Agenda item

(1)       Mr Arthur introduced the Annual Report and answered questions from Members.  Points highlighted in the presentation and in discussion were as follows:-

(a)       Information from schools, regarding allegations against staff, and investigations, is gathered by the Unit and shared with Clusters via the Local Education Officer.  Although anonymous, all information is still handled with great care and sensitivity and has a very limited circulation.  It is necessary to gather such information to feed into the Kent Safeguarding Children Board (KSCB), and a designated officer takes on this responsibility.  Local authorities also have a duty to provide the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) with annual data.

(b)       All Kent schools, including special and residential schools, now undertake retrospective Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks on all staff employed before 1991, as well as on all new appointments.  Mr Arthur explained that he chairs the KSCB ‘Safe Recruitment and Employment Sub Group’ the membership of which also includes the previous speaker, DI Cuff, and Mrs Lambourn. This group is responsible for developing safe recruitment standards in all agencies that work with children on behalf of the KSCB.

(c)        Mr Arthur explained that an allegation of physical abuse can very easily arise from an incident in which a member of staff has had to physically restrain pupils involved in a fight.  The intervention may well follow exactly the careful guidelines which are set down for staff, but an aggrieved pupil, whose perception of the incident was different, might tell their parents, who then complain directly to the police. The majority of cases, when investigated, are found to be unsubstantiated, as staff in most cases had acted appropriately to keep a situation safe.  A way of reducing the number of parental complaints is for staff to contact parents and inform them of the incident when it happens and send home a copy of the incident report.

(2)       Members shared officers’ concerns about two issues:-

(a)       An increase in the number of recorded incidents of sexual behaviour by children against other children, whether these happen at home or in school.  It is known from work in progress with other agencies that there are currently 52 children of school age on the Sex Offenders Register.  The Kent Safeguarding Children Board will shortly be considering a report on the issue, which will set out the nature of the problem and what measures, including staff training on managing risk, are being put in place to address it.  A difficulty around this issue is the need to distinguish between natural adolescent experimentation and inappropriate, threatening or coercive behaviour.

(b)       There is an ongoing problem in following up investigations on supply teachers against whom allegations may have been made in previous placements.  Supply agencies do not have a disciplinary procedure and, as supply staff can move very easily from agency to agency, they are very difficult to trace. These concerns have been fed into the DCSF as a national response is required.

(3)       RESOLVED that the report and the presentation be noted, with thanks, and the development of retrospective Criminal Records Bureau checking for all school staff, set out in paragraph (1)(b) above, be welcomed.