1. What is the Joint Targeted Area Inspection?
In January 2016, the government published guidance on a new multi-agency inspection framework called the Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI). The guidance is regularly updated to reflect the learning from the JTAIs that have been conducted to date.
The JTAIs are joint inspections carried out by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of the Constabulary (HMIC) and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons and Probation (HMIP).
This multi-agency inspection seeks to establish the quality and impact of assessment, planning and decision making in response to notifications and referrals; the partnership response to all forms of child abuse at the point of identification and the leadership and management of this work. Each inspection also includes a ‘deep dive’ analysis on a specific theme. To date these have covered Children living with Domestic Abuse, Child Sexual Exploitation and Children living with Neglect.
The theme of the JTAI between February and July 2018 is revisiting ‘Children living with Domestic Abuse’ and ‘Child Sexual Exploitation’. The specific Domestic Abuse thematic guidance is available here. The specific Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) thematic guidance is available here. Notably the framework for CSE now includes children associated with Gangs.
The Inspections will test out whether the published learning from the first round of JTAI Inspections - ‘the multi-agency response to children living with domestic abuse’ and ‘a joined up response to children experiencing child sexual exploitation’ has been embedded in practice.
The JTAIs are unannounced and Wolverhampton should expect (alongside any other local authority in England) that we may be called upon for inspection.
2. How does the inspection work?
Inspection teams from Ofsted, HMIC, HMIP and CQC will notify Local Authority Children’s Services, Police, National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Company; and the Clinical Commissioning Group by 9:30am on any Tuesday (between February and July 2018) that the Inspection in relation to Domestic Abuse is about to take place.
The Inspection is conducted over a three-week period.
- Week one - the Local Authority will provide a list of children to Ofsted from which 20 children are selected and further information about them is provided. From the initial 20 children, Ofsted will identify between five and seven children, and these cases are tracked in detail. All agencies working with those children will be required to evaluate (within their single agency and collectively as a partnership) the services provided to these children and the impact it has made. Those evaluations must be shared with the Inspection teams by the end of week 2.
- Each partner agency must provide a range of strategic documents to support the Inspection (as outlined in the guidance). In addition, information about the individual children identified must be supplied in a timely fashion upon request. The documents will be reviewed by Inspectors during Week 2.
- Week 3 Inspectors are on-site in the respective organisations. They will observe planned multi-agency meetings, interview frontline staff and meet senior officers and relevant staff involved in the management or provision of services related to domestic abuse e.g. schools, refuge services, housing providers, and other voluntary sector organisations. They will also meet with children and their families to gain feedback about their experiences.
On completion of the Inspection, the Inspectorates will collectively review and evaluate their findings against the inspection criteria, and identify areas of good practice, areas for development and any priority actions for the partnership and present their findings in the form of a letter.
3. Key contacts and for more information?
If you want to know more about the JTAI you can contact:
Sian Jones, Wolverhampton Safeguarding Board Manager Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Call: 01902 550640