Child safety is ‘top priority’ for Fife’s partners

The chairman of Fife’s chief officers’ public safety group has insisted children’s safety is the “top priority” for all partners.

Steve Grimmond was responding to criticism in a BBC documentary broadcast on Wednesday of significant case reviews (SCRs) carried out in Fife following the deaths of Liam Fee, Madison Horn and Mikaeel Kular.

He said: “Sadly we have experienced three significant case reviews in Fife over the past three years relating to a tragic child death. The circumstances surrounding each of these cases has been very different and I’d like to reassure people we have been working with partners locally and nationally over the past few years to make sure our child protection services are of the highest quality and that we are continually reviewing and improving our practices.

“Since 2015, here in Fife we publish and publicise the results of significant case reviews to promote learning as widely as possible across all appropriate agencies both within Fife and across the country.

“We have fully acknowledged and accepted the findings of these reviews and that we could have managed aspects of each case more effectively. What is published from reviews is based on legal advice, balancing out issues of personal data protection and what learning can be drawn from these type of tragic events.

“This approach protects the personal information of families, and, with our partners, we are very clear on our responsibilities in this area while allowing what can be made public to be available.

“As part of this process all the reviews within Fife have considered full details of agency involvement in reaching their conclusions.”