Next steps in child protection, policy and practice. a perspective from england

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. I am very pleased to be able to do so at such an important time for all of you who are involved in children's services in Northern Ireland. Today I want to share with you the key points of the Department of Health's strategy for taking forward the refocusing debate in England and some of the ways in which change has been implemented by local child care agencies. I will not address die Welsh context as I am not familiar with it in any detail. I do know, however, that agencies there have been working hard to address these issues at a time of both change and stress as they have been involved in local government reorganisation, and the Clwyd Inquiry is ongoing.