Police need to improve protection of at-risk Cumbria children - inspection finds

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has today published its findings from an inspection of Cumbria Constabulary's work with children carried out in July.

READ MORE: Cumbria police child protection measures under scrutiny

Inspectors found there was a commitment by police to improve services, greater knowledge among staff of issues such abuse, and good links with local authorities and agencies to develop better provision for children with mental health issues.

Areas of concern included some cases being allocated to insufficiently skilled staff, a lack of understanding of the extent of child sexual exploitation, and "problematic" transfers of children in custody to alternative accommodation when bail is not appropriate.

HM inspector of constabulary Mike Cunningham said: "Inspectors found some good individual examples of the constabulary protecting children who were most in need of help, with good multi-agency work and a child-centred approach, which effectively combines investigative and safeguarding approaches.

"There is also clear evidence of strategic leadership and direction.

"Despite this commitment, I was concerned to find that children didn’t receive a consistent service.

"The constabulary needs to do more to improve how it protects children at most risk of harm.

"With regards to children who regularly go missing from home, there needs to be greater focus on early intervention and ensuring that officers and staff understand the link between children who regularly go missing and sexual exploitation."

One of the areas that came in for praise was the introduction of the police's Digital Media Investigation Unit which undertakes major investigations into people who target children online, resulting in a number of offenders being brought to justice.

The inspection was part of a rolling programme of child protection inspections of all police forces in England and Wales.

Main findings

Inspectors say they were pleased to find in Cumbria:

- A clear commitment to improving services for children in need of protection;

- A significant investment was being made by the constabulary to improve staff awareness and enable force leaders to assess and improve the quality of decision making;

- Staff responsible for managing child abuse investigations were committed and dedicated to providing the best possible outcomes for children;

- Officers responded quickly and undertook thorough initial enquires about the immediate safety of children; and

- Good relationships with local authorities and other partner agencies, and full engagement with the work to develop better provision for children with mental health issues.

However, inspectors say they were concerned to find:

- The constabulary is not as involved as it should be in the initial partnership assessment and prioritisation of risks to vulnerable children. As a consequence, the police are generally not contributing at the earliest opportunity to the development of longer term protective plans for children who have been identified as being at risk;

- A lack of understanding of the extent of child sexual exploitation and an inconsistent response across the force area;

- The protection of some children who regularly go missing from home was inconsistent. Although the initial response to locate the child is often good, early intervention and long-term inter-agency planning is often ineffective;

- In some serious cases that were allocated to non-specialist teams, enquiries and investigations were undertaken by insufficiently skilled and knowledgeable staff; and

- Although there has been a significant reduction in the number of children being unnecessarily detained in police custody, the transfer of children to appropriate alternative accommodation in those small number of cases where bail is not appropriate, remains problematic.

Reaction

Andrew Slattery. Detective chief superintendent Andrew Slattery said: "We welcome the findings of HMIC's inspection into the constabulary’s child protection measures and how effectively we safeguard children across Cumbria.

"The protection of children is one of the constabulary’s key priorities in which we have invested a large number of resources.

"The inspection highlights a number of areas which require improvement and I am pleased to say this work is underway or has already been completed.

"Although the inspectors recognise the high quality of work done by our specialist teams, we recognise the need to continually raise awareness and educate all our staff in how to better safeguard children, whatever their role."

Peter McCall. Peter McCall, Cumbria's police and crime commissioner, said: "The inspection report highlighted some important recognition of officers responding quickly to clear and specific concerns about the immediate safety of children and how the constabulary had improved its response to domestic abuse cases ensuring the safety of children.

"The constabulary will in the next six weeks be reporting to me and to the HMIC with an update on the detailed action being taken to respond to the recommendations."

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