The Children and Social Work Act 2017, which is now law, has enacted changes to safeguarding procedures. The Act introduces local arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, instead of local safeguarding children boards. The safeguarding partners must include: the local authority; a clinical commissioning group for an area, any part of which falls within the local authority area; and the chief officer of police for a police area, any part of which falls within the local authority area.
The Act also includes the establishment of a Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. The panel’s role is to identify serious child safeguarding cases in England which raise issues that are complex or of national importance. Where appropriate, the panel will arrange for cases to be reviewed, to identify any improvements that should be made. Events must be notified to the panel if a local authority in England knows or suspects that a child has been abused or neglected, and the child dies or is seriously harmed in the local authority’s area, or while normally resident in the local authority’s area, the child dies or is seriously harmed outside England.
