Agenda item

The Committee will receive an update on the work of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Partnership, which replaced the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Board in mid-2019.

Contributors:

Cllr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Cllr Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

Mr Tolis Vouyioukas, Corporate Director for Children’s Services

Sir Francis Habgood, Independent Chair of Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Board

The Chairman welcomed Sir Francis Habgood, Independent Chair of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership whose role was to ensure children and young people were safeguarded in Buckinghamshire by providing leadership, support, challenge and quality assurance.  Sir Francis emphasised that he did not represent any single organisation; he represented the partnership and he also chaired the Safeguarding Adults’ Board.  It was the first time there had been an independent chair for both partnership/boards; it was a positive factor as there were similarities and crossover.  Sharing a Chairman would prevent gaps and help provide a smooth transition from childhood to adulthood. 

The report stated that there used to be a Children’s Safeguarding Board, but it was changed from a board to a partnership in 2019.  There were three statutory partners in the partnership; the Local Authority, the Police and the CCG who all had joint and equal responsibility.  A key priority was to make sure all three partners took on the responsibility and to ensure a business plan was in place and an annual report was produced.  An effective quality assurance framework needed to be in place and a key responsibility was learning and development which was embedded, and made available to statutory partners and other organisations, after a study of case reviews. 

A small business unit covered both the children’s safeguarding partnership and adults safeguarding board; the team supported the senior leaders who lead the sub-groups across children’s and adults safeguarding areas.  There were several partnership boards across Buckinghamshire; links between the boards were important and a new domestic abuse board would be set up from April 2021.  Sir Francis stressed the need to have a robust process to ensure learning was captured from the case review recommendations.  The final page of the report showed the aims/priorities for 2021; most of which had been completed.  There was a new website and an online conference would be arranged.

The following key points were raised in discussion with Members:

• In response to whether councillors would be able to attend the forthcoming event on 21 January 2021; Sir Francis advised he would check availability and let the Chairman know.
• Clarification was requested on the point that there were no serious case reviews regarding 22 child deaths; Sir Francis explained that none of the child deaths were of a safeguarding concern; they were medically related.
• A member of the committee highlighted that there was a planned reduction in the Children’s Services budget of £2.8m and asked if the Children’s Safeguarding Partnership was partly funded by Children’s Services; Sir Francis assured the Select Committee that all the funding partners would continue to provide the same level of funding.  Mr Vouyioukas added that the financial commitment from the Council would not be withdrawn from the Children’s Safeguarding Partnership.
• Sir Francis confirmed that the Joint Protocol document referred to in paragraph 1.8 had been agreed but he was unsure if it had been published.  It was agreed that Mr Vouyioukas would identify if the joint protocol document had been published and send to Mrs Sutherland for circulation.

Action:  Mr Vouyioukas/Mrs Sutherland

• In response to being asked if it would be of benefit to merge the Adult Safeguarding Board and the Children’s Safeguarding Partnership; Sir Francis advised that it had been discussed but it was not the right time for them to be combined in Buckinghamshire.  
• The Chairman referred to the three-year business plan mentioned on page 40 and asked for details of the plan.  Sir Francis stated that the plan had been published and the three key areas were the principle of making safeguarding personal (understanding the lived experiences of the child), learning and development for the statutory partners and practitioners and ensuring the business process framework was in place.
• In response to being asked how the return to home interviews were carried out and the difficulty for an abused young person to be open, Sir Francis explained that it was essential to understand the underlying cause of why someone had gone missing and an independent person allowed a more open conversation. Mr Nash advised that the return to home interview was not a one-time event; there was a statutory obligation to hold an interview within a timeframe and a follow-up interview would be held if necessary.

Richard Nash, Service Director, Children’s Social Care, chaired the exploitation sub-group which ensured the correct procedure was carried out when a child went missing.

• Following a question on how the partnership was involved with the Children’s Services Improvement Plan; Mr Vouyioukas stated that the safeguarding partnership had no connection or involvement with improvement plan.

The Chairman thanked Sir Francis for the report and for attending the meeting.

RESOLVED:  The Select Committee NOTED the progress made by the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership during the last year.