To make informed decisions about safeguarding and achieve quality outcomes for individuals, we must share information with our partner agencies who also have responsibilities for safeguarding and prevention.
It has been frequently recognised in local and national reviews of safeguarding practice that failing to share information at critical times has led to detrimental outcomes. A fear of sharing sensitive information must not be a blocker to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children at risk.
The relevant UK government departments and independent non-departmental government bodies responsible for protecting children and/or regulating data protection therefore set out policy, legislation, and statutory guidance on how the protection system should work and data protection compliance is achieved at the same time. Those pieces of legislation are in place for the relevant sharing partners to be used to justify information sharing and to allow it in a safe and legal way. Some legislation puts a duty on organisations to share and others provide with the power to do so.
In collaboration with the Department for Education, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Partnership have produced a Tier 1 multi-agency Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Authorities, ICB & NHS Organisations, Police, Education, Probation, Prison Service, Youth Offending Services and Voluntary Sector Organisations. The DSA applies to organisations operating across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and is to be used by professionals, staff, volunteers of agencies and commissioned services whose partner leads have signed this agreement.
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, not just safeguarding practitioners
The Overarching Tier 1 Children Safeguarding Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) for the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Safeguarding Partnership can be found here
