Background
The Adolescent Safeguarding workstream is overseen by the London Adolescent Safeguarding Oversight Board (LASOB) which draws together a wide range of partners who contribute to building safety for young people in London. The Care Leavers’ Compact reports directly to ALDCS and is not under the scope of LASOB’s work.
The LASOB has been created to provide dedicated co-ordination and oversight of pan-London work to safeguard young people. The board reports to the London Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (LSCP) Executive and the chair of the oversight board is identified on an annual basis by the LSCP executive.
Projects
Strategic Objectives
Through co-ordination and oversight of partner initiatives, LASOB aims to draw these into a shared programme of sequenced activity, particularly focusing on work which has a multi-borough or pan-London dimension.
It will seek to learn from effective local LSCP and violence and vulnerability work but not duplicate local activity and governance.
The primary objectives and responsibilities of LASOB are:
- To agree and oversee a co-ordinated programme of adolescent safeguarding activity in London
- Lead and champion activities agreed by the board
- Develop the multi-agency adolescent safeguarding practice framework
- Develop a shared adolescent safeguarding data-set for London partners to support identification of systematic gaps, trends and risks
- Communication and reciprocal links to key safeguarding and community safety/crime structures in London.
Milestones
October 2023
Publication of the Your Choice Pilot Report
The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) published the findings from the pilot trial of the London Young People Study.
November 2023
NEL Adolescent Safeguarding Event
The event brought together the safeguarding partnerships in Northeast London to revisit the 2022 Adolescent Safeguarding handbook
August 2023 – December 2024
Your Choice evaluation enters Efficacy stage
The full-scale Efficacy trial of the Your Choice evaluation started on the 8 August and will run until December 2024. 30 of London’s boroughs are participating.
September 2022
Adolescent Safeguarding Practice Handbook
The publishing of a user friendly, accessible practice handbook with guidance and resources for everyone who works to build safety with young Londoners facing harm.
September 2022 – Present
MACE Review Implementation Programme
Following a review of London’s multi-agency child exploitation (MACE) arrangements, a project team of safeguarding experts from health, police and LAs are taking forward the recommendations for improvements.
Dec 2021 – Present
Your Choice Programme
An ambitious pan-London programme which uses therapeutic tools and techniques to help children to keep themselves safe and to achieve their goals. It will shortly be entering the full Efficacy Phase of its evaluation.
Waltham Forest adolescent risk tool
With DfE investment, Waltham Forest has produced an adolescent risk tool (aligned to the MACE processes) to provide insight into the impact of multi-agency adolescent safeguarding. This tool is now being made more widely available across London.
Governance
