The Health and Care Bill was passed into law in England on 28 April 2022. The new Act establishes 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), which will replace Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across England from 01 July 2022.
Read the press release: Health and Care Bill granted Royal Assent in milestone for healthcare recovery and reform
Homeless Care Leavers
Just for Kids Law, Children’s Rights Alliance for England, New Horizon Youth Centre, and Youth Legal and Resource Centre have published a joint briefing looking at the barriers faced by homeless care leavers. Barriers identified include: personal advisors and local authorities not providing the support needed to prevent homelessness, difficulty providing the evidence needed to prove priority need for older care leavers, young people being deemed intentionally homeless; and a lack of suitable accommodation. Recommendations include: the Government should extend priority need to include all care leavers; the Government should remove the test of intentional homelessness for all care leavers up to the age of 25; and all local authorities should develop a joint housing protocol for care leavers.
The Independent Care Review needs to recommend better protections for care leavers against homelessness
Newham Council has published a report on Covid-19’s impact on looked after children and care leavers in Newham. Findings show that children were unable to see their biological parents due to coronavirus restrictions. Children also found it hard to access face-to-face support services and young people who were new into care, or already experiencing instability in their placements, found coping with the pandemic particularly challenging.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected children in care and care leavers?
The Ministry of Justice and the Home Office have announced that several Bills have received royal assent.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act includes extended “positions of trusts” laws to protect teenagers from abuse by making it illegal for sports coaches and religious leaders to engage in sexual activity with 16 and 17-year-olds in England and Wales.
The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act raises the legal age of marriage in England and Wales to 18, from the current 16 with parental or judicial consent.
This Act also creates a new offence of arranging a child marriage with use of coercion- it is already illegal to arrange a child marriage with the threat of violence or other abuse.
New court orders will crack down on knife crime, making it easier to stop and search known knife offenders and prevent future tragedies.
The Approved Premises (Substance Testing) Act strengthens the Probation Service’s ability to tackle drug abuse among offenders through new compulsory testing to reduce reoffending.
Domestic abuse victims will be given more time to report incidents of common assault or battery and higher maximum penalties will be introduced for child cruelty offences. Judges will now be able to hand down life sentences to dangerous drivers who kill on our roads and the act also halts the automatic early release of offenders deemed to be a danger to the public.
The PCSC Act also doubles the maximum penalty from 12 months to 2 years for those who assault police or other emergency workers, such as prison officers, fire service personnel or frontline health workers – helping to protect those who put their lives on the line to keep communities safe. It will also bring ‘Harpers Law’ onto the statute book, introducing mandatory life sentences for anyone convicted of killing an emergency worker whilst committing a crime.
See the full report here: Boost for public safety as four justice bills receive Royal Assent
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commission has published its annual report looking at modern slavery. The Commissioner also discusses national efforts to improve strategic responses.
Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Annual Report 2021-2022
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has launched a new Regional Outreach Service to focus on working collaboratively with safeguarding and recruiting organisations. The aim is to work closer with organisations and networks to build and develop relationships, acting as a single point of contact for all DBS related enquiries within their region. Kiran Rehal is the DBS Regional Outreach Advisor for Greater London and will be based in the region. She is available to discuss all matters in relation to DBS, as well as support you and your colleagues in safeguarding and safer recruitment. Kiran is able to work with you and your organisation in a number of ways, including:
If you have any questions regarding the DBS or would like any further information, please contact Kiranpreet.rehal@dbs.gov.uk/ DBSRegionaloutreach@dbs.gov.uk
Tel: 0300 105 3081
The charities Missing People and NWG Network are collaborating, alongside the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC), to better understand what happens to children and young people who are regularly going missing as they transition to adulthood.
Going missing can be a warning sign of serious harm including exploitation, mental health issues and abuse. Looked After Children are at higher risk of going missing than others and that some will go missing repeatedly.
The survey is looking for information from local areas about the challenges they are facing in the response for young adults who continue to go missing and any good practices around the transition age.
This survey should only take up to 10 minutes to fill out and will help to encourage good practice nationally.
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/NWGandMP/
Safe Connections, a recently launched new suicide prevention helpline and hub has launched and now gone live.
The Safe Connections service is a collaboration between Mind in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Redbridge, Mind in The City, Hackney and Waltham Forest and Mind in Havering and Barking & Dagenham. The service will operate across seven boroughs across Northeast London (Tower Hamlets, Newham, Redbridge, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Havering, and Barking & Dagenham), and The City.
The Suicide Prevention Helpline number is 0300 561 0115 and currently operates Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm. It is a self-referral service that provides a warm and safe space to explore suicidal feelings, triggers, and the underlying causes. Callers are supported to find and access other local services in the community that can support to manage, or reduce suicidal feelings.
Anyone who calls outside of the operating hours can leave an answerphone message and will be contacted as soon as possible. If making the first call is challenging for someone, contact can be made by emailing safeconnections@mithn.org.uk . Please provide your clients with the helpline number and/or safe connections email address, depending on what makes them more comfortable to refer themselves. Please also circulate information about this service with your wider networks. This is not a crisis service, however, they can support someone in crisis to explore appropriate support and signpost them to crisis intervention services or resources.
There is more information about the service on the Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham website:
https://www.mithn.org.uk/our-services/mental-health-services/safe-connections-community-hub/
If you are working with someone who is bereaved by suicide, information can be found about the Postvention service – Grief in Pieces: Support for Suicide Loss, which is part of the Safe Connections Hub and delivered by Mind in The City, Hackney and Waltham Forest. Please see link to their website below:
https://www.mindchwf.org.uk/our-services/grief-in-pieces-support-for-suicide-loss/
Operation Henderson, is a joint initiative being run by the Essex Safeguarding Children Board, Southend Safeguarding Children Partnership and Thurrock Safeguarding Children Partnership, British Transport Police, Essex Police, the Violence and Vulnerability Unit, Greater Anglia, C2C, TfL, The Railway Children, The Children’s Society, Social Care and local councils. It aims to raise awareness of the vulnerability of young people to exploitation and abuse at stations and transport networks in parts of
Research and local data have shown transport networks are used by vulnerable young people who may be at risk of sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation and trafficking. Young people often gravitate towards stations because they are traditionally busy, anonymous places that also provide some form of shelter and access to food and drink. Bus and rail networks can also be used by offenders to traffic young people for the purpose of sexual and criminal exploitation.
As well as members of the public, all staff working within and around a station, from ticket collectors to engineers, coffee shop workers to cleaners, play an important role in safeguarding vulnerable young people.
A young person may use a station or form of public transport in an attempt to disappear. Young people run away for a number of reasons, on most occasions they return home safely. Every situation is different and there are no set rules about when a child should be considered missing. However, if you have any doubts about whether to contact the police formally to report a child missing, the police will be happy to discuss your concerns and offer advice about what to do.
Find out more about what to do if your child is missing.
Spot the signs of exploitation
The 25th-29th April was National Stalking Awareness Week. The theme was Bridging the Gap’, highlighting the vital role that stalking advocates play in bridging the gap between the victim and the criminal justice system. Sometimes it can be hard for victims to navigate police investigations and court hearings, hence why the role of advocates is so integral in ensuring the victims remain empowered by keeping their voice at the forefront of the case.
Stalking Facts
The relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, as well as the context, in which the stalking behaviour takes place, can also vary significantly.
The perpetrator’s behaviours may appear ‘harmless’ and may in themselves seem lawful, particularly if considered in isolation rather than as part of a pattern of behaviour. However, these behaviours may amount to stalking depending on:
How can you support victims of stalking?
In addition to support from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, there are a number of other resources and support mechanisms to consider as a part of safety planning with their victims. Here are a few examples but this is not an exhaustive list:
Seeking support for Stalking:
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust offers specific support for victims of stalking and operates the National Stalking Helpline. Victims should visit the following website to fill in an online form seeking help: www.suzylamplugh.org/refer-someone-to-us.
Susy Lamplugh Trust also provide a pan-London Stalking Advocacy service that victims living in Havering are able to access should they need to. They can self-refer or professionals can also use this link to complete a referral form to support victims.
There are lots of useful tools on the webpage of the Susy Lamplugh Trust include a stalking self-assessment tool. The stalking advice offered is in regards to stranger stalking as well as stalking behaviours in regards to domestic abuse.
Please see below for victims of stalking:
Essential information for victims of stalking
Please see the new 7 minute briefings for PIPOT and MCA
https://safeguardinghavering.org.uk/adultsboard/7-minute-briefings/
The Havering Safeguarding Partnerships Training Programme 2022-23 is now available on our website. Please visit:www.safeguardinghavering.org.uk
For general training enquiries: safeguardingpartnerships@havering.gov.uk
Preparations are now beginning for Havering Safeguarding Week 2022 which is likely to take place in November. Our Training and Development Officer Shakira Gordon would appreciate your participation in a very short survey (just three questions) to help her understand what you would like from this event.
A direct link to the survey can be found here:
It can also be found on our website under safeguarding week https://safeguardinghavering.org.uk/training/
