A Guide to Perth and Kinross Child Protection Committee

The CPC oversees the creation, development, publication, distribution, delivery, embedding and evaluation (including quality assurance and self-evaluation) of all child protection policy and practice matters across Perth and Kinross.

In practice, this covers a range of partnership work, as outlined below:

Continuous Improvement

• ensure up-to-date single and multi-agency child protection policies; procedures; protocols; guidance; guidelines are in place across services and agencies
• ensure they are widely distributed and understood by staff
• develop key multi-agency practice guidance on new and emerging child protection practice issues
• maintain an overview of key multi-agency child protection performance data to identify activity; trends; patterns; themes and hotspots
• ensure that data is used to inform multi-agency quality assurance and self-evaluation activities
• ensure systematic approaches to quality assurance and self-evaluation are embedded across all services / agencies
• promote and share good practice; undertake Learning Reviews as and when necessary, to identify learning and ensure any learning is widely shared to further improve practice
• provide multi-agency, child protection, learning and development opportunities for staff
• ensure that these opportunities are quality assured and evaluated to identify impact
• ensure the voice of children, young people and families informs the work of the CPC

Public Information, Engagement and Participation

• promote the ethos that child protection is everyone's job and everyone's responsibility
• provide information on keeping children and young people safe from harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation
• raise awareness and provide information on and what do if worried or concerned about a child or young person
• maintain the child protection website and provide a wide range of relevant public information

Strategic Planning and Connections

• ensure the CPC maintains national, regional and local links
• ensure the CPC has strong partnership links with other local public protection partnerships
• ensure the CPC Improvement Plan supports other key Plans

The CPC has developed a public-facing child protection website, which contains a wide range of materials for children, young people and their families and also for practitioners and managers.  It also contains a wide range of national and local practice guidance and information and advice leaflets. Additionally, the Committee annually publishes a Standards & Quality Report, which details its partnership work throughout the year, including key strengths and areas for improvement, and is scrutinised by Chief Officers, Councillors and the Care Inspectorate.

The CPC also provides inter-agency child protection learning and development opportunities for staff - including online modules; webinars; face-to-face learning opportunities; seminars; workshops and other learning events. Click for more information about these learning and development opportunities.

The CPC is chaired by an Independent Chair, and supported in its work by a CPC Lead Officer and a CPC Management Assistant. The CPC meets every 8 weeks or as required, in person or online. All meetings are minuted - see previous minutes for further details.

The work of the CPC and its Improvement Plan and Self-Evaluation Programme are also supported by three Working Groups, each with their own specific and detailed role, remit and responsibility:

CPC Practice Improvement Working Group

This Working Group supports, promotes and empowers good single and multi-agency child protection practice and where necessary, improvement to child protection practice.  

CPC Case Review Working Group

This Working Group receives and initially considers, on behalf of the CPC, all cases (Notifications) referred to it as potential Learning Reviews, determines whether or not there is a need to proceed to a Learning Review and thereafter makes the necessary recommendations to the CPC.

CPC Quality Assurance Working Group

This Working Group promotes continuous improvement through quality assurance and self-evaluation (both single agency and multi-agency), which aims to improve day-to-day child protection practice.  On behalf of the CPC, it also oversees and monitors the CPC Improvement Plan; the CPC Self-Evaluation Programme and CPC Data Reports and reports back to the CPC. 

Visit the CPC Membership page for further details.