The Community Safety Service Manager has submitted the Annual Safeguarding Report to note the key achievements of the Safeguarding work delivered through Oxford City Council during 2024/25.

Councillor Lubna Arshad, Cabinet Member for A Safer Oxford, Richard Adams, Community Safety Service Manager  and Laura Jones, Safeguarding Coordinator have been invited to present the report and take part in discussions.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations.

The Community Safety Service Manager has submitted the Annual Safeguarding Report to note the key achievements of the Safeguarding work delivered through Oxford City Council during 2024/25.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations.

Councillor Lubna Arshad, Cabinet Member for A Safer Oxford, Richard Adams, Community Safety Service Manager, and Laura Jones, Safeguarding Coordinator, were present to respond to questions.

Councillor Arshad presented the report to the Committee, noting that it outlined the work which has occurred across the Council over the last year. She also emphasised that in response to the corporate leadership team’s recognition of the potential impact on staff welfare of managing safeguarding concerns, a training package is being developed to support staff. Furthermore, Councillor Arshad noted that the staff safeguarding questionnaire saw another year of high responses rates and this was used to inform the action plan. Details of ongoing partnership and multi-agency workstreams were summarised. Finally, the Committee heard that My Concern reports have doubled in the last year and the quality of reporting and recording has increased significantly, demonstrating continued improvement to the safeguarding services at Oxford City Council.

The Chair invited questions form the Committee.

Councillor Altaf-Khan expressed concern over the effectiveness of so many multiagency workstreams and therefore asked how confident the Council is that it is dealing efficiently with the voluntary sector. It was asked how much control the Council has in these relationships.

Councillor Jarvis asked, in relation to pages 110 and 111 of the report, whether there is more detail available which would enable comparison to previous years in order to allow the Committee to assess progress. It was requested that this be included within future reports.

Councillor Miles queried the data relating to heat alerts and emergency accommodation to ask whether some data could be made available to enable comparisons of this over time. She also queried whether this could be linked to the budget that the Council makes available. Secondly, it was asked whether any ward specific data was available in relation to youth ambition interventions to demonstrate where these are occurring. Finaly, Councillor Miles noted concern with issues being passed between County and City Council and therefore asked whether officers are aware of any feedback loops.

In regards to ensuring the voluntary sector play their role in safeguarding, the Community Safety Service Manager explained that the legal structures which exist to work with relevant organisations in the voluntary sector, and Members were assured that whilst not every aspect is within the Council’s control, they do as much as possible. It was also clarified that previous concerns raised by the Committee in relation to the lack of safeguarding polices within voluntary organisations grant funded by the Council has now been addressed.

The Safeguarding Coordinator also confirmed that now, every grant-funded organisation has a safeguarding policy in place but also acknowledged the scenarios in which the Council has no control. The Committee also learned that as part of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Adults Board, subgroups meet, and voluntary organisations are encouraged to attend these meetings. It was emphasised that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and staff are encouraged to report matters should they arise.

In response to Councillor Jarvis, the Community Safety Service Manager also noted that data can be brought forward from previous years to enable comparison and explanation of why reporting statistics can fluctuate was provided. In response to Councillor Miles, it was also confirmed that information on the funding for SWEP could be obtained and reported back to the Committee.

Councillor Jarvis left the meeting and did not return.

Councillor Miles emphasised that residents must be reassured that reports are managed adequately and do not disappear. In response, the Community Safety Service Manager clarified the referrals process, and the Safeguarding Coordinator noted that the Council may not receive a response from the Adult Social Care department at Oxfordshire County Council for a number of reasons. Members were assured that these are followed up on and if a response indicates that the threshold for a referral has not been met, then the Council explores other options through its multi-agency risk assessment process. If the threshold for a referral is met, then an inquiry is opened, and the case is allocated to a social worker. The Committee were assured that Council officers are encouraged to follow up and escalate matters when necessary.

The Chair asked, in reference to page 109 and recent local political context, whether safeguarding support services for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants have been impacted. The Community Safety Service Manager noted his observation of the multi-agency meetings which support the Holiday Inn in Oxford currently housing these groups, and the conversations which have been ongoing. The Committee heard that it is high on the Council’s agenda to ensure service users are supported and assurance was provided that the necessary processes are in place.

The Chair offered his anecdotal understanding of the situation, and Councillor Arshad provided further information on actions recently taken by the Council.

The Chair emphasised the need for the Council to provide support for these vulnerable communities and thanked officers for their work continued towards this.

The Chair invited the Committee to discuss possible recommendations.

The Committee resolved to make the following recommendations to Cabinet:

1)    That future Safeguarding reports provide comparisons with previous years data to allow monitoring of trends and assessment progress, particularly data in relation to modern slavery and exploitation, and severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP). Where the data allows for trend analysis, that previous statistics be included to enable a year-on-year comparison and evaluation of changes overtime.

The Chair thanked Councillor Arshad, the Safeguarding Coordinator, and the Community Safety Service Manager.

Councillor Arshad, the Safeguarding Coordinator, the Community Safety Service Manager, and the Community Response Team Manager left the meeting.