CLEVELAND Police has faced heavy criticism for not doing enough to protect children from harm in a damning letter from the outgoing chief inspector of schools to the police watchdog.

Sir Michael Wilshaw said he had "serious concerns" about the approach of Cleveland Police to child protection after Ofsted inspectors picked up a series of failings when they were inspecting children's services in Stockton.

The force tonight issued a detailed response to the letter, saying it takes safeguarding extremely seriously, and explaining the action taken recently to improve its practice.

Sir Michael highlighted more than 40 areas of the UK –including Durham, Middlesbrough, Stockton and Northumbria – where there were "serious weaknesses" in the contribution made by the police to safeguarding children. But an entire section of his letter singled Cleveland Police out above any other force for criticism.

In his letter, to HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor, Sir Michael highlighted "one disturbing case" where Cleveland Police closed an investigation even though there was clear evidence children had been deliberately harmed.

"It was only through the intervention of the local authority, prompted by my inspectors, that this case was reopened and further investigated by the police," he said.

In response to this point, Cleveland Police said the safeguarding of the children involved had been effectively addressed and the case was reopened the same day.

Stockton Council's child protection services received a good Ofsted report which ranked them in the top 25 per cent nationally, but Ofsted found the Local Safeguarding Board – which involves council, police and health authorities – needed improvement, because of the lack of support from police.

Sir Michael said: "We had serious concerns about the approach of Cleveland Police to child protection."

Cleveland Police officers were often unavailable to turn up to strategy discussions when a child might have been at risk of significant harm, and Ofsted inspectors said police officers had been instructed not to attend initial child protection conferences in respect of unborn babies.

Sir Michael said: “The most serious concerns about the role of the police in protecting children in the past year followed our recent inspection of Children’s Services in Stockton-on-Tees.

“While inspectors found the overall quality of provision by the local authority to be good, the lack of support from Cleveland Police meant that the Safeguarding Board was judged to require improvement.”

He added: "Overall, inspectors found an unacceptable and potentially dangerous gulf between the stated priorities of Cleveland Police in relation to its support for child protection and the practice observed in the course of the inspection of the local authority's children's services."

He said the Chief Constable had promised Ofsted's chief inspector that extra officers would be allocated for child protection from September this year and that in the interim, "police attendance at child protection strategy meetings would be prioritised and facilitated through video-conferencing technology".

But he said through the remainder of the inspection "there was little evidence of this proposal being implemented".

Deputy Chief Constable Simon Nickless said the force took Ofsted's concerns "extremely seriously" and that it was taking action to improve officers' attendance at meetings. He said safeguarding partners had also launched a "children's hub" with an immediate improved attendance by officers at meetings.

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Deputy Chief Constable Simon Nickless

He added: "Cleveland Police works closely with all local authorities and other safeguarding agencies on a daily basis to protect children from harm."

He said the past year had seen "significantly increased investment in protecting vulnerable people", with extra officers being recruited to several teams, and a new unit set up to tackle missing children, child sexual exploitation and trafficking.

He then pointed out areas in the Ofsted report which had complimented Cleveland Police, and added: "We are concerned that the balance found in the Ofsted report is not reflected in today's open letter."

Dave Pickard, independent chair of the Stockton-on-Tees Local Safeguarding Children Board, said: “The board places a very strong focus on ensuring that all member agencies play their part in safeguarding children and since the Ofsted inspection took place, police involvement in safeguarding strategy discussions has improved significantly.”

Sir Michael said police failures in this area could lead to abuse scandals like those seen in Rotherham and Oxford.

Sir Thomas replied to Sir Michael, saying: “We have completed and continue to be engaged in a very substantial body of work in connection with how the police and other agencies deal with child abuse.

“You will of course recognise that many of the problems to which you refer are also concerns of local authorities and other statutory agencies.”

An NSPCC spokesman said: “Ofsted’s assessment of the approach to and prioritisation of child protection within the police is damning.

“When a child’s safety is in question, officers cannot afford to be slow to act.”

The Cleveland Police statement in full, from Deputy Chief Constable Simon Nickless:

“Cleveland Police takes safeguarding extremely seriously and works closely with all local authorities and other safeguarding agencies on a daily basis to protect children from harm.

“Protecting the vulnerable and recognising risk in our communities is our priority.

“The past year has seen significantly increased investment in protecting vulnerable people with additional officers recruited to the Child Abuse Investigation Team, the Sex Offender Management Unit and the Paedophile Online Investigation Team, as well as the formation of a new team of officers who work closely with our safeguarding partners to tackle missing children, child sexual exploitation and trafficking.

“Working with partners is at the core of our child protection work. Our Senior Head of Safeguarding sits on all Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards in the force area and we collaborate with all partners to improve child protection practice. “The letter from Ofsted refers to an inspection, focused on Stockton Borough Council, which took place during May-June 2016. We acknowledged the issues raised by OFSTED in their report published in July 2016 and take the points raised by OFSTED extremely seriously.

“The force co-operated fully with OFSTED inspectors at the time to explain our approach to attendance at strategy meetings and measures already in place to deliver improvement. “It is important to note that we have consistently shared relevant police information with safeguarding partners in all cases and the comments of the Inspectors relate to attendance at meetings.

“Whilst we have been working throughout the past year to build additional resources to help us participate in more meetings, we have prioritised attendance at those strategy meetings where police involvement and police information were key.

“We also note a number of positive comments in the report published by OFSTED in relation to force practice with our partners to safeguard missing children, those at risk of sexual exploitation and those missing from education.

“The report also made specific positive comment around Cleveland Police attendance at Child Protection Conferences and the benefits of the new Children’s Hub.

“At the start of June 2016, safeguarding partners including Cleveland Police launched the Stockton and Hartlepool Children’s Hub.

“This included additional dedicated resource from Cleveland Police to participate in strategy meetings. Since the Children’s Hub was launched, there has been an immediate and sustained significant improvement in attendance at strategy meetings, which has been noted by key partners and the Stockton Local Safeguarding Children’s Board.

“We are working closely with partners to roll out a similar Children’s Hub model across the force area and, in the interim period, have taken action to improve strategy attendance across the area.

“The OFSTED inspection did not include any general examination of standards of police investigation.

“The matter raised by OFSTED around a wrongly closed investigation (in relation to a report of common assault) was immediately addressed by the force, with the case re-opened the same day. Safeguarding of the children involved had been effectively addressed by Cleveland Police and Social Care. “The issue rightly raised by Ofsted was the decision by officers to finalise the investigation before all investigative opportunities had been explored.

“The robustness of the response of Cleveland Police was noted in the main OFSTED report. The decision to close the investigation was contrary to force procedures and the force does not believe this reflects general standards of investigation.

“There is no suggestion in the narrative of the OFSTED report, or the recommendations, that the reason the Stockton Local Safeguarding Children’s Board was judged to require improvement was due to a lack of support from Cleveland Police.

“In relation to other areas raised in the open letter to HMIC:

• In terms of sharing information on domestic abuse which Ofsted identified nationally as an issue for some forces, Cleveland Police has rolled out Operation Encompass force wide. Where a child or young person is present at a domestic abuse incident, their place of education (from nursery to sixth form college) will be informed the following day so that appropriate support can be put in place.

• Cleveland Police has procedures in place to inform social care on a daily basis of children that are reported missing.

• Attendance at Initial Child Protection Conferences has been consistently high across the force in recent years.

• Officers from the force Child Abuse Investigation Unit routinely participate in joint visits with colleagues from social care.

• In terms of DBS backlogs, again identified as a national issue, Cleveland Police has an average return time of eight days for a DBS request so we do not believe there is any reason for concern. Funding for a further, full time member of staff has recently been approved.

“We are concerned that the balance found in the OFSTED inspection report is not reflected in today’s open letter.”