Agenda item

Tracy Brown, Partnership Team Leader – see recommendation(s)

The Partnerships Team Leader introduced the report as circulated with the agenda.  She explained that under Section 11 of the Children Act, Cheltenham Borough Council had a duty to co-operate to safeguard children.  The report set out these duties and how they were being implemented at the council.  It also highlighted the process for checking compliance adopted by the local Safeguarding Board.  The committee were advised that since the report had been produced the annual conversation with the Chairman of the Safeguarding Board had taken place.  This conversation allowed the council to raise concerns and in turn, for him to discuss any concerns he might have.  She was pleased to report that he had been comfortable with how CBC fulfilled its responsibilities and felt sure that any concerns were being raised with the Board.  Gloucestershire County Council had approached the council about holding a seminar on sexual exploitation and this was likely to be arranged for some time in the Autumn.  Cheltenham Safeguarding awareness weeks, from 21 September to 02 October would include campaigns to raise awareness and briefings and training sessions to which members would be welcome.  It was important to note that safeguarding was changing all the time and new learning was regularly resulting in organisations such as the council, refining what they do.  The Section 11 process started with a self-assessment which was referenced at 4.1 of the report and was usually due in late December.  This would be followed by check and challenge, an action plan and monitoring of progress.  The committee were being asked to consider whether they wished to be involved in the Section 11 process and if so, how.

The following responses were given to member questions and comments;

·         The editorial issues in the document (Appendix 1) would be addressed.

·         The Positive Lives Partnership regularly discussed levels of children in need and had queried the current figures as they were the lowest in the county despite us having more children than other districts.

·         There was a system by which the council could challenge decisions on the level of need given by another agency if it did not agree.  A recent challenge had resulted in the level having been escalated which demonstrated that the system was working.  She suggested that the issue was turnover of staff and the need to ensure that all agencies were using the same ‘language’. 

·         Safeguarding training had been arranged earlier in the year, at the request of this committee, but only 2 members had attended the morning session and 1 the evening session.  Despite there being no legal requirement for the council to organise safeguarding training for members, Further sessions could be arranged but there would be a cost involved and there would be an expectation that members would attend.  It would not be possible to detail specific issues within a ward.

·         Most recent figures from the last quarter show that there were 35 child protection plans for Cheltenham, these related to individuals and therefore it was possible that some could be from the same family.  She would have expected the figure to have been closer to 60-80 and this disparity was currently being investigated by the Partnership. 

·         Members were reminded that they had a legal obligation to report any concerns.

·         It was possible that some elected members had undertaken safeguarding training as part of their role as School Governors.

·         There were two separate Boards, one for children and one for adults.  It is likely that the Adults Board would be undertaking some form of Section 11 type audit but the process had not yet been finalised. 

·         Internal Audit would be looking at safeguarding arrangements at the council as part of their 2015-16 work.

In terms of involvement in the section 11 process, the committee felt that they should be involved in the initial self-assessment and in reviewing progress against any actions. 

Upon a vote it was unanimously

RESOLVED that;

1. The Council’s responsibilities and the associated implementation of those duties, be noted by the committee.

2. The committee be involved in the Section 11 process at self-assessment stage and in reviewing progress against any actions.