All local authority areas have a responsibility to provide support and services to minimise risk and protect children, young people and adults. This includes raising awareness amongst the public, supporting the development of our community as well as the provision of a structure by which risks can be identified, responded to and, where necessary, appropriate proportionate action taken.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stirling and Clackmannanshire Public Protection Committee was established to bring together the work of the Child Protection Committee, the Adult Protection Committee, the Alcohol and Drug Partnership, Community Justice Partnerships, the Gender-based Violence Partnerships and MAPPA.
It was agreed in principle that the current arrangements would be reviewed in 2022 and an externally facilitated self-assessment would be undertaken. An approach was made to the PSIF Team at the Improvement Service to facilitate this. The PSIF team's primary role is to support and facilitate self-assessments for council services, Integrated Joint Boards (IJBs), Child Protection Committees (CPCs) etc.
The aim of this self-assessment was to help the Public Protection Committee assess where it was and what it needed to do to progress its work to keep children, young people and adults safe. The self-assessment process provided an opportunity to identify and discuss different members’ views. A consensus session and improvement session was facilitated by the Improvement Service. This resulted in an improvement action plan which has provided a vision for Stirling and Clackmannanshire Public Protection Committee.
"From our initial discussions to the Improvement Action plan, we have found the self-assessment gave us an opportunity to pause and reflect on our roles and responsibilities, lessons learnt from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, identify areas for improvement and structure moving forward. We have found the checklist, consensus and improvement sessions provided a structure with a multi-agency focus," said Cecilia Meechan, Chair of the Committee.
"I would like to thank the PSIF Team for their expertise and patience throughout and look forward to working with them in the future."