Member

I will take some of the things that were said publicly at the end of 2023 about the pathfinder areas by those involved. The first is about the role of the lead child protection practitioner. Worries have been expressed about staff burnout if someone’s sole role is those Section 47 cases, but it is a clear requirement in the programme guide. The second concern that has come out publicly has been about a deskilling of colleagues if all the child protection expertise sits in that team. I mentioned worries about the independent case conference chair earlier. Ironically, because I know that the honourable Member for Whitehaven and Workington expressly wanted to reduce this, there have been worries about case handovers—the move from the lead family help practitioner to a new lead child protection practitioner at a moment of significant stress as the case meets the Section 47 threshold.