Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

Arising from the Annual Meeting of the Council, to elect a Vice-Chair for the ensuing year.

RESOLVED that County Councillor Gareth E. Jones be elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year.

To receive declarations of interest from Members.

There were no Declarations of Interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda.

To receive disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.

(NB:  Members are reminded that, under Section 78, Members having been given a prohibited party whip cannot vote on a matter before the Committee.)

The Committee did not receive any disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member had been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.

To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the last meetings held as follows as a correct record.

27-01-2023

31-01-2023

31-03-2023

The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the following meetings as correct records:

27-01-2023

31-01-2023

31-03-2023

To receive and consider the Corporate Safeguarding Board Activity Report.

Documents Considered:

·       Corporate Safeguarding Board Activity Report.

Background:

·       The report provided a summary of the information provided to the Corporate Safeguarding Board in March 2023.

·       The report had been considered by the Cabinet in May, and would be considered by Governance and Audit Committee in June.

·       Update on Safeguarding Audits and Action Plan.

·       Five additional actions had been proposed and added to the action plan.

·       The action plan would be built into the Regulatory Tracker and reported during the quarterly performance meetings.

·       Anything specific to an individual Service would appear in their Service tracker and also in their regulatory tracker.

·       Two actions had been completed:

·       Corporate Safeguarding policy and a one page summary of the policy;

·       Review the need for 2 DBS policies – the review was complete and now the Council had 1 DBS policy for the whole of Council.

·       Feedback from Scrutiny and Cabinet

·       Feedback from the Committee and also the Governance and Audit Committee had been fed back to the Safeguarding Board.

·       Service Corporate Safeguarding Audits / Self Assessments

·       Self assessments had been completed by all services which included a safeguarding audit as part of the self assessment workbook.

·       The results  would be considered by the Self-Assessment Panels and then included in the Council’s Self Assessment report.

·       The Safeguarding Board will be considering the results at its next meeting.

·       Safeguarding in contract management.

·       A new 4 tiered approach to contract management framework was being developed supported by workshops and training.

·       The Council was researching how other Councils communicated expectations regarding safeguarding and standards required to suppliers. Once completed this would be communicated to live contracts and embedded in future tendering processes with a planned roll out from April 2023.

·       The new Commercial Performance and Risk Board would be monitoring the roll out of new contract management approach with performance captured on the commercial dashboard to allow reporting to scrutiny and governance.

·       Child Performance and Child Employment.

·       Welsh Government had reminded Councils in 2022 of their statutory duties, rooted in 90 year old legislation and guidance had been updated in respect of child performance licences, child work permits and chaperone licences.

·       There was a lack of knowledge and understanding across the Council, organisations, employers and the public about the legislation and legal requirements.

·       More work was to be undertaken across the Council including strengthening cross departmental working, drafting a policy, and the issuing of communications.

·       A Number of reports by exception were provided to the Board including - Young People’s Housing (16/17 year olds); Elective Home Education; Mandatory Safeguarding Training including VAWDASV; Adult Social Care Safeguarding Performance including Deprivation of Liberty Standards; Childrens Social Services Safeguarding Performance;

·       Future Agenda Items to the Board included – Programming the Safeguarding Theme of the Month; Preparations for the annual national safeguarding week; annual private fostering report; Service Safeguarding Audits; Update on Safeguarding in Contract Management; Update on Child Performance Licences and Child employment Permits; Feedback on the National Safeguarding Week.

Issues Raised by the Committee and Responses Received:

To note the scrutiny forward work programme.

Documents Considered:

·       Work Programme 2023-24

Actions:

·       Add Q1 performance reports onto work programme for September 2023.

·       Issue Q4 performance information to the Committee through Teams.

·       Write to Powys Teaching Health Board regarding the reconvened meeting – suggest 7 / 8 September.

·       Meeting 07-07-2023:

·       Annual Report of the Director of Social Services – issue to the Committee and seek comments via Teams.

·       Extra Care – update report to be provided in July and scheduled for a further review in the Autumn.