Agenda and minutes

Apologies were tendered by Cllr Povolotsky and by Cllr Edosomwan. 

Cllr Povolotsky, at the discretion of the Chair, attended remotely as a guest of the Committee.

There were none.

Members of the public who wish to address the Committee can attend the meeting in person or virtually, through an online connection.  To facilitate hybrid meetings, we ask that requests to speak are submitted by 09.00 four working days before the meeting, i.e., 09.00 on Friday 3 November 2023.  Requests to speak should be sent to scrutiny@oxfordshire.gov.uk

If you are speaking virtually, you may submit a written form of your presentation so that, if the technology fails, your views can be taken into account.  Written submissions should be no longer than one A4 sheet.

There were none.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2023 and on 2 October 2023 (POSC4) and to receive information arising from them.

The Committee is recommended to AGREE the minutes, having first made any necessary amendments.

The minutes of the meeting on 14 September 2023 were approved as a true and accurate record.  The Committee NOTED that the data requested on recruitment and retention was not yet available but that the Corporate Director for Adult Social Care would provide it.

The minutes of the meeting on 02 October 2023 were approved as a true and accurate record.  The Committee AGREED that it should take the opportunity to scrutinise the Priority Action Plan as soon as it was available.

The Committee has requested to consider the annual report of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Adults Board (OSAB) which was submitted to Cabinet on 17 October.  Cllr Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Karen Fuller, Interim Corporate Director for Adult Social Care, and representatives of the board have been invited to attend to present the report and to answer the Committee’s questions.

The Committee is recommended to consider the report and to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make arising from its discussion.

Cllr Tim Bearder, Cabinet member for Adult Social Care, attended to present the annual report of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Adults Board 2022-23 and was accompanied by Karen Fuller, Corporate Director for Adult Social Care; Anne Lankester, Head of Adult Safeguarding (Oxon Place) – Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and West Berkshire (BOB) Integrated Care Board (ICB); Lorraine Henry, Service Manager - Safeguarding, DoLS & Mental Health.  Apologies were received from the Independent Chair of the Board who had an unavoidable prior engagement and regretted that she was unable to attend.

Cllr Bearder explained that the Council took a lead role with a statutory duty to conduct safeguarding enquiries. 

The Corporate Director set out the six key messages of the Board as follows:

1.    Organisations had continued to see safeguarding as everybody’s business and as a priority through many challenges (e.g., funding, recruitment, retention, sickness, reorganisations, industrial action);

2.    Safeguarding concerns had continued to rise (14% increase on 2021-22) as they had since 2018-19 (a 39% increase between these periods).  This trend was in line with national and regional increases in concerns;

3.    Safeguarding enquiries (Those incidents deemed to meet the Care Act 2014 criteria for safeguarding) had also risen at a similar rate to last year and again in line with regional and national trends;

4.    A person’s own home remained the most likely place for them to experience abuse, with neglect remaining the most common type;

5.    Only 1% of people were unsatisfied with the outcome of the safeguarding work done to protect them;

6.    80% of people deemed to lack capacity had an advocate (family, friend or impartial advocate).

There was an element of positivity in upwards trends regarding safeguarding concerns being raised.  There had been a reduction during the pandemic with people going out less. 

The Corporate Director explained that the 1% dissatisfaction should be viewed in the context of adults with capacity being permitted to make unwise decisions.

The Head of Adult Safeguarding (Oxon Place) explained that the Multi Agency Risk Management (MARM) framework had come out of a thematic review following a series of nine deaths of homeless people in Oxfordshire.  It was designed to support anyone working with an adult where there was a high level of risk and where the circumstances sat outside the statutory adult safeguarding framework but, nonetheless, where a multi-agency approach would be beneficial.  MARM meetings were held with the client’s permission and engagement and, whilst it was early days, primary care practitioners were actively encouraged to use the process where support had reached an impasse.

The Safeguarding Manager explained that whilst numbers of referrals had risen there were fewer than there had been in 2016-17.  The number of enquiries received had been steady and were most often received from friends and family.  There had been an increase in use of impartial advocacy to support service users without capacity.

Deaths amongst the homeless continued to be a priority and the Council was working with other councils and with the Home Office.  A lead  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33/23

The Committee requested to consider the annual report of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB)  which was submitted to Cabinet on 17 October.   The Head of Safeguarding and the OSCB Business Manager have been invited to attend to present the report and to answer the Committee’s questions.

The Committee is recommended to consider the report and to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make arising from its discussion.

Cllr John Howson, Cabinet member for Children, Education, and Young People’s Services, had sent apologies that he had another meeting at the same time which meant he was unable to attend to present the report.  The Interim Corporate Director for Children’s Services, Anne Coyle, attended to present the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board (OSCB) annual report 2022-23 accompanied by Laura Gadjus, OSCB Business Manager.

The Interim Corporate Director reminded the Committee that a great deal of work had been undertaken across the directorate.  The Committee was reminded of the multi-agency arrangements in place.  The partnership had three safeguarding issues which continued to be reviewed: neglect of children in the family home; minimising risks to children outside the home; children are often safer in school.

There was a system-wide view on safeguarding work with a subgroup looking at how partners were managing children’s safeguarding.  There were assessments and audits and views were sought from practitioners, families, and children.  Data was regularly reviewed against local targets.

An overview of safeguarding audits conducted during the year was provided, including on Domestic Abuse, on Education, Front line teams, and the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).  Audits and assessments of Health services, Police, and Children’s Services had also been undertaken in a variety of core areas.  In addition, case review work had emphasised the importance of early help for families being needed as well as the need for the recognition and impact of neglect on children.  Awareness of the exploitation of children outside the home had also been highlighted as had the idea that a child in school was a safer child.

There had been a significant increase in the number of practitioners trained with 11.8k trained in 2022-23 compared to 8.8k in 2021-22.

The Business Manager explained to the Committee in summary that the intention moving forward was to consider where there might be opportunities to work closer with the adults safeguarding board.  Continual improvement of the quality assurance of the arrangements were key.  Recruitment was currently being undertaken to the independent chair.  A key focus for the Board was the learning and development framework and the impact of arrangements.

In discussion with the Committee, a number of areas were raised.

Members noted that there was no mention of training for parents.  It was explained that the statutory requirement for the annual report was reporting on local arrangements including training for practitioners.  Looking to the future, there was an aspiration to include training and support for parents in a multi-agency context.  It was anticipated that the report for the next year would also include a greater focus on the voice of the child.

Family Group Conferencing was being used to support a lowering in the numbers of Children We Care For.  There was a partnership-wide early help strategy.  The number of strengths and needs assessments had been increased which was positive.  The importance of working with health visitors and school staff was emphasised.

There was a distinction between those families who had consciously opted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34/23

An update on the work of the SEND working group and of the Education Data working group will be provided.

Cllr Waine explained that he and Cllr Elphinstone had met with Cllr Howson, the Cabinet member for Children, Education, and Young People’s Services, and with officers from the School Improvement Teams to discuss a number of threads relating to pupil data that it would be valuable for the Committee to scrutinise in more detail.  He would hope to provide further detail at the January 2024 meeting of the Committee.

Cllr Simpson explained that the group of members which had been gathering information relating to Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) was collating information and would seek to report to the Committee as soon as practicable.

The Committee is recommended to NOTE the progress of previous recommendations and actions arising from previous meetings, having raised any questions on the contents.

To follow

The Committee NOTED that the recommendation tracker was being updated.

The Committee is asked to consider the proposed work programme.  In deciding its work programme, the Committee is also asked to consider the relevance of any items on the Cabinet’s Forward Plan.

The Committee is recommended to AGREE its work programme.

The Committee NOTED the Cabinet Forward Plan and AGREED its work programme subject to the following items being added:

·       Update on Family Safeguarding Plus;

·       Update on Family Hubs;

·       Full consideration of the verified exams date at the Committee in March.

The Committee also AGREED the following actions:

·       That an all-member briefing should be arranged when the verified exams data is published at the end of January;

·       That a meeting should be arranged to concentrate principally on work planning for the remainder of the municipal year and looking ahead provisionally to the next.

The formal response to People Overview and Scrutiny Committee from Cabinet regarding Children and Adults Social Care workforce has been received.

The Committee resolved to NOTE Cabinet’s response.