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7.2 AGENCIES EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS
7.2.1 The Safeguarding Board acknowledges that the management of such allegations must be set in a wider context of sound employment practices in all member agencies, which are designed to protect children from abuse and other forms of inappropriate conduct by professionals. The Board has therefore identified a set of standards that it expects all member agencies to follow. These standards are summarised in the attached Cumbria LSCB Guidance notes for senior managers. The ‘named senior officer’ in each agency needs to ensure that:
- The agency operates ‘Safe recruitment standards’ to ensure that all those who work with children are subject to appropriate police clearance, references and other checks, in accordance with the agreed national standards for their profession/work group
- The agency adopts the attached LSCB ‘Guidance on Safe Working Practice for children who work with children and young people' which define acceptable minimum standards of practice for all staff who work with children. It is accepted that this guidance may need to be supplemented by guidance for specific staff groups (e.g. for health staff conducting physical examinations or school staff about access to showers and changing facilities), However, it is expected that these agreed minimum standards are adopted in each agency and shared with all relevant staff.
- That the agency has procedures for managing and recording issues of conduct and discipline, which arise from inappropriate or unacceptable conduct towards children as part of these procedures.
7.2.2 These agreed procedures and standards operated by the agency need to be available to the LSCB Policy and Procedures Subgroup for scrutiny and endorsement through the LSCB Section 11 audit process.
7.2.3 The LADO will convene a multi agency LSCB Allegations Management Group that will meet every two months to review trends on allegations with the attached terms of reference, and will present a biennial report to the main LSCB.
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