Members of the North Wales Safeguarding Board wish to acknowledge the courage of the young people who gave evidence during this court case.
Now that those responsible for the abuse suffered by the young people have been brought to justice, the Safeguarding Board will continue with the Single Unified Safeguarding Review (SUSR), which will be carried out in accordance with National guidance.
The SUSR is not part of the criminal/investigatory process, it aims to examine agencies’ involvement with the young people and to identify what lessons can be learnt for the future
The Board have already appointed an Independent Chair and an Independent Reviewer from outside of the North Wales Region. Agencies sitting on the Panel will gather information on their involvement with the young people and their families, to develop a timeline of significant events that took place prior to the tragic incidents.
This information is presented to a multi-agency learning event, attended by practitioners who had direct involvement with the children so that they can share their understanding of what has happened and identify key learning points.
The Panel is also required to seek opportunities to engage with the young people, where appropriate, to support with this learning.
Following the learning event, the independent reviewers of the case will collate and analyse all the information gathered to complete a report, highlighting the learning from the case and recommendations to improve future safeguarding practice.
The report will then be presented to the Regional Safeguarding Board for scrutiny and approval, before being submitted to the Welsh Government for final endorsement. It is vitally important that the SUSR is undertaken thoroughly.
This can typically take approximately 12 months to complete; however timescales will depend on many factors including the complexity of the individual cases, the extent of the investigations and engagement with partners that are required and the necessity of the panel to fully consider in detail all of the evidence in respect of the circumstances involved in the case.
Contact email: Reviews@denbighshire.gov.uk
