Government restructures Child Protection Committee

The composition of the Child Protection Committee has been restructured and revised, No. 6 Convent Place said yesterday.

This Committee was created under the Children Act 2009, with the purpose of bringing together key agencies, such as the Royal Gibraltar Police, Probation Services, Youth Services, Gibraltar Health Authority, the Department of Education, the Care Agency and others, to ensure that local safeguarding arrangements and child protection procedures are effective.

In a statement the Gibraltar Government explained that the Child Protection Committee is responsible for co-ordinating with the relevant organisations on how they should best work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people and ensuring that they provide an effective service.

The Committee is also responsible for the training of all professionals working and analysing trends in children’s safeguarding issues in order to advise the Government on the development of appropriate services and resources.

The newly appointed Committee will act as the executive committee and delegate operational functions to the relevant responsible officials.

The Committee will continue to be accountable for all work relating to safeguarding children.

To ensure the Child Protection Committee’s on-going professional development, the Care Agency has organised a three-day training event, which will be delivered by a senior consultant from Barnardo’s in February 2017.

The Committee, those with operational safeguarding responsibilities and Child Protection designates, will avail themselves of this essential learning, the Government added.

The Minister for Health, Care and Justice, Neil Costa said: "It gives me great pleasure to launch today the renewed and restructured Child Protection Committee.”

“The existence of a professional, trained and well-resourced multi-agency and multi-disciplinary Committee in this critically important area with the ability to delegate operational matters, whilst retaining responsibility, will ensure that the welfare of children and young people in Gibraltar is safeguarded.”

He added: “I look forward to receiving their invaluable advice in this area in order to ensure that we do all that we can and more in safeguarding and protecting our children."