Domestic Homicide Reviews Understanding your role Tally Ho Conference and Banqueting Centre Tuesday 17 th April 2012

Domestic Homicide Reviews Understanding your role Jan Kimber Head of Community Safety & Chair of Birmingham Domestic Homicide Steering Group

Domestic Homicide Reviews Understanding Your Role Jan Kimber Head of Community Safety & Chair of Birmingham Domestic Homicide Steering Group

Aims & Objectives understand the purpose of domestic homicide reviews understand your individual role and responsibilities within the review process understand how to undertake an Individual Management Review within your own organisation and what a good quality review looks like

Structure of the Day Presentation: Individual Management Review Workshops: DHR Panel Roles and Responsibilities & Producing an Accurate Sequence of Events Coffee Home Office Presentation Workshops: Quality & SMART Recommendations and Action Planning Lunch Repeat of Workshops Question Panel 2.30 Finish

Scope of Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) homicide over 16 resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by a person to whom s/he was related or with whom s/he was, or had been, in an intimate personal relationship or a member of the same household as her/himself, held with a view to identifying the lessons to be learnt…

Purpose of DHRs what lessons are to be learnt from the domestic homicide regarding the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims ………in order to… prevent domestic homicide and improve service responses and inter-agency working for all domestic violence victims and their children.

DHR Structure Home Office DHR Quality Assurance Panel Birmingham Community Safety Partnership Chair and Executive Board Birmingham Domestic Homicide Steering Group For each DHR Independent Chair and DHR Panel

DHR Process Notification Information gathering Commissioning independent chair/author and panel Organisations review their practice Family and significant others invited to contribute Overview report Home office ratifies Publication Implementing recommendations

Domestic Homicide Reviews in Birmingham Understanding Your Role

Individual Management Reviews (IMRs) Paula Harding Vulnerability &Violence Against Women Strategic Lead Birmingham Community Safety Partnership

Aim of the IMR Allow agencies to look openly and critically at individual and organisational practice & context To identify need for change To identify how these changes will be brought about To identify examples of good practice

Process Responding to initial request for information Securing records Independent chair and panel decide to commission IMR or information report Organisation commissions IMR author Attend IMR & information report author briefing Template Chronology, analysis of records, interviews with staff Quality assurance at senior level Submission within timeframe Feedback and debriefing of staff Implementation of Recommendations Note - Taking action at earliest opportunity

Templates & Guidance

The Template Page 1

Page 2 8. Terms of reference 9. Brief overview of agency involvement in the case 10. Contextual information Cross box if impacted on caseComment 11. Details of Victim, Perpetrator, Family and Significant Others NameD.O.B.Relationship to victim Ethnic originAddress 12. Process undertaken in completing the review Details of the documents seen. Details of the information not available and why? 13. Details of Interviews held with key personnel (Dates ) 14. Summary of Agency Intervention

Interviewing Staff Where criminal proceedings – SIO/CPS advice Reassurance - not part of disciplinary proceedings – a learning culture Recommend – Advance notice – Use chronology as structure – Provide summary Debriefing and providing feedback

Page Analysis of involvement 16. Effective Practice and Lessons Learnt 17. Recommendations

Differences between SCR & DHR IMRs No genealogy No anonymisation Not shared with auditing body

Workshop 1 Domestic Homicide Review Panel Roles & Responsibilities Gill Baker

Who should be on a DHR Panel ? Organisations that have a statutory duty to participate: Police Local Authorities Strategic Health Authorities Primary Care Trusts Probation Services Local Health Boards (Wales) NHS Trusts

Who should be on a DHR Panel ? Other agencies that may have a key role to play in the review process: Crown Prosecution Service Housing Associations Prison Service Domestic Violence Forum Independent Panel Chair/Overview Report Author

Core Functions of the DHR Panel Review and agree the Terms of Reference – an ongoing process as new information emerges Ensure the process is conducted in a timely manner – the overview report should be completed within 6 months of the date of the decision to proceed with a DHR

Core Functions of the DHR Panel Be aware of potential sensitivities and need for confidentiality Equality and diversity issues to be borne in mind at all times Engage with police senior investigating officers and family liaison officers Agree appropriate time and engagement with family members

Core Functions of the DHR Panel Quality assure IMR's and information reports – critical analyse and challenge the content, quality and accuracy Request amendments, clarification, further information if necessary Provide feedback to IMR authors and commissioners - utilise IMR self evaluation tool

Core Functions of the DHR Panel Ensure that the findings of parallel investigations are incorporated into the overview report Ensure that the overview report is of a high standard and adheres to DHR national guidance IMR's and the Overview report should adhere to the Birmingham DHR format and template

Core Functions of the DHR Panel Ensure that the overview report brings together the information and analysis from the IMR's and draws overall conclusions Ensure that contributing organisations and individuals are satisfied that their information is fully and fairly represented

Core Functions of the DHR Panel Agree the content of the Executive Summary and Overview Report and the recommendations contained therein The recommendations should translate into a specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely (SMART) action plan to improve practice and systems

Core Functions of the DHR Panel Ensure that the bereaved family receive feedback on the outcome of the review

Workshop 2 Producing an Accurate Sequence of Events Cheryl Harnett, CDOP Co-ordinator, BSCB

Overview of Producing a Chronology and Software Available What is a Chronology? Why is a Chronology Important? Step by Step Guide Dos Donts

What is a Chronology? First key step in compiling the Individual Management Review It maps out in date order the key events for a service or agency in relation to the named individuals involved in the Domestic Homicide Review It helps to establish the detailed nature of the contact that the service or professional had with the parties involved

Why is it Important? To provide an accurate sequence of events leading up to the serious incident for DHR Panel Helps to establish gaps in service provision and conflicts in agency accounts Helps to show the links between the different services involved in the case Key component of the integrated chronology that form part of the overall DHR analysis.

Step by Step Guide Open Word Document Provided Box will prompt to enable Macros – Click enable Macros Chronolator Licence Box will show – Click OK You should now have an empty table with only table headings Add your text ensuring that you follow the Dos and Donts guide

DO lay out dates in the format 21 September 2012 or 21/09/12. DO enter the time if your agency records this DO ensure that you have used a 0 and not a o at the beginning when completing the time. DO click on Sort Table on the chronolator toolbar (sort into ascending order). DO click on Check Table after completing the chronology. Errors will be highlighted in either yellow, for out of sequence or turquoise for boxes that must be filled DO complete all sections highlighted in turquoise, use Not Applicable if you have no information. Dos

Donts DONT leave errors on the table. DONT add times if your agency does not have or use them, leave this blank DONT put st nd rd or th on the end of numbers in the dates section. DONT give date ranges. ALWAYS complete the Mandatory Fields: Date, Was The Victim Seen and Was The Victim Seen Alone sections.

Chronolator guidance will be sent with the request to complete an Individual Management Review and Chronology Guidance can also be found on the following website:

Workshop 3 Getting the Quality Right – Evaluating IMRs Simon Cross, Business Manager, BSCB

Adverse evaluation feedback One IMR is judged good, ten are judged adequate and five are judged inadequate. The variable quality of these reports leads to our overall judgement of adequate for the review process as a whole. The overview report, recommendations, action plan and executive summary are all judged good. Source; Ofsted Evaluation Report

Home Office Quality Assurance Group A group of experts from statutory and voluntary agencies overseen by Home Office Assessed against national guidance Meet on a quarterly basis to assess report standards as well as identifying good and poor practice and training needs Reviews assessed as inadequate, CSP Chair will be responsible for ensuring the areas of concern are amended The Home Office Quality Assurance Group will be responsible for assessing progress identified at a national level

Focus on Quality Guidance, template & Audit tool intended to help IMR Authors Training and Mentoring available for IMR Authors Importance of Management role in quality assure and sign off DHR Panel – Robust challenge and constructive feedback Reports failing to meet required standard will require amendment Overview report comments on quality of IMRs DHR Steering Group aim to continuously improve DHR process - Improvement Plan Dissemination of exemplars of good practice

Now your turn - Group Exercise Read IMR Individually use the Evaluation Tool As a group use the Moderation Matrix to try and reach a consensus Identify any key issues for inclusion in evaluation feedback Plenary Session - Review against specimen answer Sharing exemplars of good IMR's

Workshop 4: SMART recommendations and action planning Joy Anibaba Project and Training Development Coordinator

SMART Recommendations Recommendations need to be:- S- specific M - measurable A - achievable R - realistic T - timely Avoid multiple recommendations

Types of Recommendations Resources Requires production of something Professional action Requires someone to take action rather than produce something Professional knowledge and skills Requires individuals to acquire or improve professional knowledge and skills

Specific Example of Non-Specific Doctors should receive child protection training. Who will be responsible for implementation? Which Doctors? What issue is the focus of the training?

Measurable Example - unable to measure Hospital records for babies and children must contain relevant information. Define relevant information Requires hindsight Which specific records?

Realistic Example of Unrealistic The Assistant Director Childrens Social Care should ensure that all referrals for family support receive a response within 2 hours. Specific - yes Measurable - yes X Not achievable, impractical deadline

Achievable Example of Not Achievable The Senior Nurse – Child Protection should ensure that a protocol for sharing information between health visitors and GPs is developed and implemented. Multiple Requires action outside their authority No line management responsibility for GPs or Health visitors

Timely Example of Non-Specific Child abuse investigators to receive FGM awareness training by 30 th April Specific -Yes Measurable -Yes Achievable -Yes Realistic- questionable Negotiated timescales for implementation

Organisation: Individual Management Review in Respect of Case: Date Commenced: The recommendations have been accepted and will be implemented by the agreed target date. We will submit a progress report within 2 months to the CSP. Recommendation (SMART) Action Required by Agency Implementation LeadTarget date for completion Summary of Action Taken & Date Received Finalisation date and Sign off by CSP