16. Supervision and training

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16.1

Introduction

16.2

Induction and supervision of newly appointed staff

16.3

Supervision and support

16.4

Single agency training

16.5

Multi-agency training

16.6

Training course content

16.7

Roles and responsibilities

16.7.1

Role of the children's trust

16.7.2

Role of the LSCB

16.8

Success factors

16.9

Competence matters

16.10

Quality assurance and evaluation

16.11

Joint investigation and achieving best evidence training

Values

16.6.1

All training should place the child at the centre and promote the importance of understanding the child's daily life experiences, ascertaining their wishes and feelings, listening to the child and never losing sight of his or her needs.

16.6.2

All training in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children should create an ethos which values working collaboratively with others, respects diversity (including culture, race and disability), promotes equality, is child centred and promotes the participation of children and families in safeguarding processes.

Employers' responsibilities

16.1.1

Individual employers are responsible for ensuring that their staff, paid and unpaid (i.e. volunteers), are competent and confident in carrying out their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting children's welfare. The training must reflect the different training needs of their staff, dependent on the on their degree of contact with children and/or with adults who are parents or carers, their level of responsibility and independence of decision-making.

16.1.2

Staff must be competent to work effectively to safeguard children and promote their welfare with others both within their own agency and across agency boundaries. This will be best achieved by a combination of single agency and multi-agency training:

• Single-agency training is training carried out by a particular agency for its own staff. It should include clarity about the role and responsibilities of the agency and its staff and competence to do so; and
• Multi-agency training which is for employees of different agencies who either work together formally or come together for training or development. It should include clarity about the roles and responsibilities of the staff and agencies they need to work collaboratively with, and competence to engage effectively with them.

16.1.3

All employers have a responsibility to identify adequate resources and support for single and multi-agency training by:

• Committing resources to the planning, delivery and evaluation of multi-agency training;
• Providing staff who have the relevant expertise to support the LSCB (for example, by sitting on a LSCB training sub-group, and / or contributing to training);
• Releasing staff and allocating  time for them to complete single and multi-agency training tasks and apply the learning in practice; and
• Ensuring that members of staff receive relevant single-agency training which enables them to maximise the learning derived from multi-agency training, and have opportunities to consolidate learning from multi-agency training.

16.1.4

All front line staff must be trained to pass calls about the safety of children to the appropriate professional staff. This includes reception and switchboard operators and administrative staff. Appropriate to their role, staff should also have an awareness of / access to information about local resources / agencies as well as awareness of / access to information about central / local government policy and practice in relation to child welfare.

16.4.10

All relevant settings should have staff who are competent to complete a common assessment for a child, and contribute collaboratively to a child in need assessment of the child's developmental needs, and the capacity of their parents to respond to the child's needs within the wider family and community in which they live.

16.4.11

Specialist single and multi-agency training should be provided for nominated child protection advisers / designated and named professionals, child protection specialists, key workers and senior managers, governors and members with special responsibility for children, to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

16.2.1

Induction training should be mandatory for all newly appointed staff, coming from within the agency or another agency, or newly qualified.

16.2.2

Induction should be completed within the first six months of employment and before individuals take part in interagency training. Regular refresher training should also be provided at least every three years. Employers from all agencies should use the induction programme offered by the Children's Workforce Development Council. the programme is set out under the following standards:

• Standard 1: understanding the principles and values essential for working with children and young people
• Standard 2: understanding your role as a worker (employed or self-employed)
• Standard 3: understanding health and safety requirements
• Standard 4: know how to communicate effectively
• Standard 5: understanding the development of children and young people
• Standard 6: safeguarding children (keeping them safe from harm)
• Standard 7: self development

16.2.3

Senior managers should ensure that their staff are adequately and appropriately supervised and that they have ready access to advice, expertise and management support in all matters relating to safeguarding and child protection.

16.2.4

Regular review meetings between the appointee and responsible manager should be convened, by the manager, throughout the induction period ensuring that the appointee has ready access to advice, expertise and management support in all matters relating to safeguarding and child protection.

Introduction

16.3.1

For many practitioners involved in day-to-day work with children and families, effective supervision is important to promote good standards of practice and to supporting individual staff members.

Definition

16.3.2

Supervision can be defined as:

''an accountable process which supports assures and develops the knowledge, skills and values of an individual, group or team. The purpose is to improve the quality of their work to achieve agreed outcomes.'' Providing Effective Supervision (Skills for Care and CWDC 2007, page 5)

16.3.3

The key functions of supervision are:

• Management (ensuring competent and accountable performance/practice);
• Engagement/mediation (engaging the individual with the organisation) - [Morrison, T.(2005) Staff Supervision in Social Care. Third edition. Brighton: Pavilion.]
• Development (continuing professional development);
• Support (supportive/restorative function).

Function in management

16.3.4

The arrangements for organising how supervision is delivered will vary from agency to agency but there are some key essential elements. It should:

• Help to ensure that practice is soundly based and consistent with LSCB and organisational procedures;
• Ensure that practitioners fully understand their roles, responsibilities and the scope of their professional discretion and authority; and
• Help identify the training and development needs of practitioners, so that each has the skills to provide an effective service.

Function in practice

16.3.5

Good quality supervision can help to:

• Keep a focus on the child;
• Avoid drift;
• Maintain a degree of objectivity, identify patterns (rather than just responding to incidents) and challenge fixed views;
• Test and assess the evidence base for assessment and decisions; and
• Address the emotional impact of work.

Supervisor's role & responsibility

16.3.6

Supervisors should be trained in supervision skills and have an up to date knowledge of the legislation, policy and research relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

16.3.7

Supervisors should take care that they are handling an appropriate number of direct reports to ensure that each supervisee is receiving an adequate level of support.

16.3.8

Supervision should enable both supervisor and supervisee to reflect on, scrutinise and evaluate the work carried out, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the practitioner and providing coaching development and pastoral support. This should include the supervisor enabling the supervisee to explore their feelings about the work and the family in order to achieve sound professional judgements.

16.3.9

Supervisors should read children's case files, or the files of parents who have caring responsibilities and where there are concerns about a child's welfare, regularly to review and record in the file whether the work undertaken is appropriate to the child's current needs and circumstances, and is in accordance with the agency's responsibilities.

Systems & process

16.3.10

Each agency should have a supervisory system in place that is accessible to the professional and reflects practice needs. Supervision should form part of day-to-day staff support, which should also include systems and procedures for:

• Managing workloads (all employers of social workers should use the framework for assessing workload published in the Social Work Task Force final report - [See Building a safe, confident future: the final report of the Social Work Task Force and the Government response]);
• Managing, sharing and reporting individual and aggregated client information;
• Staff to easily access advice, expertise and management support (including recognition of need for additional support in particular cases or circumstances);
• Protecting staff from violence and harassment, from clients and staff;
• Maintaining quality standards e.g. regular audits of cases that involve children, including those in adult and mental health teams;
• Staff, contractors or clients to complain or blow the whistle;
• Effective staff appraisal and managing poor practice.

16.3.12

Supervision policy and practice must maximise staff safety and remain alert to the possibility that some staff may be anxious about personal safety and yet reluctant to acknowledge their concern. There are occasions when a risk assessment should be undertaken regarding employee safety, this must include their emotional well being as well as any physical risk. There is an increasing awareness of the impact on workers of dealing with some extreme cases e.g. personality disorder or violence. This casework may require specialist supervision in addition to usual case management supervision. See also section 10 Working with unco-operative families (10.9.1 to 10.9.8 Supervision).

16.3.13

Effective safeguarding supervision needs to be regular and provide continuity, so that the relationship between supervisor and supervisee develops. Each session should include agreeing the agenda, reviewing actions from previous supervision, listening, exploring and reflecting, agreeing actions and reviewing the supervision process itself.

16.3.14

On some occasions (e.g. enquiries about complex abuse or allegations against colleagues) agencies should consider the provision of additional individual or group staff support.

Children's social care services

16.3.15

It is particularly important that social workers have appropriate supervision. The recent report Building a safe, confident future: the final report of the Social Work Task Force and the Government response emphasised that supervision is a critical aspect of the support that employers should provide to social workers. It identified three specific functions of the supervision which must be in place to support effective practice: line management; professional (or case) supervision; and continuing professional development.

16.3.16

In line with the Task Force's recommendations, a national standard for supervision will be developed for social workers, as part of the comprehensive reform programme which the Government has committed to taking forward with the profession and employers. Whilst this is developed, it is strongly recommended that employers comply with existing guidance on the features of good supervision for social workers, for example Providing Effective Supervision (Skills for Care/CWDC 2007).

16.3.17

Within all agencies that have operational responsibility for children in need and child protection services there should be an agency policy that defines levels of supervision for those staff who are accountable for children in need and child protection cases.

16.3.18

Such supervision should ensure that child protection cases are regularly discussed, and the outcome of the discussions, recorded and signed by both supervisor and supervisee. Copies should be held by both the manager and the member of staff.

Health service

16.3.19

The NHS must provide both management and child protection supervision for clinical staff. Line managers in health settings have a responsibility to support clinical staff into one of the forms of clinical supervision which best meets their clinical needs and allow protected time to attend. Clinicians must highlight with their manager if supervision is not meeting their needs so a different model can be considered.

16.4.1

All single agency training to ensure that staff are aware of how to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns, including signs of possible maltreatment, should always equip staff for multi-agency work. All training in this field should be consistent with the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge. A number of competency frameworks have been published by professional bodies to assist employers in identifying training needs.

See:

Safeguarding  Children and Young People: Roles and Competences for Health Care Staff (2006) - [Skills for Health in collaboration with Skills for Care 2005, has developed a UK-wide competence and skills framework for the children's workforce in health, comprising 13 competencies. See www.skillsforhealth.org.uk];

Roles, Skills, Knowledge and competencies for Safeguarding Children in the Sports Sector (2007)).

16.4.2

The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children's Workforce sets out six areas of expertise that everyone working with children, young people and families, including those who work as volunteers, should be able to demonstrate. These are:

• Effective communication and engagement (listening to and involving children and working with parents and families);
• Child development (physical and psychological);
• Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, including risk of harm and protection factors;
• Supporting transitions (maximising children's achievements and opportunities and understanding their rights and responsibilities);
• Multi-agency working (working across professional and agency boundaries); and
• Sharing information.

16.4.3

Depending on their role, staff working with children may also need training to ensure that they are competent in the following areas:

• Assessing children's developmental needs and their parents' capacity to respond to their needs, in the context of their family and environmental factors including their school and community;
• An understanding of the impact of disability on the child and family;
• Understanding the particular needs of children in specific circumstances (see section 5) and responding to their needs, including through referral and joint working;
• Identifying the early signs of developmental disorders (such as autistic spectrum disorder and language disorder) and mental health problems (such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, eating disorders, substance misuse and deliberate self-harm);
• Recognising inequalities and ethnic diversity and addressing them proactively;
• Promoting healthy lifestyles and directing families to local services;
• Issues of confidentiality, consent and information sharing;
• Complaints, advocacy and rights;
• Record keeping.

16.4.4

A number of competency frameworks have been published by professional bodies to assist employers in identifying training needs.

See:

Safeguarding  Children and Young People: Roles and Competences for Health Care Staff (2006) - [Skills for Health in collaboration with Skills for Care 2005, has developed a UK-wide competence and skills framework for the children’s workforce in health, comprising 13 competencies. See www.skillsforhealth.org.uk];

Roles, Skills, Knowledge and competencies for Safeguarding Children in the Sports Sector (2007).

16.4.5

Health professionals who are prescribing or administering medicines for children and young people must have the common core skills and knowledge set out above, but must also be competent in:

• The safe and effective use of medicines in children;
• Calculating drug doses, and administering medicines to children;
• Understanding the risks and benefits of medicines in relation to children;
• The needs of ethnic minorities, and cultural differences in beliefs about illness and the use of medicines;
• Accessing best evidence on the effectiveness of medicines;
• Giving information on medicines to children and parents in a clear way;
• Involving children and parents in decision-making to improve partnership, including active listening and providing relevant information; and
• The recording of significant events and their use in multi-disciplinary and multi-agency audits.

16.5.1

The purpose of training for multi-agency work is to help develop and foster the following in order to achieve better outcomes for children:

• A shared understanding of the tasks, processes, principles, and roles and responsibilities outlined in national guidance and local arrangements for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare;
• More effective and integrated services at both the strategic and individual case level;
• Improved communication between professionals including a common understanding of key terms, definitions, and thresholds for action; and
• Effective working relationships, including an ability to work in multi-disciplinary groups or teams, sound decision making based on information sharing, thorough assessment, critical analysis, and professional judgement.

16.5.2

Training delivered on a multi-agency basis is a highly effective way of promoting a common and shared understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of different professionals and contributes to effective working relationships.

16.5.3

Research for the Department of Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health - [Carpenter et al (2009) The Organisation, Outcomes and Costs of Inter-agency Training to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families] - has shown that multi-agency training is highly effective in helping professionals understand their respective roles and responsibilities, the procedures of each agency involved in safeguarding children and in developing a shared understanding of assessment and decision-making practices. Further, the opportunity to learn together is greatly valued; participants report increased confidence in working with colleagues from other agencies and greater mutual respect.

16.6.1

Safeguarding children is everybody's responsibility, it follows that audiences for training include the whole of the children and young people's workforce, those working with adults who are parents or carers (e.g. adult psychiatrists and probation staff); and paid staff and volunteers working in the statutory, third, community and independent sectors.

16.6.2

Table 1 at the end of this chapter groups audiences together based on their degree of contact with children and/or parents/carers and their levels of responsibility, in order to assist with the identification of training and development needs. The groups are as follows:

• Those who have occasional contact with children, young people and/or parents/carers;
• Those in regular or in intensive but irregular contact with children, young people and/or parents/carers;
• Those who work predominantly with children, young people and/or parents/ carers;
• Those who have particular specialist child protection responsibilities;
• Professional advisers and designated leads for child protection;
• Operational managers of services for children, young people and/or parents/carers;
• Senior managers responsible for strategic management of services for children, young people and/or parents/carers; and
• Members of LSCBs.

16.6.3

Training should be available at a number of levels to address the learning needs of these staff. The table at the end of the chapter outlines responsibilities and suggests possible methods of delivery. Decisions should be made locally about how the levels are most appropriately delivered, as part of the planning of training.

16.6.4

Whilst the detailed content of training at each level of the framework should be specified locally, programmes should usually include the following:

• Recognising and responding to safeguarding and child protection concerns;
• Working together;
• Completing child in need assessments;
• Safeguarding disabled children;
• Safeguarding children when there are concerns about domestic violence,
• Parental mental health; and
• Substance misuse.

16.6.5

The content of training programmes should be regularly reviewed and updated in the light of research, SCR's, Child Deaths, as well as changing policy and legislation.

The Children's Trust Board

16.7.1

Children's Trust Boards or equivalent is responsible for ensuring that:

• Through a strategy for children's services, such as a children and young people's plan:
  • workforce strategies are developed with training opportunities that include the priority needs identified by the LSCB; and
  • all staff who work with or have contact with children are appropriately trained in child development, recognise potential signs of abuse and neglect and know how to respond if they have concerns about a child's welfare.
• Systems are in place to deliver both single-agency and multi-agency training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
• There is clarity with the LSCB which bodies should commission or deliver single and multi-agency training.

The LSCB

16.7.2

The LSCB must provide induction and training for Children's Trusts and LSCB members, including lay members, independent chairs and any employees of the LSCB, to support them to fulfil their responsibilities, including their role in planning, commissioning and delivering training effectively.

16.7.3

The LSCB is responsible for developing local policies for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, in relation to the training of people who work with children or in services affecting the safety and welfare of children (see section 18 LSCBs, quality assurance and conflict resolution). This includes training in relation to the child death review processes and Serious Case Reviews.

16.7.4

LSCBs should contribute to, and work within, the framework of the local workforce strategy, including by:

• Identifying training needs and priorities to inform the local workforce strategy's planning and commissioning of training;
• Reviewing and evaluating the provision and availability of single and multi-agency training;
• Checking that the training is reaching all relevant staff within organisations and meeting local needs;
• Checking that staff in contact with children are trained to understand normal child development and to recognise and act on potential signs of abuse and neglect; and
• Reporting on annually to the Children's Trust Board or equivalent progress in ensuring that all staff who work with or have contact with children are appropriately trained.

16.7.5

It is important to ensure that training involves and is available to all people who work with children and young people. Some agencies involved in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children may not be formally part of the local Children's Trust Board or equivalent. LSCBs should ensure that the needs of all staff are included when setting up training arrangements.

16.7.6

LSCBs should ensure that they are appropriately staffed and have sufficient to take forward any training and development work they carry out. This includes having the necessary administrative support and having adequate resources to contribute to the planning and delivery or commissioning of training and evaluation.

16.7.7

Effective training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is most likely to be achieved if there is a member of the LSCB with lead responsibility for training and a training sub-group to provide support and advice for this LSCB member. Research - [Carpenter et al: The Organisation, Outcomes and Costs of Inter-Agency Training to Safeguard Promote the Welfare of Children (DCSF, 2009)] - suggests over-reliance on a single multi-agency training co-ordinator makes LSCB training programmes vulnerable.

16.7.8

Many areas maintain a multi-agency training panel of suitably skilled and experienced professionals and managers from LSCB member agencies who work together to design, deliver and evaluate multi-agency training. The effectiveness of this approach relies on having a skilled person to co-ordinate and develop the panel, and on the allocation of time to enable panel members to undertake this work.

LSCB delivering or commissioning training

16.7.9

If the LSCB and Children's Trust Board agree that the LSCB will manage the delivery of the multi-agency safeguarding training there must be a protocol in place between the Boards to enable the LSCB to be treated in the same way as other partners making a contribution to delivering the CYPP. Specifically the Children's Trust Board or equivalent would need to be able to call the LSCB to account for the extent to which it acted in accordance with the CYPP.

16.7.10

The LSCB and Children's Trust Board must ensure that the LSCB is appropriately staffed with suitably skilled staff if it is delivering training itself.

Health services

16.7.11

All health services should provide training in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children for staff involved in working with children and also regular update training as part of continuing professional development. Advice regarding the competencies services should assist their staff to achieve can be found in the intercollegiate document Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and competencies for Health Care Staff.

16.4.12

As employers, GPs must ensure that the staff whom they employ are trained and should ensure that practice nurses, practice managers, receptionists and any other staff whom they employ are given the opportunity to attend local courses in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Police

16.7.13

The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) has responsibility for the development of special training for child abuse investigation officers. In addition to this, Child Exploitation and On-Line Protection Centre (CEOP) provides a range of specialist courses to both police officers and colleagues in the wider child protection and safeguarding community. These have been developed through the CEOP Academy to support those working to protect children and students have the opportunity to attend individual courses or study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Behavioural Forensic Psychology.

16.8.1

All training to support single and multi-agency work should be delivered by trainers who:

• Are knowledgeable about safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and have facilitation skills. When delivering training on complex cases trainers should have the relevant specialist knowledge and skills;
• Are informed by current research evidence, lessons from serious case and child death reviews, and local and national developments;
• Have a good understanding of the rights of the child and be informed by an active respect for diversity and the experience of service users, and a commitment to ensuring equality of opportunity;
• Have their work regularly evaluated and reviewed to ensure that it meets the agreed learning outcomes.

16.8.2

Training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children can only be fully effective if it is embedded within a wider framework of commitment to good collaborative working within and between agencies, underpinned by shared values and goals, and planning, commissioning and delivery processes. It is most likely to be effective if it is delivered within a framework that includes:

• A clear mandate from senior managers (e.g. through the LSCB), with endorsement and commitment from member agencies;
• Adequate resources and capacity to deliver or commission training;
• Consistent, high standards of practice (see Standards for Multi-agency Working, Education and Training, developed by Salford University);
• Policies, procedures, and practice guidelines to inform and support these standards;
• Opportunities to consolidate learning made available within agencies;
• The identification and regular review of local training needs using standards for practice, followed by decisions about priorities;
• A training strategy that makes clear the difference between single agency and multi-agency training responsibilities and which partnerships or bodies are responsible for commissioning and delivering training;
• Structures and processes for organising and co-ordinating delivery;
• Systems for the delivery of multi-agency training;
• Quality assurance processes (e.g. as part of evaluation processes put in place by the LSCB);
• The framework should take account of, where possible, local research and demographic information, as well as information about the local children and young people's plan etc.

16.8.3

The systems should foster collaboration across agencies and disciplines in relation to planning, design, delivery, and administration of the training. They should be efficient as well as being designed to promote co-operation and shared ownership of the training. Training may be delivered more effectively if there is collaboration across local areas, especially where police or health boundaries embrace more than one local authority area.

16.8.4

The government has commissioned a number of training resources which are suitable for multi-agency training.  Safeguarding children - a shared responsibility (2006) is a multi-media training resource to support learners to:

• Have a clear understanding of what to do when they have concerns about a child's welfare;
• Know how to work as part of a multi-agency or multi-disciplinary team when following the processes set out in this guidance;
• Be clear of their roles and responsibilities during assessment, planning, intervention and reviewing processes for children in need, including those requiring safeguarding; and
• Understand the statutory requirements governing consent, confidentiality, and information sharing, and how to apply these in relation to a particular child about whom they have concerns.

16.8.5

Research indicates that where LSCBs manage multi-agency training it is highly effective - [Carpenter et al: The Organisation, Outcomes and Costs of Inter-Agency Training to Safeguard Promote the Welfare of Children (DCSF, 2009)].

16.9.1

Competence Matters is the London framework for multi-agency safeguarding children training which offers detailed guidance for the development of a complete safeguarding children training programme. Competence Matters has been designed to support and assist LSCB training officers to develop and manage a comprehensive training programme that meets required standards and locally identified needs. The framework itself is designed to act as the basis for this programme, with each borough taking into account local factors, such as feedback from serious case reviews, and the needs of local agencies and services when planning their training.

16.9.2

Competence Matters offers a comprehensive model for the commissioning and delivery of standardised safeguarding children training programmes for the London boroughs. It provides an 'inspection-compatible' solution for each borough, which should be tailored to meet locally identified needs. Whilst the implementation of the framework is not mandatory, it represents a standard of good practice and will help LSCBs, children's trusts and partner agencies fulfil their responsibilities with regard to the development of an acceptable level of skills and knowledge within the children's workforce.

See Competence Matters at www.londonscb.gov.uk/files/competence_matters.doc

16.10.1

The LSCB, or the training sub-group acting on its behalf, has a responsibility to ensure that both single and multi-agency training is delivered to a consistently high standard, and that a process exists for evaluating the effectiveness of training. This should include ensuring that training meets the standards set out in this section. The LSCB should ensure that outcomes from the evaluation of training inform the planning of training.

16.10.2

The LSCB, or the training sub-group acting on its behalf, has a responsibility to ensure that both single and inter-agency training is delivered to a consistently high standard, and that a process exists for evaluating the effectiveness of training.

16.10.3

Monitoring arrangements should be in place to ensure that:

• Training is available for the target groups identified above;
• Opportunities for refresher training are available and utilised; and
• Regular review and updating of training programmes takes place in line with the training strategy and local and national developments.

16.10.4

The LSCB should agree an evaluation strategy and determine the appropriate level at which evaluation of training courses should take place. The focus of the evaluation should be on the extent to which training is contributing to improving the knowledge and skills of the workforce with regard to working together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Evaluation should include the following:

• Relevance, currency and accuracy of course content;
• Quality of training delivery;
• Short and longer term outcomes; and
• Impact on working together and inter-professional relationships.

16.10.5

The LSCB should ensure that outcomes from an evaluation of training courses or programmes inform the planning of future training. In its annual report to the Children's Trust Board a review of the quality, scope, reach and effectiveness of both single and inter-agency training should be provided.

16.10.6

The Government has developed and disseminated a range of multi-disciplinary training resources - [see Working Together]. These include materials on child development (The Developing World of the Child (2006)), assessing children in need (The Child's World. Second Edition (2009, 2010)) what to do if you are concerned that a child is being abused or neglected (Safeguarding Children - a shared responsibility (2007)) and fabricated or induced illness (Incredibly Caring (2008)) which help to support the provision of good quality training. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidance on When to suspect child maltreatment. Guidance on Investigating Child Abuse and Safeguarding Children was published by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the National Policing Improvement Agency in 2009. In addition the Department for Children, Schools and Families publishes national overviews of SCRs and LSCBs publish executive summaries of individual SCRs, all of which should be used to inform the content of training.

16.11.1

Home Office guidance on Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings describes good practice in interviewing vulnerable and intimidated witnesses, both adults and children, in order to enable them to give their best evidence in criminal proceedings. It applies to both prosecution and defence witnesses and is intended for all persons involved in relevant investigations including the police, social workers and members of the legal profession.

16.11.2

All police officers and social workers are required to undertake joint child protection investigation training and achieving best evidence training. These training programmes must be carried out by a Metropolitan Police approved trainer, and will deliver skills in the investigative interviewing of children and vulnerable or intimidated adult witnesses and in providing pre-trial support and preparation for those involved in the trial process.