The Scrutiny Committee has asked for this item to be included on the agenda for pre-decision scrutiny. The City Executive Board on 13 June will be asked note progress made on Oxford City Council’s Safeguarding 2017/18 Action Plan. This is an opportunity for the Scrutiny Committee to make recommendations to the City Executive Board.

Lead member: Cllr Marie Tidball, Board Member Supporting Local Communities

Officer Contact: Daniella Granito, Policy and Partnership Team Manager - dgranito@oxford.gov.uk 07483 010758

The Board Member for Supporting Local Communities thanked the Committee for the opportunity to contribute to discussion about this important matter. The report focused on three key elements: the outcome of the 2017 Safeguarding Audit; the Council’s Safeguarding Action Plan; and the Council Policy for safeguarding children, young people and adults with care and support needs.

The City Council acted as the lead agency in relation to safeguarding matters on behalf of the other District Councils. The Board Member sat on the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board  and acted as the link between it and the Districts. The outcome of the audit had been very favourable, with the Council achieving an overall 8 areas of best practice out of a possible 10. The Council had also asked two of its larger providers (Parasol and Aspire) to complete their own audits.

Members of the Committee were grateful for the report and the fact that previous Scrutiny recommendations had been woven into it was noted.

The Safeguarding Co-ordinator explained that her post was new and one which sought   to engage with communities and services in relation to which there may be safeguarding challenges. 

The Board Member said that the next area of focus would be on young carers and child exploitation. She spoke about the introduction of ‘My Concern’ an ‘App’ for recording   concerns about safeguarding matters. The information held there would only be available to those with a proper professional interest. Councillors would be offered briefing on ‘My Concern’ in due course.

The Action Plan provided a snapshot of safeguarding activity which was driven by the policy. The Board Member reminded the Committee that the policy was of universal application throughout the Council and this included relevance for councillors given that they were frequently in receipt of information to do with safeguarding matters.  Safeguarding training for councillors would be soon  available. While many councillors received safeguarding training because of their other roles (e.g. being a school governor), this training would be tailored to their needs as councillors.

The Lead Officer for Human Exploitation said that the County Council had done a great deal of work to raise awareness amongst school pupils  of safeguarding matters, citing the example of “Chelsea’s Choice” (a play that had been  offered to all secondary schools across Oxfordshire, raising awareness amongst pupils in years 8-10 of the risks of Childhood Sexual Exploitation). Members of the Committee were pleased to hear this but thought it would be helpful to hear more about the reach of safeguarding awareness training across the City and that this  should form the basis of a recommendation to the City Executive Board.

The Committee were pleased to note the development of the ‘Get  Heard’ buddy system for older people.

The arrangements for insisting on safeguarding training for  Hackney Cab and Private Hire drivers licenced by the Council  were commended. It was pleasing to note that the good practice in the City was being promoted in other districts. 

The Board Member concluded  by reminding  the Committee of the importance of “Making Every Contact Count” which provided an opportunity for vulnerable residents to be identified in the course of day to day interactions and, if necessary, then  referred  to the appropriate team.

The Chair thanked the Board Member for a thorough and well thought out report.

The Committee resolved to submit the following recommendation to the City Executive Board:

“That the Council works with partners, such as the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Board, to gather data on the number of school aged children that receive face to face safeguarding awareness training, such as that delivered by the youth ambition team, to better understand the reach of safeguarding work in Oxford. Once collated, this should be shared with partners such as the Children’s Trust, together with any evaluation and analysis.”