Gove orders "fundamental" review of children's social work and frontline child protection practice
The government has launched a “fundamental” review of children’s social work and frontline child protection practice.
The purpose of the review, which will be led by Professor Eileen Munro, will be to look at how to remove barriers and bureaucracy that prevent social workers spending time with vulnerable children.
In a letter to Prof Munro, the Education Secretary Michael Gove praised the dedication and hard work of frontline professionals as "an inspiration", but expressed concern that the child protection system in England is "not working as well as it should".
The wide-ranging review will address the question: “What helps or hinders professionals from making the best judgements and interventions they can to protect a vulnerable child?”
Prof Munro should work closely with those leading related reviews such as the Family Justice Review, Gove added.
The government said ministers wanted to strengthen the social work profession “so social workers are in a better position to make well-informed judgements, based on up-to-date evidence, in the best interests of children, free from unnecessary bureaucracy and regulation.”
Prof Munro – who has been asked to provide a first report by the end of September and an interim report in January 2011 – will be expected to outline the steps required to bring improved social work practice. This will include analysis of how effectively social workers and professionals in other agencies work together.
Children’s Minister Tim Loughton has also confirmed in a letter to all chairs of local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs) and directors of children’s services that the overview report and the executive summary of all new serious case reviews initiated from this point on should be published.
The government said there will be a presumption that all SCRs will be “appropriately redacted, anonymised and published in full except where it would affect the welfare of any surviving children and their siblings”.
LSCBs must also comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and be mindful of other restrictions on publication of information, such as court orders. They should take independent advice if there is any doubt on compliance with the law, the minister stressed.
Loughton said: "The key purpose of undertaking serious case reviews is to enable lessons to be learned from cases where a child dies or is seriously harmed and abuse or neglect is known, or suspected, to be a factor.
"In order for these lessons to be learned as widely and thoroughly as possible, professionals need to be able to understand fully what happened in each case, and most importantly, what needs to change in order to reduce the risk of such tragedies happening in the future. Only by publishing serious case reviews will this greater level of transparency and accountability be achieved."
The ContactPoint database will also be scrapped “as soon as possible”, the Department for Education announced.
