To receive a report concerning referrals to the MASH from partners and agencies.

The committee received a report from the Director Children and Families concerning referral levels to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). The ADS&FS introduced the report and advised that it outlined when a referral should be made and the thresholds in place to require intervention. The outcomes of the Ofsted inspection were also raised which found that too many children were being referred to the Council. The report showed the high level of referrals from the Police and the high proportion that were judged to require no further action. The ADS&FS explained that she would be meeting with DCI Jonathan Roberts to discuss the current situation and measures to address the high referral rate. 

The Chairperson welcomed DCI Roberts to the meeting who was in attendance to address queries concerning referrals to the MASH originating from West Mercia Police.

The committee raised those points below in the discussion that followed:

·         The committee queried the mobile phone application in use to assist officers to make a judgement over safeguarding concerns. DCI Roberts explained that the application was a tool with general advice that was not specific to Herefordshire and safeguarding concerns were referred through the Harm Assessment Unit, a member of which was co-located in the MASH. DCI Roberts stated that the Police have a duty to refer every child considered to be at risk. It was recognised that the higher level of safeguarding risk was referred to the MASH and it was necessary to understand what processes were in place to report lower levels of risk. A meeting would be taking place with the ADS&FS shortly to discuss these issues.

·         It was queried whether some officers were more risk averse than others and if this had an impact on high referral rates. The committee considered whether greater levels of training and guidance could help to address such risk aversion? DCI Roberts explained that the front line officers did not refer directly to the MASH. There was a statutory requirement to address concerns about the welfare of children. The DCF explained that a visit was arranged to the harm assessment unit at the Police in order to examine what steps could be taken to address referrals deemed unnecessary. The issue was longstanding. Signposting to early help services would help to reduce the level of referrals. Other courses of action existed to signpost concerns and a link to the WISH website could be circulated. WISH had a range of information to support agencies to signpost to early help and preventative services.

·         Sally Halls, Chair of the Herefordshire Children Safeguarding Board (HSCB), explained that there was a statutory responsibility for anyone who had a concern about the welfare of a child to make a referral if that child was likely to suffer significant harm. There had been long running discussions with the Police force who had been slow to address the issue of responding differently to children who did not meet the threshold of significant concern. There was a requirement for an early help service for children and families to ensure they received effective help in a more timely manner to help reduce the need for statutory involvement.

·         The Committee stated that it was useful to understand a holistic view of the issues concerning referrals and safeguarding and it was important that the early help strategy and its implementation was reviewed.

·         The Committee questioned whether there was a consistent model across the Police Force to raise safeguarding concerns and make referrals. DCI Roberts confirmed that there are five different models across West Mercia and Warwickshire due to the number of local authorities in the region. There is no dedicated Child Protection Team in Herefordshire, accredited Child Protection staff do work within the CID Team, however there was a programme for upskilling more staff across the Force as only a small number had been trained in child protection. All members of staff in the harm assessment unit had received appropriate training.

·         It was commented that the figures relating to referrals from the Police led to a perception that referrals were being made as a box-ticking exercise. There was concern that such an approach would detract from or delay those cases in urgent need of attention being investigated. DCI Roberts explained that the harm assessment unit did attempt to identify those cases that required referral using the levels of need to differentiate these from the lower level concerns, he recognised it was important in future that there was engagement between the Force and the early help work being progressed.

·         The Committee commented on the importance of a youth justice review and the need for scrutiny to look at issues holistically, including safeguarding. It was suggested that the committee received an update report in 6 months time when progress had been possible with the involvement of the Police in the early help strategy. It was important for the committee to have a broad view of all those elements involved in the youth crime and contributory factors to ensure that those early help services were correctly targeted. If the committee were fully aware of the current pressures and challenges then recommendations for budgets to be adjusted now could be made rather than waiting until there was a critical need to act in 5-10 years time.

·         The committee commented that the scrutiny committees were considering crime and disorder documents and reports in silos and the issues needed to be looked across the county through one combined scrutiny review. The statutory scrutiny officer confirmed that such a review would be investigated.

RESOLVED - That the committee notes the report and requests that an update on the level of referrals and engagement between the Police and early help service is provided to a meeting of the committee in March 2019.