Issue - meetings

MBC Safeguarding Policy for Children and Vulnerable Adults’

Meeting: 18/10/2016 - Communities, Housing and Environment Committee (Item 88)

88 Report of the Head of Housing and Community Services - MBC Safeguarding Policy for Children and Vulnerable Adults pdf icon PDF 63 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

1)  That the safeguarding policy to be used by the Council be adopted and that delegated authority be given to the Head of Housing and Community Services to make any necessary operational amendments in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Communities, Housing and Environment Committee;

2)  That the formation of the MBC Safeguarding Forum be approved which will oversee the implementation of the policy and be responsible for reviewing it on an annual basis to ensure that changes in legislation or working practices are included;

3)  That the Head of Housing and Community Services reports back to a future meeting on the training that should be undertaken by Councillors and takes this opportunity to refresh the training assessment for officers and report back on the appointment of Designated Officers within relevant teams; and

4)  That the Committee appoints Member Safeguarding Champions in principle.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Housing and Community Services which related to the Council’s Safeguarding Policy for Children and Vulnerable Adults.

 

Members noted that the Council had a statutory and moral responsibility to safeguard those at risk of harm.  The policy had been written to give staff, contractors and elected Members guidance around relevant legislation, signs and types of abuse and details of what to do next to refer the concern to the most appropriate agency so that the subject of concern could receive suitable help.

 

It was also noted that an audit review of the Council’s safeguarding arrangements were undertaken in October 2015 and whilst the Council was satisfying its statutory obligations and had no immediate concerns to report, Internal Audit gave the controls a ‘weak’ rating and stated that ‘further improvements are needed to provide greater resilience to these arrangements and to ensure safeguarding risks are being adequately managed’.

 

It was noted that the new policy would be made available to staff with relevant training provided on the basis of the level of contact with members of the public. 

 

In addition a Safeguarding Forum would be created to oversee the Council’s safeguarding policy and practice.

 

In response to Members’ questions, the Community Partnerships and Resilience Manager advised:-

 

·  That the training sessions would not be open to Parish Councils, they would be encouraged to have their own safeguarding practices in hand

·  A Workshop would be set up for all Members

·  The Forum would include the Safeguarding Champion

Members expressed concern that they had not received any details on the roles and responsibilities of the Safeguarding Champion and whilst the Committee would be happy to support such a role in principle it would not make a decision on who this would be until it had received the documents provided. The Community Partnerships and Resilience Manager undertook to produce the documents concerned.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1)  That the safeguarding policy to be used by the Council be adopted and that delegated authority be given to the Head of Housing and Community Services to make any necessary operational amendments in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Communities, Housing and Environment Committee;

Voting:  For:  9  Against:  0  Abstentions:  0

2)  That the formation of the MBC Safeguarding Forum be approved which will oversee the implementation of the policy and be responsible for reviewing it on an annual basis to ensure that changes in legislation or working practices are included;

Voting:  For:  9  Against:  0  Abstentions:  0

3)  That the Head of Housing and Community Services reports back to a future meeting on the training that should be undertaken by Councillors and takes this opportunity to refresh the training assessment for officers and report back on the appointment of Designated Officers within relevant teams; and

Voting:  For:  9  Against:  0  Abstentions:  0

4)  That the Committee appoints Member Safeguarding Champions in principle.

Voting:  For:  9  Against:  0  Abstentions:  0