59 Response Accepted in Part AI-assessed

National LADO standards

Recommendation

The Department for Education and the Welsh Government should: introduce a set of national standards for local authority designated officers in England and in Wales to promote consistency; and clarify in statutory guidance that the local authority designated officer can be contacted for informal advice as well as when a concern or allegation needs to be referred.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
AI analysis did not return a result for this recommendation.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 19 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
E
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part UK Government
22 May 2023

On 30 June 2022, the UK government stated that it was considering the scope and timetable for a review of the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children. It stated that it will consider revised content on the role of local authority designated officers, and that it will consider running a full public consultation on changes to the statutory guidance. On 30 June 2022, the Welsh Government stated that in most, if not all, cases designated officers are qualified social workers and, as such, already adhere to professional standards. However, in addition, Social Care Wales are working on national minimum standards for safeguarding training.

Read Full Response
Source
Inquiry IICSA
Report The Residential Schools Investigation Report 10 Mar 2022
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Department for Education Primary
Themes & Tags
Staff training and development Lado Standards Guidance
Recommendation age 4.0 yrs
Last formal update 1037 days ago