Agenda item

To receive the Annual Report of the Buckinghamshire Children’s Safeguarding Partnership Board 2021-2022, presented by the Chair, Walter McCulloch.

Contributors:

Cllr Anita Cranmer, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services & Education

Walter McCulloch, Independent Chair of the Board

Papers:

Annual report of the Partnership Board

Cover report

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Children’s and Education, and Walter McCulloch, Independent Chair of the Board, who attended the meeting to speak on this item.

In their presentation, the following points were highlighted:

·       The Children's Partnership was made up of three statutory partners: the Council, the Police and the NHS. However, many more organisations were involved in the partnership, such as schools, voluntary sector organisations and the Probation Service.

·       The role of the Independent Chair was to give strong independent leadership to the Partnership Board, providing an overview of all its groups’ work and work with the Board’s partners; to achieve a reciprocal scrutiny arrangement with senior leaders in all three statutory partner organisations.

·       A series of subgroups had been established to demonstrate the impact of the work on children. Six subgroups were currently operating, with another (learning and development group) having started shortly before the reporting period. Walter McCulloch emphasised the importance of each of the sub-groups’ work areas.

·       All children’s partnerships had a policy procedure subgroup, which contained a range of resources and tools for practitioners to familiarise themselves with those regulations.

·       In terms of education and learning, the group engaged with a range of partners across schools, academies and the education sector.

·       The local safeguarding practice review subgroup focused on cases where safeguarding issues had arisen. It had recently undertaken a review of its work and noted that the implementation of some actions had been delayed, possibly due to the pandemic or due to a delay in legal proceedings.

·       The business plan outlined a focus on a strong committee partnership and striving towards tangible improvements to children’s lives. Operational policies and procedures were noted to have a great impact on day-to-day practice, and the importance of ensuring they were kept up to date was highlighted. There had also been a focus on early intervention and prevention up to the age of two and contextual safeguarding and the challenges it could bring for services.

·       Children, young people and their families were always involved in safeguarding plans, however, not in a systematic way.

·       The multi-agency training programme was noted to have been creditable. There was an outstanding action to complete a training needs analysis, but a plan was in place to deliver this.

During the discussion, comments and questions raised by the Committee included:

·        A Member highlighted the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion in the annual reports and its photographs, which was echoed by Walter McCulloch.

·       It was noted that the timelines for the targeted work plans within the subgroups would be agreed in due course. Furthermore, meetings would also be held with senior leaders to discuss the steps needed to deliver the best outcomes for children, young people and their families. It was noted that the Committee would be updated on the outcome of these meetings in around six months to provide support for any changes.

ACTION: WM

·       Children and young people were not currently involved in the development of the safeguarding plans, though it was anticipated that attendance at partnership meetings and involvement through existing school councils might be facilitated in the future.

·       A Member suggested that it would be helpful to receive an overview of quantitative performance data to ensure success rates, attendance rates are adequately monitored. Walter McCulloch advised that these data could be provided to the committee and included in the next annual report.

ACTION: WM

·       The importance of engaging with further education institutions was highlighted, particularly as young people between the ages of 16 and 25 might find the transition to further education challenging, both from an educational and social care point of view.

·       In response to a Member’s question around support for children attending schools outside of Buckinghamshire, Walter McCulloch advised that meetings are held with other independent chairs in adjacent areas to gain understanding about the issues they might face and discuss any steps to ensure adequate cross-border support.

·       Walter McCulloch emphasised the importance of multi-agency safeguarding training and advised that a meeting with sub-group chairs would be held shortly to ensure completion. He would update the Committee with a timeframe once this information was made available to him.

ACTION: WM

·       Walter McCulloch explained that within serious case reviews the category of ‘invisible men’ referred to adult males who were associated with the family in question and who posed potential danger as they did not engage with the work services provided to the family in question.

·       A Member suggested that a ‘RAG’ (red, amber, green) rating system be introduced to the business plan to colour-code information accordingly for easy recognition of the different levels of work.

The Chairman thanked the presenters for their attendance and participation.