Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Steve Evans, Cabinet Member Adult Services.

No declarations of interest were received for this meeting.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2014 be approvedas a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no matters arising.

[To provide an update on progress made thus far against the Adult Safeguarding Peer Review Action Plan.]

Amrita Sharma provided an update on progress made against the Adult Safeguarding Peer Review Action Plan.

She advised panel that there has been a strong partnership commitment to the execution of the peer review action plan and that all actions have been accepted by the respective leads/groups and progressed within respective work plans. Out of the 28 individual actions, seven have been fully accomplished; 21 are work in progress.

The Panel considered the importance of bullet point 1.5 in the action plan relating to member development, the scrutiny panel were advised that guidance notes had been distributed to all councillors however they recognised the importance for all councillors to fully understand their role and constitutional powers. Amrita Sharma advised that a safeguarding training module is available on the Learning Hub to support councillors understanding of their newly defined roles and responsibilities within the Councils Constitution.

Cllr Stephen Simkins suggested that councillors should receive mandatory safeguarding training every four years as part of the councillor’s induction and training programme. 

Scrutiny panel highlighted the importance of requesting partners to carry out safeguarding training modules and were advised that partners have access to training and that the most effective challenge to encourage partner organisations take up of training modules would be from Safeguarding Board.

Panel was advised that next year safeguarding training may be a statutory requirement and that it is wise to get ahead of the game.

Councillors voiced concerns about reporting lines and feedback to them about reported safeguarding matters:

·         When a report is made via a third person there is no feed back to the Councillor and they are not clear if the report has been made, they are out of the loop.

·         When out of the loop there is little or no feedback or information to pacify themselves that contact has been made and the case has been taken on.

In response to concerns Dawn Williams, Head of Safeguarding advised that:

·         If a referral is made officers have to update the person who originally reported the alert.

·         If the report came to a councillor as a complaint and the matter was passed to a third party to action the feedback would not come via the councillor.

·         When an alert is raised there is a requirement to notify that action has happened. 91% got feedback, 9% did not as they may be a third party or anonymous.

·         Children safeguarding matters there are 72 hours to respond. Adults safeguarding procedures do not have a set timescale for feedback and there may be some delay.

The Chair suggested that a pro-forma would be useful to keep councillors informed of progress. Dawn Williams cautioned that the panel should be clear what information is being asked for, no details of the parties involved should be disclosed. Councillors confirmed that they just want to be sure that they have done their bit and can reassure others that action is being taken, rather than no news at all.

Tony and Dawn agreed to consider options for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

[To provide the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Adult Board’s Annual Report and Executive Summary (Appendix 1 & Appendix 2), to inform Scrutiny Panel of safeguarding activity 2013/2014 and progress made against the priorities for 2013-16.]

Sandra Ashton-Jones introduced the draft Wolverhampton Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report, she provided a summary of safeguarding activity during 2013/14 and a summary of progress made against the six priorities for 2013-16. Panel were advised that 1300 safeguarding alerts had been raised but not all investigated. 

Councillors welcomed the report and paid tribute to the work that had been carried out to produce the new look annual report.  The contents of the report were found to be wide ranging and extremely useful information, particularly the Wolverhampton map showing the proportion of alerts by ward.

Cllr Paula Brookfield indicated that residents will report safeguarding issues to, or they will be picked up by, General Practitioners (GPs), she asked if they were primary reporters to raise alerts. Surprisingly Panel was advised that numbers in terms of GP reporting were fairly low and that there is a need to stay proactive with GPs to increase awareness.

Panel suggested that a briefing session for all GPs relating to ‘Safeguarding Policies’ would be useful and were advised that it would be better for CCG to provide them.   Panel further noted that CCG raise alerts particularly in nursing homes.

Panel noted that:

• The GP alert numbers are low
• There is a need to raise awareness in GP surgeries and in Care Homes
• The breakdown of alerts by electoral  ward reflects address of person at the time of the abuse
• There is no at risk register for adults, only children and young people at risk register.

Cllr Stephen Simkins asked about GPs who have a vested interest in care home(s) and the action that can be taken by CCG.

Tony Ivko and Dawn Williams responded to the question(s):

·         Many GPs are taking CQC inspections seriously but not all

·         CQC can write to GPs

·         CQC has teeth and can make document available to the public

·         QACO – Quality Assurance

Cllr Pat Patten asked for further information about the ward data for alerts and was advised that:

·         Data by ward is available for previous years, but it had not been included in the annual report before this draft Annual Report

·         The number of alerts is increasing this could be a good thing and an indication of increased reporting

·         Spikes in numbers of alerts raised have been recorded following some recent television programmes relating to Staffordshire hospital which highlighted neglect as an area of abuse.

In response to questions, Sandra Ashton-Jones advised Panel that there is an exceptional working relationship with Wolverhampton Homes (WH).  Cllr Sue Constable is the safeguarding champion for WH and confirmed that the whole organisation is involved with safeguarding, training is available for all workers including decorators, contractors and smaller organisations, who also receive information and are completely engaged. 

Resolved:

That the content of the 2013/14 Wolverhampton Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report and progress made to date against the delivery of the Adult Safeguarding Priorities 2013-16 are noted.

[To provide a demonstration of the Adult and Community Directorate portal - Wolverhampton Information Network (WIN) and to seek panels comments]

Kuldip Khela gave a presentation and demonstration of the Wolverhampton Information Network (WIN) and responded to scrutiny panel questions arising from the presentation.

Kuldip Khela advised that the Care Act 2014 places a duty on local authorities to provide information and advice about social care issues for its residents and that the WIN website will enable access to a dedicated free website 24/7. Kuldip made clear thatalthough aimed at those who need social care support; it is available for everyone in the City. Voluntary and community organisations can add events and manage their own pages; there are links to NHS Choice and other partner websites. He advised that the site can be accessed in 80 languages at the click of a translation button and there negotiations taking place to add  a voice option for blind and deaf users.

Scrutiny Panel liked the ease of use of the site; it was simple, bright, and free. In response to questions panel received the following information:

• There can be a local news page, an A-Z of Wolverhampton life and events for the communities and residents of Wolverhampton.
• Each page on the webpage will be marked when last updated.
• The site gives a wider sweep for people to be aware of people who may need other services.
• There will be a shortage in capacity, for the employee administering the site, if it gets too big.
• Safeguarding will be opened up to a number of points.
• Help and assistance will be available at a number of locations for those that are less able to use the technology
• Dudley Council will maintain the National pages and links and this will make a saving for the Council.

The Chair asked how the site would be kept up to date, who would check that links were still live and how we could be sure when re-directed to another service that they were getting what they needed.

Kuldip Khela advised that he would be the primary resource to carry out these tasks; the registered users  would be invited to update the links and each page would be marked when ‘last updated’.

The Scrutiny panel were re-assured by Kuldip Khela that the WIN webpage was linked to the Council Website and that he and David Raybould are members of a working group with Daljit Nijjar Web Manager, City Direct. Kuldip Khela said he would be liasing with Daljit to get the appropriate links added to internal and external websites.

The Scrutiny Panel welcomed that voluntary organisations have opportunity to share information on the webpage and suggested that all councillors be encouraged to share events, opportunities, details of voluntary organisations and local connections across their ward to build a network online available to public and advisory services to refer to.

The Chair and panel members were concerned about potential safeguarding issues and how officers would check that people promoting their organisations on the website are in fact who they say they are. The Chair wanted assurance that checks are being carried  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.