RCPCH makes political inroads on safeguarding

The RCPCH's recommendations on the government's proposals for safeguarding guidance were highlighted in an Education Select Committe Inquiry and a Commons debate on safeguarding this week (11 June).

Education Select Committee Inquiry into child protection

Children's Minister Tim Loughton gave evidence to the Education Select Committee’s inquiry into child protection on 12 June and said social workers would be 'free' to do their best for vulnerable children. The British Association of Social Workers said members were overburdened by 'unmanageable' case loads.

The RCPCH‘s Safeguarding 2012 report was quoted heavily during the evidence session, highlighting the College's concerns and recommendations ahead of the new Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance which has now been released for public consultation.

BBC News article

The draft guidance is available here: Working Together consultation

Commons debate

Stephen Twigg MP, Shadow Education Secretary, highlighted the College's initial response to Working Together – statutory guidance for safeguarding children in a Commons debate on safeguarding yesterday.

He highlighted a number of the RCPCH’s recommendations, noting that the College does support the slimlining of the guidance relative to previous versions, but now worry that the downsizing has gone too far.  He quoted our examples which include chapters on training, lessons from research and guidance on particularly vulnerable groups such as forced marriages, FGM and trafficked children.

The RCPCH stressed that we need a detailed safeguarding accountability framework from the DH which encapsulates all of the issues about safeguarding in the new NHS and sets out the roles and responsibilities of each of the new commissioner and provider organisations.

The full transcript it available here.   

Further information 

For further details of the College's work on safeguarding and child protection, see our child protection pages or contact our Children Protection Lead, Nick Libell

For a summary or full transcript of the above debates or evidence sessions, please contact our Public Affairs Coordinator, Karmjit Kaur