Northumbria Police has made good progress in improving its approach
to child protection issues, but still has work to do,
according to a report released today by Her
Majesty’sInspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue
Services (HMICFRS).
As part of a rolling programme of child protection
inspections of all police forces in England and Wales, HMICFRS
assessed Northumbria Police in 2018. That inspection found that,
whilst the force displayed a strong commitment to child
protection, there were several areas where performance was
substandard. HMICFRS made recommendations for the force to
address.
Today’s report details the findings of a
follow-up inspection, which took place in January 2019. The
Inspectorate found that there is
a ‘continuing
commitment’ amongst officers and
staff with regards to their child protection responsibilities.
The force has also made some specific improvements against the
2018 recommendations, particularly in relation to missing
children.
Other improvements include:
-
the development of proposals for a consistent approach
to safeguarding children with key partners area;
-
additional training for staff to enable them to
recognise and respond to risk more effectively;
-
a new initiative to share information with schools
about children who go missing;
-
a project which focuses on the impact of domestic abuse
on children; and
-
refreshed governance and oversight procedures.
Despite these improvements, however, the inspection
found that there are still areas of concern. These include
the current IT system which continues to hinder the
visibility of information,inadequacies in the
risk assessment of some children’s cases, delays
in the examination of digital devices and a disparity between
investigations into online child sexual exploitation and
those cases that did not involve the internet.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Phil Gormley said:
“We previously
inspected Northumbria Police’s child
protection services in January2018. As a result
of that inspection, we identified several areas where the
force was not
UNDER EMBARGO 0001 THURSDAY 11 APRIL 2019
reaching the standards required of it. We issued the
force with several recommendations in order to
improve.
“I am encouraged to see that there
has been progress made against those recommendations,
particularly in relation to protecting children at risk of
harm.
“We were pleased to find that the
quality of investigations of child sexual exploitation
cases that did not involve the internet have improved.
However, I am concerned about the delays in responding to
reports of children being exploited online, and the backlog
in completing digital forensic examinations, some of which
are taking too long to complete.
“I am encouraged
by the force’s commitment
to protecting children from harm. I
lookforward to seeing further improvements
implemented in due course.”
HMICFRS will continue to regularly monitor
Northumbria Police’s child protection capabilities.
Notes
-
HMICFRS is inspecting the child
protection work of every police force in England and
Wales. The reports provide information for
the police, the police and crime commissioner and the
public on how well children are protected and their
needs are met, and to secure improvements for the
future.
-
Under the National Child Protection Inspection
(NCPI) programme, HMICFRS will assess how effectively
each force in England and Wales safeguards children and
young people at risk, make recommendations to forces
for improving child protection practice, highlight
effective practice inchild protection work
and drive improvements in forces’ child
protection practice.
-
Follow up activity by HMICFRS is an integral part
of the NCPI programme. It allows inspectors to assess
the progress each force is making in its work to
improve services for the safety and protection of
children.
