Realistic approach to Laming needed, say LGA delegates

Around 150 delegates including directors of children services, and lead members for children's services gathered at the Local Government Association (LGA) this week.
The event will help inform the LGAs formal response to the Laming review.

Derek Myers, Kensington and Chelsea's chief executive, said: "What is not in the report is enough realism about the risk and intervention dilemmas or enough emphasis on wider family responsibilities.

"There is no commentary on the role of the media and no realism about resource constraints either now or going forward."

Maggie Atkinson, outgoing president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS), said multi-agency training and co-operation between agencies was key.

She said: "If we hide ourselves in a silo just focusing on everything to do with safeguarding we will be doing down what we were set up to do in the first place.

"From the ADCS's perspective, what we are facing is a sudden focus on an area of our work that we probably felt was not focused on enough and which every taxi driver, bus driver and person at the vegetable shop is now an expert."

The conference coincided with Laming presenting evidence on his report into child protection to the select committee for children, schools and families.