The Children Missing from Education Provision is a handbook that has been jointly compiled with Lancashire Constabulary (Western Division – Blackpool area).
These procedures have been written jointly with Lancashire Constabulary for the guidance of all professionals who work with children and families, both within the Local Authority and in schools and other educational establishments. Adopting these procedures will also ensure that all Children’s Services in Blackpool will:
- Meet statutory duties relating to the provision of education and safeguarding the welfare of children missing from education
- Ensure that robust multi-agency systems are in place to identify and track children missing from education or at risk of doing so, under Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme.
- Ensure that monitoring and reporting systems are in place in order to identify a lead agency and a key worker for all children missing from education
This policy is based on statutory guidance issued for Local Authorities in England under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (part 1,section 4) to identify children not receiving education’, and a copy of this can be found on the Every Child Matters website this duty came into force on 27 February 2007.
The Children Missing from Education policy and procedures should be used in conjunction with Blackpool’s Child Protection Procedures as appropriate, and the ‘Joint Protocol for Young People Missing from Care, and ‘Protocol for Missing Person Alerts’.
The policy identifies:
- That the Local Authority accepts its responsibility to locate, assess, monitor and track children missing from education as the safety of the child is paramount.
- That the responsibility should be carried out through a strategic and multi-agency framework where all agencies share information for the purpose of identifying children and young people missing from education, and child protection procedures are triggered where there are any concerns that a child may be at risk of harm or suffering harm.
- That the Local Authority and its partners recognize this duty as an integral part of governance and strategic planning for discharging duties under sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004.
- The distinct needs of groups of children who are at risk of going missing from education and thereby not fulfilling their potential.
- That a range of preventative measures should be implemented to ensure a reduction of the likelihood of children and young people going missing from education.
- The necessity to produce, monitor and evaluate data on children and young people missing from education for Elected Members and Senior Officers in Children’s Services.
"Our aim is to ensure that every child and young person has the opportunity to fulfil their potential and that no child slips through the net." DfES, ‘’Every Child Matters: Next Steps’’, 2004.
For further information regarding Children Missing from Education please contact Suzanne Holroyd - Children Missing from Education (CME) Officer, on 01253 476613.
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