Child Protection Committees (CPCs) have been developing since an enquiry report into the tragic death of Maria Colwell in 1973. Failures in inter-agency communication and co-operation were soon identified as being central issues in children not being protected. The role of Child Protection Committees has therefore grown as agencies recognised the need to communicate effectively.
In 2002 there was a national audit of Child Protection in Scotland and as a response to this audit, the Scottish Government established the Child Protection Reform Programme 2003-2006, which attempted to broaden our understanding of protecting children, viewing children as citizens with rights, and looking at wider issues of child safety.
A number of national guidance documents in relation to protecting children and young people were published.
Some of these include:
These documents reflect the Government's priority in protecting children and keeping them safe. The Scottish Government gave the CPCs the lead role in strategic leadership and ownership of activity to protect children and young people.
The Child Protection Committee document sets out very specific requirements and states how reformed CPCs should work together to protect children. All CPCs report annually to the Scottish Government under the headings of public information, continuous improvement and strategic planning.
There is flexibility for local conditions and within Forth Valley there is an overarching body, the Forth Valley Child Protection Strategy Group, currently chaired by the Chief Executive of Clackmannanshire Council.
Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire have their own independent Child Protection Committees and produce their own comprehensive Annual Reports and Business Plans (PDF, 2.3MB)|, which give information on progress and the collaborative work of all agencies.
