Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places a duty on key people and bodies to make arrangements to ensure that their functions are discharged with regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children4. The application of this duty will vary according to the nature of each agency and its functions.

The key people and bodies that are covered by the duty are:

• local authorities, including district councils5;
• the police;
• the probation service;
• NHS bodies(Strategic Health Authorities, Designated Special Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts, NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts and NHS Direct6);
• organisations (currently the Connexions Service) providing services under section 114 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000;
• Youth Offending Teams;
• Governors/Directors of Prisons and Young Offender Institutions;
• Directors of Secure Training Centres; and
• the British Transport Police.

The section 11 duty means that these key people and bodies must make arrangements to ensure two things. Firstly, that their functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and secondly, that the services they contract out to others are provided having regard to that need.

The duty does not give agencies any new functions, nor does it over-ride their existing functions. It, however, requires them to carry out their existing functions in a way that takes into account the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The section 11 duty complements the duty placed by section 175 of the Education Act 2002 on Local Education Authorities and the governing bodies of both schools and further education institutions to make arrangements to carry out their functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Local authorities should, therefore, follow this guidance in conjunction with the guidance Safeguarding Children in Education (Department for Education and Skills, 2004a). Proprietors of independent schools also have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils at school under section 157 of the Education Act 2002 and the Education (Independent Schools Standards) England Regulations 2003. The Safeguarding Children in Education guidance issued by the Secretary of State in September 2004 is summarised in Appendix A.
The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (2003; 2004) supports the section 11 duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It sets out 11 standards to be met by health, social and educational services by 2014. Standard 5 requires services to promote and safeguard the welfare of children and to ensure all staff are suitably trained and aware of action to take if they have concerns about a child’s welfare.

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