Agenda item

A report was introduced by the Head of Safeguarding to provide Scrutiny with a copy of the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB) Annual Report and to inform Scrutiny of the safeguarding activity 2016/2017 and to present the progress made against the priorities for that period. 

The Annual Report was agreed by the WSCB and provided an overview of how partners had discharged their safeguarding responsibilities over the preceding year.

The Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB) was a statutory body set up in accordance with the Children Act 2004, and Care Act 2015, respectively. The Board was a partnership of enthusiastic members, dedicated to the improvement of practice and services that safeguard children in Wolverhampton.

The Annual Report was a summary of WSCB work during 2016-17. 

Key points to be noted in the report were:

1.    That the Safeguarding Report was subject to OFSTED and required improvement.

2.    There was a need to improve how the organisations scrutinised themselves and other organisations.

3.    The excellent partnership with the City Council was noted but there were some concerns that it was not monitored as well as it could be. There was work required in this area and the Board was well on track to do this and it formed part of its strategic action plan.

4.    The panel noted the work of the BeSafe Team. This team involved young people in the City with an interest in safeguarding who wanted to make a difference in Wolverhampton. Work had included the Bullying Charter which had been introduced and adopted by all schools and around healthy relationships. There had also been a takeover day when the team took over the Board and encouraged it to reconsider its priorities and how it managed and monitored those who provided services and the affect they had on children.

5.    There was now more focus on quality assurance. The Board had reinvigorated the Quality Assurance Committee to enable a better audited schedule and better challenge.

6.    Multi agency case file audits had increased across agencies to share learning more effectively and two serious case reviews had been published. Learning form these serious case reviews were now embedded in learning and the board continued to oversee and actions required.

It was important to note that the Board was responsible for all the children in the City not just the most vulnerable children.

There had been a lot of work around Child Sexual Exploitation and from a very low base line (10 reports of identified children at risk) by the end of the period were reporting 50 and were now up to 130 which meant that these children could now start to get the correct support.

Page 42 of the Report dealt with the OFSTED recommendations.

It was noted that this was a Partnership Board and funded by the Partnership. The Local Authority was the largest contributor but not necessarily the biggest voice but had been positive in helping the Board achieve its expectations.

The Youth Council representatives stated that they were really pleased with links to BeSafe team and queried how much engagement the Board had with school safeguarding officers. The Head of Safeguarding stated that there was quite a lot of contact now and that there was a head teachers safeguarding group.

The panel queried how close are our links were with other Boards. The Head of Safeguarding stated that there were links between boards and local authorities and that there were 14 boards that we were closely linked with and shared information, policies and procedures with and that there were also very close links with the Black Country; training was shared and there was a joint child death overview panel and chairs forum.

Resolved:     

That the comments of the panel be noted.