A new child safeguarding service launched in Rochdale is expected to ‘plug the gaps’ between agencies and improve protection for young people.

Rochdale BC has joined forces with Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the borough’s local NHS to launch the Multi-Agency Screening Service (MASS), which aims to boost communication, understanding and analysis of safeguarding intelligence in the region.

The Home Affairs Select Committee last year criticised managers in Rochdale for being ‘inexcusably slow’ to acknowledge children were being sexually abused in their borough.

Introduction of the MASS comes after Rochdale BC’s children’s services were also served with an Improvement Notice by the secretary of state in November.

Once launched, the MASS is expected to immediately identify and assess the needs of children young people as soon as an employee or member of the public raises concerns.

Services will be run by representatives from children’s social care, the police, health workers and early help advisors, supported by the youth offending team, alongside probation, housing and education welfare services.

‘At the core of the MASS is a greatly enhanced level of collaboration and communication with our partners, and we are confident that this type of joined-up working will create a more effective system for keeping our children and young people safe,’ director of children’s services at Rochdale BC, Gail Hopper, said.

Chief officer of NHS Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale, Lesley Mort, said: ‘Too often, the gaps and boundaries between agencies are highlighted as the reasons why vulnerable children and young people aren‘t protected as well as they should be – too often, the intelligence gathered by individual agencies is lost and not passed on appropriately.

‘In Rochdale we have been determined to plug these gaps. The health sector in Rochdale borough is confident that this is a more efficient approach to dealing with concerns and cases, and will result in better protection for local children and young people.’

Superintendent Alistair Mallen from the Rochdale division, GMP said: ‘The embedding of our specialist public protection police officers within the MASS will ensure crucial information in relation to the safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults within Rochdale will be shared and assessed in a dynamic way. This includes getting the right service, to the right people, at the right time.’