It is “deeply, deeply dangerous” for public servants to worry about possible criticism from politicians when raising child safeguarding concerns, York and North Yorkshire’s Deputy Mayor has warned.
Jo Coles was speaking after Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake called for a review of a North Yorkshire Police officer’s decision to file a safeguarding report on a farming family when attending a reported burglary at their home.
The MP said he did not believe the force’s response was “proportionate or appropriate” after the family complained to him.
Speaking at this week’s North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel meeting in the wake of the MP’s comments, City of York councillor, Michael Pavlovic, asked what instructions police officers received in respect of child protection and safeguarding.
In response, the Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime said she had spoken to the force’s safeguarding teams to seek assurances following the incident.
She added: “My understanding is that safeguarding should be everyone’s responsibility.
“Certainly, all the lessons from all the public inquiries that I’ve been aware of are that actually the mistakes, the errors and the failures that have taken place historically have taken place when institutions and agencies weren’t talking and were ignoring warning signs.
“If there is any agency who may feel that there is any reason why they shouldn’t be raising a concern that would be a concern to me.
“If we had people thinking in our community that they shouldn’t be raising safeguarding concerns because a political figure might come down and criticise them for it, I think that is a deeply, deeply dangerous place to be.”
The Deputy Mayor said public servants should feel they could report safeguarding concerns if they have them, and that they would be investigated in the proper way by professionals.
“We should be ensuring that our public services, our police officers, our social workers, our firefighters or whoever it might be, who might be making one of those safeguarding referrals, can do so without fear of comeback from either a political figure or anybody else for that matter.”
Mr Hollinrake wrote to the force after receiving a complaint from a constituent that a police officer was called to a report of an attempted burglary at an unnamed farm on November 17, last year.
But while at the home, police say the officer noticed a “strong odour” and that the home appeared unclean, with sticky and dirty surfaces and floors.
The officer decided to submit a public protection notice (PPN) following the visit due to children being in the house, an action which can trigger a multi-agency safeguarding response.
North Yorkshire Police has defended the officer’s actions, saying they “did the right thing” and that the incident was an example of “the safeguarding system working as intended”.
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