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May 2023

Last Updated: 03/05/2023

Crime

North Yorkshire Police 'still needs to improve' on child safeguarding, say inspectors

by Calvin Robinson Chief Reporter

| 03 May, 2023

North Yorkshire Police control room.

Inspectors have said North Yorkshire Police “still needs to improve” following a highly critical report into how it safeguards children.

An inspection report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, published today, found the force had made some improvements since its previous report in March.

However, inspectors added progress still needed to be made to “provide consistently better outcomes for children”.

Today's report comes after the watchdog published a highly critical inspection of the force where it found child protection investigations were poor and that the force did not prioritise safeguarding and child protection highly enough.

In a follow-up visit in December, which is the subject of today's report, inspectors praised North Yorkshire Police for making progress in areas such as identifying children’s vulnerability and making good safeguarding referrals.

However, they added that supervision of investigations were not always effective and there were “excessive delays” in obtaining digital forensic evidence for officers.

The report, which was published today, said:

“North Yorkshire Police still needs to improve some areas of its work to provide consistently better outcomes for children. There has been some progress, particularly in the way the force has trained its workforce to identify children’s vulnerability and make good safeguarding referrals.

“Staff in the force control room have also made improvements so they are better at identifying risk and providing the right level of response to help vulnerable children.

“Despite progress against some of our recommendations, the force has yet to make all the progress necessary to complete its action plan.

“The force is developing performance monitoring and its governance systems, so it is clear leaders fully understand what still needs to be done.”

'Police have let the public down'

In response to the report, Zoe Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said:

“North Yorkshire Police have had a year to progress their action plan following the first HMICFRS report on child protection. My team and I were regularly assured that all concerns would be tackled head on and improvements made at a significant pace but instead, 12 months later, the force is not in the position I expected them to be in. Not enough has been done and there is simply no excuse - North Yorkshire Police have let the public and the most vulnerable in our society down.

“As commissioner and a mother of two children, one of whom is vulnerable and has complex needs I share the frustration, deep disappointment and upset many people will be feeling. I know that it is my responsibility to increase the accountability of and pressure on the chief constable, to demand answers and not accept anything other than immediate and significant improvement.

“Whilst a debrief provided by the inspectorate in preparation for this report revealed North Yorkshire Police still had areas to progress, this progress has been much slower than anticipated - as a result, I am making arrangements for an additional layer of scrutiny - I expect evidence in relation to any assurances I am given.”

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North Yorkshire Police 'still needs to improve' on child safeguarding, say inspectors

'Police have let the public down'

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