North Yorkshire Police has apologised after government inspectors found the force’s standards of investigation for child protection cases were “poor”.
A highly critical report published yesterday by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found that the force does not prioritise safeguarding and child protection highly enough.
It said standards of investigation in relation to child protection were poor and arrangements were not “consistently providing either the quality of service or a good enough response”.
The report said in some cases “highly vulnerable” children went missing from children’s homes, but officers would record those incidents as “cause for concern” rather than missing — which meant officers did not look for them.
Following the publication of the report, Lisa Winward, chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, apologised and said the force “fully accepted” the inspector’s findings.
She said:
“It is extremely disappointing that while the Inspectorate found examples of good practice during their inspection in November 2021, they also found a lack of consistency in our treatment of children across the cases that they examined.
“We fully accept the findings of the Inspectorate and I offer my deepest apologies to any child that we have let down or could have protected more effectively. We haven’t always got it right and we know that is not good enough for the children of North Yorkshire.
“We have been working at a pace to address the issues that were identified in the Inspectorate’s report. Our plan for improvement in our performance has already been submitted to the Inspectorate. We are tracking our plan and will publicly report on our progress.
“We welcome the recognition by the Inspectorate that our officers and staff, who manage child abuse investigations, are committed and dedicated despite working in difficult circumstances.
“I can assure all our communities that we absolutely recognise that protecting children is one of the most important things that we do. We are working to ensure that we have the right systems and processes in place to support our officers and staff to protect and safeguard every child.”
Critical report
The report was particularly critical of the force’s approach to children considered to be at risk.
Inspectors, who conducted the assessment from November 1 to 12 last year, examined 73 cases where children had been at risk. The report said:
“We assessed the force’s child protection practice as good in 13 cases, requiring improvement in 34 cases, and as inadequate in 26 cases. This shows the force needs to do more to give a consistently good service for all children.”
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Another criticism was that the force doesn’t share information with safeguarding partners early enough.
HMIC made a number of recommendations, which included:
- speaking to children, recording their behaviour and demeanour, listening to their concerns and views, and using that information to make decisions about their welfare;
- supervising investigations to make sure the force pursues opportunities and avoids delaying cases unnecessarily; and
- promptly sharing information with safeguarding partners.
Zoe Metcalfe, North Yorkshire’s Conservative Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, said the findings of the report were “unacceptable”.
