Sally Halls, Independent Chair, will present the Board’s Annual Report

71.1 Sally Halls, Independent Chair of Shropshire’s Safeguarding Children Board (SSCB) presented the Annual Report (copy of both report and presentation attached to signed minutes).

71.2  The Independent Chair commented that overall there was a positive direction of travel and agencies worked well together to prioritise the safety and welfare of children.  She welcomed the positive relationship between the Board and the Children’s Trust which had been strengthened with the appointment of Lorraine Laverton as Business Manager for both the SSCB and the Children’s Trust.

71.3  The Independent Chair outlined the forthcoming challenges for the Board, which included avoiding the unintended consequences of steps taken as a result of austerity measures whilst meeting increased demand on services and concerns around the accessibility of CAMHS, especially tier 2 services.  She also expressed concern over the emotional well-being of children especially the rise in self-harming.

71.4  The Independent Chair informed Members that the Board would be monitoring the following areas in the forthcoming year: -

•      The impact of forthcoming budget reductions on safeguarding services

•      The rate of referrals and re-referrals to children’s social care and the rate of children with a second or subsequent Child Protection Plan

•      The contribution of schools to the Early Help and Child Protection Services and the impact of the early help strategy

•      The oversight of vulnerable groups, including those who are educated at home, or are missing from education

•      Safeguarding arrangements in independent schools

•      Progress in implementing PSHE which addresses issues of sexual exploitation

•      The plans for the transition of the health visiting service to the local authority

71.5    The Independent Chair advised Members that the Board had set areas for development by the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) which included:

·         ensuring that Academy Schools had the necessary safeguarding policies in place

·         the development of a quality assurance scheme to ensure that outcomes are monitored and evaluated for effectiveness

·         the provision of on-going awareness raising and training with professionals and organisations working with young people.

In response to a question from a Member the Director of Children’s Services advised that the role of the LADO was statutory, and was to deal with allegations or concerns regarding the conduct of adults who worked with young people and to give advice to employers and voluntary organisations on safeguarding matters relating to employees

71.6    The Independent Chair commented that Councillors also had a role in safeguarding in the following ways: -

·         By considering the impact on safeguarding children as part of considering reports and information presented to scrutiny.

·         By using knowledge of the local community to feedback information around safeguarding children.

·         By disseminating knowledge and spreading the message that “safeguarding children is every ones business”

71.7    A Member commented that Shropshire was a very rural county and asked how it equated with other counties with regard to the number of home educated children.  The Director of Children’s Services advised that she did not have the figures to hand and would circulate the information with the minutes of the meeting, but did not feel that Shropshire was out of line with its statistical neighbours.”

71.8    A Member commented that it may be useful to pass information through Parish Councils and that this could be done through SALC.  The Director of Children’s Services commented that the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services was working with the SSCB to explore the possibility of holding some awareness raising events.  The Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services commented that the SSCB website was also a good source of information and suggested that an information sheet be prepared for Members to ensure that a consistent message was presented.  Members felt that this would be very useful.

71.9    A Member asked whether pupils undergoing home schooling were subject to the same Ofsted inspection as other pupils. The Independent Chair advised that there was no formal inspection for home schooled pupils. It was noted that Ofsted inspected how the Council had oversight of home schooling and the support that it offered to home schooled pupils.  She added that the difficulty, from a safeguarding point of view, was how those home schooled pupils who may be at risk from harm were identified and commented that this may be a valuable piece of work for the Committee.

71.10  A Member asked whether all agencies were able to fully participate in the work of the Board and whether there was anything Members could do to encourage agencies to participate.  The Service Manager – Safeguarding and Review advised that work was being carried out to engage harder to reach agencies such as GP’s to encourage them to report back to the Board and work was also being done to strengthen links with key partners in adult services.  The Service Manager commented that Councillors had a role as School Governors as schools often did not have the capacity to attend or engage with the Board’s work.  It was suggested that the Director of Children’s Services include some information in the regular information circular to Governors.

71.11  A Member asked what measures were taken to assess the impact of the changes currently being made.  The Independent Chair commented that the Board had agreed outcome measures and a report was to be taken to its next meeting which would help to inform Board Members whether anything further was required.  The Director of Children’s Services commented that work was being carried out within the Early Help team on the identification of vulnerable children especially around the raising of awareness thresholds.  She informed Members that a report was being taken to a forthcoming meeting of the Board and this report would be brought to a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

71.12  A Member asked whether the Task and Finish Group referred to in paragraph 5.6 had finished its work.  The Service Manager – Safeguarding and Review informed Members that the work of the Task and Finish Group was still ongoing and a report would be made to the Board later in the year.

71.13  A Member commented that independent Schools were not sharing pupil data and that many pupils that were included in the children missing education data were actually being educated at independent schools.  The Director of Children’s Services commented that the Council had established a good relationship with the independent schools and that she had regular meetings with the independent sector which covered a range of issues including safeguarding.  She advised that there was a representative of the Independent Sector on the Schools Safeguarding Board and that Section 11 audits were completed for all the independent schools.

71.14 The Chairman thanked the Independent Chair for her hard work and for presenting the report.

71.15  Resolved:

i.    That the Young People’s Scrutiny Committee note the information contained in the Shropshire Safeguarding Children Board Annual report 2013/14

ii.   That information regarding safeguarding be sent to School Governors via the Governors bulletin