Gloucestershire Constabulary must improve how it safeguards children at risk

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Gloucestershire Constabulary’s performance across five areas, assessing how well it safeguards children who are at risk. It found the force was ‘adequate’ in one area, ‘requires improvement’ in one area and ‘inadequate’ in three areas.

HMICFRS said that the constabulary has good arrangements to share information and contribute to joint plans to prevent harm to children.

However, the inspectorate identified three causes of concern relating to the constabulary’s leadership of child protection, how it records incidents when children are missing and how it investigates incidents involving children.

HMICFRS said that the constabulary doesn’t have effective governance arrangements for child protection. The constabulary’s leaders have been aware for some time that some of its child protection teams are under-resourced. This inspection found critical shortcomings in this area.

Inspectors also had serious concerns about the way the constabulary records its reports of vulnerable missing children, with officers and staff not always taking a child-centred approach when investigating incidents. HMICFRS regularly found delays in starting investigations, with enquiries often not pursued. As a result, inspectors saw many poor outcomes for children.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Michelle Skeer said: “It was positive to see Gloucestershire Constabulary working well with its safeguarding partners, but in other areas, I have concerns about its work to protect children.

“The constabulary doesn’t have effective governance arrangements for child protection across its area. Leaders aren’t clear on their strategic work on improving outcomes for children. There are also serious concerns with the way the constabulary records its reports of vulnerable missing children. It has been aware of these concerns for some time but has been too slow in addressing them.

“The constabulary needs to improve how it manages, supervises and carries out investigations when children are abused, neglected or exploited. Officers and staff don’t always take a child-centred approach when investigating incidents involving children.

“I recognise there has been some instability in the senior team, but I have received assurances from the temporary chief constable that leaders are taking the findings very seriously, and are determined to oversee improvements. I will closely monitor progress in Gloucestershire Constabulary over the coming months.”

Gloucestershire Constabulary said it is taking “decisive action” to bring about rapid change to how it safeguards children at risk following the HMICFRS inspection.

“HMICFRS inspectors provided feedback on conclusion of their visit in December last year, identifying areas we could improve. This information has since been used to develop an improvement plan which lays out how we’re addressing their concerns,” the constabulary said.

Assistant Chief Constable Richard Ocone, lead for Crime, Justice and Vulnerability, said: “Children and young people are some of the most vulnerable members of society and it’s essential we do everything we can to keep them safe.

“We accept HMICFRS’ findings and recognise we have work to do to address the concerns identified in its report and to deliver the improvements required.

“The steps we’ve already taken will help us ensure we’ve the necessary specialist skills and resources in place to protect children from harm; to respond to and investigate incidents involving them; and that appropriate leadership and oversight is maintained for all child protection matters.

“The safeguarding of children in Gloucestershire is a key priority for the Constabulary and we’ll continue to work with HMICFRS, as well as with our partners, to improve.”

Among the actions the force has taken or is in the process of taking are:

• Launching the Gloucestershire Rapid Improvement Plan (GRIP) – a plan for the whole workforce which sets out how the force intends to improve its performance over the next 12 months. Keeping children and young people safe is one of the GRIP’s priorities.
• Ensuring greater scrutiny and oversight of how it safeguards children at risk by introducing a monthly Crime and Vulnerability Performance Board chaired by an assistant chief constable.
• Increasing the number of investigators it has in its specialist investigation teams, including the Child Abuse Investigation Team. This has seen 20 additional officers commencing in those roles on May 12.
• Introducing a dedicated missing person team which will audit missing people cases regularly to ensure appropriate risk assessments are carried out and relevant investigative actions implemented.
• Providing specialist training to hundreds of officers and staff. More than 600 officers have received training on evidence-led prosecutions while all frontline officers and staff continue to receive training on domestic abuse. It is also planning to deliver training which will ensure the voice of the child is always considered when the force encounters a case or incident where one is involved.
• Forging even closer working relationships with partners, specifically with those working in education and social care. In March this year the force hosted a national missing person conference in Gloucestershire and last month brought together multi-agency colleagues to explore how we can address gaps in identifying and responding to adolescent domestic abuse. It is also planning a multi-agency child protection conference bringing together key stakeholders to discuss Gloucestershire’s approach to protecting children from harm.
• Reaching out for specialist advice and national excellence from the National Police Chiefs’ Council leads and the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme.
• Issued comprehensive internal and external communications to inform and educate our workforce and the public on child protection matters. In February this year, it worked with the Internet Watch Foundation to deliver an external campaign on behalf of the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership to tackle online grooming and the distribution of indecent images of children in Gloucestershire via social media apps.

“In addition to highlighting areas for improvement, HMICFRS recognised how chief officers and senior leaders have made efforts to help officers and staff provide a child-centred service and how all employees have been made aware of the need to avoid using victim-blaming language,” the constabulary said.

“Its report also commented on how the constabulary has social workers embedded alongside officers and staff in its child exploitation team, saying this provides a good opportunity for effective sharing of information and responding to children’s needs more quickly.”

Gloucestershire police and crime commissioner Chris Nelson said” “There can be no getting away from it that the overall picture painted by this report is a damning one and will be soul-destroying for the many dedicated and talented officers who work in this field.

“I am aware that many changes have already been made, in the months since the inspection was carried-out. That is a relief, but begs the question about why those changes have taken so long to be introduced. Serious concerns remain and I have already made my feelings known about senior leadership and resourcing in the strongest possible way.

“What the constabulary needs to create is a genuinely child centred approach that is more aware of the risk factors that can lead to vulnerability. I will also work as hard as I can to get extra resources and detectives into the force, as there is never enough officers and staff to deal with ever expanding workloads and rising professional standards. We also need to work ever closer with the County Council, to ensure that we make the best use of our combined, but limited, child protection resources.

“Most children grow up in loving, caring families and reach adulthood unharmed, but some don’t. They become victims to people who coerce them into crime or exploit them for sexual gratification. Public services, including the police, have a shared responsibility to look for the warning signs, be alert to the risks and act quickly to protect our young people.”

He added: “It is very concerning that the constabulary has been aware of concerns for some time but has been too slow in addressing them. It needs to improve how it manages, supervises and carries out investigations when children are abused, neglected or exploited.

“The report states that officers and staff don’t always take a child-centred approach when investigating incidents involving children. Inspectors found delays in starting investigations and enquiries often not pursued, which is alarming. However, I have received assurances from the temporary chief constable that senior leaders are taking the findings very seriously, and are determined to oversee improvements.

“And I am confident that the temporary chief constable and her new deputy, have the necessary national experience in dealing with child protection to get to grips with the problems the force is facing.

“To that end, I have demanded a report in three months to set out detailed progress against the HMICFRS recommendations.”