Meeting documents

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Toni Coombs and Daryl Turner.

Councillors are required to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 regarding disclosable pecuniary interests.

§     Check if there is an item of business on this agenda in which the member or other relevant person has a disclosable pecuniary interest.

§     Check that the interest has been notified to the Monitoring Officer (in writing) and entered in the Register (if not this must be done on the form available from the clerk within 28 days).

§     Disclose the interest at the meeting (in accordance with the County Council’s Code of Conduct) and in the absence of a dispensation to speak and/or vote, withdraw from any consideration of the item.

The Register of Interests is available on Dorsetforyou.com and the list of disclosable pecuniary interests is set out on the reverse of the form.

There were no declarations by members of disclosable pecuniary interests under the Code of Conduct.

(a)   Public Participation

(b)   Petitions

Public Speaking

There were no public questions received at the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 21(1).

There were no public statements received at the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 21(2).

Petitions

There were no petitions received at the meeting in accordance with the County Council’s Petition Scheme.

To note the terms of reference for the Committee as agreed at the County Council meeting on 21 April 2016.

Members noted the terms of reference for the Safeguarding Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Chairman drew members’ attention to the Corporate Plan and the principle area of focus for the Committee, which was as follows:-

People in Dorset are SAFE – Everyone should feel safe, wherever they are:

• Children and vulnerable adults are safe wherever they are;
• Crime, anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse across Dorset is minimised;
• There are fewer accidental injuries and deaths – including those on Dorset’s roads; and
• People and communities are better able to cope with environmental change and other natural emergencies.

Noted

To receive a verbal update on the roles and responsibilities of the Committee, including the Terms of Reference.

The Group Manager for Governance and Assurance gave members a presentation, ‘Making a Difference to People’s Lives’, which focused on how to effectively use the overview and scrutiny functions.

He highlighted the new committee structure and the importance of a member led approach, noting that training for members and senior officers had already been provided, but more may be needed.  He also referred to an Overview and Scrutiny Guide that had been produced and circulated to support transition to the new arrangements.  It was explained that this was a very new and different approach in order to help members and officers gain a holistic view of the outcome priorities of the County Council and to work closely together to improve the lives of residents and communities we served.

The use of Policy Development Panels and Task and Finish groups was highlighted in order to understand more about how members could make a difference and to allow work to progress in a timely manner outside of formal committee meetings. The overview and scrutiny committees were now cross cutting committees across the authority and a one council view had been taken.

The Group Manager for Governance and Assurance focussed members’ attention on  the delivery of outcomes and highlighted the 4 overarching principles which the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board had established to guide the work of the new committee:-

• Doing less – but doing it more thoroughly
• When selecting topics there must be a clear link to the corporate plan outcomes, supported by a clear rationale and prioritised accordingly
• Topics must be clearly and concisely scoped to ensure a structured review process
• Reviews should deliver clear  conclusions and recommendations for improvement that Executive can consider leading to robust outcomes

Following a question from a member about presentations to the Cabinet, the Group Manager for Governance Assurance anticipated that the Chairman or Vice Chairman would be presenting recommendations from this committee to the Cabinet, but that mechanisms needed to be effective and timely.  He added that this was members’ opportunity to ultimately hold the Executive to account and to help influence the future direction and approach.

The use of key lines of enquiry and an open and inquiring approach to asking questions to help shape a view and arrive at conclusions was explored with members.  The Director for Children’s Services added that it was also about understanding what worked elsewhere and then adapting that for Dorset.

One member commented on the need to ensure that members made the best of the budget that was available and to focus on the core values. The Group Manager for Governance and Assurance noted that by having agreed a Corporate Plan with clear priorities this would help focus the budget in the right areas.

Noted

To receive a presentation on Children and Adult’s Safeguarding and a review of the recent Ofsted Inspection.

Member’s received the following presentations, to give them an overview of safeguarding in relation to Children and Adults:-

• The Safeguarding Service Manager for Adult and Community Services gave a general presentation on adults safeguarding highlighting it was very different to children’s safeguarding;
• The Head of Families and Children highlighted that the safeguarding agenda for children’s was everyone’s business;
• The Director for Children’s Services updated members on the recent Ofsted inspection, highlighting the main areas for ongoing improvement and the next steps.

In response to a question from a member about personal budgets and empowering clients the Safeguarding Service Manager advised the presentation was just focused on safeguarding and not budgets at the present time. In relation to a number of different agencies and data sharing she advised that questions were asked of clients like ‘what is it you want’, these difficult questions needed to be asked as these clients, unlike children, had the capacity to make their own decisions.

One member felt it was encouraging to hear of better transition arrangements between Children’s and Adults services.

Following a question from a member about the number of permanent qualified staff, the Head of Families and Children made reference to the Forward Together  Programme for children that had been ongoing the outcomes of which were now being realised. The Directorate was currently going through a process of interviewing for new services which would be delivered from 1 September 2016.  Officers were actively interviewing in order to establish a new team to deliver permanency for children. They were also reinvigorating social work practice and reference was made to the partnership with Bournemouth University to develop and train social workers.

In relation to evidence of children staying in care too long, the Head of Families and Children advised that although the total number of children coming into care had increased more were at a younger age which provided an opportunity to plan more successfully for their long term care.  In relation to the upper age range, a Family Focus Project had been established to work with teenagers on the edge of care to explore alternatives.

In response to a question regarding business plans for the next 12 months, the Director made reference to the Partnership Plan for Safeguarding Children which was progressed through the Dorset Safeguarding for Children Board (DCSB), the Children and Young People’s Plan that would be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board in September 2016 and the Action Plan arising from the recently received Ofsted report.

Following a discussion about the DCSB, the Director informed members that the partners of the DCSB included health, hospitals, police, probation, fire, district councils, voluntary agencies, housing, adult services and public health. There had been a lot of work undertaken to create sub groups from within then Board. The Board had recently appointed a new permanent Chairman.

One member felt that with lots of different groups/boards it was sometimes very confusing to work out who was responsible for what and where. The Director advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider the Corporate Plan and the priorities relating to the Safeguarding Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Group Manager for Governance and Assurance highlighted the Corporate Plan and suggested that members used this as an important background document and focus for discussion when populating the Committee’s Forward Plan.

Noted

To consider a report by the  Chief Executive and Corporate Directors.

Members considered a report which provided background and context in relation to Outcomes Based Accountability which was a key methodology that the authority had adopted.

Also included within the report was a sample scoping document and report which had been prepared, for illustrative purposes only, in order for members to see how a planning and scoping document could look in relation to helping support the future overview and scrutiny review work of the committee.

Noted

So as to stimulate debate, the Director for Children’s Services (Lead officer) encourages members of the Group (committee) to give some thought as to what they consider the scope of the Group (Committee) to be and the expectations they have for what might be achievable (how this can be put into practice). These can be then given due consideration at the meeting.

To help focus members’ discussion on some of the key areas for the Work Programme for the Safeguarding Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Director for Children’s Services suggested areas that linked to areas in the Corporate Plan. She also noted that it would be important to link to the Ofsted recommendations to ensure scrutiny of the work:-

• Looked after children – why has it not been possible for some children – causes and forces that were playing their part in hindering the ability to keep children at home.
• Child Protection – to understand the categories of abuse being working with.
• Domestic abuse and the toxic trio (domestic abuse, mental ill-health and substance misuse) – crosses over between adults and children’s services
• Child Sexual Exploitation and missing children.

Following a comment from a member about the inclusion of children with Special Educational Needs, the Director felt this could possibly be picked up by the People and Communities Committee.  It was noted that the Overview Scrutiny and Management Board would have the opportunity share the list for all committees.

Items for inclusion in respect of Adults could include:-

• Neglect
• Deprivation of liberty
• Making safeguarding personal
• Hate crime safe places
• Person Centred Care
• Rogue Trading

The Adults and Children’s Safeguarding Boards would pick up some of the suggested issues but they would be looking at it from a partnerships point of view.

The Chairman suggested that she and the Vice Chairman meet with the Director and Group Manager to discuss the list and refine accordingly.  As part of those discussions for priority topics a lead officer would also need to be identified to co-ordinate the work with members. The Group Manager for Governance and Assurance noted the importance of applying the prioritisation methodology as whilst all issues were important it was important to see where the key priority areas were. There would also need to be awareness and a suitable flexibility by members and officers to ensure that if specific issues cropped up at short notice they could be dealt with in a timely manner.

The Chairman reminded members that not all scrutiny work had to be conducted in a formal committee setting.  Task and Finish Groups, Inquiry Days and/or Spotlight Scrutiny were also very useful and timely mechanisms that were available for use by the Committee.

Noted

To answer any questions received in writing by the Chief Executive by not later than 10.00am on 9 June 2016.

No questions were asked by members under Standing Order 20(2).