In this section:
The Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership are proud to say that we signed up to the ‘Commit to Co-Pro’ initiative in collaboration with Healthwatch Suffolk. We aim to include views from people’s lived experience in our learning and by signing up to this initiative we are able to hear more from those affected by safeguarding issues within their own families.
To learn more about this initiative head to The Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership have made their commitment to co-production - Healthwatch Suffolk
And to see how we have implemented the voice of those with lived experience look for our person centred stories here:
The Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership (which we will refer to as ‘the Partnership’) has a responsibility to shine a light on and learn from certain safeguarding incidents. It is clear from everyday events that abuse and neglect in all its forms is still with us today, despite efforts to eradicate it for over half a century.
Vigilance, professional curiosity, and action by safeguarding agencies remain as important as ever. What has changed is the public expectation that all agencies are open about their practice and how they are working to keep people safe. In having an Openness Statement, the Partnership is committing to sharing its business and the work it does to give the public confidence and assurance.
What do we mean by Openness?
We will ensure information is easy to find, clear, relevant, accurate and self-explanatory wherever possible.
The Partnership will publish minutes of board and subgroup meetings on its website*. Any identifiable information about individuals at risk or sensitive operations will be redacted to protect individuals.
The Partnership will publish the findings and recommendations from case reviews and take the necessary steps to safeguard and protect identities where needed such as changing names or locations. It can be assumed that learning from reviews will be published as standard practice, and only in very few circumstances would it be withheld from the public domain.*
Please note there are some instances where the Partnership will not publish certain documentation. Here are some examples:
When it is not appropriate to do so following a case review. This could be for reasons such as protecting the child or adult’s identity or wishes, or if there is a criminal investigation ongoing that may be affected by the publication of a review before its conclusion.
The Partnership will seek to protect the identity of individual workers by ensuring that documentation refers to organisations rather than individual professionals. We will still point up failings and the accountability.
Some of our meeting minutes where they focus on individual children, young people and adult’s cases that include details of their health, care, and potentially neglect/abuse/death.
Openness Principles
1. Access to documentation
Below is a complete list of meetings held by the Partnership, and what you can expect to see published from them.
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No content shared.
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Minutes published on our website.
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Minutes published on our website.
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No content shared. Meetings discuss individuals and specific issues that affect services and it would not be appropriate to share this information as it cannot easily be redacted.
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No content shared. All discussions centre around people’s health and care information, and details of incidents around neglect, abuse, and occasionally deaths. Cases from these meetings that result in a review will be shared in the public domain as mentioned above.
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No content shared. Each Panel discusses individual child deaths in detail and none of this information will be disclosed.
2. Letting people in
We aim to create a safe space for openness and co-production
We welcome open dialog with the media and are happy to answer queries. We can be contacted by email on enquiries@suffolksp.org.uk
For Freedom of Information requests (FOI) we will consider the guidance of our statutory partner agencies as well as making our own judgment about any given issue. for Freedom of Information Requests, please follow the guidance on Suffolk County Council’s website here.
3. Two-way communications
We recognise the importance of hearing views from a diverse range of people, and welcome any suggestions you may have, feedback, or general points and comments.
You can contact us by emailing enquiries@suffolksp.org.uk or by reaching out to us on social media.
This statement has been co-produced with the help of Healthwatch Suffolk and Co production Ambassadors. For more information and resources on co-production, visit Healthwatch’s website here.
