Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Paragraph: 17
We recommend that the Government undertakes research to establish if children in families subject to...
Recommendation
We recommend that the Government undertakes research to establish if children in families subject to the NRPF condition are overrepresented in serious case reviews. We are pleased that the Department for Education is enthusiastic about improving the communication between organisations on children’s welfare, neglect, and abuse and ask that the DfE report back to us within six months on the work it is doing to improve safeguarding for children, particularly those with parents with NRPF.
Paragraph Reference:
17
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Department for Education (DfE) welcomes the Committee’s recommendation as an opportunity to strengthen the safeguarding and child protection system. DfE is committed to ensuring that Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 statutory guidance is clear about the responsibility of local authorities and safeguarding partners to ensure that all children and young people are protected from all forms of abuse and harm. Locally, safeguarding partners must make arrangements to identify and review serious child safeguarding cases which, in their view, raise issues of importance in relation to their area. These cases should be notified, by the Local Authority, to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel who is responsible for identifying and overseeing the review of serious child safeguarding cases which, in its view, raise issues that are complex or of national importance. In response to the Committee’s recommendation, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel may consider the extent to which no recourse to public funds (NRPF) is an indicator of risk in these cases and DfE will also consider updating the Serious Incidents Notification System by adding a NRPF indicator to serious incident notifications.