Strategic Management Group
To ensure a co-ordinated response a Strategic Management Group should be
established and will be chaired by the Assistant Director, Children’s Services.
The group will not discuss those individual cases but will consider the
presenting concerns strategically to consider whether there are specific
themes of organised abuse and any potential gaps in service provision and
service delivery.
The membership of the group should comprise senior staff able to commit
resources and will normally include the following:
- Head of Children’s Services
- Police Senior Investigating Officer (SIO)
- Children’s Services Lead Manager
- Legal Advisor (Local Authority)
- Senior Health representatives
- Senior Education representatives
- Senior Probation Service representatives
- Senior Housing representatives
- Relevant agency Press officers
The group should have access to:
- Legal Advice including that of the Crown Prosecution Service as
appropriate - Paediatric advice (if Designated Doctor does not attend)
- Independent or expert advice as appropriate
Line managers of any staff implicated in the allegations of abuse must not be
included in the Strategic Management Group.
The Strategic Management Group meeting must agree a plan that includes:
A decision on the scale of the investigation and the staff required for a
joint investigation group (see section 6 – The Joint Investigation
Management Group)
- Consideration of cross boundary issues and planning if appropriate
liaison and sharing if information and resources - Identification of staff in both Children’s Services and the police with
sufficient seniority and experience to manage the investigation - Identification of sufficient trained staff for the investigation (must be
dependent of those being investigated) - Sufficient resources to ensure that to ensure that children are protected
from further abuse and that their wellbeing remains paramount - Ensure that appropriate resources are deployed to the investigation
including access to legal and other specialist advice, resources and
information - Ensure that appropriate resources are available to meet the needs of
the children and families or adult survivors, including any specific
health issues arising from the abuse - Sufficient support, supervision and debriefing of staff
- Availability of expert advice where necessary
- Liaison arrangements for inter-agency working
- Timescales for the stages of the investigation
- Management of public relations and media interest
- Child and adult witness support.
The Strategic Management Group must make arrangements to convene
regularly during the investigation to:
- Monitor the progress, quality and integrity of the investigation
- Review the risk indicators for the children involved
- Consider resource requirements
- Consider the appropriate timing of the termination of the investigation
- Plan a debrief meeting with the joint investigation group to identify
lessons learnt
The Strategic Management Group should remain in existence at least until the
court or the Crown Prosecution Service has made a decision about the
alleged perpetrators.
At the conclusion of the enquiry/investigation, the Strategic Management
Group must evaluate the investigation, agree the flagging of agency records
pertaining to those involved in the enquiry/investigation, identify the lessons
learned and prepare an Overview Report with recommendations and an
Action Plan for the Safeguarding Children Partnership, highlighting any
practices, procedures or policies which may need further attention and require
either inter-agency or individual agency action plans.