Agenda item

Attendee:

-           James Harris - Strategic Director - People

-           Sally Ann Jenkins - Head of Children & Young Peoples Services,

-           Mary Ryan – Head of Corporate Safeguarding

The Head of Corporate Safeguarding presented a brief overview to the Committee and highlighted key areas for consideration. It was explained that annual corporate safeguarding report monitored, scrutinised and objectively planed on the themes of “safeguarding” being fundamentally embedded within all aspects of Council services, functions and duties. The report provided Member with essential and key information to allow them to effectively scrutinise the Council’s safeguarding practice, and

to update Members on the work that had been undertaken to improve arrangements for safeguarding and protecting children and adults who require specific Council services. The Officers invited Members questions on the report.

Members asked the following:

·                In response to questions from Member regarding DBS checks, the Officers confirmed DBS updates were carried out every 3 years. Responding to comments about the accuracy of the DBS checks the Officers acknowledged, the DBS check were accurate the day they were made, any offenses committed after this date were not captured. The Authority were working towards establishing good practices, the Authority was in a similar position to the Health Sector in finding ways of improving the safeguarding practices.

·                A Member enquired about the increasing demand on Social Services, with safeguarding concerns and budget cuts increasing, asking how the Safeguarding Hub dealt with those issues. Officers explained that although each service area was already extensively stretched, the proposals within the action plan were realistic within existing resources; they were cost effective without the requirement for any of the work to be out-sourced and would ensure compliance in terms of the Wales Audit Office recommendations. The Officer explained to the Committee that there were increases  on demands for those services, but as the area was one of growth, The Council were continuing to look at smarter ways of working, and how staff would be rewarded.

·                Members expressed concerns regarding the deadlines not clearly set out in the action plans; Members felt that there was very little measurable information within he report to ensure effective scrutiny could take place. Officers replied to Members explaining that the targets and measures that were reported on was outside of their control, but they would look at how they could include more information on deadlines in future reports.

·                A Member enquired about the Safeguarding Hub structure, asking Officers what were the implications of the two vacant social worker posts, and if that could have an impact in the future.  Officers confirmed that the posts were in fact no longer vacant, and felt that there were no concerns in the recruiting of staff, as any posts that became available could be advertised immediately. Staff were able to move around the service area to cover any gaps which reduced the need for agency staff, the service also had student Social Workers who spent around 6 months on placement, and the Officers were confident that these student would return to support the Service Area over the summer months.

·                Members asked if six Social Workers were an adequate number of staff, taking into consideration the amount of children the Authority look after. The Officers confirmed that the six Social Workers mentioned were the Duty Team. Officers also mentioned that Care Inspectorate Wales had recently completed an engagement visit and reported no concerns in this area.

·                Members of the Committee enquired whether the Safeguarding Hub had sufficient support from the Police. Officers replied explaining that communication between the Police and the Hub was very good and, measures would be put in place to ensure Police support was continual.

·                Members asked Officers to explain how the Authority ensured the safeguarding of children that were placed out of County. Officers confirmed that a child placed outside of the Authority would receive the same support as a child placed inside. All out of County placements were offered an advocate, all placements were regulated, and the service was committed to reviewing how the Authority could have brought children closer to home.

·                A Member expressed concern around the way key data for the Child Protection Unit was presented in the report. Members felt that the information needed to be more detailed, with the use of percentages and comparable data from previous years.  The Head of Corporate Safeguarding responded to the Committee Members observations ensuring the data would be made clearer and self-explanatory for ongoing reports.

The Chair thanked the Officers for attending.

Conclusion - Comments to the Cabinet

The Committee noted the Corporate Safeguarding and agreed to forward the minutes to the Cabinet as a summary of the issues raised.

The Committee wished to make the following comments to the Cabinet:

1.         The Committee noted that some of the information received was out of date such as the VAWDASV training figures.  It was recommended that in future annual safeguarding report reports contained up to date information on deadlines related to actions in the individual team plans. 

2.         The Committee requested that in future reports information was presented itself in a way that lends itself to scrutiny. For instance where possible using percentages instead of figures, and provide comparable data from previous years or other local authorities if that data is not available.