Joint inspection of services to protect children and young people

Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) has today published its joint inspection report on the protection of children and young people in the Glasgow City area.

The inspection included services provided by health agencies, the police, the local authority and Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, as well as those provided by voluntary and independent organisations.  Joint inspection reports give an evaluation of the effectiveness of services using a published quality indicator framework focusing on 6 key areas

1. how well children and young people are listened to, understood and respected; 
2. how children and young people benefit from strategies to minimise harm;
3. how children and young people are helped by the actions taken in immediate response to concerns;
4. how well children's and young people's needs are met;
5. service improvements through self-evaluation; and
6. improvements in performance.

Services in the Glasgow City Council area were given one evaluation of very good, three evaluations of good and two evaluations of satisfactory.

Inspectors found the following key strengths in how well children were protected and their needs met in the council area:

• Support to help parents gain skills and confidence to care for their children.
• Schools and nurseries nurturing children and helping them keep safe.
• Work to ensure children who may have been brought into or moved around the country illegally are protected.
• Chief Officers' prioritising of support to the most vulnerable children and families.

Inspectors agreed with services in the council area the following areas for improvement:

• Improve the response of services to children experiencing neglect.
• Improve the quality of plans to meet the needs of individual children and implement them successfully.
• Continue to develop approaches to self-evaluation, focusing on outcomes for vulnerable children and families.

We are confident that services will be able to make the necessary improvements in the light of the inspection findings.  Our link inspector will maintain contact with services to support improvement.