In just over a week's time – on 17 March – the ~Improvement and Development Agency~ (IDeA) and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) will launch Signposts, an interactive toolkit project designed to put in place robust local arrangements to safeguard children and to help them achieve better outcomes.

Most top-tier councils are well on the way to bringing together education and children's services into new children's services departments, led by directors of children's services. One of the most challenging of these is the duty placed on them by the Children Act 2004 to co-operate with partners to safeguard and improve the wellbeing of children and young people. Prior to the act, guidance on this matter would be given by the director of social services. They were legally responsible for putting in place a framework of arrangements to identify and protect children at risk of harm in their area. They would look for the assistance of the Area Child Protection Committee (ACPC) to draw up and monitor local arrangements to ensure close working between the key agencies (NHS, police and council).