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West Midlands Police is good at working with safeguarding partners, but it needs to make further progress in how it investigates reports of abuse and assesses risk to children, the police inspectorate has said.

Get the report : West Midlands Police: National child protection inspection

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

HMICFRS said that the force’s governance arrangements provide strong oversight of performance and practice. The force prioritises child protection and has good oversight of ongoing issues through its daily threat and risk meetings.

The force also works well with its safeguarding partners. It has good arrangements to share information and contribute to joint plans to prevent harm to children. The force provides personnel to multi-agency safeguarding hubs in every local policing area where staff from different agencies work in the same location. This helps it to quickly share information to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

However, the force needs to make sure that its officers and staff consistently speak with children and record the voice of the child. This is important to effectively understand the child’s experience. Inspectors also said that the force needs to correctly flag children who are at risk of, or harmed by, exploitation, and those perpetrators who pose a risk to children.

HMICFRS said that the force should make sure all officers, staff and supervisors investigating child sexual exploitation have the right knowledge and skills. Inspectors found that although the force provides training, this doesn’t always result in officers carrying out joint working or good quality investigations for children who are victims of online child sexual exploitation.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Michelle Skeer said:

“I am pleased with some aspects of the performance of West Midlands Police in safeguarding children at risk, but there are several areas in which it needs to improve.

“We found chief officers and senior leaders make sure there are enough officers and staff to provide effective safeguarding services for children and their families. And the force has a range of measures to support the well-being of its officers and staff who work in child protection roles.

“But the force needs to make sure that officers and staff speak with children and record the voice of the child consistently. It should also make make referrals to statutory safeguarding partners for every child in need of help and support, and check that those referrals contain all relevant information.

“It is also really important that all officers and staff investigating child sexual exploitation have the right knowledge and skills to get the best outcomes for children.

“I was reassured that the force responded promptly and comprehensively to our ongoing feedback during this inspection. It has already put some plans in place to address the areas in which it needs to improve. I will continue to monitor its progress.”

Get the report : West Midlands Police: National child protection inspection

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.