Issue - meetings

The report presents the need for updated policies on Safeguarding Adults and Children and recommends their adoption to the Council.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Executive

1.         agrees that the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee receives an annual monitoring report on Safeguarding issues at Waverley; and

2.         recommends to the Council that the Safeguarding Policies for Adults and Children be adopted.

The Executive agreed

1.         that the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee receives an annual monitoring report on Safeguarding issues at Waverley; and

2.         to RECOMMEND to the COUNCIL that the revised Safeguarding Policies for Adults and Children be adopted.

[This item is recommended to the Council for decision and is not subject to the Call-In Procedure]

[Reason: to review the updated policies and recommend them to the Council for adoption].

114.1  Waverley’s Safeguarding Policy was originally introduced in November 2012. Since this time, there have been a number of changes which need to be reflected in the Policy, including implementation of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), changes to Waverley’s senior management team and changes to the reporting and referral process to Surrey County Council. In addition, it was also considered timely to increase awareness of Waverley’s safeguarding responsibilities and to implement a comprehensive training programme for all staff.

114.2  The Safeguarding Policy has been reviewed by key members of Waverley, representatives from Surrey County Council and the Waverley Locality Team and representatives from supporting organisations.

114.3  Best practice knowledge acquired from other local authorities and external organisations such as the Social Care Institute for Excellence was also collected and incorporated into the updated policy.

114.4  The following list includes the main changes that are being proposed:

a)    The document has been split into two separate policy documents, one for adults and one for children, in order to better highlight the differences in legislation and responsibilities.

b)    Safeguarding roles and responsibilities of Waverley, Surrey County Council and other organisations have been more clearly defined

c)    Improved information about government guidance and legislation has been included

d)    New information about types of abuse and how to recognise them has been included

e)    A clear set of procedures to follow in each policy have been included

114.5  Annexes 1 and 2 set out the new policy documents.

114.6  The adoption of updated Safeguarding Adults and Safeguarding Children policies will assist in a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities and the procedures that need to be followed when potential safeguarding issues are identified.

114.7  Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee considered the policies at its meeting on 25 November 2014 and was pleased to learn that a programme of training for all Council staff to raise awareness of safeguarding responsibilities had been completed recently, with more targeted training for certain staff as appropriate to their particular role. The Committee was concerned that training should be refreshed on a regular basis, and asked that this be confirmed as part of an annual report to the Committee on Safeguarding issues. The Committee felt that it would be helpful for Members to have a summary of the policies and information about who they should contact if they had safeguarding concerns about any residents or situations they encountered as part of their work in the community. 

114.8  The Committee endorsed the adoption of the new Safeguarding Policies by the Executive.  The Executive agreed that the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee should receive an annual monitoring report on Safeguarding issues at Waverley and now

            RECOMMENDS that

57.       the revised Safeguarding Policies for Adults and Children be adopted.

[Reason: to review the updated policies and recommend them to the Council for adoption].