The purpose of this audit is for the Local Authority to provide evidence under S175 of the 2002 Education act, requiring all schools, including maintained, academies, independent or any who are registered with the Department for Education are fulfilling their statutory safeguarding responsibilities. In essence, this directly links to the requirements within Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE).
The audit should be completed by the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), or in their absence the Deputy DSL. Schools are encouraged to see this as an excellent opportunity to undertake an annual audit of safeguarding across the setting, identifying any areas that the setting may decide to develop further to be included in wider school development or improvement plans. Involving the Safeguarding Governor in completing this audit is appropriate. The DSL should report the completion of this audit, and any areas for development to their governing board.
The second part of the audit is to consider any key initiatives across Devon and to identify what is working well for schools and to inform the Local Authority and wider safeguarding partners where further support or development is needed. While this section is not mandatory, we ask for your support to complete so that any analysis represents all Devon schools that in turn is presented to the Local Authority and colleagues within the Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership.
To discuss the S175 audit further please email: caroline.pinsent@devon.gov.uk