STAFF RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION, SHARING OF INFORMATION AND TRAINING AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
The Children's Safeguards Review
8.1 The Children's Safeguards Review reached the following key conclusions in relation to staff:
- the provisions in the Police Act 1997 for improved police checks should be implemented and checks processed quickly. The new system should allow employers to request checks against the DfEE held List 99 and the Department of Health's Consultancy Index at the same time
- the Choosing with Care2 principles around the recruitment, selection and appointment of staff should be implemented across all settings in which children live away from home including foster care, schools, hospitals and penal settings to ensure those unsuitable to work with children should not be able to obtain work in any setting
- a code of practice should be developed on the recruitment and selection of foster carers
- a protocol on the sharing of information between agencies for the purposes of child protection should be drawn up to clarify the law and consideration given to legislative change
- staff training should be promoted as a way of improving the quality of service and making staff aware of the issues around child protection including developing training opportunities for carers in relation to National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and the Diploma of Social Work (DipSW)
- materials to train all residential care workers, foster carers and staff in special schools on health, education, identity, family and social relationships, social presentation and self-care skills should be considered
- management strategies were needed which promoted openness, commitment and supervision in order to create a safe level of care.
The Government Response
8.2 The Government agrees in principle with the Review's findings and has already instigated work on the main recommendations in this section.
Exchange of information
8.3 It is very important that all information which is relevant to protecting children should be shared with those who need to be aware of it. The Government is determined to ensure all agencies use powers to disclose all relevant information, while meeting the the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and data protection legislation requirements.
8.4 Sharing of
information - removing
the confusion
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8.4 The Government is taking positive steps to remove the current confusion over the legal position which leads to resistance to the sharing of information in circumstances where it should be shared. These include:
- inter-agency guidance on the sharing of information in relation to sex offenders where there is a need to protect children and vulnerable adults the Government will consult widely on this to ensure widespread adoption of best practice
- provisions in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which ensure that organisations which need to share information, for example as part of the Crime and Disorder strategies or in relation to the new sex offender orders, have the explicit power to do so
- a Code of Practice on the use of information contained in criminal records certificates. This will be drawn up in consultation with all relevant bodies as plans for a Criminal Records Agency (CRA)are developed
- an inter-departmental working group to identify and secure changes necessary to be able to prevent unsuitable people being able to work with children
Police and other checks
Existing Arrangements
8.5 As a supplement to the taking up of references within the recruitment process, employers seeking to engage persons to work with children are able to check the names of those they wish to employ against a number of centrally held records. Not all employers have access to all records:
- criminal record checks - these checks are, in the main, only available to statutory bodies and a number of major voluntary childcare organisations via their membership of the Voluntary Organisations Consultancy Service (VOCS). The great majority of non-statutory childcare organisations - voluntary and private - are unable to check the criminal background of people they propose to engage. Provisions to widen access to checks were included in Part V of the Police Act 1997. This has not yet been implemented
- DfEE List 99 and DHConsultancy Index (see Annex C for information on these lists) - checks against these are not presently readily accessible to all those organisations employing staff working with children. The need for all employers to make several applications to check the various sources of information is a disincentive for them to seek all the checks available.
Planned Changes
8.6 Improving access to
checks
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8.6 The aim of the inter-departmental working group is to establish a single access point or "one stop shop" for information. It will draw on measures and information sources already in existence across the public, private and voluntary sectors. The working group will produce recommendations by the end of the year. Detailed work will then be taken forward as a mater of priority. The scheme will need primary legislation.
8.7 Setting up a
Criminal Records Agency
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8.7 In the meantime, the Government will take the following action before a comprehensive scheme is introduced:
- implement Part V of the Police Act 1997 and start to set up a CRA. The Government will make an announcement shortly about arrangements for the operation and management of the Agency
Once established, the Agency will make checks available to any employer regardless of whether they are in the statutory, voluntary or private sector. The decision as to whether a criminal record check is necessary will be a matter for the employer or employing body concerned and a check will only be carried out with the consent of the person on whom the check is sought.
The certification provided for by the Police Act 1997 will be phased in by the Agency. Priority will be given to carrying out police checks on those applying for positions which involve caring for, training supervising or being in sole charge of persons aged under the age of eighteen.
- improve the working of the DH Consultancy Index:
- ensure that maintained boarding schools and employing LEAs, as appropriate, have the same access as independent boarding schools to the Consultancy Index
- introduce legislation when Parliamentary time allows to place the Consultancy Index on a statutory basis so that inclusion on it is a bar to employment in the relevant fields (thus bringing it more in line with the operation of List 99), make arrangements for representations against the unfair or unjustified inclusion of individuals on it, and provisions for the future expansion to the scope of the Index
- permit NHS employers to check those staff who are likely to work closely with children against the Consultancy Index, and to contribute names for inclusion on the Index
- permit employers to check those who work closely with people with learning disabilities against the Consultancy Index, and to contribute names for inclusion on it.
8.8 The Prison Service currently carries out criminal record checks for all staff. It is planning to carry out additional checks for all prison officers working with young people under 18. The new Youth Justice Board for England and Wales came into operation on 30 September 1998. Its role will include advising on standards for secure facilities for sentenced and remanded juveniles, including Prison Service accommodation. More details will be announced in 1999.
8.9 In the NHS, the processes for selecting and appointing staff who have substantial unsupervised access to children have been strengthened and reviewed over recent years. The NHS Executive issued fresh guidelines on pre-employment checks earlier this year.
8.10 An "alert letter" system was established in 1997. This is sent to warn NHS employers about doctors and dentists whose performance has caused serious concern - including those dismissed or under suspension by their employer - and where there are sufficient, reasonable grounds to consider them a potential danger to the safety of patients, or staff, or themselves, and where there is reason to believe they may seek work elsewhere. A similar alert letter system for nurses, midwives, health visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine (PAMs) is being developed. More information on this will be available in 1999.
8.11 The Government will build further on these arrangements by requiring NHS employers to review, by April 1999, their recruitment processes for those who work with children admitted to hospitals. This will include incorporating the principles of Choosing with Care, as well as the use of police checks to ensure that prospective employers have a complete picture of potential recruits.
Choosing with Care Principles
8.12 "Choosing with
Care" principles to be
adopted in all settings.
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8.12 As made clear above, action is being taken to ensure that there are appropriate vetting procedures available in all settings. Choosing with Care sets out principles for successful recruitment and selection practices generally. Although there has been progress in implementing these in the social services, the recent SSI report Someone Else's Children showed there remains much to be done. The Government is determined to enforce full compliance with the recommendations of Choosing with Care in the social services and will announce action shortly. These principles will also, as recommended by the Children's Safeguards Review, be adopted in other settings where children live away from home.
Code of practice on the recruitment and selection of foster carers
8.13 Work to develop a Code of Practice on the Recruitment, Assessment, Approval, Training, Management and Support of Foster Carers has been commissioned. After consultation, the final Code of Practice will be published in April 1999.
Training
8.14 When Parliamentary time is available the Government will legislate to establish General Social Care Councils (GSCCs)3 which will take over the regulation of professional social work training. In the meantime, work is being taken forward to refashion the regulation of training by the existing statutory regulator, the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW). The GSCCs' powers to regulate providers of social work training (ie Higher Education Institutions) will be stronger than those of CCETSW. They will be able to:
- specify criteria for admission to courses
- exercise control over the content of qualifying and post-qualifying courses
- ensure that required outcomes are achieved
- specify key elements of programme structure such as direct involvement of PSS agencies and employers in programme management and the selection of students.
8.15 Funding
improvements in the
quality and quantity of
training.
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8.15 The Government has put or is in the process of putting in train a range of initiatives following on from the success of the Residential Child Care Initiative which encouraged and financed officers in charge of children's homes and their deputies to undertake a Diploma in Social Work:
- the University of Leicester has been commissioned to develop a knowledge base and curriculum guidance for a post qualifying social work award in child care. This work will be completed in January 1999. Six to eight universities will become centres of excellence which will deliver this training. The first candidates will begin training in January 2000. The CSR settlement provides £1 million in 1999/2000 rising to £6 million in 2001/ 2002
- the Government has established within the English Training Support Programme (TSP) for 1998/99 a new £2million sub-programme to stimulate the take-up of vocational training (at NVQ Level 3) for residential child care staff in England as part of the DH's initial response to the Children's Safeguards Review. This initiative will continue for a further two years and the CSR settlement would allow additional spending of £2.5 million in 1999/2000 rising to £3 million in 2001/2002.
- the Department of Health has made £500,000 available from its TSP for 1998/99 to assist local authorities to provide training for foster carers. The Department and key interests are also developing a larger TSP sub-programme for training for foster carers for 1999 onwards. It is expected that £2million a year will be available for this initiative for a three year period.
- the Government has set national training targets in Wales for each grade of staff in residential child care, and has asked authorities to give the highest priority in allocating TSP resources to meeting these targets
- an initiative to establish a top management development programme for senior managers is under discussion with employers and ADSS. This should lift the quality of management across the PSS generally, and bring tangible benefits to the management of children's services in particular. £350,000 is available for this work in 1998/99. Additional resources will be made available for a further two years to help facilitate the action required by the "Quality Protects" programme
- a programme of work has been commissioned to examine the way the Diploma in Social Work courses are regulated, supported and in some respects funded. This work is also considering the number of Diploma in Social Work (DipSW) programmes in England and whether the present configuration is efficient and effective. A further programme has been commissioned to review the content of the DipSW
- CCETSW's approach to supporting and regulating post qualifying programmes of training in social work is also being examined. The outcome should be a less bureaucratic, more student - and employer - friendly structure with courses delivering better value for money and more tailored to the contemporary practice requirement and a higher take up of opportunities in the future
- the recent establishment of a National Training Organisation (NTO) for the Personal Social Services should help engage employers more closely in owning and addressing the current deficiencies in the quantity and quality of training. DH and the NTO will host a conference to begin the development of a training strategy for that purpose
- the TSP in England is funding 2 projects in 1998/99 which were identified as key areas for further development in the Children's Safeguards Review:
- profiles and methods of child abusers
- promoting identity and self-esteem in looked after children.
The training materials will be available by the end of 1999.
8.16 The Review drew attention to the need for training materials to be developed as the basis for training all residential care workers, foster carers and staff in special schools on health, education, identity, family and social relationships, social presentation and self-care skills. The TSP includes each year a sub-programme for development of training materials (up to a maximum of £1m) which is managed centrally. Following consideration of what is possible, appropriate and affordable within available resources, this provision will be used to commission and develop materials in line with the Review's conclusions. Any materials produced will also underpin the NVQ Level 3 initiative for residential care staff.
Management
8.17 Strong management is needed in all organisations responsible for children living away from home. Evidence shows that where there is week management abuse has been allowed to occur and persist. Good leadership, openness and staff ownership of plans and procedures help provide safe care. A fundamental part of the "Quality Protects"programme will be improving the management of children's services
8.18 Staff who raise
concerns about
unacceptable standards of
care and practice need to
be supported
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8.18 All staff must be clear that they have a duty to raise concerns about behaviour by staff, managers, volunteers or others which may be harmful to children in their care, without prejudice to their own position. The Government will remind the governing bodies of all organisations responsible for the care of children and young people that they should have procedures in place that enable staff to raise significant concerns outside their normal line management when they consider the manager has been unresponsive or is the subject of concern. Governing bodies should inform staff of the established procedures for making complaints.
Implementation, monitoring and enforcement
8.19 The Government will:
- ensure full use of powers to disclose information for child protection purposes
- implement Part V of the Police Act and establish a CRA
- establish the CRA as a "one-stop shop", with links to the Consultancy Index and List 99 in due course
- in the interim, place the Consultancy Index on a statutory basis, ensure inclusion on the index would be a bar to employment in the relevant field, and ensure all staff in boarding schools are checked against the index
- As soon as possible require NHS employers to check child care staff against the Consultancy Index and permit employers of those working with people with learning disabilities, to check individuals against the Index
- enforce full compliance with the Choosing with Care principles in SSDs and adopt these principles in other settings where children and young people
live away from home
- require NHS employers to review recruitment processes for those who
work with children admitted to hospital, by April 1999
- develop and publish a code of practice for foster carers by April 1999
- put in train and fund a range of training initiatives in 1998/99 and beyond
- promote management strategies which help deliver safe care in the social services field as part of the "Quality Protects" programme over the
next 3 years.
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8.20 SSI will monitor to ensure procedures are tightened up and checks undertaken by SSDs. Their inspections to follow up developments made by the "Quality Protects" programme and the annual reviews of "Quality Protects" action plans to be carried out by Social Care Regional Offices will also check management and recruitment practices. Section 87 inspections and OFSTED inspections will ensure appropriate staff checks have been completed for staff in schools with boarding provision. NHS Executive Regional Offices will monitor the compliance of NHS employers. The Youth Justice Board will also monitor the extent to which standards are met in the Prison Service and will help ensure effective checks are made for all staff working with young people in secure establishments, in line with Choosing with Care.
8.21 The Department of Health, with the help of SSI and CCETSW will implement and monitor training improvements.
Outcomes
8.22 The policies outlined above will help to ensure:
- fewer dangerous people are able to obtain work with children due to improved checks and information sharing
- higher levels of skills exist in the child care workforce and among foster carers so that the quality of services improve
- improved openness exists and individuals are more aware of their responsibilities to report concerns in order to reduce long term abuse
- improved management structures.
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21992 report by Norman Warner on how to improve the suitability of people recruited to work with children in residential care
3there will be one GSCC for England and another for Wales
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