Agenda item

To review the activity of the Safeguarding Adults Board April 2016 to March 2017

The Director of Adult Social Care and All Age Disability presented the report which detailed the activity and effectiveness of the Croydon Safeguarding Adults Board (CSAB) for the 2016/2017 period.

The report outlined current activity and progress made by CSAB to imbed the six principles of safeguarding.

The Sub-Committee learned that the priorities for 2017/2018 included the following:

- The voice of the service user being central to all activities

- Early identification and prevention of risk

- Commissioning of appropriate services

- That communication between residents, agencies, partnerships and boards was robust.

The Sub-Committee was directed section 3.8 of the report which detailed the situation regarding the appointment of a permanent Chair for the board. The Chair took up post on 25 January 2018.

The Sub-Committee learned that the key priorities identified in the report were already being implemented.

Members were informed that Croydon had a larger care market compared to other boroughs and there had been a year on year increase of safeguarding referrals received. This had been taken as an indication that awareness and understanding of safeguarding has increased amongst professionals and residents. It was noted that whilst there had been an increase in reporting, the volume of actual referrals that resulted in formal investigations had fallen due to the robust triage function of the safeguarding team.

Member’s queried lessons learned, changes to be taken through in terms of governance, addressing issues of attendance and ensuring that partnership and governance arrangements were strong and robust. Officers responded that the separation of Chairs for the adult and children’s safeguarding board following the Ofsted report would strengthen expertise of each individual board. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had commented that Croydon’s board was more progressive than some local authorities. Officers also stated that key members of the board attended 100% of meetings and this should have been made clear in the report.

In response to a Member question on checks conducted to ensure partnership obligations were fulfilled, officers advised that there were key committees that work under the board, meetings were well attended with good participation from partners. There was also strong management in the Council to monitor safeguarding activities.

Members highlighted concerns with low figures of involvement of third sector and voluntary organisations and suggested that Croydon Neighbourhood Care Association (CNCA) could be approached regarding membership to fill the gap of local voice representation. Officers responded that membership issues were one of the priorities that the new Chair would address. It was noted that while MIND regularly attended meetings, other organisations had limited resources and were not always able to attend meetings.

In response to a Member comment that there had previously been issue with attendance of sub-groups, officers stated that their attendance and participation had improved.

Members commented that a governance review report should be presented to Scrutiny for comment on matters such as size and principles used in appointment of members, additionally that the timing of the annual report be reviewed as it should be presented to Scrutiny for comment before going to Cabinet.

Conclusion

- That a commitment was required to ensure appropriate representation across the board.

Recommendation

1. That the Health Scrutiny and Social Care Sub-Committee be invited to comment on governance arrangements and review of membership of the board.

2.  Future Adult Safeguarding reports be presented to Scrutiny prior to being presented to Cabinet.