Local Safeguarding Children Boards

Safeguarding Ministerial Statement and Terms of Reference - October 2008
This set of documents contains the terms of reference for the planned stocktake of LSCBs

DCSF is publishing two separate, but related, pieces of work to support the development of LSCBs:
- Exemplars of LSCB effective local practice (July 2008)
- The LSCB Challenge and Improvement Tool (July 2008)

Children can only be safeguarded properly if the key agencies work effectively together. Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) are designed to help ensure that this happens. They put the former area child protection committees (ACPCs) on a statutory footing.

The core membership of LSCBs is set out in the Children Act 2004, and includes local authorities, health bodies, the police and others. The objective of LSCBs is to coordinate and to ensure the effectiveness of their member agencies in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

The statutory regulations, which came into force on 1 April 2006, are available from the OPSI website.

Guidance on LSCBs

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is committed to supporting the development and improvement of LSCBs. Statutory guidance forms Chapter 3 of the revised version of Working Together to Safeguard Children, which is the core guidance on how agencies should cooperate in child protection and in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Working Together is part of an interlocking set of guidance supporting the Children Act 2004.

For more information, read the Children Act 2004: guidance.

We have produced a list of the chairs of Local Safeguarding Children Boards which is available to download below.

Recent documents

LSCB rule-change discussion paper 28/04/2008

List of the Chairs of Local Safeguarding Children Boards

Documents

Local Safeguarding Children Boards: A Review of Progress (June 2008)

Local Safeguarding Children Boards National Event Documentary (March 2007)
This documentary provides a short overview of the day of the first national event focusing on LSCBs, which took place at the National Motorcycle Museum on 13 March 2007.

Safeguarding Disabled Children - a resource for Local Safeguarding Children Boards