To receive the outcomes of the review; to agree the recommendations arising from the review; to approve the executive response to the scrutiny committees recommendations on the report of the review and to approve the peer on peer model guidance for use in all Herefordshire schools.

The cabinet member children and families introduced the report and repeated the apology previously made on behalf of the council for the mistakes that that been made in the past. She stressed that the council was committed to strengthening its support, guidance and engagement with families, schools and other partners to do all it could to protect children from further harm. The report presented was a genuine and detailed attempt to address the concerns. The cabinet member thanked the assistant director education development and skills for his work and asked him to present the report.

The assistant director explained the background to the report and that work continued on the points raised, including ongoing discussion with national experts. The assistant director had spoken with victims and their families from both within the county and outside and tried to accommodate their views in finalising the report.

In discussing the report cabinet members noted that:

·         there was a disproportionate impact on young females and the model guidance would need to ensure that this group was reached, an equality impact assessment would be needed once the final version of the guidance was ready;

·         the council had organised a number of conferences for schools on the topic and was doing more than many other councils in this regard;

·         officers were confident that schools knew what was expected of them and that they would revise their policies once the new guidance was finalised and distributed, it was recognised that this needed to be done as soon as possible;

·         the council had good relationships with both local authority schools and academies and did not anticipate any difficulty in getting them to accept the model guidance;

·         the flowchart in the model guidance was taken from national guidance and would be customised to create a local version;

·         regular audits of case records had begun and no concerns had been reported;

·         the council was also looking to influence national policy and guidance to improve how this issue was addressed across the country;

·         a new curriculum for relationships and sex education had been introduced for September 2020 but the implementation had been delayed by covid-19;

·         the number of cases reported were likely to be a small proportion of the total incidents that took place.

Cabinet members expressed concern that the additional advice and guidance available in 2017 had not been shared at that time and welcomed the forthcoming independent investigation. Cabinet members also expressed concern that it was not appropriate to say that no children were left at risk particularly as many of the records examined in this review were incomplete. It was suggested that the children and young people scrutiny committee be asked to review what the barriers were to accurate and contemporaneous record keeping.

Group leaders were invited to present the comments and queries of their group. The seriousness of the issues involved and efforts of families of victims were recognised. It was also noted that:

·         The appointment of the education safeguarding officer was welcomed;

·         Relationships with partners were good and constructive;

·         Poor record keeping had been highlighted as an issue in the past and there was concern that this was still inconsistent.

The chairperson of the children and young people scrutiny committee thanked the cabinet for accepting the recommendations of the committee and accepted the reasons where acceptance was only partial. The committee members were angry that information was withheld from them which caused a delay in scrutiny and led to the chairperson giving inaccurate information in response to public questions. It was hoped that this situation would not happen again. The committee asked that the proposed independent inquiry be conducted quickly and the scope of the review be made clear. Finally the chairperson confirmed that she would be happy to discuss with committee members undertaking the requested examination of the barriers to accurate record keeping, recognising that this was not only an issue in connection with cases of peer on peer abuse.

The leader of the council confirmed that the independent review would cover the CSO report, the human rights act case, the management of the report from the time it had been commissioned up to its delivery to the scrutiny committee and the appropriateness of those actions.

A number of recommendations were made by cabinet members as follows:

·         Recognise that all references to ‘alleged victim’ should be victim. (Proposed cabinet member children and families, seconded leader of the council);

·         The first sentence of the executive response to recommendation 2 of the children and young people’s scrutiny committee be amended to: To commission an independent external review of why the CSO report and template was not circulated to schools in 2017 and why it was not mentioned at the spotlight review of 2019. (Proposed cabinet member environment, economy and skills, seconded leader of the council);

·         That in relation to paragraph 1.3 of the Peer on Peer Review MASH Report cabinet questioned the view expressed that the review found that no children were put or left at risk. The Cabinet asked that the wording of 1.3 be changed to read that the report found that according to the records held and cases under review, advice was given including national guidance at the time and was followed as far as was possible, separation was made and the likelihood of risk was reduced. We are aware however that contact between children, including sight of perpetrators and also bullying has taken place. With all due care being put in place, inadvertent contact remains possible and the findings here do not preclude this. Even now, with every effort being made and detailed guidance being shared with schools, we cannot guarantee that contact between children might not inadvertently occur however much care is taken. This includes outside of schools. We also acknowledge that harm has implications for social and mental health, potentially, well into adulthood. (Proposed cabinet member environment, economy and skills, seconded cabinet member children and families);

·         That the children and young person’s scrutiny committee be asked to review barriers to record keeping for children’s safeguarding. (Proposed cabinet member health and adult wellbeing, seconded cabinet member commissioning, procurement and assets).

The amended recommendations were put to the vote. It was agreed that:

a)            The executive note the contents and recommendations set out in the Peer on Peer Review MASH Report (appendix 1) as amended and express the view that: (1) in relation to section 1.3 the review also investigated whether any children were put or left at risk. It found that according to the records held and cases under review, advice was given including national guidance at the time and was followed as far as was possible, separation was made and the likelihood of risk was reduced. We are aware however that contact between children, including sight of perpetrators and also bullying has taken place. With all due care being put in place, inadvertent contact remains possible and the findings here do not preclude this. Even now, with every effort being made and detailed guidance being shared with schools, we cannot guarantee that contact between children might not inadvertently occur however much care is taken. This includes outside of schools. We also acknowledge that harm has implications for social and mental health, potentially, well into adulthood; (2) all references to ‘alleged victim’ should be victim The executive agree the recommendations set out in paragraph 3 of appendix 1;

b)            The executive approves the executive response to the children and young people’s scrutiny committee’s recommendations set out in appendix 5 as amended;

c)            The executive approves the peer on peer model guidance set out in appendix 6 for use in all Herefordshire Schools; and

d)            The children and young people’s scrutiny committee be asked to review barriers to record keeping for children’s safeguarding.