Police rapped over child safety safety

Police in Peterborough have been criticised for not attending vital child protection conferences.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Oct 2016, 06:00 BST
Updated 25th Oct 2016, 20:38 BST
Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire NNL-151029-105815001Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire NNL-151029-105815001
Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire NNL-151029-105815001

Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, raised the concerns in a letter to Sir Thomas Winsor Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

However, police in the city said they had a good record of attending the conferences.

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A spokesman for the NSPCC said the record was ‘disturbing’. He said: “Ofsted’s assessment of the approach to and prioritisation of child protection within the police is damning.

“It is disturbing to hear that police in Peterborough, as Sir Michael Wilshaw has pointed out, are not attending child protection conferences. It’s important they attend so vital information can be shared with local authorities.”

A police spokesman said: “In September 2015 an inspection by Ofsted identified ‘a small number of cases where the police do not attend Initial Child Protection Conferences (ICPC)’. As a result a multi-agency review was carried out and between October 2015 and March 2016 there were 91 ICPC of which we attended 70% and provided reports for 95%.

“Protecting children is a key priority for Cambridgeshire Constabulary and we are committed to working closely with our partners in social care, education and health to ensure the safety of young people in our county. An example of this includes the recent success of Operation Erle, a joint police and council operation to tackle child sexual exploitation, which resulted in 10 men and boys receiving sentences totalling 114 years and nine months.”