East Lothian and Midlothian Public Protection Launch East and Midlothian Public Protection Team works across East Lothian and Midlothian and aims to support operational staff across partner agencies, by providing a level of expert advice and promoting consistency of practice. This “hub” with a staff presence from Social Work, Police and Health, will allow us to take forward our vision of an integrated approach to all aspects of Public Protection “across the lifespan” and will promote the understanding of the impact of trauma at all ages and stages of life. The team includes staff from Adult Support and Protection, Child Protection and Violence Against Women and Girls and is co-located with Police Scotland in the Public Protection Office, Brunton Hall, Musselburgh. This approach is strongly endorsed by East and Midlothian Critical Services Oversight Group (CSOG) comprising chief officers of all our partner agencies, who have led its evolution and will continue to provide governance and scrutiny of this critical area of work. The new East Lothian and Midlothian Public Protection arrangements were formally launched on Tuesday 21st April 2015 with a successful event at the Brunton Hall attended by around 100 multi-agency practitioners and managers of Public Protection services. After a warm welcome from Anne Thompson (Public Protection Team Manager), Mary Smith (Director of Education, Communities and Economy, Midlothian Council) endorsed this innovative approach to Public Protection on behalf of the East and Midlothian Critical Services Oversight Group (CSOG). Anne Neilson (Assistant Director for Public Protection, NHS Lothian and Chair of East and Midlothian Public Protection Committee) then explained the work of the streamlined Page 1 of 2 committee and spoke about the benefits, which are already apparent. Detective Superintendent Willie Guild then told us about Police risk and concern hubs and the newly launched Police Scotland National Child Abuse Investigation Unit, which he now heads up. This led us to the main attraction, Geese Theatre Company, who expertly led us through an interactive performance portraying the connectedness and cross cutting nature of different aspects of harm. The week progressed with the launch of the S.M.I.L.E. project (Support to Maintain Independent Living Effectively) on Wednesday 23rd April 2015, which saw around 80 people hear more about our local picture of domestic abuse and what’s available for those wishing to seek support. Funded by the Big Lottery, this project has enabled specialist domestic abuse support services to be introduced and existing services to expand and improve. We have also established a streamlined process to access prompt support following domestic abuse incidents seven days a week. Speakers included Colin Beattie (MSP, Midlothian North and Musselburgh), Alan Porte (Superintendent, Police Scotland) and Anne Thompson (Public Protection Team Manager). Lindsey Byrne (East and Midlothian Violence Against Women Co-ordinator) and Julie Watson (Operations Manager, Women’s Aid – East and Midlothian) informed us about the operational aspects of the new service. The highlight of the event was the dance performance, expertly performed by service users, which movingly portrayed women’s experiences of domestic abuse and how they have supported each other to gain the strength and courage to move on independently. The Thursday and Friday saw a few visitors to the Public Protection Office to meet the team and hear a bit more about our integrated service. We hope to encourage such an open door policy and look forward to meeting many more colleagues in due course. We are very interested in your views as to the next stage of progressing this approach and we would be grateful if you would take the time to complete this brief questionnaire: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EMPPO Page 2 of 2