News story: Members announced for new Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel

The Department for Education has today (7 June 2018) announced six new members to the new Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, drawing on a range of professional experience from the police, children’s social, education and health sectors.

The independent panel, created under the Children and Social Work Act 2017, is one of the Government’s major reforms to child safeguarding and protection, and will bring together individuals who have a wide range of expertise to improve the welfare of children around the country.

The new panel members will work with the chair, Edward Timpson CBE, to consider and share lessons to improve practice from the most serious child safeguarding cases.

Minister for Children and Families Nadhim Zahawi said:

We want to improve care and support for every child, which is why it is so important we reflect and learn from the most serious cases of abuse or neglect, to help ensure the right protection is in place for some of the most vulnerable children in our society.

The new Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel will play an important part in improving this understanding. Led by Edward Timpson, it will support local areas to make improvements to services where they are needed and reduce the risk of future harm to children.

The six panel members announced today will bring valuable experience from different professions with responsibilities for safeguarding children, including the police, children’s social care, school and health sectors. They include:

  • Sarah Elliott – Non-Executive Director at Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and the Chair of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) for Poole, Bournemouth and Dorset. She was previously Regional Chief Nurse for NHS England South;

  • Mark Gurrey – Chair of the South Gloucestershire Improvement Board and Chair of the LSCB for Devon & Wiltshire. He has a wealth of experience working to bring about improvements at authorities in intervention;

  • Karen Manners – Deputy Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police, she has 32 years of experience in policing. She is also the national lead for policing on the Vulnerability Action Plan;

  • Professor Peter Sidebotham – Associate Professor in Child Health at Warwick Medical School, Consultant Paediatrician at South Warwickshire NHS Trust and a designated doctor for safeguarding children at Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG);

  • Dale Simon CBE – a qualified barrister and previously the Director of Public Accountability and Inclusion at the Crown Prosecution Service. She is currently the Non-Executive Director at the Parole Board; and

  • Dr Susan Tranter – Executive Headteacher of Edmonton County Schools and Chief Executive of Edmonton Academy Trust. She is a member of the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) Strategy Group and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel will be responsible for identifying and reviewing serious child safeguarding cases which the panel believe raise issues and themes that are complex or of national importance. It will look at what could be done differently to improve the protection and welfare of children, and what implications these cases have on current and future policy or practices.

A further panel member will be appointed from the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, and a final position is occupied by the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families, Isabelle Trowler.

The panel will begin operating on 29 June 2018 and will work closely with the What Works Centre to build a stronger evidence base to help improve outcomes for children and share effective, innovative practice.

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Chair, Edward Timpson CBE, said:

Nothing is more important than keeping children safe and the work of the new National Panel will be pivotal in driving improvements in child safeguarding practice.

That’s why I’m delighted to have been joined by Panel Members with a deep and broad level of practical experience in children’s social care, health, police, law, education and other relevant services. I look forward to working alongside them as we begin to build clear and consistent practice improvements when learning from serious cases.