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Purpose, Role and Function

 1. A Whole Systems Approach

  • Lead the development of a National Vulnerability Strategy on behalf of the NPCC which will look to encompass other existing strategic plans, providing one coherent, comprehensive plan, informing and assisting police at a national and force level.
  • Conduct a review to inform policing’s understanding of internal governance structures and the join up with external partnership structures. This work will explore what effective governance looks like, roles and responsibilities and culture. It will inform the delivery of the National Vulnerability Strategy.
  • Build upon national learning including from Operation Soteria Bluestone, within the Governance Project above to explore opportunities with wider organisations including the College of Policing.
  • Work alongside the College of Policing, VAWG Taskforce and other stakeholders to develop a professionalisation programme for public protection, delivering a framework around which existing and new CPD products will form a curriculum for public protection officers and staff of all ranks.
  • Work to provide effective analysis for the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (the Panel), an independent expert advisory panel responsible for how the child safeguarding system learns from death and serious harm across partnerships and shape practice/ policy across partnerships.
  • Embed and develop our Equity Diversity and Inclusion action plan into all that we do.

2. Insight and Influence - Amplify knowledge/insight back into policing, shaping and driving strategic and practice improvements

  • Work with partners to develop, inform and support national strategic policing responses to understand and response to emerging threats including on VAWG and CSAE.
  • Own, develop and drive the National Vulnerability Action Plan (NVAP), the operational plan anticipated to sit within the National Vulnerability Strategy model. This includes supporting police to measure impact of NVAP work, progressing relevant national actions and maintaining the content based on emerging learning from national reviews/research.
  • Develop and deliver Peer Review capability for forces, aligned to the NVAP. Supportive reviews are lead by a team of subject matter experts from policing, academia and the voluntary sector to bring value in terms of knowledge, assessment, victim focus and academic insight into both the evidence and practice that underpins the NVAP actions.
  • Liaise proactively with policing and partners to coordinate and support multi-agency practice development, including national Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships The project focusses on leadership, accountability and independent scrutiny of local arrangements.
  • Work in collaboration with forces, relevant NPCC leads, College of Policing, NCA, HMICFRS and key partners to gather detailed understanding of both current practice and interventions deployed to address vulnerability and the serious violence threat and enable practice sharing.

3. Research/Review - Deliver projects to develop the evidence base regarding vulnerability and related serious crime

  • Commission and deliver key research projects to develop the evidence base around key policings perennial issues regarding vulnerability that inform practice.
  • Draw together learning from serious case reviews and those relating to other strands of vulnerability to support national learning and local strategic planning.
  • Systematically draw out learning from serious incident notifications (SIN); rapid reviews (RR); and Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (LCSPR) specifically relating to death and serious harm of children on behalf of the national child safeguarding practice review panel.
  • Shape evidence-based practice improvements across the vulnerability arena by generating a shared understanding of where most significant gaps in practice and knowledge are nationally, alongside identifying/promoting emerging innovative practice and help inform wider research activity.

4. Analysis and data - Work to increase policing’s understanding of the scale and nature of vulnerability.

  • Host a VAWG strategic analytical team which produces the VAWG Strategic Threat Risk Assessment (STRA) and provides a national analytical assessment of the scale, nature and key risks relating to VAWG based on current policing insight.
  • Work to support and inform the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce, lead by the Hydrant Programme. Together with the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) Programme, all teams are uniquely placed to offer support, advice and guidance to police forces, partners and stakeholders working in child protection and abuse investigation.
  • Drive the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Analyst Network to deliver products that support the tackling of CSAE with the most up-to-date and accurate data and analysis from policing.
  • Support continued improvements in the use of vulnerability-focused analytical resources in policing by identifying opportunities to build capability and de-conflict and improve current collections, enabling improved analysis/collective understanding of the threat.