Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed officers, Anne Marie Harkin and Ron Price from the Wales Audit Office, who were present to provide the Council with the Wales Audit Office Report into Safeguarding Arrangements within the Kerbcraft Scheme in Monmouthshire County Council.

The Cabinet Member expressed disappointment with the findings relating to the Kerbcraft scheme.  He wished to assure that this authority does its utmost to ensure a safe an environment as possible in all that it does.  He reassured Members that in terms of safeguarding, a tremendous amount of work has been done to date and we must redouble our efforts.  It was added that whilst we rightly scrutinise the report, we do not completely lose the context.

Following presentation of the report the Chief Officer, Social Care and Health addressed Council and stated that it is a sobering experience to be in receipt of a report advising that we are providing a service that is putting children at risk because of continuing weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements.  She added that we now need to act decisively; thoughtfully and transparently to address shortcomings.  It was important to hold on to the fact that Kerbcraft is an important service and she concluded that it is critical we learn the wider lessons from this report.

During debate the following points were noted:

The Leader thanked officers for their attendance, noting the importance of the sobering messages, and recognised the shortcomings identified.  He added that should he be fortunate to return as Leader after May 2017 there is further work we can do to strengthen our safeguarding function.

A Member added that the Labour Group would ensure this issue would be on the agenda, and stressed that Council should be alerted of such vital issues.

The Chair of Children and Young People Select Committee questioned why this report had not been through the scrutiny process.  It was noted that Scrutiny Officer was among the list of consultees, but there was no further explanation.  The Chief Executive Officer advised that the nature of the report requires Full Council consideration, and the timeline meant this would be the only opportunity for scrutiny.

Councillor Howarth requested clarification surrounding the grant for Kerbcraft from Welsh Government, and asked why this had not been itemised.

Councillor Hayward expressed that the safety of children should not be retrospective, and given that this Council is considering embracing shared space in some Monmouthshire towns, he asked the Cabinet Member what assurances he could provide regarding the shard space schemes.  In response Councillor Burrows thanked the Member for the question and referred to the Head of Operations.  We heard that shared space schemes referred to how we manage traffic within our public highways, risk assessments are inherent within the designs and these matters are taken into account.

Several Members expressed concern and sought assurances that there are no other areas of our provision where concerns are reported.  It was of particular concern that WAO had stated that they had been provided with partial and misleading information, and further information was requested regarding action taken with the staff involved. 

It was noted that the Kerbcraft scheme provides an important service, and through a lack of process and governance, we had potentially put at risk the people providing the service, as well as our children.  Also noted, there had been no formal review or reporting.

It was suggested that as Kerbcraft is funded by Wales Government and similar programmes run in other Councils, this report should be shared, and highlight the problems within our procedures, to allow other authorities to learn from our mistakes.

In response to Members concerns the Chief Officer for Social Care and Health addressed Council.  She stated that in reflecting on the seriousness of the report, it was important to note this is not a child abuse situation, but children being placed at ‘potential’ risk due to inadequate safeguarding around the recruitment of volunteers.  With regards to the personnel issues an internal preliminary investigation has been instigated   Actions will be taken forward, ensuring proper scrutiny of the actions.

In summing up the Cabinet Member shared the concern of learning about the report so late in the day, or even the existence of this particular activity, and agreed with everything said in the chamber today

Ms. Harkin of WAO was grateful for the reassurances that improvements will be made and welcomed the responses to the recommendations.

Upon being put to the vote Council resolved to agree the recommendations:

·         That the Council receive the Wales Audit Office Report on the Kerbcraft Scheme.

·         That the Council accept the statutory recommendations in the report, consider the current position against the recommendations and agree the actions to address them.