A SAFEGUARDING boss has revealed his vision for improving services for children living with domestic abuse.

Last year, a Joint Targeted Area Inspection took place in County Durham around domestic abuse including a ‘deep dive’ for children.

Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and HM Inspectorate of Probation took part in the process.

In County Durham, concerns were raised around strategy meetings, some safeguarding practices, leadership and management and the ‘voice of the child’ – with 42 areas for improvement outlined.

An action plan was then developed by Durham’s Local Safeguarding Childrens’ Board (LSCB) which includes Durham County Council, police and NHS representatives.

On February 11, independent LSCB chairman, Michael Banks, updated county councillors on plans to tackle domestic abuse.

“It’s not just about identifying what is right, its making sure it’s being embedded correctly and noticing the impact,” Mr Banks told the council’s children and young peoples’ overview and scrutiny committee.

Out of 62 actions planned for December 2018, 45 were completed, six are in in progress and 11 need more time.

Improvements so far include single points of contact for each agency, extra staff in specialist roles, new task groups and training for police officers around domestic abuse. Key work is also taking place around domestic abuse and unborn children alongside improved youth advocacy schemes.

And a recent ‘focused visit’ from Ofsted last month showed practice was improving, the Durham County Council meeting heard.

Coun Peter Brookes said he was disappointed to see the lack of progress around the ‘voice of the child’ targets and asked if there were potential “gaps” in agencies failing to turn up to meetings.

Safeguarding bosses admitted that they set “ambitious targets”  and that more needed to be done to increase the participation of children in safeguarding processes.

They added conference calls and written information were also being used to allow all agencies to contribute to key decisions around childrens’ safety.

In response to a question from Andrea Patterson, the meeting also heard new software ‘Liquid Logic’ was improving workflows and management for social services staff.

In future, the Durham LSCB is expected to be relaunched as the Durham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership.

This will include employing a commissioner for young people to work with parents, young people and practitioners and improved scrutiny arrangements.

Mr Banks added: “I have always said whatever job you have, you have two jobs – one is to do it and one is to improve it.

“For our service users they often have no choice so as individual practitioners, agencies and as a partnership we need to be the best we can be for every child, every family, every day.

“I firmly believe that in the reforms we have put into place that we will be recommending to cabinet, the new Durham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership gives us a fantastic opportunity to be the best we can be for our children and families in County Durham.”