Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of Local Safeguarding Children boards in assessing (a) health authorities and (b) the police and local authority performance in domestic abuse cases.

Mr Edward Timpson

Ofsted carry out inspections of local authorities under section 136 (2) of the Education and Inspections Act, 2006 (EIA). Since November 2013, these inspections include a review of the effectiveness of the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB).

This review of the LSCB looks at how well the LSCB evaluates and monitors the quality and effectiveness of the local authority and other statutory partners, including health partners and the police. The functions of the LSCB include developing policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in their area. This includes participating in the planning of services to protect children from all forms of abuse.

Ofsted has to date published 12 inspection reports under their new framework.