In a letter to Children's Secretary Ed Balls, published today alongside the government's full response to Lord Laming's report on child protection, Sir Roger Singleton said he would "advise, monitor, challenge and report on the coherence of government departments' strategic priorities, policies and approaches to safeguarding children especially as they impact on practitioners working at the front line".
He added: "I hope to promote better collaborative working between the professionals at all levels, encourage the development of fresh ideas and new thinking, and enhance public understanding of what safeguarding vulnerable children involves."
But speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, shadow children's minister Tim Loughton, said the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit was "an extra bit of bureaucracy, whose merits in achieving qualitative outcomes are questionable".
Singleton, who was appointed chief adviser in March when Ed Balls announced the government would accept all 58 of Laming's recommendations, has established a chief adviser's expert group to assist him in his role.
A partnership network will be established to work with the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit to investigate issues that impact on safeguarding.
The government action plan says the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit will "act as a bridge between national policy development and local implementation".
The unit - which will be staffed by civil servants from the DCSF, Home Office, Department of Health and Ministry of Justice and local and voluntary sector experts - will start work on 1 July and produce a detailed work programme in September 2009.
Staff from regional government offices will work with the unit to "support and challenge" local safeguarding children's boards on serious case reviews to ensure lessons are learnt. They will also "challenge the quality of local needs analysis" and negotiate with local authorities on appropriate targets for safeguarding.
Members of the chief adviser's expert group will include:
- Colin Green, safeguarding lead of the Association of Directors of Children's Services
- Moira Gibb, chair of the Social Work Task Force and chief executive of Camden council
- Christine Davies, chief executive of C4EO (Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services)
- Jim Gamble, safeguarding lead of the Association of Chief Police Officers and chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
- Jo Webber, deputy policy director of the NHS Confederation
- Roger Shippam, director (children) at Ofsted
- Andrew Flanagan, chief executive of the NSPCC
- Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass
- A judge of the High Court Family Division will also be invited to join the group
