Hampshire Police praised for progress over child protection but still need to improve, inspectors say

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspected how well Hampshire Constabulary keeps children safe in June last year.

This led to recommendations in the Hampshire – National child protection inspection report.

Areas raised included police needing to respond to incidents faster when there is a risk to children.

The force was also told to share information with partners sooner in online abuse investigations; and to improve its systems and processes for managing those who pose a risk to children.

In June 2022, HMICFRS returned to the force to undertake a post-inspection review.

The report, in a summary of the inspection findings, said: ‘The constabulary has committed a great deal of resources, time and energy to improving outcomes for children and making improvements in line with our recommendations.

‘Existing constabulary governance processes have been used well to oversee improvement activity. There is a clear commitment from senior officers to child protection and this was evident throughout our inspection.

‘The constabulary has taken steps to better understand the service it provides to children.’

Learning was shared throughout the constabulary and where relevant statutory safeguarding partners were invited to participate through safeguarding partnerships activities to improve multi-agency practice.

Praise for investing in key resources were also raised, though issues with capacity were highlighted. ‘This shows a commitment to ensuring that the service children receive from the constabulary is responsive to the level of need and risk,’ the report said.

‘Despite this, we found problems with capacity in some departments and teams. In some areas this is undermining the good work completed by the constabulary since the 2021 inspection.

‘But it is positive that work is underway through the demand and capacity review to further consider how services can be implemented more efficiently.’

Contact management centre staff have received more training but the ‘demand from calls for service is outstripping capacity’ meaning incidents involving children are ‘often delayed’.

The constabulary has a target to attend 75 per cent of priority incidents within an hour but inspectors found this target wasn’t being met with only 54 per cent being attended within an hour.

As an example, the report said a 16-year-old boy reported his mother had attacked him before they had a fight as the child tried to defend himself. The child said his mum had bi-polar disorder and had not been taking her medication for five months. Two days after the incident had been reported, the boy hadn’t been seen.’

Hampshire Constabulary was said to have improved its practices in relation to missing children. But the report added: ‘It needs to make sure that its response is consistently effective and appropriate to the risks identified to missing children.

‘There is an inconsistent response when children are reported missing. But we saw some good longer-term work when children are reported missing regularly.’

The report concluded: ‘Hampshire Constabulary has made good progress in response to our 2021 recommendations. But the force recognises that it still needs to improve in some areas to provide consistently better outcomes for children.’