Board Membership responsibilities
The Medway Safeguarding Children Board is the strategic group that ensures that Child Protection and safeguarding objectives are coordinated, monitored and effective. It is made up of senior strategic managers of partner agencies. It is the key group that, whilst operating in the context of the local children's trust arrangements and developing a strong relationship with the wider strategic partnerships within Medway, has a unique statutory role in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
MSCB Structure (pdf, 14Kb)
The MSCB Group are chaired by an Independent Chair. Agency representatives are as follows:
Independent Chair |
Medway Safeguarding Children Board |
Director, Children And Adults Services |
Medway Council |
YOT Manager |
Medway Council |
Assistant Director, Communications, Performance & Partnerships |
Medway Council |
Portfolio Holder, Children's Services |
Medway Council |
Portfolio Holder, Children's Social Care |
Medway Council |
Assistant Director, Children's Care |
Medway Council |
Director |
Medway Secure Training Centre |
Detective Chief Inspector |
Kent Police (Medway) |
Detective Superintendent |
Kent Police |
Assistant Chief Officer for Medway and North Kent |
Kent Probation |
Governor |
HMYOI Cookham Wood |
Director of Public Health |
NHS Medway |
Named GP |
NHS Medway |
Medical Director, Medway NHS Foundation Trust |
Medway NHS Foundation Trust |
Assistant Director, Clinical Standards |
Medway Community Healthcare |
Executive Director of Nursing and Governance |
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care partnership Trust |
Strategic Lead for Children and Young People |
South East Strategic Health Authority |
Chief Executive |
Medway Youth Trust |
Head of Service |
CAFCASS |
Chief Executive |
CVS Medway |
Assistant Director, South London and South East |
NSPCC |
Lay Member x 3 |
Medway Safeguarding Children Board |
Manager |
Medway Safeguarding Children Board |
Administrator |
Medway Safeguarding Children Board |
Accountability and governance
Although the MSCB's role includes coordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of work done by member organisations to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, it is not accountable for the operational work. This remains with the individual organisations and services.
The work of the MSCB has been divided between two sub-groups, overseen by the Management Group. The chairs of the two sub-groups sit on the MSCB.
The three subgroups are:
- Quality Assurance and Case Review - responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of work done to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and for reviewing cases where a child has died or has been seriously harmed in circumstances where abuse or neglect is know or suspected, and advising on the lessons that can be learned;
- Learning and development - responsible for undertaking an annual training and development needs analysis, developing a training strategy and delivering a programme of multi-agency training to meet the identified needs
In addition, the MSCB Child Death Overview Panel - (which became statutorily operational in April 2008), is responsible for reviewing all deaths of children aged 0-18 years resident in Medway at the time of their death, to identify patterns or trends and consider how such deaths might be prevented in the future. It is chaired by the Director of Public Health.
