To consider the annual report giving assurance as to the level of the Council’s compliance with its safeguarding duty. 

45.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 72-96, which gave an update on how the Council was fulfilling its safeguarding responsibilities, and to the revised safeguarding audit action plan, circulated separately, which replaced Appendix 2 to the report.  Members were asked to consider the annual report.

45.2           The Head of Community Services explained that Gloucestershire County Council required Tewkesbury Borough Council to complete a safeguarding children self-assessment on an annual basis and this was attached to the report at Appendix 1.  The self-assessment demonstrated that the Council was performing well and was generally meeting the requirements.  There were three areas where these requirements were only being partially achieved: volunteering; safeguarding in staff appraisals; and procurement/commissioning.  He explained that Tewkesbury Borough Council did not use volunteers to the same level as the County Council where volunteers were more likely to come into close contact with vulnerable adults or children - for example, Tewkesbury Borough Council volunteers tended to be litter pickers, flood wardens etc. therefore, whilst it was quite right that they had an awareness of safeguarding, in-depth training was not essential.  He went on to advise that he had been liaising with HR and safeguarding was now being formally incorporated into staff appraisals.  In terms of procurement and commissioning, it was felt that the safeguarding arrangements in place at Tewkesbury Borough Council were sufficient for a district council which did not provide the same services as a County Council e.g. adoption services.  The Internal Audit team had previously carried out a review to ensure that the Council was dealing with safeguarding appropriately and an updated version of the arising action plan had been circulated separately; this superseded Appendix 2 to the report.

45.3           A Member queried how Tewkesbury Leisure Centre was assessed given that those staff would come into regular contact with children.  The Head of Community Services advised that companies’ safeguarding policies were thoroughly examined as part of the Council’s procurement process and it was the responsibility of the particular company to ensure staff had undergone Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks – this was the same for the Leisure Centre and Ubico.  The Member went on to question whether their policies should incorporate Tewkesbury Borough Council’s safeguarding policy to ensure that everyone was working to the same standard.  In response, the Borough Solicitor explained that Places for People ran the Leisure Centre and, due to the nature of the business, its safeguarding policy had to be of a very high level; she provided assurance that this was scrutinised by the Tewkesbury Leisure Centre Partnership Board so she was confident that the processes and procedures in place would exceed the Council’s expectations in this area.  In response to a query, she advised that the Lead Members for Health and Wellbeing and Finance and Asset Management were Members of the Board and, although there was no formal reporting, she was unsure as to whether these Councillors reported back to Members.  The Member asked for this to be investigated and reported back following the meeting.

45.4           A Member pointed out that Councillors had found it difficult to access the online safeguarding training and questioned what was being done to address this going forward.  The Head of Community Services explained that it was a requirement for Members to undergo safeguarding training and it was intended to commission the County Council to run a session.  As well as being difficult to access, the online training did not make safeguarding issues ‘real’ for Members whereas a trainer would be able to talk through various scenarios they may come up against in their roles.

45.5           Having considered the information provided, it was

RESOLVED          That the annual report giving assurance as to the level of the Council’s compliance with its safeguarding duty be NOTED.