About the Partnership
Background
The Children and Social Work Act 2017, The Child Safeguarding Practice Review and Relevant Agency (England) Regulations 2018 and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 guidance legislate for all local areas to publish multi-agency safeguarding children arrangements led by three statutory agencies.
The ‘three Safeguarding Partners’, namely the Local Authority, Police and Integrated Care Boards must work together, and with other partners locally (known as Relevant Agencies), to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area. The role of every organisation and every individual in keeping children safe remains critical and legislated under Section 11 of The Children Act 2004.
What is Cheshire West and Chester Safeguarding Children Partnership (SCP)?
The role of the SCP is to support and enable local organisations and agencies to work together in a system where:
- Children are safeguarded and their welfare promoted;
- Partner organisations and agencies collaborate, share and co-own the vision for how to achieve improved outcomes for vulnerable children;
- Organisations and agencies challenge appropriately and hold one another to account effectively;
- There is early identification and analysis of new safeguarding issues and emerging threats;
- Learning is promoted and embedded in a way that local services for children and families can become more reflective and implement changes to practice;
- Information is shared effectively to facilitate more accurate and timely decision making for children and families.
Who are our member agencies?
- Education Settings
- Early Years Settings
- Youth Justice Service
- Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS Independent Contractors (Dentists, Optometrists, Pharmacists)
- Nuffield Health – The Grosvenor Hospital Chester
- NHS England
- British Transport Police
- General Practitioners
- Housing Providers
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- Residential Settings
- National Probation Service – Cheshire
- Cheshire Fire and Rescue
- Faith organisations
- Sports Providers
- Voluntary, Charity and 3rd sector services working with children and young people
- Army Welfare
- North West Ambulance Service
- Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)
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Who are the three Designated Statutory Partners?
The three designated statutory safeguarding partners are responsible for the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements in Cheshire West and Chester they consist of Chief Executive of Cheshire West and Chester Council, the Accountable Officer of Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Integrated Care Board and the Chief Constable of Cheshire Police.
How do we carry out our work?
Cheshire West and Chester Safeguarding Children Partnership is made up of different groups, with distinct roles to meet the statutory responsibilities of the partnership. These groups inform, support and oversee the delivery of our priorities and deliver key activity. Alongside this they will also work with Pan-Cheshire arrangements, ensuring collaborative local work with our wider partners and stakeholders.
- Strategic Group
- Chairs Group
- Performance and Scrutiny Group
- Audit and Impact Group
- Safeguarding Practice Review Group
- All Age Extra Familial Harm
- Speak Out Hub
- Practitioners Forum
Click on the icon to view the SCP structure (PDF, 217KB)
The Terms of Reference of the SCP Groups are;
The SCP has an independent Scrutineer who is responsible for holding partners to account and to provide scrutiny of the arrangements developed by the three statutory partners.
You can view our Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements here
What are our current priorities?
Our agreed shared priorities for the Safeguarding Children Partnership are:
- Priority 1 - Tackling Child Sexual Abuse
- Priority 2 – Supporting the approach to Neglect with a focus on addressing Educational Neglect
- Priority 3 – Supporting the approach to Contextual Safeguarding with a focus on online harm and abuse.
How can I get involved in the work of the Safeguarding Children Partnership?
Our Practitioner’s Forum is for frontline staff (from a range of agencies, Inc. voluntary and third sector) to share their experiences and information and offer their views on the work of Cheshire West and Chester Safeguarding Children Partnership. This group will support and challenge the strategic priorities of the Safeguarding children partnership.
Our informal group takes place via Microsoft Teams for 2hrs every six months. If you would like to join us please email Cheshire West and Chester Safeguarding Children Partnership Team scp@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
The SCP Business Unit
The SCP Business team is there to support the SCP membership helping to coordinate and manage multi-agency working. See the Contact Us page for more information and details about the staff within the business unit.
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Where can I get more information?