Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB)

The independent chair, HSCB, presented the annual report for 2015/16, setting out progress on the board’s priorities. 

The priorities of the safeguarding board and the health and wellbeing strategy were aligned, so it was important for both to have critical oversight of each other to make a difference to safety of children.  The following key points were highlighted:

·         The number of child protection plans in the county were found to be higher than expected and this had been addressed by supporting professionals to manage risk and access higher thresholds of need only when in the best interest of the child, by focusing on early help and ensuring early indicators of harm were spotted

·         A new priority to focus on neglect was identified as this was an emerging concern and this was an area that the health and wellbeing board could support

·         there were other areas that the health and wellbeing board could consider that would improve health outcomes for children to give them the best start. Examples included    fluoridation of the water supply to improve dental health, and further co-ordinated early intervention and commissioning to address the ‘toxic trio’ of domestic abuse, mental health and substance misuse

·         that there was a significantly higher rate of sexual offences against children in Herefordshire compared with national figures, which needed to be better understood   

In the discussion that followed, these key points were noted:

·         water fluoridation had been considered in the past and although it was generally an obvious solution it was not the whole solution. The nature of the county also meant that there was no single water supply to households, and it would be a significant cost that would not benefit the whole population

·         there was an awareness of dental health amongst children that had been assessed through work on dental care by Healthwatch and Crucial Crew  

·         domestic abuse was a priority for the community safety partnership board

·         it was important to ensure that all partners were supported to attend MARAC (multi-agency risk assessment conference) meetings so that all were connected and sharing information

·         sexual abuse of children could coincide with domestic abuse and as rates were high in the county, a multi-agency approach was needed to understand this issue better in terms of patterns of incidence. This was something the community safety partnership could look at.

·         the refreshed joint strategic needs assessment could provide a focus on sexual abuse of children and coincidence with domestic abuse, linking to mental health and adult safeguarding 

·         a further dimension was that these issues featured as having an impact on children coming into care

Herefordshire Safeguarding Adults Board (HSAB)

The independent chair, HSAB, presented the annual report, highlighting the following:

·         both safeguarding boards and the community safety partnership were supported by a joint business unit and this facilitated the sharing of cross-cutting themes

·         the focus of adult safeguarding was different from that of children as it worked within the personalisation agenda and within the context of people making choices

·         the presenting issues centred on the Care Act, domestic abuse and dementia, and West Mercia Police were leading on a bid focused on bespoke services to support the issue of domestic abuse by people with dementia. However other partners needed to be involved as disclosures were not made exclusively to the police. The stigma needed to be lifted to support people to feel able to make disclosures especially where an issue was seen as part of the illness rather than domestic abuse. 

·         There was ongoing work on domestic abuse including research work in Shropshire and there was value in bringing partners together for a domestic abuse summit to consolidate intelligence and approach

·         ‘making safeguarding personal’ was the subject of a council-led external ADASS peer review and significant progress had been made on this and agencies were committed to the work

·         Adult sexual exploitation needed a clearer national definition to include issues other than prostitution

·         modern slavery was highlighted as an issue in the county, which included a crown court case this year

·         there had been 4 adult safeguarding reviews this year under the Care Act. There was more flexibility in the approach to this compared with children’s, and these were conducted using different methodologies 

·         a draft prevention strategy was developed as a requirement of the Care Act and it was hoped that there would be wider contribution to refreshing this. For example, broadening the scope of fire safety checks to include other aspects of the health and wellbeing agenda. An event was taking place on 14 February to encourage wider engagement on this issue.

In the ensuing discussion, the following comments were noted:

·         it was important for partners to work together to support particular issues, such as domestic abuse, work on prevention, and hospital discharge, as many professionals contribute.  If there were areas where greater engagement could be encouraged, this could be flagged up to the health and wellbeing board, and formal arrangements could be considered.

·         the joint business unit was a good example of working together, enhanced by the appointment of the business manager

·         the strategic intelligence team was exploring the extent of adult sexual exploitation and developing a definition

·         boards needed to be sighted jointly on modern slavery and trafficking and also on domestic abuse. Research was noted on the impact of domestic abuse, finding adverse impact on children and their emotional resilience in the long term.

RESOLVED

That:

(a)  the annual reports and business plans of the two safeguarding boards be noted;

(b)  the Community Safety Partnership board report to the meeting in May 2017, with a particular focus on domestic abuse and harm from alcohol and drugs, and incidents of sexual harm against children;

(c)  a report on the public health strategic plan be presented at the May 2017 meeting;

(d)  a report by public health on children’s dental health and possible actions be presented at the May 2017 meeting; and

(e)  the following action points be addressed:

-       community safety partnership board to facilitate a multi-agency approach in order to gain a better understanding of patterns of incidence of sexual abuse of children coinciding with domestic abuse

-       the refreshed joint strategic needs assessment be developed to provide a focus on sexual abuse of children coinciding with domestic abuse, and linking this to mental health and adult safeguarding 

-       In developing a bid focused on bespoke services to support the issue of domestic abuse by people with dementia, West Mercia Police to involve partners in recognition that disclosures were not being made exclusively to the police

-       Partners to work on lifting the stigma of domestic abuse to support people in feeling able to make disclosures especially where an issue was seen as part of the illness rather than domestic abuse 

-       For the adult safeguarding board to co-ordinate a domestic abuse summit for partners to consolidate intelligence and approach

-       both safeguarding boards and the community safety partnership board to ensure they are sighted on modern slavery and trafficking and also on domestic abuse, with a clear lead board to be identified.