Northamptonshire Police not made enough progress in improving child protection capabilities

Northamptonshire Police has made only "limited progress" in improving its child protection capabilities, a new report has warned.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) previously inspected the force's child protection capabilities in March 2018. Its findings highlighted a range of problems.

Today's National Child Protection Post-Inspection Review of Northamptonshire Police found that many of these issues have not yet been resolved.

Problems identified in the 2019 report include:

• Inconsistent supervision of investigations

• Ineffective partner organisations (e.g. local authorities who are responsible for providing alternative accommodation)

• Substantial delays and backlogs (e.g. failing to record information about missing children promptly and a backlog in investigating electronic devices)

• Concerning decisions regarding the management of registered sex offenders (for example, sending warning letters to offenders who breach their conditions as a matter of course, without proper investigation of the causes of the breach)

HMICFRS examined 21 child protection case files as part of the inspection. None of these cases were assessed as 'good' by the Inspectorate. 11 were rated as 'inadequate'.

However, there have been some improvements since the previous inspection. The report found there has been a "significant decrease" in the number of outstanding visits to registered sex offenders. The Inspectorate also concluded that Northamptonshire Police has improved its understanding of the reasons children go missing.