November 2023

The October 2023 news page and previous news items are available by month of publication from the menu on the right.

Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership circulate monthly E-Bulletins; if you would like to be included on the distribution list, please email sscp@salford.gov.uk.

All enquiries concerning the welfare or safety of a child or requests for information MUST BE SENT DIRECTLY to the Bridge Partnership.   

The Bridge Partnership can be contacted on 0161 603 4500. All referrals and requests for support must be completed on the online referral form. The Bridge Partnership is available Monday to Friday 8.30am - 4.30pm.  If you need to speak to someone outside these times, please contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 0161 794 8888. If a child is in immediate danger of being harmed or is home alone, call the police on 999.  

If you are worried about an adult - Report abuse or neglect by telephone on: 0161 206 0604.  For further information visit https://www.salford.gov.uk/adult-safeguarding

Information Sharing

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published new guidance on data protection when sharing information to safeguard children. The guidance is aimed at professionals involved in child safeguarding and sets out steps around: being clear about data protection; identifying objectives for sharing information; and following the data protection principles.  
 
Read the news story: Share information to protect children and young people at risk, urges UK Information Commissioner  

Read the guidance: A 10 step guide to sharing information to safeguard children 

Out of School Settings

NSPCC Learning has updated its CASPAR briefing on the Department for Education’s (DfE) guidance for safeguarding children in out-of-school settings. The briefing has been updated to reflect the changes to the guidance that were published in September 2023. This includes information on new legislation such as positions of trust, and changes to statutory guidance, including Keeping children safe in education. 
 
Read the CASPAR briefing: A summary of After-school clubs, community activities and tuition: safeguarding guidance for providers 

Read the DfE guidance: After-school clubs, community activities and tuition: safeguarding guidance for providers 

You can find local education related polices on the SSCP Policy and Procedures Page and more information on a variety of education topics on the SSCP Education Page.

16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

This is an annual international campaign starting on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women,  until 10 December, Human Rights Day. 

Information on the history of the campaign can be found at UNWomen This includes how the campaign was started at the inauguration of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and how it is used as an organizing strategy, by individuals and organizations around the world, to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.

In 2008 the United Nations Secretary-General launched the campaign UNITE by 2030 to End Violence against Women, which runs alongside the 16 Days of Activism. 

Every year, the UNITE Campaign focuses on a specific theme and this year’s is “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”. The campaign calls on people to share the actions they are taking to create a world free from violence towards women. This year's campaign also calls on governments worldwide to share how they are investing in gender-based violence prevention. 

For local domestic abuse services, more information, and a toolkit for professionals, visit the SSCP Domestic Abuse pages. 

Children's understanding of domestic abuse

The NSPCC have shared a Women’s Aid report of published research looking at children and young people’s understanding of domestic abuse to inform the design of education about relationships. The report includes two surveys with 7- to 18-year-olds and 18- to 25-year-olds. Findings show: 70% of children and young people would seek support if affected by domestic abuse, however 61% of them were unsure or did not know where to go for this; and 35% of adults recalled no education about domestic abuse, healthy relationships or controlling behaviours in school. The report calls for relationships, health and sex education (RSHE) to be strengthened.  
 
Read the report: Women’s aid publishes groundbreaking research into what influences children and young people’s understanding-of-domestic-abuse 
 
See also on NSPCC Learning  Healthy and unhealthy relationships 

Children's mental health

The SSCP Listening Hub has found that a key theme emerging from the views and voices of young people, in the last 2 years, has been access to support and services for mental health.

The NSPCC has published a news story on child mental health looking at contacts to the Childline service. Findings from Childline data show: mental and emotional health and wellbeing are the top reasons children contact Childline; and 30,000 of these counselling sessions were specifically related to stress and anxiety. The NSPCC is calling for the government to improve mental health support across schools and colleges in England.  
 
Read the news story: Over 105,000 Childline counselling sessions in the past year were for children struggling with mental health issues 

In case you missed it!

Working together to prevent sexual abuse and and protect children from its harm, remains a priority for the SSCP.  In September the SSCP published a 3 year Child Sexual Abuse Strategy 2023-2026.  This outlined how the Partnership intends to achieve specific improvements, in respect of the work of all agencies who work with children and young people, affected by CSA in Salford.

You may wish to also see the Greater Manchester Procedures Chapter on Child Sexual Abuse in the Family Environment (proceduresonline.com) 

Equality and Diversity Statement

Our vision is to make Salford a fair and inclusive city where everyone has an equal voice, access to services and opportunities, and are included and represented in decisions that affect them, irrespective of their age, disability status, ethnicity, faith, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation or socio-economic background.  Salford has a strong commitment to tackling inequality which is reflected in The Salford Way, a city-wide approach to ensure partners work together to build a fairer and more inclusive Salford for all.  A key part of this approach is the  Salford Equality Strategy our catalyst for change to ensure we work together to build a fairer and more inclusive Salford for all.

All partners of the SSCP are required to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion are a thread through all our priorities/activity, as are the views and voices of young people.