Child Protection Guidance 2021

Part 2A: Roles and responsibilities for child protection 42 National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 Version 1.0 September 2021 2.25 The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (www.spso.org.uk) . The SPSO’s statutory functions include providing a final stage for complaints about most devolved public services in Scotland, including (from April 2021) the role of the Independent National Whistleblowing Officer (INWO) for the NHS in Scotland. In order to promote improvement, the SPSO provides resources on approach to complaints. This includes encouragement of resolution-focussed and restorative approaches when there has been conflict. The SPSO also publishes the outcomes of individual cases, some of which involve failure to listen to and take the views of children into account; and failure to gather all relevant evidence and provide a clear rationale for key child protection decisions. Learning and development 2.26 Single- and multi-agency agency training should be available to promote the knowledge, skills and values needed to support effective inter-disciplinary work. Child Protection Committees will ensure mechanisms are in place for the delivery and evaluation of local training. They will publish, implement, review and evaluate an inter-agency child protection training strategy. 2.27 Recognising that there are different levels of awareness and specificity in training needs within the workforce, the Scottish Government first published a National Framework for Child Protection Learning and Development in 2012. 2.28 Individual agencies are responsible for ensuring that their staff are competent and confident in carrying out their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting children’s wellbeing. 2.29 Child Protection Committees should have an overview of the training needs of all practitioners involved in child protection activity. This includes practitioners with a particular responsibility for protecting children, such as lead professionals, named persons or other designated health and education practitioners, police, social workers and other practitioners undertaking child protection investigations or working with complex cases. Others who work directly with children, young people and parents/carers and who may be asked to contribute to assessments, will need a fuller understanding of how to work together to identify and assess concerns, and how to plan, undertake and review interventions. Practitioners who have regular contact with children as part of their role, (such as housing officers and school bus drivers), may recognise signs of abuse or neglect and should understand how they may share such concerns appropriately. 2.30 Training and development for managers is also essential, at both operational and strategic levels. As well as “foundation level” training, this may include training on joint planning and investigations, chairing multi-disciplinary meetings, supervision and support of practitioners, and decision-making. Specific training will be necessary for those managers supporting inter-agency referral discussions (IRD). Some managers will also need training on undertaking Learning Reviews when they replace Significant Case Reviews in 2021. 2.31 Training may be delivered in collaboration across local areas, especially where local policing divisions or health boards span more than one local authority area. The content of training must reflect core components, values and principles of the GIRFEC approach (Scottish Government 2019). They should contribute to planned and co‑ordinated transitions between services, including geographical transitions within and across local authority and board areas; and transitions to adult life and services.