Inspectors have praised how effectively key Manchester agencies are working together to safeguard young people at risk of serious violence or criminal exploitation.
The results of a Joint Targeted Area Inspection of Manchester – carried out jointly by inspectors from Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMIFRCS) and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) over five days in October – have been published today (Thursday 30 November.)
The headline findings of the detailed inspection note the strength of multi-agency arrangements between Manchester City Council, Greater Manchester Police, schools, health agencies and other partner organisations such as the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit and the voluntary and community sector in preventing and tackling serious youth violence and criminal exploitation – including early intervention initiatives to identify those at risk and put measures in place to support them.
The oversight role of the city’s Community Safety Partnership working collaboratively with Manchester Safeguarding Partnership to ensure the right focus on children affected by serious youth violence is also acknowledged.
Inspectors described the work of Manchester’s Complex Safeguarding Hub as “strong and effective.” The Hub is where police officers, social workers, health professional and other experts work alongside each other to identify those at risk of serious youth violence and/or criminal exploitation and put intervention measures in place (often working with wider families as well as the individual young person) to prevent harm.
Giving their overall findings, Inspectors said: “Effective and mature partnership arrangements between agencies are supporting a co-ordinated and comprehensive multi-agency response to serious youth violence. A strong learning culture enables the partnership to identify where improvements are needed and work together to address these. There is a well-understood strategy in place and much purposeful activity which is reducing risks to children...There is an increasingly strong focus on prevention and early intervention to tackle serious youth violence in Manchester. There are a significant number of innovative interventions and projects which are making a positive difference for children.”
While recognising the strength of partnerships, the report also identified areas for improvement. These included enhanced multi-agency evaluation of projects to understand better how they work together as part of an overall system and more consistency in information recording and sharing between partners.
Beate Wagner, Independent Scrutineer for Manchester Safeguarding Partnership said: “This was a rigorous inspection process and its findings will help us further strengthen Manchester’s collective response to the issue of serious youth violence.
“While sadly no system can ever eradicate all potential risk, this inspection report should reassure the public that the agencies working together to help safeguard our children and young people are doing so with co-ordination, determination and innovation.
“Any report of this nature will also rightly raise areas for improvement. We welcome the inspectors’ constructive comments and will take action to address the learning points identified.”
Councillor Luthfur Rahman, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “People are understandably concerned about the national issue of serious youth violence, including knife crime, which can be a particular challenge in large cities such as Manchester.
“They will want to know that the council, the police and other organisations involved in supporting those at risk are doing all they can – individually and collectively - to steer our young people from trouble and protect them from harm, providing support as early as possible. The findings of this joint inspection should be reassuring reading, underlining that this is what is happening. I know all involved are determined to build on these foundations to improve practice still further.”
Chief Superintendent Rick Jackson, Greater Manchester Police Commander for the City of Manchester district, said: “Tackling the root causes of serious youth violence and preventing criminals exploiting our city’s children are top priorities for the force, but something that policing alone cannot do.
“We welcome the inspection’s findings of the effective partnership working between GMP, MCC and other organisations. We will continue to work with these partners to provide positive prevention and diversion interventions for young people, ensuring those who have been criminally exploited are treated as victims, rather than perpetrators. We will also regularly conduct proactive enforcement operations on exploiters or those causing harm to our communities, and training to agencies and businesses on the signs of exploitation.
“Manchester should be a safe place for all to live, work and visit, and GMP are committed to reducing incidents of serious violence, and referring more children to specialist safeguarding professionals, so they can be free from a life of crime and exploitation.”
Professor Cheryl Lenney, Executive Lead for Safeguarding at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are delighted to see the positive feedback from the inspection, reflecting the effectiveness of multi-agency collaboration within our Emergency Departments and the work our staff and our safeguarding practitioners do all year round. We remain committed to maintaining these high standards and continually improving our services for the benefit of children and young people."