Agenda item

This report enables the Committee to review the first annual report of the Corporate Safeguarding Board after it was set up in March 2015.

(a)        Councillor Graham Hinchey, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Performance, and Chair of the Corporate Safeguarding Board will be in attendance and may wish to make a statement;

(b)        Tony Young (Director of Children’s Services) will introduce the report and be available to answer Members’ questions;

            (c)        Questions from Committee Members.

The Chairperson welcomed Councillor Graham Hinchey, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Performance and Chair of the Corporate Safeguarding Board and Tony Young Director of Children’s Services to the meeting.

The Chairperson invited the Cabinet Member to make a statement in which he stated that he became Chair of the Corporate Safeguarding Board last August and this has given the Cabinet another view of Corporate Safeguarding, which doesn’t deal with operational issues but promotes looking after young people corporately; consisting of things such as DBS checks and implementing processes across directorates.  He added that it is important to raise the profile of Corporate Safeguarding as it is the responsibility of all who work for the Council; alongside this there needed to be the appropriate funds for adequate training.  This Annual Report is the first one produced and is in draft format.

The Chairperson invited the Director of Social Services to make a statement in which he welcomed the Cabinet Member taking on Chair of the Board; he stated that previously Corporate Safeguarding had been seen as a service responsibility, but it now has a raised profile and it is understood that it is not just the responsibility of social services and schools.  With reference to the Annual Report, the Director reiterated that it was in draft format and needed work to be done with regard to formatting and references to Audit had to be removed.  He stated that the key issue was that audit had identified that too few staff understood safeguarding, who the lead officers were etc. and that all staff needed to be brought up to speed on the issue; this would take time as it would need embedding but progress was being made.  It was important that other Board members understand their roles; performance management frameworks had now been done and responsible officers and their roles had now been identified; training had been initiated which included a video being produced as a training tool for staff who did not work in the safeguarding environment; there was a Member protocol and the topic had already been taken to Standards and Ethics Committee and Full Council.

The Chairperson noted that things seemed to have moved on from the position stated in the report; he asked whether there were responsible officers from across all directorates and was advised that there were.

The Chairperson invited questions and comments from Members:

• Members considered it would be helpful to have the responsible officers named; officers advised that they were not named in the Annual Report as they are subject to change but that they are named in the Member protocol for reference.  Members noted that the WAO had stated that roles needed to be clarified so they should be clearly stated; officers agreed that the report could include the post name rather than the post holder.

• Members sought clarification on the make of the Corporate Safeguarding Board and were advised that they were senior officers, all Operational Manager level or above.

• With reference to performance management, a question was asked about whether target dates had been met or were ongoing.  The Director advised that the plan related to 2015/16 and that all but 3.3 had been completed.  Members noted that it was classed as Amber and sought clarification on this; officers advised that when the plan was written in 15/16, colour coding made reference to the priority level not whether it was completed or not.

• Members discussed the reporting process of other boards such as the LSCB and how this feeds to the Corporate Safeguarding Board; officers advised that LSCB and LSAB were embedded boards with a National approach; the Corporate Safeguarding Board replaces an inadequate arrangement where no policies or structures were in place; this was the first year of the Board aiming to put this right and now it was time to deliver.

• A Member considered that there was not enough information in the annual report to satisfy point 4 of the WAO proposal regarding Scrutiny; the Director stated that the report was in draft format and needed more work; bringing the draft to scrutiny at this stage was a means of consulting; only having been established last year it had taken time to get the mechanics in place and that next year officers wanted Members to be assured that they are doing what they say they are doing; WAO have seen the responses and declared that they are satisfied and that foundations have been laid appropriately.  The Cabinet Member added that good progress had been made in the past 8 months or so, working with Caerphilly to get faster DBS checks; training programmes being drawn up and improvements on referral processes being implemented. 

Members considered that the report didn’t evidence any of this progess and lacked information making it difficult to scrutinize.  Officers agreed that it was a light report as it was starting point, and that next year it would be significantly evidenced.

• Members discussed training and asked how it would be delivered and monitored; the Director stated that induction was very important, the video that had been produced was very helpful and that parts of it was it relevant to each directorate so that training reflects the nature of the work of the officers; there would be training and briefings for staff and also e-based learning packages; as part of performance reporting training would need to be signed off and the percentage of staff trained would be reported.  The Chairperson noted that committee could ask at a future meeting how much training had been signed off.

The Chairperson thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for attending the meeting, giving their presentations and statements and for answering Members questions.

AGREED – That the Chairperson writes on the Committee’s behalf to the Cabinet Member to convey their comments and observations.