Quality Assurance sub committee

Quality Assurance sub committee is chaired by Sara Wilson sara.wilson@derbyshire.gov.uk

Meetings take place on a monthly basis and are usually held at De Bradelei House, Belper.

Purpose

The Quality Assurance sub committee (QA) has responsibility for monitoring professional practice and outcomes in relation to safeguarding children.

The committee leads on the review of inter agency case work and makes recommendations to the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) where appropriate.

Responsibilities

To review inter agency performance against the standards established by the LSCB and arrange such audits or studies as may be required out of performance measures.
To review a sample of case conference minutes each year, made up of randomly selected cases.
- These might include cases referred by the Chair or Agency representatives (to include those where children have been subject to a plan of protection for a period in excess of two years and cases where a family has been subject to 10 or more conferences). A parent or other interested party may also refer cases.
Monitoring of Child Protection Conference activity including consideration of examples of good and poor practice.
Where there is a matter of dissent, the chair of the sub group should inform both the chair of the conference and the individual who raised the concern as to whether the original decision was supported or whether a further conference should be convened to review the decision.
- The sub group cannot reverse the decision of a child protection conference.
Where the sub group upholds an example of good practice a letter of commendation should be sent to the worker and to their manager.
To review trends in the recognition, referral, investigation conferencing and outcomes for children who are subject of child protection processes.
To manage the process whereby service users and their families can request a review of a conference decision or recommendation.

Membership

Membership of Quality Assurance sub-committee will be at senior/middle management level.

There will be a representative from each of the key Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Board (DSCB) agencies.

Representatives from other agencies may be co-opted on to the committee as appropriate.

Meetings

The QA will meet on a monthly basis

Reporting activity

The QA will report child protection activity to each board and partnership group meeting