Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Marianne Fredericks.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 September 2015.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on the 25^th September 2015 be approved as an accurate record subject to the following change:

-       Addition of the below paragraph, to follow “support the building of trust.” on page 5 of the minutes:

The committee also discussed the responsibility of Members as corporate parents to ensure that young people were helped to apprenticeships within the Corporation.

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

Members had provided Officers with several questions prior to the meeting. The summary of these are presented in italics below:

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services concerning the Adult Safeguarding Review. The review had highlighted the key principles that would form the centre of Adult Social Care practice.

Could it be considered that some of the areas of improvement identified are basic and have been under developed?

Officers explained that the areas identified had been based on an independent audit of the service. It had focused on potential operational improvements and had hoped to define clear work flows.

 In response to a query by Members, officers explained that there Adult Social Care was not subject to the same type of external regulation from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as Children Services are from Ofsted. However, Adult Social Care did have a reablement service which would be inspected by CQC as well as being subject to Peer Reviews. 

Officers also highlighted that the London wide Safeguarding Policies and Procedures would be launched by the end of November 2015; a communications plan would be developed to ensure all partners were aware of the new guidance. Further to this the service would be undertaking a self-assessment and was due to take part in a Challenge Session looking at the self-assessment in February 2016.

How far did the review consider children in households of adult service users?

Officers confirmed that the service would take an holistic view to all cases and would not be constrained by departmental divides. All social workers knew about the requirement to consider the extended family of the service user in all cases.

In response to an enquiry by Members, officers detailed that the relationship with the City of London Police on safeguarding

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub-Committee received a report from the Director of Community and Children’s Services discussing the outcomes of the recent “Notice the Signs” awareness campaign. The campaign had been targeted at residents, Members and staff of the Corporation and had sought to provoke discussion on Safeguarding issues whilst raising awareness of what an adult at risk looked like.

The impact of the scheme had been assessed and the outcomes were seen to be favourable. Engagement throughout the campaign had been high and the benefits were demonstrated by a 27% rise in adult safeguarding referrals from non-professionals. Due to this it was confirmed that the campaign would be ongoing and the materials would be taken to all resident functions.

Members asked that the number of training sessions attended by housing staff of the estates be included in the minutes of the meeting. It was felt to be important that the message reached the Barbican and Golden Lane residents.   

RESOLVED – That officers undertake to circulate the attendance data for safeguarding briefings, and that the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding the steps made towards increasing young people’s engagement and participation in care services.

In response to an enquiry by Member’s relating to the potential problems associated with the use of Facebook as a forum, officers confirmed that the Children in Care Council had been briefed on the importance of privacy on social media. Members recognised that social media use was important to engagement with young people; however the dangers of the information becoming public should be recognised. Officers confirmed a risk assessment would be carried out.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Director Community & Children’s Services.

Please note this report has a non-public appendix at item 12.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services discussing the annual consultation of young people engaged in the service.

How is the service using the feedback from the young people to inform and drive improvements?

Officers detailed examples as below:

-       The Independent Review Service (recently brought in-house) now allowed young people to chair their own reviews

-       The comments/complaints leaflet had been updated

-       An advocacy service was now being provided by Action for Children

-       Contact details for officers for the young people had been distributed.

Officers undertook to circulate further examples to Members.

RESOLVED – that officers undertake to circulate further examples of service improvements, and that the report be noted.

There were no questions.

The Chairman and Deputy Chairman asked that a reference guide for Members be produced to give a greater understanding and context for their work as corporate parents. It was asked that the guide include a glossary of terms to explain acronyms, and a page of links to legislation that guided the work of the service. Procedural flowcharts should be included to give an understanding of workflows. It was hoped that this would prevent reports being understood in isolation. Further to this Members requested that future reports condense many of the charts of figures to short management overviews.

The Member Development Programme was discussed in the context of increasing member engagement in safeguarding. It was thought that training could be mandated for Members, however the Town Clerk advised that this did not necessarily increase attendance at sessions.

MOTION - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item                                                                Paragraphs

11- 19                                                              1&2

To agree the non-public minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 September 2015.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on the 25 September 2015 were approved as an accurate record.

Non-public Appendix to item 7.

The Sub-Committee noted the non-public appendix to the children and young people consultation.

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub-Committee noted a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services detailing the Quarter 3/4 adult safeguarding performance.

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services outlining the service performance for Quarter 3 2014/15.

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services outlining the service performance for Quarter 4 2014/15 and Quarter 1 2015/16.

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services which informed Members of the results of the annual review of independent fostering agencies.

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services which discussed the areas of strengths and weakness identified in the audit carried out by the independent reviewing officer.

There were no questions.

There was no other business.