voluntary sector in order to safeguard
children effectively, according to voluntary sector youth and
community worker Andy McCullough.

McCullough, project leader for the
Manchester-based young runaways project Safe in the City, told the
first Victoria Climbi‚ Inquiry seminar that the make-up of
ACPCs was “appalling”.

Accusing them of working as “a closed shop”,
he urged ACPCs to “let the voluntary sector in”.

He said that having a representative from the
NSPCC on an ACPC did not constitute voluntary sector involvement
because of the charity’s close links with the statutory sector.