Regulation 19 Notification of significant events

(1)

In respect of the events at any children’s home mentioned in paragraph (2), the responsible authority shall forthwith notify—

(a)

insofar as it is reasonably practicable—

(i)

the parents of any child concerned,

(ii)

any person who is not a parent of any child concerned but who has parental responsibility for such a child, and

(iii)

any other person who has undertaken to meet any fees or expenses incurred in accommodating any child concerned at the home;

(b)

except in the case of the event mentioned in paragraph (2)(b), the Director of Public Health^f1 of the Health and Social Services Board within whose area the children’s home is situated;

(c)

where the responsible authority is not an authority—

(i)

the authority within whose area the home is situated, and

(ii)

the registration authority;

(d)

in respect of the events mentioned in paragraph (2)(a), (b) and (c), the Department, except in relation to paragraph (2)(a) where the child is being looked after by an authority^f2; and

(e)

in respect of the event mentioned in paragraph (2)(c), a constable.

(2)

The events referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a)

the death of a child accommodated at the children’s home;

(b)

any conduct on the part of a member of staff of the home which is, or may be such, in the opinion of the responsible authority, that he is not, or as the case may be, would not be a suitable person to be employed in work involving children;

(c)

the suffering of serious harm by a child accommodated at the home;

(d)

any serious accident involving a child accommodated at the home;

(e)

any serious illness of a child accommodated at the home; and

(f)

the outbreak in the home of any notifiable infectious disease to which the Public Health Act (Northern Ireland) 1967^f3 applies.

(3)

Any notification given with respect to the death of a child shall give such details as to the circumstances as is known to the responsible authority.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: Article 32 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (S.I. 1991/194 (N.I. 1)) provides that the Chief Administrative Medical Officer of a Health and Social Services Board shall be known as the Director of Public Health of that Board
f2: Equivalent provision is made in these circumstances by Article 34(1) of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995
f3: 1967 c. 36 (N.I.); Schedule 1, which specifies notifiable diseases, was substituted by the Schedule to the Public Health Notifiable Diseases Order (Northern Ireland) 1990 (S.R. 1990 No. 66)