Member

Under their existing duties, safeguarding partners already agree and dedicate resource as part of their local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. Clause 3 provides flexibility for safeguarding partners in how they meet this new duty to establish multi-agency child protection teams. It provides the flexibility that noble Lords have asked for, including through combining teams across local authority boundaries to align with police or health footprints, creating consistencies and efficiencies. However, on this point about responsibility, it is clear that safeguarding partners are each responsible for nominating a representative to the multi-agency team, and they have equal responsibility for safeguarding, as I spelled out earlier.