A NEW partnership has been formed to help better protect children in Solihull.
The Solihull Safeguarding Children Partnership will see Solihull Council, Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board and West Midlands Police joining forces to coordinate local safeguarding services and ensure that they are effective.
The multi-agency arrangements were announced following a meeting of the three organisations last month.
The multi-agency safeguarding arrangements in Solihull report says it “aims to build a culture where all members of the Partnership, from frontline practitioners to
strategic leaders, positively welcome and actively participate in scrutiny, trusting and learning from each other, while also taking accountability.”
It added: “The lead safeguarding partners will ensure that scrutiny is objective, acts as a critical friend and promotes reflection to drive continuous improvement.”
The report says the partnership has been set up to deliver the improvement plan according to Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) – carried out in January 2022 – and National Panel recommendations.
The JTAI was launched by former education minister Nadhim Zahawi following the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and it found a number of failings in the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) in Solihull.
Councillor Ian Courts, Leader of Solihull Council, said: “The publication of this document shows the ongoing commitment from all partners to take forward the improvement work in Solihull.
“Having a clear set of safeguarding arrangements in place is vital for being able to protect children from harm.
“We must ensure that information is shared effectively so that decisions can be made timely and accurately.”
The political/board leaders from each organisation will meet again in August where their discussions will focus on the key indicators to measure performance across the partnership.
