Agenda item

Purpose:

This purpose of this report is:

·         To evaluate the progress of Monmouthshire County Council’s key safeguarding priorities, in the period April – October 2017, using identified measures to highlight progress, identify risks and set out clear improvement actions and priorities for further development.

·         To inform Members about the effectiveness of safeguarding in Monmouthshire and the work that is in progress to support the Council’s aims in protecting children and adults at risk from harm and abuse.

·         To inform Members about the progress made towards meeting the standards in the Council’s Corporate Safeguarding Policy approved by Council in July

            2017.

Members received this report at Council on 14th December 2017 however there had not been the opportunity for the report to be scrutinised by Adult Select Committee prior to Cabinet and Council. The report was scrutinised by CYP Select on 13^th November 2017.

Recommendations:

Members are requested to:

·         Note the key safeguarding risks and approve the priority improvement actions as set out at Appendix 2 to this report.

·         Endorse the evaluation of safeguarding progress set out in Appendix 5 to this report.

Key Issues:

This safeguarding evaluation is based on activity and information from April 2017 – October 2017. It builds upon the previous progress review reported in March 2017. The timing of this report reflects a biannual reporting cycle to Select Committees, Cabinet and Council. This reporting period saw the approval of Monmouthshire County Council’s Corporate Safeguarding Policy which extended the policy scope to cover statutory duties for both children and adults at risk in line with the Social Services and Well Being (Wales) Act (2014).

The analysis within this report reflects current legislation and policy and draws

on data and information concerning both groups.

1. Good Governance:

It is recognised that good progress has taken place in regard to previous recommendations made in regard to the Councils Senior and Directorate level. Changes at Regional Board level and within National Policy will required a continued planned response.

2. Safe Workforce

Whilst recognising that Safe Recruitment processes are well embedded, a new corporate roll out of the SAFE audit’s across the Authority has been completed. This has highlighted the significant Safeguarding Training programme to ensure the authority is compliant with the Revised Corporate Policy.

3. Preventative Approach

The new focus on the development of a Preventative agenda has led to increased partnership working with developing within Community Hubs and within the Community itself. Changes and ambiguity under the SSWA have changed the responsibility and accountability within early support services, and this developing work will need to link carefully within the authorities statutory responsibility.

4. Robust Protection

The Safeguarding Processes have been embedded within Child and Vulnerable Adult protection for a long time. Within Children’s Services the ongoing agenda of change has created a good time in which to review current CP processes and procedures, and to ensure staff understand the requirements and expectations of their role and task. Further to this, where pressures both internally and externally are identified safe practice must be supported by a clear infrastructure of Risk Management Frameworks, clear procedures, models and tools. The creation and

development of joint Adult and Children’s Safeguarding teams/Unit allows opportunities to consider how best to identify opportunities for “joined up” work and models of working together prior to the revised All Wales guidance for both Vulnerable Children and Adults.

5. Safe Services

Whilst there has been an established approach to contract monitoring in commissioned services for some time, this is no doubt where future understanding of how we scrutinise and Quality Assure commissioned service’s will develop most.

Member Scrutiny:

The Head of Adult Services and Corporate Safeguarding Programme Lead introduced the report noting that it has already been considered by Children and Young Peoples Select Committee (with Adults Select Committee invited), Cabinet and Council.  This is a collaborative report by a number of authors.  Members were advised that there is no Appendix 5.

It was commented that the report is a difficult to read and understand with no clear overall responsibility.  It was commented that a lot of measures have been undertaken but improvement is not necessarily visible.  It was responded that the corporate approach is broad and overarching.  The wider context of the report is how to disseminate to other services effectively.

It was queried why the report had not been seen by Adults Select Committee prior to Council and Cabinet, and responded that this was due to timing issues.  The Committee was reminded that there was an invitation to Adults Select Committee to attend Children and Young People Select Committee when the report was considered.  A Member requested an A4 sheet with a synopsis of the main points for all reports to committees.

A Member challenged the self-evaluation score of 16/30 on 5 areas and if this is matter of concern.  It was responded that context and proportionality was important plus the identification of what good looks like.  Self-assessment scores are relative and must be proportionate and realistic within context.  The scores identify where there are problems or systems that need to be improved. The Member was reassured by the answer provided.  It was queried if the self-evaluation is annual and explained that there will be a 6 monthly update provided.

A Member commented that more needs to be done for new members e.g. speed reading courses and provision of skills to read and pick out salient points. A Member requested an A4 sheet with a synopsis of the main points for all reports to committees.

Reassurance was sought regarding commissioning of services and responded that this has been an area of enquiry for the whole authority safeguarding group to ensure a robust approach to contracts and that safeguarding is entrenched.  It was explained that work is ongoing and an update on compliance across the council will be provided in May.

It was queried if there are shared self-assessment criteria with other authorities to ensure accurate comparison with other councils.  It was responded that it is solely self-assessment for Monmouthshire at the current time.

The Chair questioned why Elected Members were not DBS checked apart from those who are school governors.  It was explained that Monmouthshire is the only council in SE Wales to check all governors, adding that there is no legal requirement for Elected Members to be checked under the criteria set by the Home Office.  Only those persons in regular unsupervised contact with children or vulnerable adults are required to apply for a DBS disclosure check.  It was also added that it is possible to have a portable DBS certificate instead of multiple certificates.

The importance of preserving the personal safety of elected members was emphasised.