Agenda and minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17 September 2204, as a true and correct record of the proceedings and to be signed by the Chair.

Resolved: - That the Minutes of the meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission, held on 17 September 2024, be approved as a correct record of proceedings.

To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

There were no items of business on the agenda that required the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting.

To receive questions relating to items of business on the agenda from members of the public or press who are present at the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public or press.

This agenda item will consider an update on the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Annual Report 2023-2024.

The report includes an overview of the developments made by the Partnership in the last year, including the progress of the new delivery groups for Neglect and Safeguarding in Education. It also details the work of the Child Exploitation delivery group and the work of the Performance, Practice and Learning group, and major milestones achieved.

The agenda item considered an update on the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Annual Report for 2023-2024.

The Chair welcomed to the meeting, Councillor Cusworth, Cabinet Member for Children’s and Young Peoples Services, Laura Koscikiewicz, District Commander for South Yorkshire Police, Julie Warren-Sykes Deputy Chief Nurse and Designated Nurse for Safeguarding and Looked-after Children, Tony Morrisey, Interim Head of Safeguarding and Darren Downs, Independent Scrutineer for the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership.

The Chair invited the Cabinet Member to introduce the report and the following was noted:

·       There was strong partnership working in Rotherham which had transformed over the years.

·       The report was easily accessible and contained useful information and assurances.

The Chair invited the Independent Scrutineer for the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership to give the presentation and the following was noted:

Background-

·       The Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership was required to publish an annual report.

·       The annual report reflected the partnership’s commitment and achievements for 2023/2024 and identified areas that required continued improvements, to ensure the overarching priorities would be met, which were being safe at home, safe in the community and having safe safeguarding systems in place.

·       The report highlighted the developments that had been made by the partnership throughout the last year, including the progress of the new delivery groups for neglect and safeguarding in education. It also detailed the work of the Child Exploitation Delivery Group and the Performance, Practice and Learning Group, as well as all major milestones that had been achieved.  The Performance, Practice and Learning Group was led by the Interim Head of Safeguarding.

·       The report provided context on the partnerships plans for future years, and how the partnership would continue to build and strengthen further, with a focus on exploitation, neglect and safeguarding in education.

Key Issues-

·       The annual report highlighted and celebrated the work of the partnership throughout 2023-2024. In 2023-2024 the partnership retained its key principles in respect of Rotherham’s children, which were as follows:

o   Safe at Home

o   Safe in the Community

o   Safe Safeguarding Systems.

·       It was an active year, the partnership aligned with new strategic priorities for neglect and safeguarding in education, this was a first of its kind in England. This was in addition to continuing the well-established Child Exploitation Delivery Group and workplan. The partnership consolidated the quality assurance, training and child safeguarding review process into a new Practice, Performance and Learning Delivery Group. The partnership was also finalising the Safeguarding in Education Strategy.

·       The report set out key achievements in priority areas, such as the delivery of training and key data which demonstrated the Rotherham context.

·       A new Child Exploitation Strategy was implemented in July 2024.

Key Achievements-

·       There was a reduction in children subject to child protection plans and children looked after by the Local Authority.

·       5 audit processes were completed which focused on care leavers, including transitions and exploitation, persistent school absence, Early Help, including joint targeted area inspection preparation and persistent youth violence.

·       975 staff attended training from across the partnership.

·       There  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

This agenda item will consider an update on  the Rotherham Safeguarding Adults Board annual report for 2023-2024.

The 2023-2024 Rotherham Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report summarises the work of the Board and its subgroups to enhance the profile of safeguarding.

The report includes contributions from all strategic partners, highlights positive partnership working and provides a range of customer stories that evidence good safeguarding practice.

The agenda item provided an update on the Rotherham Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report for 2023/2024.

The Chair welcomed to the meeting, Moira Wilson, the Independent Chair for the Rotherham Safeguarding Adults Board, Andrew Wells, Head of Service for Safeguarding and Mental Health and Gemma Cross, Safeguarding Lead at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust.

The Chair invited the Independent Chair of the Rotherham Safeguarding Adults Board to give the presentation, during which the following was noted:

·       The Report covered the period of April 2023 to March 2024.

Rotherham Safeguarding Adults Board Priorities-

·       Back to Basics-

The Board would continue to work with partners to embed the six principles of safeguarding in practice. Making safeguarding personal was integral to everything the Board did. This was an important priority post-pandemic.

·       Systems, Processes and Performance-

The Board aimed to ensure that all services had appropriate systems and processes in place to support and safeguard adults effectively.

·       Strengthen Partnership-

The Board would collaboratively work with partners, organisations and communities, to work together to prevent abuse from happening, as safeguarding effectively was about working together, rather than as one sole organisation. Appendix One within the report highlighted the contributions that all partners made to the board throughout 2023/2024.

2023/2024 Actions-

·       In July 2023, the Board hosted a Peer Review by the Local Government Association. This entailed the service preparing a self-assessment to showcase the work of the Board.

·       The Board received the completed report, and as a result a partnership development day was held, to develop the recommendations from the report into an achievable action plan with three key themes. The three key themes identified were as follows:

o   Theme 1- Strengthening the user voice.

o   Theme 2- Governance and strengthening Board arrangements.

o   Theme 3- Making the best use of data and information.

·       The outcomes of the Peer Review were presented to the Heath Select Commission in early 2024.

·       The Board had a statutory responsibility to undertake Safeguarding Adults Review’s (SAR). SARs were completed in situations where somebody had died or was seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect and if the Board felt that lessons could be learned by the different agencies involved, then a SAR would be actioned.

·       There was a SAR completed in 2023/2024, known as the SAR Noelle and George. The review was signed off at the Board in March 2024 and work was on-going to ensure the development of the learning and recommendations from the SAR Noelle and George.

·       Safeguarding Awareness Week took place in November 2023, during which Rotherham hosted the Regional Launch for South Yorkshire. This was attended by 60 safeguarding professionals and leaders who came together to celebrate the start of a week of training and awareness sessions that related to safeguarding.

·       There had been a number of SARs in 2022/2023 which were as a result of self-neglect and several key themes were identified as a result of the SARs, self-neglect was an area that was increasing nationally. Therefore, in 2023/2024, there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To consider and approve the Commission’s Work Programme.

The Committee considered its Work Programme, and the following was noted:

·       The work programme was included in the agenda pack.

·       The suggested items for December’s meeting were absences from education and the SEND Strategy update.

Resolved: - That the Work Programme for 2024/2025 be approved.

For the Chair/Project Group Leads to provide an update on the activity regarding sub and project groups of the Improving Lives Select Commission.

The Chair provided a progress report on sub and project group activity and the following was noted:

·       The Preparation for Adulthood Spotlight Review Recommendations were presented to Cabinet on the 14 October 2024. Cabinet agreed to respond to the recommendations by December 2024, in accordance with the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules.

·       A consultation session was held with members of the Commission, where they contributed to the consultation relating to the development of the SEND Strategy. The session was well attended and very informative. Members were reminded to provide their feedback to the consultation via the link on the Council website.

Resolved: - That the update be noted.

To consider any item(s) the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair informed the Commission that a Trauma Matters Session had been arranged for all Elected Members and the following was noted:

·       The Trauma Matters Session would be held on the 28 January 2025 between 1.00-3.30pm.

·       The session would be in person only, at the Town Hall and would be delivered by the Rotherham Trauma and Resilience Service.

·       The aim of the session was to understand the impact of trauma across the lifespan.

The Chair advised that more information could be found on the Member Portal.