Keeping children safe is a priority for this government, and this is why we are delivering the most significant overhaul of children’s social care in a generation. We deeply sympathise with calls to more effectively safeguard children and we recognise that fostering a culture of proactive information sharing amongst safeguarding professionals is critical to the early identification of need and risk, hence the facilitation of better support provision to prevent escalation.

Through our landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we have set out to improve multi-agency information sharing, introduce a responsive family help system, and sharpen the child protection system. These reforms, taken together, are intended to better safeguard children, and stop them from falling through the cracks.

It is only when safeguarding partners have a fuller understanding of a child that they can effectively assess risk and take the most appropriate action. Rightly, the proposed Child Risk Disclosure Scheme highlights the importance of empowering and encouraging safeguarding practitioners to proactively share information relevant to a safeguarding concern, including where information relates to a risk posed by another person in a child’s life. Whilst the Government is not minded to introduce the elements of a Child Risk Disclosure Scheme requiring police to disclose information to parents and guardians, proposals to strengthen multi agency responses and earlier safeguarding help are already included in the package of reforms we are taking forward.

We are introducing a new Information Sharing Duty as set out in clause 4 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. By legally obliging statutory safeguarding partners to share information across agencies where there is a concern relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, we are ending misconceptions about when information can and cannot be shared. Crucially, this extends to the sharing of information about other individuals for the same purpose, enabling practitioners to act and inform families as appropriate.

We are also exploring means of reducing friction in sharing information across agencies through technological improvements. This includes delivering on our manifesto commitment to introduce a consistent identifier for children, to allow data to be shared more efficiently and accurately by linking records together to improve join-up across services.

Once needs are identified, our wider reforms will ensure children and families receive the appropriate support. Through the Families First Partnership Programme, we are committed to delivering the national rollout of Family Help – a new model of responsive early support that places children and families at the centre of its design, intended to prevent problems from escalating.

Where need does escalate, or concerns are of a greater gravity, we are sharpening the child protection system and ensuring strong multi-agency protocols on a local level through the introduction of Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams. These will bring experts together across agencies to better identify cases where children are suffering, or are at risk of suffering, significant harm. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill places a duty on safeguarding partners to implement this on a local level, alongside measures to strengthen the role of education and childcare settings in safeguarding arrangements.

Alongside reforms to children’s social care and in recognition of the impact domestic abuse has on children, we introduced Operation Encompass in November 2025. This is a statutory duty that requires police to notify a child’s education setting where they have attended a domestic abuse incident in a child’s home, regardless of if they were present.

Regarding multi-agency protocols where child contact and custody are being considered, we affirm that the welfare of children is the paramount concern in family court proceedings. Established risk assessments and multi-agency safeguarding arrangements are already in place and we are taking a step further by delivering a package of reforms to the family court to enhance safeguarding of, and support for children. This includes our decision to repeal the presumption of parental involvement from the Children Act 1989, and our work to expand the private law Pathfinder model, which promotes safeguarding through multi-agency collaboration, early identification of risk and expert support in cases involving domestic abuse.

Through these reforms, we hope to bring about fundamental change – to lay the foundations for a system that is responsive, champions professional curiosity, keeps children safe and helps families thrive. We will continue to consider where we can go further to strengthen safeguarding arrangements and encourage good practice on a local level, either through future legislation or the implementation of these measures.

Department for Education