Agenda item

ANNUAL SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS AT RISK UPDATE (2016-17)

Meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Tuesday, 19th September, 2017 7.30 pm (Item 45.)

REPORT OF THE ACTIVE COMMUNITIES MANAGER

To inform the Committee of the procedures in place that govern how staff and members deal with concerns about children and adults at risk in order to maintain our statutory duty to safeguard their welfare and the ongoing work being undertaken to ensure that these procedures are understood and followed throughout the organisation.

Decision:

RESOLVED:

(1) That the progress made against the Council’s fulfilment of the statutory duty to maintain an effective safeguarding function with regard to children be noted;

(2) That the progress made against the Council’s fulfilment of the statutory duty to maintain an effective safeguarding function with regard to adults at risk be noted:

(3) That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee agrees that sufficient and robust processes are in place at NHDC for application and review of safeguarding processes;

(4) That an annual review and presentation to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee regarding safeguarding duties be continued;

(5) That the Communications Manager be requested to include all Members in future notifications that the in-house e-magazine Insight is available.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to monitor that robust procedures are in place regarding the statutory safeguarding duties.

Minutes:

The Active Communities Manager presented the report entitled Annual Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk Update (2016-17).

The Active Communities Manager advised that this was the fourth year of reporting safeguarding activity and that at the time of the first report NHDC only had responsibilities regarding the safeguarding of children, but the responsibilities now included adults at risk.

NHDC does not investigate safeguarding concerns, but has a legal duty to report and take part in any investigations.

NHDC has to automatically refer cases of homelessness involving children to safeguarding. Other than for this reason, there had been 10 additional cases reported involving either children or adults at risk.

Paragraph 8.4 of the report detailed the actions completed between April 2016 and March 2017 and Paragraph 8.5 gave a summary of the work planned for the period April 2017 to March 2018.

Members asked whether there was value in Councillors undertaking training in this area.

The Active Communities Manager advised that she had discussed this with SMT, who had recognised the value of training for Councillors. Previous safeguarding training has been noted in MIS but there is typically very little take up.

Members commented that they had not seen the in-house e-magazine Insight and asked that the Communications Team advise them of when this is available.

Members noted that NHDC was working on a channel shift programme that encourages less face to face contact and queried whether this would cause any problems from a safeguarding point of view.

The Active Communities Manager advised that a large number of the referrals made originated from the housing team and that it was possible that less issues were picked up if there were less contact.

Members queried whether NHDC could broaden the support it offered by talking to businesses in North Hertfordshire, particularly any of the organisations that we provided funding for.

The Active Communities Manager advised that NHDC did not wish people to report issues to us as that would just add an extra layer, they should report direct to the County Council. The Care Act and Children’s Act only applied to the public sector and not to private businesses.

County Council did produce awareness materials that NHDC disseminated on their behalf.

The Executive Member for Housing and Environmental Services advised that Careline dealt with vulnerable people on a regular basis and that they reported any cases directly to County Council.

Members discussed that NHDC could be more innovative and proactive by offering to help people navigate their way through the system. They noted that various problems in this area in other parts of the Country had eventually been addressed due to individuals pushing the issue forward. They queried whether the response from County, following a referral, was within a reasonable timescale.

The Active Communities Manager advised that the legislation laid down the timescales for receiving a response from a referral, however it was often the case that no response was ever received.