Inspectors have told Northamptonshire Police chiefs that more must be done to protect vulnerable children in the county, warning “there is still much to do”.
Following a series of inspections by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) a report, published this morning, revealed Northamptonshire Police has “more progress to make” before it can offer assurances that children at risk in the county are being adequately protected.
The report comes after child protection services in Northamptonshire were plunged into crisis in January, when arrangements in the county were described as “wholly inadequate”.
The failings relating to Northamptonshire Police included:
- Unacceptable delays in or failing to share information share all relevant information about families with partner agencies (for example, children’s social care);
- Missed opportunities to work closely with partner agencies to protect children at risk of significant harm, and those who were missing from home or care;
- Police officers not recognising potential risk to children when they attended incidents (particularly those relating to domestic abuse), and failing to make the necessary referrals to either police child protection specialists or to other agencies, in order to help safeguard these children;
- Where further concerns about children were identified, this information was not shared with partners, resulting in missed opportunities for agencies to assess jointly whether there was an increased risk of harm;
- Significant delays in analysing seized computers to establish whether they held indecent images of children in cases where child abuse was suspected; - Insufficient staff in the team managing registered sex offenders, resulting in increased risks to children in the county;
- Children being inappropriately detained in police custody after they had been charged with an offence.
As a result, HMIC wrote immediately to the force and requested details of the remedial action it would put in place to address the issues.
A follow-up inspection in March levelled more criticism at the police for failing to sort out the mess.
Inspectors said “more progress should have been made, given the seriousness of the risks posed to children”.
Following a fresh inspection, HMIC today said it is “too early to say whether the force is doing enough to properly protect children at risk within the county”.
HM Inspector of Constabulary, Zoë Billingham, said: “Our inspection in January found that Northamptonshire Police was not giving sufficient priority to the protection of children in the county. We found that child protection arrangements were wholly inadequate, and that children at risk within the county were not being properly protected by the police and other agencies. This is simply unacceptable.
“Following our initial inspection, the force recognised changes needed to be made and our revisit in March found they had developed a plan tackle the issue. The force has demonstrated it is taking child safeguarding seriously. But there is still much to do before it can offer assurance that children at risk are being adequately protected.
“We will return to the force in October to inspect what progress has been made.”
Amid the catalogue of failings identified in January, police were found to be not giving sufficient priority to the protection of children in the county.
The force was criticised for not allocating enough resources to child protection,and staff had received insufficient training in how to safeguard children. HMIC found “unacceptable delays” in sharing information about children at risk with other agencies and that police officers were not recognising potential risk to children when they attended incidents.
They were also failing to make referrals to either police child protection specialists or to other agencies such as children’s social care.
A follow-up inspection was made in March, which found police had not made enough progress to satisfy inspectors.
They found the force had developed a plan for how it would improve its approach to child protection, but said there were still concerns. HMIC considered “more progress should have been made”.
The most recent revisit, which was made last month, found the force had made “extensive changes, investing significantly in child protection and developing a comprehensive plan” to ensure the improvements are made.
A damning OFSTED report found Northamptonshire had a “legacy” of children “exposed to chronic, and periodically acute, harmful experiences” some of which were “unlikely to have been either assessed or addressed”.
The report, which was published in March, found “key partner agencies do not focus sufficiently on the potential risks faced by children to ensure that further harm is prevented”.
Speaking earlier this year, the chief executive of Northamptonshire County Council, Paul Blantern, (pictured) claimed children were not harmed as a result of the failings and admitted problems were recognised as early as spring 2012.