International government officials have been visiting a children’s services centre to see how they can utilise their methods back in their own countries.

Jenny Mikakos, the Australian minister for families, children and youth affairs, was the latest to compliment Harrow Council on its work in this sector.

She dropped into the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), which she described as “pioneering” and praised the “strong culture of partnership between all the relevant agencies”.

MASH focuses on information-sharing to help prevent abuse by identifying children at risk. Ms Mikakos hopes to adopt similar methods in child protection for her Early Childhood Reform Plan in the state of Victoria.

Cllr Christine Robson, responsible for children, young people and schools at Harrow Council, said: “We took great pride in showing Ms Mikakos our fantastic MASH unit.

“The team do amazing work keeping children safe, which is our priority in Harrow – when someone wants to come all the way from Australia to see your work in action, you know you’re doing it right.”

The minister’s visit came just a week after officials from Bulgaria travelled to The Firs Respite Unit to see how they could replicate the service back home.