The HSCP Groups

In response to the requirements in the statutory guidance 'Working Together to Safeguard Children', Hertfordshire HSCP has developed and put in place the following arrangements:

• Executive Group: aim is to drive forward the work of the Partnership, ensuring the vision and values are upheld. This group develops, implements and monitors the business plan and agrees priority actions against core business and directs the Partnership’s subgroups into delivery of the plan. This group also ensure effective scrutiny arrangements are in place across the Partnership;
• Stakeholders Group: this group has a wide strategic membership of relevant agencies, including schools, probation services, district councils, the Lead Executive member and health providers. Their meetings are themed around agreed local and national safeguarding priorities and areas identified through data and performance;
• Performance and Audit Group: this group use data intelligence and audits to ensure the help being provided to children in Hertfordshire is effective. They analyse multi-agency safeguarding performance data to inform the Executive and Stakeholders of relevant trends and risk to performance. They also conduct a series of multi-agency audits every year;
• Local Child Safeguarding Review Panel: this group oversees the review of serious child safeguarding cases which raise issues of importance in relation to Hertfordshire. The purpose of the reviews is to identify any improvements that should be made locally to safeguard children, and to enable partners to identify and understand areas of strength and improvements in local practice. The arrangements include sharing good practice as well as assessment of situations where there have been ‘near misses’ and will set out how lessons learnt will be applied and monitored;
• Joint Learning and Development Group: Inter-agency training is another clear priority for the safeguarding partners. This Group (joint Children/Adult Boards and Domestic Abuse Partnership L&D Group, identify multi-agency learning needs that require addressing to ensure agencies develop their workforces to a high-quality standard and are keeping children safe;
• Practice, Policy and Procedures Group: this group regularly review procedures to ensure they remain fit for purpose and are updated to reflect changing needs, government legislation, partnership reviews and the findings of quality assurance exercises and inspections. This group proactively challenges and supports multi-agency working to improve outcomes for children and families and will develop new strategies to support multi-agency partnership on specific issues where needed;
• Vulnerable Adolescent Strategic Group: this group focuses on vulnerable young people in Hertfordshire who are at risk of going missing, child sexual exploitation, trafficking, gang affiliation and County Lines. It provides a local framework in which all partner agencies can work to deliver collectively the best protection for these children, through developing contextualised safeguarding across the partnership, sharing best practice, improving data and intelligence collection and continuous monitoring of performance. It also monitors the delivery of the strategic plan for Serious Violence in areas involving children and young people;
• Joint District Safeguarding Group: the Partnership is committed to ensuring that services to Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults across the district and borough councils are provided in accordance with legislation and statutory guidance. This group provides district councils with a link to the Partnership, advising on challenges in delivering their safeguarding responsibilities and supporting them in reviewing, implementing and monitoring the borough council protocols, policies and procedures. It also acts as a consultation forum on the development of new policies and procedures that might impact on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children;
• Schools’ Safeguarding Network Group: The purpose of the Schools’ Safeguarding Network is to communicate the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children to all schools within Hertfordshire. The Schools’ Safeguarding Network will assist the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) to perform its duties in safeguarding children by monitoring safeguarding activities across the County to improve outcomes for children. It provides a communication channel between all schools and the HSCP, for information sharing amongst the schools and a source of partnership support in meeting safeguarding responsibilities;
• Families First Partnership Board: A senior strategic group with responsibility for delivering early help in Hertfordshire. The group are responsible for delivering an effective and sustainable early help system in Hertfordshire and championing the Families First model, as outlined in the Early Help Strategy.