About us
The Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership (PSCP) provides the arrangements under which the Safeguarding Partners and relevant agencies work together to coordinate their services to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Portsmouth.
There are three organisations in Portsmouth (termed Safeguarding Partners) who are jointly responsible for the partnership arrangements, they are Portsmouth County Council, Portsmouth Clinical Commissioning Group, and Hampshire Constabulary.
The Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership will hold itself true to two key principles;
- To place the welfare and safety of children at the heart of everything we do. We will ensure that the impact on children and families will inform every conversation we have, every piece of work we do, every decision we take and every change we make.
- To be challenging of ourselves and of each other, whilst equally taking a shared responsibility approach to improvement. As Portsmouth continues its journey to a ‘restorative city’, high challenge and high support will define how we work together.
The strength of local partnership working is built upon the safeguarding partners working collaboratively together with all other relevant agencies and services in Portsmouth who come into contact with children and families.
The relevant agencies for the PSCP arrangements are named as:
- All mainstream, special, independent and free schools
- All early years settings
- Post-16 education and training providers
- Portsmouth Hospital Trust
- All Portsmouth GP Practices
- Care UK
- South Central Ambulance Service
- Portsmouth Primary Care Alliance
- Solent NHS Trust
- Armed Forces Safeguarding Team
- Portsmouth Diocese and other faith organisations
- Portsmouth Voluntary Sector Alliance
- Voluntary and community organisations
- Hampshire Probation Trust
- Hampshire and Isle of Wight CRC
- Sports clubs
At the heart of the arrangements is a commitment from all agencies to work together to keep children safe in Portsmouth and to continuously improve and learn how to best do this.
The purpose of the partnership is to support and enable local agencies to work together in a system where:
- Excellent practice is the norm
- Partner agencies hold one another to account effectively
- There is early identification of “new” safeguarding issues
- Learning is promoted and embedded
- Information is shared effectively
Everything we do is underpinned by two key principles:
1. Safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility – for services to be effective each professional and organisation should play their full part
2. A child centred approach – for services to be effective they should be based on a clear understanding of the needs and views of the individual children whilst recognising the support parents and carers may require.
The Partnership is collectively responsible for the strategic oversight of local safeguarding arrangements. It does this by leading, coordinating, challenging and monitoring the delivery of safeguarding practice by all agencies across the city.
The PSCP has a range of committees in place to help identify emerging issues and respond to agreed priority areas. Our current committees and their Chairs are as follows:
- PSCP Partnership Board – Independent Chair
- Executive Committee – Independent Chair
- Learning from Children & Practice – Senior Designate Nurse for Safeguarding Children, Hants & IoW Integrated Care Board
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Scrutiny Committee (MESC) – Assistant Director Commissioning and Performance, Portsmouth City Council
- Exploitation Steering Group – Head of Adolescents and Young Adults, Children & Families, Portsmouth City Council
The PSCP also commissions task and finish groups as necessary to deliver actions.
In recognition of the fact that many of the organisations we work with cover a larger geographical area, we also work closely with the Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships in Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Southampton. This arrangement is collectively referred to as ‘HIPS’ and the current committees under this arrangement are:
- HIPS Executive Group (Independent Chair)
- HIPS Procedures (rotating between HIPSs Business Units)
- HIPS Child Exploitation Group (Superintendent, Hampshire Constabulary)
- HIPS Health Group (Head of Safeguarding Portsmouth CCG)
The four LSCPs work collaboratively to produce the Safeguarding Children Procedures Manual that all those working (in a paid or voluntary position) with children and families in Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and/or Southampton should have due regard of.
The PSCP also works closely with the HIPS Child Death Overview Panel to ensure that any matters relating to the death, or deaths, which are relevant to the welfare of children in Portsmouth are considered and acted upon where appropriate.
The Child Death Overview Panel document sets out the arrangements for the review of all child deaths across the Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton (HIPS) areas.
The PSCP Business Unit consists of:
- Independent Chair & Scrutineer, Scott MacKechnie
- Safeguarding Children Partnership Manager, Lucy Rylatt
- Programme Manager, Emma Sidney
- Partnership Coordinator, Aileen Blakely
You can contact us by email: PSCP@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call 023 9268 8646
The PSCP Training Team consists of:
- Safeguarding Children Training Manager, Sam Nesbit
- Children & Families Practice Trainer, Kelly Huggett
- Children & Families Practice Trainer, Bec Mason
- Business Support Officer, Harry Tumber
You can contact us by email: pscptraining@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call 02392 834404
Please do not use this phone number to report concerns about children, the team only deals with Partnership and training related enquiries. If you are concerned about a child please contact the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub
Worried about a child – If you are concerned that a child or young person has suffered harm, neglect or abuse, please contact
Portsmouth Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
If a child is at immediate risk of harm, call the Police on 999.