Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council are merging the oversight of their Safeguarding Children arrangements from 30 September 2019. The two Safeguarding Children Boards are taking the opportunity provided by the Children and Social Work Act 2017 to streamline and realign their activities together in a single partnership.

Strong leadership will be critical for the new arrangements to be effective in bringing together the range of organisations and agencies within the partnership. An Independent Chair will provide ongoing scrutiny of the work of the statutory safeguarding partners across Derby and Derbyshire who have equal and joint responsibility for local safeguarding arrangements.

Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Tameside and Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group and Derbyshire Constabulary (the statutory partners) will work in partnership with relevant agencies such as health providers, schools and education settings, probation providers and others to challenge and hold each other to account as to how they are keeping children safe.

The purpose of local arrangements is to support and enable organisations and agencies across Derby and Derbyshire to work together to ensure that:

  • Children are safe and their health and welfare is promoted;
  • Children experience effective care and support;
  • Children are enabled to achieve the best outcomes;
  • There is early identification and analysis of new safeguarding issues and emerging threats across the area;
  • Learning is promoted and embedded in a way that local services can become more reflective and implement changes to practice identified as positive for children and families;
  • Information is shared effectively to facilitate more accurate and timely decision making for children and families.

The incoming Independent Chair of the Partnership, Steve Atkinson, commented:

Keeping children safe and enabling them to live fulfilling lives is an obligation and a duty for everyone. Children are at the heart of the work of this Partnership and I welcome the commitment being shown by all Partners, statutory and non-statutory, to challenge each other to ensure that the lives of all children in Derby and Derbyshire happy and safe.

If anyone has any concerns about the safety or welfare of any child, you should use the following contacts.

For children who live in Derby all enquiries should be directed to the Derby First Contact Team Tel: 01332 641 172 (Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm) or Derby Careline Tel: 01332 786 968 (Out of office hours and at weekends).

For children who live in Derbyshire all enquiries should be directed to the Derbyshire Starting Point Tel: 01629 533 190 (Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm) or Call Derbyshire Tel: 01629 532 600 (Out of office hours and at weekends).

Further information can be found on the new Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership website.