Agenda item

Context:

To inform Members of the introduction of the new Corporate Safeguarding Policy

Recommendations:

It is recommended that Members agree and adopt the Corporate Safeguarding Policy.

Key Issues

Safeguarding children and adults at risk has the very highest priority in the Council.

• Safeguarding, under the Social Services and Wellbeing Act (Wales) 2014, is recognised as everybody’s responsibility and considerable progress has been made over the last 5 years to systematically embed safeguarding culture, knowledge and practice.
• All staff, paid and unpaid, and Councillors share a responsibility both corporately and individually to ensure that children and adults at risk are treated with respect and protected from harm.
• Whilst the Council does have an existing safeguarding policy in place it is heavily focussed towards educational settings and other child and family services.

            Safeguarding is therefore firmly embedded in some Directorates and         service areas however there are varying levels of understanding as to          expectations in other parts of the organisation.

• This policy will be a mechanism to evaluate understanding, systems and training throughout the Council and ensures that safeguarding is firmly placed as core to the business of the council.

Member Scrutiny:

A Member commented that this was a hugely comprehensive report with high aspirations and questioned the membership of the Whole Authority Safeguarding Co-ordinating Group.  It was confirmed that the group is chaired by the Chief Officer, Social Care, Health and Housing.  The membership comprises Chief Officers or Heads of Service from each directorate plus representation from the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit.  It was explained that the aim of the group is to provide a comprehensive approach and effective governance.  It was confirmed that there is no member involvement in the Group but this could be considered.  The Chief Officer questioned if scrutiny through Select Committees provided enough assurance alongside reports to Cabinet and Council or if it was felt necessary to have member involvement in the Group which has a more operational role.

A Member agree that all councillors should be trained to Level 1 Safeguarding and queried how quickly training will be provided and asked how to ensure all members complete the training. It was confirmed that there is a session on 10^th July session at 2pm and that those who don’t attend will be identified to attend another session.

A Member asked how the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit will be monitoring the effectiveness of scrutiny and it was explained that representatives will attend Select Committee meetings, to present both their own reports but also to observe and monitor other items of business.  Members were reminded that all committee reports should contain a section to identify and address “Safeguarding Implications”.  The inclusion and quality of these statements will be sampled across all committees by the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit to scrutinise safeguarding arrangements.

The level and availability of training for volunteers was queried.  It was responded that support and training for volunteers is provided in a proportionate and convenient format.  It was explained that a new Volunteering Policy is being prepared that will rank the level of training against the volunteer role.