Issue - meetings

To receive and consider a reference from the Performance, Governance and Audit Committee, (briefing note enclosed).

The Committee considered a reference from the Performance, Governance and Audit Committee (PGA) at its meeting on 19 January 2023 seeking a review to ensure that the Council is supporting this area of work appropriately together with the Officers undertaking the actual work. A briefing note on this item provided some context for the reference made by PGA and included a link to an internal audit report on the subject considered at that Committee’s last meeting.  It was now open to this Committee to consider whether the item should be added to the Scrutiny Workplan.

Members sought clarity on the reason behind this reference and aired concerns regarding the internal audit report, in particular contractors and volunteers having Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks completed prior to undertaking any work for Maldon District Council. The Chairman suggested it may be good to add this to the Committee’s scrutiny workplan.

The Lead Specialist: Community, provided the following information to the points raised by Members:

·        Members should be reassured that the raising of the risk rating was a pre-emptive measure due to Designated Officers being unable to attend the safeguarding forum meetings. This had not impacted on the ability to respond to and refer safeguarding issues. Every case continued to be reviewed by a lead Safeguarding Designated Officer.

·        On DBS checking, work is currently being undertaken to address the issues flagged in the initial audit report to ensure that the contractors and volunteers that work with the Council have an up-to-date DBS check and a satisfactory safeguarding process in place. Where there is not a safeguarding process in place then the contractors or volunteers will need to adopt the Council’s process.

·        On timescales, the work being undertaken with contractors and volunteers should be completed by May. The list of Designated Officers was being reviewed with the intent that the new set of Designated Officers would be able to attend safeguarding forum meetings after six months. The review of the Safeguarding Strategy was likely to begin in the third quarter of the year.

·        On Social Care, this was primarily a matter for the County Council, but the District Council was a referring partner along with other Districts. He believed that the processes in place were robust and that any weaknesses as to interaction and feedback were common to all Districts.

The Chairman proposed that the Committee adopts the Council’s Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults as a scrutiny item and that it comes back to the Committee before the end of September 2023, and this was duly seconded and agreed.

RESOLVED that the Committee adopts the Council’s Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults as a scrutiny item and that it comes back to the Committee before the end of September 2023.