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South Wales Police works well with safeguarding partners and is good at responding to children at risk of harm. But it needs to make further progress in how it investigates reports of abuse, neglect and exploitation, the police inspectorate has said.

Get the report : South Wales Police: National child protection inspection

Cael yr adroddiad ; Heddlu De Cymru: Arolygiad amddiffyn plant cenedlaethol

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded South Wales Police’s performance across five areas, assessing how well it safeguards children who are at risk. It found the force was ‘good’ in three areas and ‘adequate’ in two areas.

HMICFRS said that child protection is clearly a priority for the force. The force provides strong oversight of child protection performance and practice through its governance arrangements, and inspectors found evidence that this governance had a positive effect on outcomes for children.

The inspectorate said that the force has a wide range of training courses on child protection available for relevant personnel. This includes providing information to officers and staff about listening and speaking to children, how to recognise harmful childhood experiences, and the effects of childhood trauma. This helps them to recognise and report their concerns.

The force’s exploitation team work effectively with partners. HMICFRS said the force contributes to safety planning discussions at multi-agency child exploitation meetings with children’s social care, health, education and criminal justice partners, to agree measures to safeguard children. And it has good arrangements in local areas to meet its statutory responsibilities to safeguard children.

However, the inspectorate said that not all personnel investigating online child exploitation had sufficient training or guidance to help them understand what they should do. This means the force missed opportunities to trace offenders. For example, officers didn’t always seize digital devices or arrange for them to be examined.

HMICFRS also said that the force needs to improve how it records information about children’s ethnicity, and its response to the sudden and unexpected death of children.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Michelle Skeer said:

“I am pleased with the performance of South Wales Police in safeguarding children at risk. Chief officers and senior leaders understand their statutory responsibilities to safeguard children. Governance arrangements provide robust oversight of child protection performance and practice. And the force makes sure it trains enough officers and staff to provide effective safeguarding services for children and their families.

“The force’s leaders encourage a child-centred policing culture. I was pleased to see this reflected in our case file review’s findings. The force offers a wide range of training courses related to child protection and their investigations are often child centred. We also found that the force has reduced the number of children who are missing from care.

“But the force needs to improve in several areas. These include how it investigates online child exploitation and its response to the sudden and unexpected death of children. It should also improve how it records data about ethnicity.

“Although this report highlights areas for improvement, I commend the force for their commitment to child protection. The concerted efforts of officers and staff, extending from operational teams to strategic leaders, are helping to achieve better outcomes for children.”

Get the report : South Wales Police: National child protection inspection

Cael yr adroddiad : Heddlu De Cymru: Arolygiad amddiffyn plant cenedlaethol

Notes

• For further information, please contact the HMICFRS Press Office on 0300 071 6781 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk.
• We now make graded judgements for child protection inspections to be consistent with our PEEL (police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy) programme of inspections.
• This allows the public to see how well their local force is performing from a set of easy-to-understand categories.
• Read more about our national child protection inspections.