Agenda item

The Committee will consider a report in respect of the refreshed Cross Council Corporate Safeguarding Policy.

Contact:

Alexia Gray – Head of Quality, Standards and Safeguarding Partnerships – Adults and Health

The Committee received a report in respect of the refreshed Cross-Council Corporate Safeguarding Policy.

Councillor Pattison – Portfolio Holder for Learning, Aspiration and Communities introduced and welcomed the refreshed and strengthened policy, which clearly established safeguarding as being the responsibility of everyone across the Council. She looked forward to the policy being disseminated throughout the organisation and the rollout of the associated training.

Alexia Gray – Head of Quality Standards and Safeguarding Partnerships and a member of the Corporate Safeguarding Oversight Group (CSOG) and Carol Gilchrist – Head of Local Integrated Partnerships and Chair of the CSOG attended to introduce the report.

Their presentation covered: the role of the Corporate Safeguarding Oversight Group; the background to the refresh; the key message and focus of the policy; the content and main updates; the engagement undertaken and feedback received; and the forward plan including submission to Cabinet for approval and the development of a communications plan, training programme and performance monitoring.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       This policy did not cover the issue of child criminal exploitation and the role of the Council specifically but if a member of staff had a concern in respect of any kind of exploitation they should report it to their line manager. There were a number of initiatives that the Council was undertaking in respect of sexual exploitation and working with the community.

·       The National Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation had just released its eighteenth report, which contained a number of recommendations for local authorities. It was suggested that it would be helpful for Elected Members to receive a summary of the report and what Kirklees would do to respond to the recommendations.  It was expected that the Safeguarding Children Partnership would take a lead in looking at those recommendations, with oversight from the Communities Partnership.

·       It had been recognised that the CSOG had a role in sharing learning points from reviews and disseminating messages more widely than those staff that had been directly involved.

·       The next full review of the policy was scheduled for 2025. The policy provided the framework for the work with partners and the work programme, which would be reviewed by the CSOG on a regular basis; and if any necessary amendment to the policy was identified as part of this process this would be done.

·       The training would include discussion of the role of the Council as a regulator working in the community.

·       The Council’s Third Sector Team took the lead in respect of volunteers working with the Council and in supporting third sector organisations. The manager of this team attended the CSOG to ensure consistency of approach. The Council’s volunteers would be able to access training to the same standards as that provided for staff and work was being done to ensure robust safeguarding policies were in place for volunteers across services and that safeguarding was part of management and supervision.  This team also worked with Third Sector Leaders and other anchor organisations to ensure that the necessary information was available and easily accessible to other volunteers. Assurances were required that groups had safeguarding policies and procedures in place as part of the registration process.

·       It was noted that the Children’s and Health and Adult Social Scrutiny Panels had an ongoing overview of safeguarding responsibilities.

RESOLVED -

1) That the detailed and comprehensive policy and the adoption of a corporate approach be welcomed, and that the officers involved be thanked for their work. 

2) That a further report be provided for the Committee, following the rollout of the refreshed policy, to include an update on how it has worked in practice, the outputs, and feedback in respect of the training.