Child protection chiefs in Perth and Kinross failed to show up for a series of key meetings despite services being condemned in the wake of recent tragedies, The Courier can reveal.
Our investigation found one senior nurse sent her apologies to 12 summits in a row over two years.
Another committee member was absent for 11, while a third person missed nine consecutively.
In total, there were 148 “apologies” given at 13 meetings of the area’s child protection committee between January 2020 and March 2022 – an average of more than 11 per meeting.
Just 10 committee members were present at one online meeting in December 2020, with 17 failing to attend, an absence rate of 63%.
‘Extremely low priority’
The committee insisted that not all members are required to log on for every meeting, because organisations are able to “share” attendance and still be kept “fully informed”.
But alarmed politicians warned last night that the absence rates raised “urgent questions”.
They feared the committee had been treated as an “extremely low priority” by some members.
Parents and young people will be alarmed at these revelations.”
– Liz Smith MSP
The meetings were being held at a time when child protection services in Perth and Kinross were under the spotlight due to two shocking cases.
It emerged last year that the life of a neglected pre-school youngster, known as “Child B”, was only saved when a member of the public alerted police to their deathly pale complexion.
A review found “significant missed opportunities” for earlier intervention.
Then, in July this year we reported the findings of a probe into the failures leading up the death of a transgender teenager, who took their own life.
It found the support received by the 17-year-old was too often “fragmented, inconsistent and uncoordinated” among the more than 14 separate professionals supporting the New School Butterstone pupil.
Despite the cases, child protection services in Perth and Kinross were recently praised in a generally positive internal audit report which was considered by the local authority.
The auditors also noted an inconsistent representation from NHS members of the committee at meetings.
Who has been missing meetings?
Minutes show that Sarah McLauchlan, lead nurse for children and young people at NHS Tayside, sent her apologies to a dozen meetings in a row, attending just once in the period, back in January 2020.
Other health board representatives included Elaine Cruickshank, lead nurse for children and families, who attended six out of 13 meetings in the period.
Jayne Smith, the committee’s vice chairwoman and lead nurse for child protection at NHS Tayside, missed four of the 13 meetings since the start of 2020, while consultant paediatrician Ben Colvin attended all but one.
As well as NHS members, Andrew Brown from Live Active Leisure missed 11 of the 13 meetings, while Victoria Beesley from Horsecross Arts failed to attend nine in a row.
The area’s chief social work officer, Jacquie Pepper, and its principal educational psychologist, Susie Turner, missed more than half of the meetings in the period.
The council’s two heads of housing services in the period were unable to attend nine of the 13 between them.
Several other committee members sent their apologies to multiple meetings.
Liz Smith, a Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said parents and young people would be alarmed at the findings.
“It has been well documented that the Covid pandemic exacerbated serious mental health issues among our young people,” she said.
“Meetings like this will have played a vital role in ensuring that the right support was being delivered to them.
“That is made all the harder when those in positions of responsibility miss not just one or two meetings but a whole host of them.
“Perth and Kinross has sadly seen too many tragic cases involving our young people and there are urgent questions for those involved to explain why they missed so many meetings, especially when they were being carried out virtually.”
Child protection committees bring together the main agencies responsible, including social work, education, housing, police, health, procurator fiscal and reporter to the Children’s Hearing.
They also have representatives from the voluntary sector.
The Perth and Kinross committee says it is “firmly focussed” on child protection practice, aimed at delivering better outcomes for vulnerable children
The membership has changed throughout the period, with a total of 45 people attending since January 2020.
It is currently 22-strong, with a further six listed as “correspondence-only” members.
Only two have been present for all 13 of the meetings in the last two-and-a-half years – committee chairman Bill Atkinson and Ross Drummond, who is child protection inter-agency coordinator for Perth and Kinross.
The CPC met most recently on Tuesday last week. The minutes have not yet been published but it was said to have been “well attended”.
‘Serious questions to answer’
Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesman Willie Rennie highlighted the recent significant case review reports in Perth and Kinross.
“After the cases that triggered these reviews, officials were left with serious questions to answer,” he said.
“Given the importance of comprehensive inter-agency communication it is disappointing that these meetings seem to have been treated as an extremely low priority.”
How did authorities respond?
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside highlighted that the health board’s lead nurse for child protection is the vice chairwoman of the committee.
She said: “The three other representatives of NHS Tayside work as part of the same team and are involved in discussing and contributing to all matters which are part of the CPC agenda.
“They also work closely day-to-day to with all other agencies.
“At least two of the four NHS Tayside representatives were in attendance at each CPC meeting in 2021-22.”
A spokeswoman for the child protection committee said it was scheduled to meet every two months and continued to do so throughout the pandemic.
A smaller “working group” drawn from committee members met more frequently during the early stages of the pandemic to consider issues relating to the safety, protection and wellbeing of children, young people and families.
Increased pressures
She said: “The increased pressures on some key services and agencies who have membership on the committee have been recognised and acknowledged throughout the pandemic.
“On occasions this has impacted their ability to attend some CPC meetings.
“Where that was the case, apologies were noted and updates on essential matters provided, either in writing or by way of a verbal update to the CPC independent chair or lead officer, or via an appropriate representative attending in their place.”
Some services and agencies may have multiple members on the CPC and may choose to share their attendance.”
– committee spokeswoman
The spokeswoman said the membership of the committee is deliberately wide and kept under constant review, to ensure it reflects the local children’s services landscape across public, private and third sectors.
“Corresponding members, whilst being full members of the CPC, are not required to attend all meetings, but are kept fully informed of all business covered and may attend meetings where an item or items requires their input and/or presence,” she said.
“Some services and agencies may have multiple members on the CPC and may choose to share their attendance and representation, particularly where operational demands and needs dictate.
“A very high level of information sharing and ongoing dialogue on key strategic business also continues outwith CPC meetings through the very strong, enduring and positive working relationship between the CPC independent chair, lead officer, chief social work officer and key CPC partners.”
