Response to post-inspection report review of child protection in the Met

Today, Thursday, 22 February, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services’ (HMICFRS) published their fourth quarterly post-inspection report review of child protection in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). This is their final assessment of the progress the MPS has made since the original 2016 report was published.

In response to this report, Commander Richard Smith, Head of Safeguarding, Metropolitan Police Service, said:

“The Metropolitan Police Service is pleased that the HMICFRS have recognised the significant changes that have been made to help protect children across London, in the face of the demands of policing the capital in 2017. Progress continues to be made in numerous areas despite the scale, complexity and varied multi-agency arrangements facing the Met.

“We are aware of the urgency of improving our services further, but we also know that delivering real and sustainable improvements in every aspect of our work will take time to achieve.

“The MPS has dedicated officers and police staff in front line and specialist roles working extremely hard to safeguard children in London and like the HMICFRS, we commend their hard work keep children safe. Their work is tremendously challenging and seldom straightforward, but they are committed to achieving better outcomes for the vulnerable children they seek to assist.

“Action has been taken in every case where either the MPS or HMICFRS identified concerns that safeguarding risks had not adequately been addressed.

“Keeping London’s children and young people safe is a key priority for the MPS. In response to the findings of HMIC’s 2016 inspection, a comprehensive plan was initiated to improve our child protection services. The work we did in 2017 delivered the positive changes mentioned in the last two reports from HMICFRS but has not yet brought the scale of improvement we want.

“Our plans for 2018 have taken the most recent findings into account and the successful introduction of a new safeguarding scrutiny framework will enable us to enhance our efforts to improve outcomes for London’s most vulnerable children.”