Child Protection

This resource is the appendices to the two volume Guidance for Vulnerable or Intimidated Witnesses, including Children.

This report is organised into six chapters and explores a range of issues including the approaches to risk assessment by different professional groups and the progress of validation in respect of the different risk assessment tools in use. Comment is made on risk assessment in action, who carries out risk assessments, how they are carried out and the mechanisms that are in place to ensure a consistent approach to risk assessment within organisations.

In the Borders there are an estimated 1,306 children and young people affected by substance misuse within the family. The Borders Drug & Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) has, over recent years, become increasingly aware of concerns around the impact of parental drug and alcohol misuse on children and young people. Assessing this problem has been a very complex process, and due to the varying levels of awareness and activity between agencies, has been impossible to determine exact numbers of children and families affected in this way.

These rules set out the procedures governing the constitution, arrangement and decision-making of children’s hearings. The rules consolidate and amend the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Rules 1986 taking into account the new provisions introduced by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

These Rules permit legal representatives to attend Children's Hearings in certain circumstances. They also specify when the Children's Hearing may consider the appointment of a legal representative, and the circumstances in which an appointment may be made.

They authorise the Principal Reporter to make copies of the relevant documentation available to legal representatives and also specifies groups of persons from whom a legal representative may be appointed.

This report contains a framework of recommendations set out by the Social Services Inspectorate in response to the outcomes of the Public Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie. This framework is to be used by councils with social services responsibilities to audit their position in relation to the practice recommendations of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry report. It provides performance criteria against each of the recommendations linked to statutory requirements and guidance.

This guidance is for police, health, social services, education and all other agencies and professionals that may work with children about whom there are concerns that they are involved in prostitution. It sets out an inter-agency approach, based on local protocols developed within the framework of Working Together to Safeguard Children (Department of Health et al, 1999; National Assembly for Wales, 2000), to address this type of abuse.

The aim of this Report was to develop a cohesive framework for dealing with sex offending. Some of the 73 recommendations build on the policies and processes already in place in order to strengthen existing measures aimed at protecting communities from sex offenders. Other recommendations support the introduction of new measures and new arrangements which will help to deliver a safer environment.

This resource provides a guide to the Human Rights Act 1998 and includes definitions of articles and terms in the Act.

This is the full Report of the Public Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie by Lord Laming. The Report investigates the events surrounding Victoria's last few months and examines the local social services arrangements involved in the case. It reviews the lack of good practice and gross failure of the system in this case and makes recommendations with regard to improvements at national and local level.