Recommendation SP51: GMMH local structured risk assessment responsibility
From The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1, published 13 April 2026.
Recommendation
At the local level, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust should liaise with all of the relevant community healthcare organisations (including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Criminal Justice Liaison Services) to ensure that there is clarity about who is responsible for conducting complex structured risk assessments for children and young people who present a risk of violence to others.
In brief (written by this site)
In July 2026, HM Government reported that the Department of Health and Social Care has limited powers to direct NHS foundation trusts to implement this recommendation, but the Secretary of State had written to Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust to encourage implementation of recommendations aimed at it (Home Office response, Jul 2026). The record holds no update since the government's response of July 2026 (Home Office response, Jul 2026).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
DHSC has limited powers to direct NHS Foundation Trusts to implement recommendations 51 and 53. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has written to Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust to encourage implementation of recommendations aimed at them. Trusts have already confirmed that work has begun in relation to recommendation 53, and that they are on track to meet the implementation deadline of 13 October 2026.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
The government's response to Phase 1 (CP 1623, 2 July 2026) agreed with all 67 recommendations in one sentence, and names only 39 of them individually. Where a recommendation is not named, the response shown is the passage the response gives for the group it belongs to (the recommendations for organisations outside central government, or the recommendations to policing bodies), which is not a response to that recommendation alone; the response does not list the members of any group. The 10 recommendations for Phase 2 of the Inquiry to consider show no response: the response introduces them (paragraph 20) but answers none of them. The government accepts the recommendations that are for central government to deliver. Where a recommendation is for an organisation outside central government, the government's agreement is not that organisation's acceptance.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust has been found in the sources searched (last checked 2 July 2026). This is separate from the response above.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department of Health and Social Care
Response