National safeguarding website

Via Children & Young People Now http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/1013152/Ofsted-identifies-ways-improve- safeguarding/

John Goldup, development director for social care, Ofsted, said learning from inspections is “not easy” as the checks used to assess authorities are not designed for research use.

Speaking at the Children & Young People Now conference Identify Risk Early On & Keep Children Safe, Goldup said themes for improving safeguarding include:

• Clear leadership with a focused local safeguarding children board, with frontline practitioners aware of its plans and their impact
• Performance management and quality assurance that supports frontline practice rather than “creating a drag” on it
• Strong partnership working with the ownership of safeguarding as a “whole system issue”
• Effective commissioning and service planning based on a strong assessment of need, and
• A systematic approach to enabling and supporting quality practice which can include resilience development for staff or caseload support.