Our Networks
Improvement East facilitates key networks and groups across the region to support collaboration, sharing and innovation.
Children’s Improvement Board
The Eastern branch of the Association of the Directors of Children’s Services.
The aim of the Children’s Improvement Board is to improve outcomes for children and young people living in the Eastern Region by providing oversight, challenge and support to the region’s sector led improvement offer and children’s services performance across the region. It supports, directs and challenges the SLI programme in terms of the progress and implementation of the Regional Development Plan ensuring that all 11 LAs are participating. It champions and engages in sector led improvement with wider regional and national partners, including ADCS, Solace and LGA, encouraging engagement and ownership at a senior political and officer level within authorities.
The Children’s Improvement Board consists of the DCS lead for SLI, a lead member for Children’s Services, a lead Chief Executive as well as the DfE advisor and the regional LGA advisor.
Chair : Helen Lincoln (Executive Director Children, Families and Education, Essex)
Mettings: The board meets online twice a year.
Governance: The Children’s Improvement Board provides governance for the RIIA.
ADCS Network
The Eastern branch of the Association of the Directors of Children’s Services.
The ADCS Network offers strategic leadership and direction for Improvement East. Bi-annually, the network establishes regional priorities, which form the basis of the Regional Development Plan, based on the outcomes of the regional self-assessment and peer challenge process. It ensures collective engagement and monitors the progress of the Regional Development Plan.
Chair : Sara Tough (Executive Director of Children’s Services, Norfolk)
Meetings: The network meets on a quarterly basis, alternating between face to face and online meetings
Governance: The DCS Network provides governance for the networks in the RIIA.
Children’s Services Sector Led Improvement Leadership Network
The collaboration of senior leaders from social care across the 11 LAs in the East.
This network is the driving force behind improvement and innovation work in social care across the region. It provides the leadership to the Improvement East SLI programme and is leading the the Placement Sufficiency Regional Priority for the region.
Chairs: Nicky O’Shaughnessy (Director of Local Delivery, Essex) and Phil Watson (Service Director Family Help and High Needs, Norfolk) co-chair the meetings.
Meetings: The network meets on a quarterly basis
Governance: The CSC SLI Leadership Network reports into and take direction from the DCS Network. Other CSC SLI network group report into and take direction from the CSC SLI Leadership Network.
Education Leads
The collaboration of Education senior leaders from across the 11 local authorities in the Eastern Region.
This network meets to provide a forum to share knowledge, challenges, solutions and best practice with the aim to improve educational outcomes for children and young people living in the Eastern Region with a particular focus on vulnerable children and young people.
Chair: Clare Kershaw (Essex)
Meetings: The network face to face on a termly basis.
Governance: The Education Leads Network reports into the DCS Network.
SEND East
SEND East facilitates collaboration among local authorities across the region to enhance all aspects of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). It promotes the sharing of best practice, joint problem-solving, constructive challenge, and continuous improvement.
This work is led by Improvement East and the regional SEND lead, Sheelagh Sullivan, and is sponsored by Michael Marks, Director of Children’s Services in Southend and the designated lead DCS for the programme. The Regional Self-Evaluation and Peer Challenge process informs the identification of regional priorities.
The Strategic SEND Steering Group steers collaboration, innovation, and improvement efforts, driving the implementation of the Regional SEND Development Plan. All activities are undertaken in close collaboration with health partners, children and young people, and their families.
The SEND RIIA is working with Local Area Partnerships across the region on a variety of projects that support improving the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND and their families.
Eastern Region Front Door Forum
The collaboration of leaders with responsibility for Front Doors in each of the 11 local authorities in the Eastern Region.
This network meets to provide a form for exchanging knowledge, good practice, challenges, resources and information.
Chair: Lauraine Portwood (Essex)
Meetings: The network meetings on a Bi-monthly basis.
Governance: The Eastern Region Front Door forum reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network and oversees the Eastern Region Front Door Team Managers Practice Group.
Local Safeguarding Children Partnership Network
The collaboration of chairs, independent scrutineers and business managers from across the 11 LAs in the East
This network meets to support the East of England Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements (MASA) to meet their statutory obligations within Working Together 2026 in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and to support Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements in the East of England to continuously improve.
Chair: Nicky Pace (Hertfordshire)
Meetings: The network meets on a quarterly basis.
Governance: The LSCP Network reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network.
Child Protection Chairs Network
The collaboration of Child Protection Chairs from across the 11 LAs in the East
This network meets to share practice and other areas of mutual interest responding to regional, national, legislative, policy and practice/research. The group oversees the implementation of the joint transfer protocol.
Chair: Hannah Watt (Cambridgeshire)
Meetings: The network meets on a quarterly basis
Governance: The CP Chairs Network reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network.
DCS and Finance Leads Network
A network of DCSs and Finance Leads from across the region.
This network meets to provide a forum for exchanging knowledge, good practice, challenges, resources and information. It provides opportunities for benchmarking and learning from each other.
Chair: Jo Fisher (Hertfordshire)
Meetings: This Network meets quarterly
Governance: This network reports into CSC SLI Leadership Network
Early Help
The collaboration of Early Help leaders from across all 11 local authorities in the Eastern Region.
This network meets to provide a forum for exchanging knowledge, good practice, challenges, resources and information. It promotes the importance of Early Help within Children’s Services and celebrates its success.
Chair: Nicky O’Shaughnessy (Essex)
Meetings: The network meets on a quarterly basis
Governance: The Early Help Network reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network
Families First Partnership
The collaboration of Families First Partnership professionals from across the 11 LAs in the East.
To support the region in delivering the Families First Reforms, the RIIA has established a dedicated Community of Practice: the Eastern Region Families First Partnership Forum. This forum brings together all local areas to collaborate on the planning and implementation of the reforms, with a particular emphasis on the forthcoming changes to data requirements.
Representatives from the Department for Education (DfE) attend each session, providing national updates and offering participants the opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification.
Chair: Nicky O’Shaughnessy (Essex)
Meetings: The forum meets Bi-monthly to ensure continued momentum and shared learning in this rapidly evolving landscape.
Corporate Parenting Steering Group
The collaboration of Corporate Parenting professionals from across the 11 LAs in the East.
This network meets to share information, ideas and good practice, and to discuss challenges and solutions for issues facing Corporate Parenting across the region. The group works collaboratively within the region to develop products and resources to support excellent practice. Members of the group provide appropriate challenge and support to other members and their organisations, holding each other to account to ensure that we are promoting positive change.
Chair: Miranda Gittos (Hertfordshire)
Meetings: The network meets on a quarterly basis.
Governance: The CPSG reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network.
Principal Children and Family Social Worker Network
The collaboration of Principal Children & Family Social Workers from all 11 local authorities in the Eastern Region.
The PCFSW Network provides a forum for exchanging knowledge, good practice, challenges, resources and information about social work developments. Members collaborate to develop and share useful resources to support excellent social work practice. The network gives the opportunity to develop a collective voice to feedback key themes to the national network and the steering group.
Chairs: Paul McGee (Essex) and Christa Farwell (Peterborough)
Meetings: The network meets on a bi-monthly basis.
Governance: The PCFSW Network reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network.
Quality Assurance Network
The collaboration of Quality Assurance leaders from across the 11 local authorities in the Eastern Region.
This network meets to share good practice, challenges and solutions to Quality Assurance in Childrens’ Services. The group provides appropriate challenge and support to other members and their organisations. Holding each other to account to ensure that we are promoting positive change. Members of the group to ensure a Quality Assurance lens on regional priorities and the national agenda as part of a regional improvement journey.
Chair: Rachel Cogman (Central Bedfordshire) and Co Chair: Gillian Hobbs (Essex)
Meetings: The network meets on a quarterly basis.
Governance: The QA Networks reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network.
Leaving Care Network
The collaboration of Leaving Care leaders from across the 11 local authorities in the Eastern Region.
This network meets to share information, ideas and good practice, and to discuss challenges and solutions for issues facing care leavers across the region in order to improve the life chances of care leavers in line with their peers. The network supports the development and training of leaving care staff by holding regional conferences / events that are open to a wider cohort.
Chair: Melissa Jiggins (Cambridgeshire)
Meetings: The network meets online on a quarterly basis.
Governance: The Leaving Care Network reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network.
Performance Information Managers Group Network
The collaboration of Performance and Information Managers from across the 11 local authorities in the Eastern Region.
This group meets to share good practice, challenges and solutions to performance and data benchmarking in Childrens’ Services. Members ensure a data benchmarking lens on regional priorities and the national agenda as part of a regional improvement journey. The group supports and contributes to the work of the regional data hub.
Chair: Paul Dryden (Hertfordshire)
Meetings: The network meets online on a bi-monthly basis.
Governance: The PIMG reports into the CSC SLI Leadership Network.