BSCP Annual Scrutiny Visit
As part of our commitment to evaluating our effectiveness BSCP undertakes an annual independent scrutiny. Completed by Red Quadrant as independent scrutineers the role of the independent scrutineers is to provide assurance in judging the effectiveness of multi-agency arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in a local area, including arrangements to identify and review serious child safeguarding cases.
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 and Working Together 2018 dissolved the requirement for Local Safeguarding Children's Boards (LSCB) and required three key partners - the Police, Health (CCG) and the Local Authority - to set up Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements in their area. The three statutory partners for Barnet, determined under the Children and Social Work Act 2017, comprise the London Borough of Barnet, the North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group, and the North West Basic Command Unit of the Metropolitan Police. The new arrangements are referred to as Barnet Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (BSCP). Barnet's new arrangements as the local Partnership came into effect in September 2019.The agreement for the BSCP is to have a rotating Chair from the three statutory partners, initially with the Local Authority Chief Executive taking on the role and passing over to the police lead after the first year. In order to provide independence and external oversight to the BSCP arrangements, the Partnership plan sets out the requirement to have an annual review undertaken by independent scrutineers.
2021 Annual Scrutiny Visit: 2021 Report
BSCP Independent Scrutiny Report: As part of our independent scrutiny arrangements, we are pleased to report that following a thorough independent scrutiny visit in Autumn 2021 it was found by the scrutineers that, “Our confident judgement is that the Multiagency Safeguarding Arrangements for Barnet Safeguarding Children Partnership are compliant with Working Together 2018.
The arrangements ensure that children in Barnet are safeguarded, and their welfare promoted”. The scrutineers placed a robust focus upon the delivery of our Business Plan and sought to speak with senior leaders and front-line practitioners from across the Partnership. The report of the Independent Scrutineers can be found here . Core recommendations were proposed by the team of scrutineers, which have been accepted by the BSCP Leadership Forum and form part of our new 2022/23 Business Plan. Our thanks to nearly 40 colleagues from across the BSCP for participating in the scrutiny visit.