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Offences against Children

Answer

Where a serious case has occurred (in which abuse or neglect is known or suspected, and either a child has died, or a child has been seriously harmed and there is cause for concern as to the way local agencies have worked together to safeguard the child), it is the responsibility of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB) in a local authority area to decide whether or not to initiate a serious case review (SCR).

Ofsted collects and publishes data on notifiable incidents, and of these, data on the initiation of serious case reviews (SCRs).

Information on the publication and non-publication of SCRs is not available in the format requested. However, the following latest statistics are provided in the third report of the national panel of independent experts on Serious Case Reviews, which advises Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) on the initiation and publication of SCRs:

Period	Completed SCRs received by panel	SCRs where panel considered case for non-publication	SCRs where panel agreed with case for non-publication	SCRs where panel disagreed with non-publication	SCRs where panel agreed to anonymous publication on NSPCC website	SCRs where panel agreed to a summary publication
01/07/13 to 30/06/14	74	7	4	0	2	1
01/07/14 to 30/06/15	80	16	8	4	3	1
01/07/15 to 30/06/16	110	17	4	9	3	1

Under the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015), LSCBs should complete an SCR within six months. The current statutory guidance does not specify a timescale for publication of the SCR report.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

68084

Session

2016-17

Grouped for answer

Yes

Subjects

Offences against children

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk