Agenda item

Report of the Adult Safeguarding Board

Joan Beck, Chair of the Adult Safeguarding Board has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

The Board considered a briefing note on the Annual Report of the Coventry Safeguarding Board for 2016/17. A copy of the Annual Report was set out at an appendix to the briefing note. The Annual Report was introduced by Joan Beck, Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board. Councillor Abbott, Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Councillor Ali, Deputy Cabinet Member for Public Health and Sport attended the meeting for the consideration of this item. The Annual Report was due to be presented to the Health and Well-being Board at their next meeting on 16^th October, 2017.

The Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board was a multi-agency partnership made up of a range of organisations that contributing towards safeguarding in Coventry. The Board was required to publish an annual report and business plan. The report summarised the key messages for the year and included the business plan which enabled the Board to plan upcoming work. The annual report also included performance data for the year which was monitored on a quarterly basis by the Board. The annual report was a key way of raising awareness of the issue of safeguarding adults.

Joan Beck informed that during the year the Board had embedded the principles of the Care Act in practice and improved the way in which people were safeguarded in a personalised way. Learning from review of practice had continued and steps had been taken to ensure that this learning extended to providers who were contracted to provide services. The focus on listening to members of the public had been renewed through a new engagement plan. There was an acknowledgement that more needed to be done in this area. For 2017/18 the focus was to be on responding to what members of the public say about their experience of safeguarding issues, so building awareness of safeguarding in communities and empowering communities to be safe places for everyone to live

The Board noted that the annual report also outlined the new strategy for 2017/18. By becoming more outwardly focussed this would ensure that adults with care and support needs received the best safeguarding service from agencies across the city. 

The Board questioned the Chair of the Adults Safeguarding Board on a number of issues relating to the Annual report and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  Concerns about non-attendance at Board meetings by certain partner organisations

·  The suggestion of the inclusion of additional information on the contribution to the work of the Board from the partner organisations in the annual report for 2017/18

·  Further information about engagement plan and the new ways of listening to the public, and how the different initiatives would be monitored

·  Concern about a lack of detailed information in the report on the Board’s statutory responsibilities, the Task and Finish Groups and their outcomes, and whether outcomes were positive or negative. A concern that the document was not clear for members of the public to understand

·  The suggestion that the real life stories contained in the report needed to be stories with more depth

·  A concern about the low percentage of CCG staff who have undertaken basic adult safeguarding awareness training in the last three years compared to the other statutory providers

·  A request for a report on the quality assurance framework including how this was showing an improved quality practice including information on targets

·  An individual concern about a very serious incident at Coventry Almshouses involving West Midlands Ambulance Service and the action that could be taken

·  Information about the powers of the Board along with its ability to influence

·  The engagement of the Board with the Council’s elected members.   

RESOLVED that:

(1) The content of the Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2016/17 be noted.

(2) A report on the quality assurance framework including how this is showing an improved quality practice be submitted to a future meeting of the Board in approximately six months.

(3) A report back on the engagement strategy including feedback on the engagement plan including tools and techniques used to engage with the public be submitted to a future meeting of the Board.

(4) The Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report for 2017/18 to include additional information about the contribution to the work of the Board from the partner organisations, for example the Probation Service and the local Housing Associations.

(5) The Board’s concerns regarding the low percentage of CCG staff who have received the basic adult safeguarding awareness training in the last three years compared to the other statutory providers to be raised with the CCG.

(6) The Board’s concerns about the attendance of the Probation Services at Safeguarding Board meetings to be raised with the two Chief Probation Officers.