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Decision details

City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report

Decision Maker: Health and Wellbeing Board

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Decisions:

 7.1  The Senior Professional Adviser introduced the report, outlining activity between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021, including the following:

 

·  The lessons that the CHSCP has identified through its Learning & Improvement Framework and the actions taken to improve child safeguarding and welfare as a result of this activity;

 

·  The collective response to COVID-19 by the partnership with contingency oversight meetings with a focus on workforce efficiency, patterns of risk with a move to digital solutions for some of the difficulties faced;

 

·  The range and impact of the multi-agency safeguarding training delivered by the CHSCP;

 

·  An increase in head injuries to young children, locally and nationally;

 

·  Children being less visible during the pandemic; 

 

·  The context for safeguarding children and young people in the City of London, highlighting the progress made by the City partnership over the last year;

 

·  The CHSCP’s priorities going forward and the key messages for those involved in the safeguarding of children and young people;

 

·  The rise in domestic violence and abuse calls received;

 

·  The exacerbation of mental health issues for those with existing mental health challenges;

 

·  The learning and development accrued from experience and reviews;

 

·  The governance and accountability arrangements for the CHSCP’s safeguarding arrangements;

 

·  The context for safeguarding children and young people in the London Borough of Hackney, highlighting the progress made by the Hackney partnership over the last year;

 

7.2  The Chair thanked officers for a very thorough report on this matter.

 

7.3  Mayor Glanville thanked officers for the report and the work carried out, including  the work on school exclusions.  He stated that the outcome of the reviews referred to, fed into the Council’s scrutiny work and political policy making, all of which strengthened practice and partnership working. 

 

 

7.4  Susan Masters congratulated officers on the good report. She suggested that in the key roles and relationships section of the report the safeguarding partners should be widened to include community groups. 

 

7.5  The Senior Professional Adviser clarified that while community groups were not specifically mentioned in the report, there was an expectation that all relevant agencies form part of a wider collective with the voluntary sector being central to what the partnership wished to achieve.

 

7.6  Deputy Mayor Bramble commended the good leadership on safeguarding, including on school exclusions, the work of Hackney Education and elected members including the Mayor. There was a need to work with young people who needed to be supported and facilitated to manage their behaviour, with training for staff who support this. There was also a need for conversation on disproportionality. She stressed the importance of the need to tackle school exclusions with the required outcomes. 

 

7.7  The Senior Professional Adviser referred to the need to support the partnership in preventing children having less supervision but that this could not be achieved without considering the structural issues at play.

 

7.8    The Chair referred to the importance of the expression of the metric of school exclusions over a period of time. He stated that children were less visible during the pandemic and highlighted the challenge in this regard.

 

7.9  Councillor Fajana-Thomas thanked officers for the report and the work that they carry out on safeguarding, including work with young children and the engagement with the Police. She stressed that stop and search conducted by the Police should be considered through a safeguarding lens.

 

7.10  The Senior Professional Adviser referred to the work carried out by teams on protecting children during the challenges arising from the pandemic. He referred to the importance of driving the culture of safeguarding across the organisation, with practitioners having a sharp focus on safeguarding within their practice.

 

RESOLVED:

 

To note the report

Publication date: 12/05/2022

Date of decision: 09/03/2022

Decided at meeting: 09/03/2022 - Health and Wellbeing Board

Accompanying Documents: