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Welcome to the fourth newsletter from the Public Protection Partnership in 2023. We aim to keep you updated with the latest news in the public protection arena – thank you to all our partners for their contributions. The twelfth edition of the DGPPP newsletter features a special article about our 16 Days of Activism programme in 2023.
As a multi-agency group, we are responsible for the oversight development and delivery of services to the most vulnerable children and adults who are at risk of or experiencing harm. If you have a question relating to any of the content you read today, please contact the team using one of the contact methods at the end of the newsletter.
 16 Days of Activism for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 2023
16 Days of Activism for the Elimination of Violence Against Women/Gender Based Violence is an annual international campaign that runs from 25 November (the International Day for the Elimination of VAW) until 10 December (International Human Rights Day).
It is a campaign promoted by the United Nations and promoted by many countries, including Scotland. Dumfries and Galloway, like many places in Scotland, has a programme of events and public information to raise awareness of all the forms of violence against women, the impact of it and where there are supports available. This year, like the rest of Scotland, the message was Imagine Scotland without violence against women and children.
Mentors in Violence Prevention – MVP
Violence remains at an unacceptable level in Scotland. The MVP programme offers excellent opportunities to discuss a range of issues within an educational framework and is connected to the Curriculum for Excellence.
Mentors in Violence Prevention is a peer mentoring leadership programme for young people. It gives young people the chance to explore and challenge the attitudes, beliefs and cultural norms that underpin gender-based violence.
 Better Lives Partnership
The team at Better Lives Partnership (BLP) has been celebrating their Disability Confident Leader status. Disability Confident is a scheme designed by the government, employers, and disabled people to provide a framework for employers on how to recruit and retain team members with disabilities and health conditions.
Better Lives Partnership is proud of being an organisation that supports autistic young people with additional support needs to access opportunities, so receiving this status is a major milestone. A core responsibility as a Disability Confident Leader is to break down the many barriers facing people who require additional support. The BLP team has worked hard to implement these key policies so all their staff are understood and supported.
Carolyn Kennedy, Fundraising and Strategic Director said: “I am delighted that Better Lives Partnership has achieved Disability Confident Leader status. We are proud to celebrate the skills and talents of the disabled people we work with ensuring that they are supported to be happy and understood in the workplace. We look forward as Disability Confident Leaders in Dumfries & Galloway to supporting other organisations on their Disability Confident journeys.”
 Adult Support and Protection Multi-Agency Self Evaluation 2023
The Adult Support and Protection Multi-Agency Self Evaluation began in Autumn 2023. The Self Evaluation Steering Group is leading this piece of work on behalf of the Public Protection Committee, and is made up of representatives from health, police, and social work. The purpose of which is to evaluate how well those with key responsibilities to keep adults safe are doing. This is the first ASP self-evaluation since the ASP joint inspection was published in November 2021.
The work began with a file read from 2 to 6 October 2023. The team was made up of health, police and social work staff and looked at over 50 adults’ records. With consent, the group looked at a variety of adults files picked at random. Some of which were referrals only, right through to cases that progressed through the full ASP process. The focus was on harms identified in performance data: psychological harm, domestic abuse substance use, neglect, and self-neglect.
The next step in this process is staff focus groups in December and January, a leadership focus group in February, and most importantly the opportunity for the adults themselves to share their lived experience of ASP.
A wider staff survey has launched, and staff are encouraged to complete the survey by 12 January 2024.
This work is important because it helps understand how services work together, recognising what works well and the areas for improvement. The aim is to collate and report on the findings and any proposed improvement actions in March.
The steering group would like to thank the volunteers and their managers and team, for enabling them to have time away from their frontline roles at such a busy time. Staff who took part in the file read reported that it not only increased their understanding of self-evaluation work, but it will also improve their own practice.
Multi-Agency Child Protection Self Evaluation – Progress Update
As you will hopefully be aware, a multi-agency child protection self-evaluation took place from October 2022 to April 2023, with various activities including file reading, staff focus groups, gathering views of children and their families and a focus group with Public Protection Committee (PPC) Leadership where they were asked to self-evaluate.
This work has been completed and the final report has been presented to the PPC and Chief Officers Group. The PPC has agreed the areas for improvement identified within the report and the leads for this work have been identified. This work will now be taken forward by the identified strategic groups and regularly monitored by the PPC.
The self-evaluation is only part of a larger piece of work identified in the self-evaluation calendar. Further child protection self-evaluation will be undertaken in 2025 to evidence the impact of this improvement activity. Workshop sessions will be delivered for staff across the partnership to provide detail on the findings from this self-evaluation with more general information on self-evaluation, quality assurance and performance reporting and how we use this to inform priorities. Please book on to one of the staff workshop sessions when they are advertised. Provisional dates have been identified so you can hold space in your diary.
- Tuesday 20 February 2024 pm – West of Region
- Monday 26 February 2024 pm – East of Region
- Tuesday 5 March 2024 pm – MS Teams Session
Finally, thanks go to the File Reading Group, who were made up of staff from across the partner agencies who not only spent a very intense week file reading, but also came back to help analyse the data and agree evaluations. The Multi-Agency Child Protection Self-Evaluation Steering Group, Performance Quality & Improvement Sub Committee and Public Protection Committee would like to take the opportunity to thank them very much for their invaluable contribution to this work.
“I found the file reading exercise to be one of the most beneficial CPD opportunities which I have undertaken in recent years. The insight into CP procedures and the opportunity to work with colleagues in other agencies and see their procedures was invaluable.”
From feedback received, it is clear that this experience is not only informative in terms of what the self-evaluation and quality assurance looks like, but also gaining insight into the work of other agencies and helping them develop a shared understanding with partners of what good practice looks like. If you would be interested in taking part in some of this work in the future, please let the team know by emailing: MACPSE@dumgal.gov.uk
Contact Social Work
Adult Services (Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm) 030 33 33 3001 Accessteam@dumgal.gov.uk
Children and Families (Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm) 030 33 33 3001 Accessteam@dumgal.gov.uk
Out of hours (Monday to Friday 5pm – 8am, All day Saturday and Sunday) Call 01387 273660 or email socialworkoutofhours@dumgal.gov.uk for help outside normal working hours. Any bank holiday, including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Become a Trainer for the Public Protection Partnership
We are not only passionate about providing valuable training through the multi-agency partnership, but also providing staff from partnership agencies the opportunity to be a trainer with us.
If you have an interest in volunteering to be a trainer with us, please email publicprotection@dumgal.gov.uk and we can discuss your experience and the time commitment involved.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Public Protection Team
We hope you have enjoyed reading our newsletters this year and we look forward to sharing more with you in 2024.
Thank you to all our partners for their contributions to our content this year.
 Do you have a news story that you think would be great for our next newsletter?
Any queries relating to any of the content you have read today?
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