Joint inspection of services to protect children and young people - Fife Council area

We have published our joint inspection report on the protection of children and young people in the Fife Council 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 minimize 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 Fife Council area were given 4 evaluations of good and 2 evaluations of satisfactory,

Inspectors found the following key strengths in how well children were protected and their needs met in the Fife Council area. 

• Joint approaches to raising children’s awareness of internet safety.
• Progress made by Chief Officers in improving services to protect children.
• An improved culture of information sharing and joint working.

Inspectors agreed with services in the council area the following points for improvement.

• Strengthen the response to child protection concerns.
• Strengthen arrangements to ensure children’s needs, including health needs, are met well.
• Improve the quality and consistency of assessments of risk and needs.

We are confident that the services will be able to make the necessary improvements in the light of the inspection findings.  As a result, we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection.  Our link inspector will maintain contact with services to support improvements.