Lincolnshire Child Death Overview Panel Terms of Reference
Purpose
The Child Death Overview Panel will fulfil the requirements as described in Chapter 5 of
Working Together to Safeguard Children to collect and analyse information about every
death of a child aged under 18 years of age in Lincolnshire with a view to:
• identifying any matters relating to the death or deaths that are relevant to the
welfare of children in the area and to public health and safety
• considering whether it is appropriate for any action to be taken by anyone in relation
to their findings
• taking action to inform the necessary person
Functions
• to collect and collate information about each child death, seeking relevant
information from professionals;
• to analyse the information obtained, including the report from the Child Death
Review Meeting (CDRM), in order to confirm or clarify the cause of death, to
determine any contributory factors, and to identify learning arising from the child
death review process that may prevent future child deaths;
• to make recommendations to all relevant organisations where actions have been
identified which may prevent future child deaths or promote the health, safety and
wellbeing of children;
• to notify local Safeguarding Partners when it suspects that a child may have been
abused or neglected;
• To notify the Significant Incident Review Group (sub-group of the LSCP) where
there has been an incident that may require further review, this may include
examples of good practice.
• to notify the Medical Examiner (when appointed) and the doctor who certified the
cause of death (to be removed when Medical Examiner appointed), if it identifies
any errors or deficiencies in an individual child's registered cause of death. Any
correction to the child’s cause of death would only be made following an application
for a formal correction;
• to provide specified data to NHS Digital and then, once established, to the National
Child Mortality Database;
• to produce an annual report for CDR partners on local patterns and trends in child
deaths, any lessons learnt and actions taken, and the effectiveness of the wider
child death review process; and
• to contribute to local, regional and national initiatives to improve learning from child
death reviews, including, where appropriate, approved research carried out within
the requirements of data protection.
