The Mission Statement of the Local Safeguarding Children Board

Keeping Children Safe is Everybody’s Business

• The purpose of the LSCB is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in and of Bath and North East Somerset. The work of the LSCB contributes to the wider goals of improving the welfare of all children, with a particular focus on all aspects of the Staying Safe outcome.
• The principles and values underpinning all our work are based on the Human Rights Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of The Child to protect them from harm and to maximise life chances, and on Section 11 of The Children Act 2004 which places a duty on all agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
• All agencies within Bath and North East Somerset should work together with children and young people who are suffering or are likely to suffer from significant harm and to safeguard their welfare by:
  • Protecting them from maltreatment
  • Preventing the impairment of their health or development
  • Ensuring that they are growing up in circumstances that are consistent with the provision of safe and effective care, that enables them to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully.

• All those working with and/or coming into contact with children or the families and carers of children suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, must understand and fulfil their individual and shared roles and responsibilities. These include:
  • The planning and co-ordination of services at a strategic level
  • Effective information sharing, collaboration and understanding between agencies and professionals at strategic and operational levels.

• Services are developed which are informed by the wishes and views of children and their families, and the effectiveness of those services are reviewed with the active participation of children, young people, parents and carers.

Scope and Remit

The Scope of the Local Safeguarding Children Board role is based upon three broad areas of activity:

• Activity that affects all children and aims to prevent maltreatment, or impairment of health or development, and ensure children are growing up in circumstances consistent with safe and effective care
• Pro-active work that aims to target particular groups of children and young people.
• Re-active work to protect children who are suffering or at risk of suffering maltreatment.

The remit of the Local Safeguarding Children Board will be wider than that of the Area Child Protection Committee and will cover the 5 aims within the Staying Safe outcome, namely:

• Safe from maltreatment, neglect, violence and sexual exploitation
• Safe from accidental injury and death
• Safe from bullying and discrimination
• Safe from crime and anti-social behaviour in and out of school
• And will have security, stability and be cared for

The LSCB has identified lead groups for each aim, will influence and monitor their work and hold them to account for delivering these aims.

The core responsibility of the LSCB is protecting children from harm and so within these aims it will give priority to ensuring the adequacy of arrangements for keeping children safe from maltreatment, neglect, violence and sexual exploitation.