Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Board received a report of the Director of the Community and Children’s Services regarding an annual update of the Local Authorities Designated Officer (LADO). The LADO advised Governors that she was concerned not all relevant cases across the City of London Corporation were being referred to her so the profile of the reporting process had been raised during 2014/15. A Governor noted that the report contained some grammatical errors, the details of which would be provided to the Town Clerk for the report to be amended.

In response to a Governor’s question, the Head and Senior Deputy Head advised that unsubstantiated allegations did not remain on Teachers’ records unless the Police were involved, in which case it may be recorded on a DBS check. The Head added that Headteachers were required to report as much as possible so instances may be recorded as a matter of safety, although a committee could be called to determine whether or not a case should be recorded.

In response to a Governor’s question regarding the referral process, the LADO advised that a strategy meeting would be held within three working days of an allegation. The Police would be included if the allegation constituted a criminal offence. The LADO would continue to investigate the allegation if the case was not deemed to involve a criminal offence. If no evidence was found to substantiate the allegation, the case would be dismissed and this would be recorded to protect Teachers against malicious or vexatious allegations.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.