New inquiry: The child protection system in England

The Education Committee is announcing an inquiry into The Child Protection System in England. Building on the Munro Review, and on the case for early intervention already made by the Field, Allen and Tickell reviews, the inquiry will consider the functioning of several aspects of the child protection system in England.

Written submissions are invited, addressing the following points:

• Whether the child protection system allows for effective identification of, and early help to, children at risk of different forms of abuse and exploitation (including, but not restricted to: neglect, sexual and physical abuse, domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, child trafficking and online exploitation);
• Factors affecting the quality of decision-making in referral and assessment, and variations across the country;
• Appropriate thresholds for intervention, including arguments for and against removing children from their families;
• Whether the child protection policies and practices of non-social work agencies and Government departments assist professionals to work together in the interests of the child.

The Committee asks for written submissions in accordance with the guidelines below by midday on Tuesday 4 October 2011.

Further information

A copy of the submission should be sent by e-mail to educom@parliament.uk and marked “Child Protection inquiry”. The Committee’s strong preference is for submissions in electronic form, although hard copy originals will be accepted. Submissions should be sent to:

Kathryn Smith,
Committee Assistant,
Education Select Committee
House of Commons
7 Millbank
London
SW1P 3JA

Each submission should:

• be no more than 3,000 words in length;
• have numbered paragraphs; and
• (if in electronic form) be in Word format or a rich text format with as little use of colour or logos as possible.

For Data Protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals submitting written evidence send their contact details separately in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. A guide for written submissions to Select Committees may be found on the parliamentary website at: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/witnessguide.pdf

Please also note that:

• Memoranda submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.
• Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, although not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.
• The Committee does not normally investigate individual cases.