Brent Local Safeguarding Children Board Meeting Minutes

Transcription

1 P a g e 1 LSCB 13 December 2018 Keeping children safe is everyone s responsibility Brent Local Safeguarding Children Board Meeting Minutes Boardrooms 7&8, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, HA9 0FJ Thursday 13 December :30-16:30 Present: Designation Brent LSCB Independent Chair Brent Council - Operational Director, Integration and Improved Outcomes Brent Council Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Brent Council Strategic Partnerships Manager Brent Council Strategic Partnership Lead Brent Council Training Coordinator Brent Council Strategic Lead Offender Manager Brent Council - Head of Adults Services Brent Council Team Leader, Looked After Children and Permanency Brent CCG - Assistant Director Brent CCG - Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children Brent CCG - Clinical Director, Willesden Metropolitan Police Brent Borough Command Metropolitan Police Safeguarding Lead for Barnet, Brent and Harrow BCU National Probation Service Area Manager London Community Rehabilitation Company Contracts and Partnerships Manager London Ambulance Service (LAS) Head of Safeguarding Lead Member for Children Young People Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) Trust Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children London North West Healthcare (LNWH) Trust Head of Safeguarding London North West University Healthcare (LNWH) Trust Named Doctor for Safeguarding The Stonebridge School - Head Teacher Apologies: Designation Brent Council - Strategic Director, Children and Young People Brent Council - Operational Director, Safeguarding Performance and Strategy Brent Council Head of Community Protection Brent Council Head of Housing Needs Brent Council Director of Public Health Brent CCG - Designated Doctor for Safeguarding Children Name Mike Howard Nigel Chapman Janice Altenor Meenara Islam Wendy Proctor Janine Georgias Sukhy Hira Helen Duncan-Turnbull Monique Lindsay Duncan Ambrose Lesley Tilson Dr Ketana Halai Det Supt Barry Loader DCI Kaye Wise Nadine Reid Roxanne Hansen Alan Taylor Cllr Mili Patel Rachel Phillips Carol Ann Williams Dr Ronelle Naidoo Sophie Allen Situl Karia Lucy Elgood Pamela Stewart Sophie Esenwa Angela Clarke Chris Kingham Name Gail Tolley Brian Grady Karina Wane Laurence Coaker Dr Melanie Smith Dr Arlene Boroda

2 P a g e 2 The Village School Head Teacher (Special School Representation) Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) Trust Head of Safeguarding Barnardo s - Assistant Director Children's Services West Locality Barnardo s Assistant Director Children's Services London Ambulance Service (LAS) - Quality Governance & Assurance Manager Queens Park Rangers in the Community Head of Safeguarding CNWL NHS Trust - Named Professional for Safeguarding Children Brent CCG Named Doctor for Safeguarding Children Deputy Head Teacher - Capital City Academy Deputy Head Teacher Newman Catholic College Cafcass - Service Manager Kay Charles Trish Stewart Marie Moody Clare Pritchard Chris Miles Janet Barr Susan Bray Dr Dilip Basi Rhoda Flindall Andrew Dunne Katie Warren Item 1 Introduction, Welcome & Apologies Chair Key Points All apologies for absence were noted on pages 1 and 2 of these minutes. Item 2 Minutes of the Previous Meeting Chair The minutes of the previous meeting, held on 27 September 2018, were accepted as an Key Points accurate record. Item 3 Matters Arising Chair The Chair noted that most actions arising from the previous meeting would be Actions of Previous discussed as part of the agenda. Meeting The Chair informed members that the LSCB Annual Report 2017/18 had been received well by the Council s Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee in October Nicky Case (Troubled Families Coordinator, Brent Council) had drafted an Information Sharing Agreement on behalf of Brent Children s Trust with the aim to create a single point of reference for various partnerships in the borough. The LSCB would adapt the paper for its purposes once it had been signed off by Brent Children s Trust in January. Information Sharing Agreement Duncan Ambrose had provided feedback to Ms Case. The Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) supported the introduction of an Information Sharing Agreement as long as relevant organisations had been engaged in drafting the document. The Chair said that he had discussed the introduction of a single document with the Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board who had supported the proposal. It was noted that an update would be provided at the next meeting of the LSCB in February. The Chair reminded members that Private Fostering had been discussed at the LSCB meetings in June and September 2018 with the aim to identify actions partner agencies could implement to increase the number of referrals. He emphasised that if staff felt that they were working with a child who was in positon of private fostering, they had to refer them to the Local Authority. Private Fostering Monique Lindsay added that the Council had continued to receive referrals, predominantly from international schools, which had been forwarded to Brent Family Front Door (BFFD). Nigel Chapman informed members that a short briefing note would be provided on actions undertaken since June Moreover, staff working within the BFFD would attend training on private fostering. It was agreed that information on private fostering would be made available to local foodbanks and refugee families.

3 P a g e 3 Operation Encompass update CDOP update CSA NWLH Hub update DCI Kaye Wise reported that although Operation Encompass had been live in Brent, the Police were looking for ways to change the way it functioned on a London-wide level. As a result, it would be rolled out through the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) in late December This would unify the way referrals had been handled across the Barnet, Brent and Harrow Basic Command Unit (BCU). The foundations of Operation Encompass has been established at the London Borough of Harrow and there had been a few schools in the BCU capture area that had not signed up to it. This would be addressed by sending letters to schools and parents. A member of the LSCB expressed concern that despite the positive feedback on the introduction of Operation Encompass, schools often did not receive information from the Police promptly which prevented them from providing effective support to children. DCI Wise encouraged members to refer such instances to her so she could investigate them. In addition, processing referrals through the MASH was expected to speed information sharing up and provide targeted information to schools. She added that a new information sharing system had been rolled out in the London Borough of Harrow and the Sergeant in charge of it would start contacting schools in Brent in mid- December In response to a question whether referrals made by other agencies than the Police were captured by Operation Encompass, the Chair clarified that these were not sent to schools. However, he acknowledged that this could be examined by the LSCB Domestic Abuse Priority Group. The Chair reminded members that one of the recommendations made by Alan Wood s review that had been accepted by the Government related to merging Child Death Overview Panels (CDOPs) across the country. In the context of Brent, this would mean that the first step would be to seek a merger with Harrow and the Chair, Dr Smith and Dr Boroda had already started working on it although no response from the Harrow CDOP had been received. However, at the same time the Chair of Harrow LSCB had secured funding to combine eight boroughs into a single CDOP. Its expected workload would be in the range of cases a year which would require approximately 52 hours of meetings compared to eight hours currently. The Chair, Dr Smith and Dr Boroda considered that such a large merger would not be an effective use of partner agencies time. Duncan Ambrose commented that it would not be feasible to merge eight CDOPs into one. He said that lessons learned had to be taken into account despite the opportunities to achieve savings. Merging the CDOPs in Brent and Harrow would be a logical step and Mr Ambrose said that he would discuss this proposal with relevant stakeholders. It was noted that a consultation on changing the rapid response procedures had started. If the proposed changes were adopted, cases would initially be registered by a designated nurse rather than a designated doctor which could have an impact on the service provided. Members directed their attention to the paper which had been circulated by Dr Boroda prior to the meeting. It was noted that it provided an update on actions since the previous Board meeting in September It was emphasised that the opening of the Hub, due in October 2018, had been delayed due to staffing capacity issues in the original hosting trust which had led to a review of other commissioning options. In addition, further engagement was required with frontline social care staff and the Chair encouraged partner agencies to make referrals to the Hub. A Lay Member expressed uncertainty about the benefit of interaction of certain agencies, such as the Crown Prosecution Services, and CSA hubs for instance, prosecutors often had to find additional information about defendants, but they did not see the hubs as places to source it.

4 P a g e 4 It was noted that the Hub would be considered successful if the number of referrals exceeded its capacity. However, this stage had not been reached yet and it was agreed that a further progress update would be provided at the next meeting of the LSCB. Item 4 Board Business Item 4a Update from Statutory Safeguarding Partners meeting Meenara Islam Members heard that the Statutory Safeguarding Partners (the Local Authority, the Police and the Clinical Commissioning Group) who were responsible for designing the new safeguarding arrangements in the Borough had met four times to date. Under the new agreed arrangements there would be an Executive Group which would provide strategic direction and its work would be complemented by a Safeguarding Children Forum which would drive strategies forward. The Chair provided more information about the Executive Group and said that the arrangements in Brent followed on from the Keeping in Touch meetings. He emphasised that he was keen to continue working with partner agencies and Lay Members. The Strategic Partnerships Team would support both the current and the emerging arrangements and it would make strategic links with other boroughs such as Barnet and Harrow. Meenara Islam said that Brent s Chief Executive had approached her counterparts in the two boroughs to discuss potential ways of working together on an operational level, however, collaboration was unlikely to expand prior to individual Key points arrangements being confirmed. Brent LSCB had been successful in deepening its relationship with Harrow LSCB, although there was no appetite for the creation of a combined LSCB. Collaboration in relation to CDOPs, MARACs and multiagency child sexual exploitation panels could be explored. Det Supt Barry Loader said that the negative outcome of an inspection of Barnet LSCB prior to the merger had been addressed which would enable wider collaboration to be established. Ms Islam pointed out that the opportunities for joint working between agencies in the three boroughs had been impacted by the complexity of geography, the health map and the different provider arrangements. DCI Kaye Wise spoke of Harrow s view of achieving closer collaboration between children and adult safeguarding, with the aim to reduce the overlap between meetings and working groups. The Chair said that he met regularly with the Chair of Brent Safeguarding Adults Board and acknowledged that there were increasingly more areas such as domestic abuse where the two boards could cooperate. However, his view was that such a potential merger would not increase efficiency or effectiveness. Item 4b Update on LSCB income and expenditure for 2018/19 Chair / Wendy Proctor Wendy Proctor provided an update on Brent LSCB income and expenditure for 2018/19, including actual spending to 30 November She reminded members that although Brent Council did not provide a direct contribution to the LSCB budget, it funded and hosted the support arrangements for the Board delivered through the Strategic Partnerships Team. The situation was expected to change in the /20 financial year as, under the new Key points arrangements, the Statutory Safeguarding Partners had to agree equal and balanced contributions to the budget. This could mean the overall budget could be reduced to 15,000 should the Local Authority and the Clinical Commissioning Group decide to match the standard London borough Met Police annual contribution of 5,000. It was noted that a potential underspend of 15,447 had been forecasted against the 2018/19 budget, with 7,000 being held as a Serious Case Review contingency fund.

5 P a g e 5 Meenara Islam invited members to get involved in the budget-setting process by putting forward practical suggestions related to joint working and improving the support provided to the Board. The Chair commented that Brent LSCB delivered a good value for money, taking into account that it had one of the smallest budgets in London and added that contributions in kind, such as hosting board meetings, would be welcomed. Item 4c LSCB Learning and Development verbal update Janine Georgias 22 courses had been offered since the last Board meeting in September There had been a noticeable increase in take up and feedback provided by delegates had been positive as they felt that they had increased their knowledge and confidence. Work on quality assurance of individual agencies would continue in with the aim to ensure that they would be equipped with the necessary resources to deliver effective training. The training priorities for would be confirmed shortly and these would be based on the steer provided by the LSCB Priority Groups. It was expected that a greater focus would be put on e-learning and cuckooing had been selected as a topic for joint working as it could be relevant to both children and adult safeguarding. In relation to potential collaboration with Harrow, it was noted that both LSCBs advertised each other s courses and a member suggested that it would be useful for children and adult safeguarding courses to be listed together. Janine Georgias said that she would look into this and provide an update in. The Chair informed members that he had been working with the Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board to deliver a session on safeguarding and housing providers Key Points at the Brent Safeguarding Adults Board Conference scheduled to take place in February. Its aim would be to address the gap in safeguarding knowledge of housing providers in the Borough. In fact, Brent had a very high density of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) which provided favourable conditions for human trafficking and modern slavery. In response to a question whether delegates names had been sent to their respective organisations so they could claim training hours, Ms Georgias said that although this was a good idea, the resources to administer it were not available as her post was parttime. Wendy Proctor added that the existing self-service system allowed delegates to select their organisation from a drop-down list, but this provided potential for errors related to people misreading or confusing organisation names. Nevertheless, it was possible to extract a report on the number of attendees by wider agencies and delegates received certificates which they could present to their employers. The Chair thanked Ms Georgias and Ms Stewart for their work on developing the LSCB training offer. He highlighted that its key strength was the fact that it was multiagency and encouraged members who were interested in finding out more about specific training courses to contact Ms Georgias and Ms Stewart. In addition, any specific issues would be discussed at the next meeting of the Learning and Development Advisory Group. Item 4d LSCB Priority Groups update Priority Groups Chairs

6 P a g e 6 Violence, Vulnerability and Exploitation Priority Group Sophie Esenwa reported that the Violence, Vulnerability and Exploitation Priority Group had held one meeting which had been well attended. It had discussed how agencies could contribute to improving existing information sharing processes by making it more responsive and fit for purpose as this could have a significant impact on the outcomes for children. A second meeting had been scheduled to take place in January. It would focus on soft intelligence and the ways it could be used to support work on specific cases. The Chair shared his positive experience of the meeting which he had observed. He reminded Board members that medium-risk children were often overlooked by the system so improving information sharing would raise awareness and contribute to safeguarding. An action plan for the group would be developed and although it would be focused on information gathering and sharing, Board members would be welcome to suggest topics. Neglect Priority Group Domestic Abuse Nigel Chapman provided an overview of the work of the Neglect Priority Group. It had met once and a second meeting had been scheduled to take place in December Membership included representatives of the Children and Young People Department and the Housing Needs Service at Brent Council; the health economy; Barnardo s; and a primary school. Members had agreed the Group s Terms of Reference. The purpose of the Group would be to design an Action Plan with three main aims - to explore the current provision related to neglect; to provide collective leadership and to support the LSCB s Neglect Strategy. It would capture the period between the present moment and the autumn of and members had discussed indicators which could be used to measure delivery against the Plan. Sophie Allen said that the Domestic Abuse Priority Group had not met yet. She encouraged Board members who were Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) at their respective organisations to join the Group as there were still vacancies to be filled in. Ms Allen said that she had discussed potential topics that could be explored by the Group in fact, approximately 70% of referrals made to the Brent Family Front Door (BFFD) were related to domestic abuse. Therefore, the Group could work on improving systems and processes related to dealing with cases of domestic abuse and building links with other committees and groups such as the Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC). The Chair encouraged members of the Group to hold a meeting in January. Item 5 Impact on safeguarding of police reorganisation Det. Supt. Barry Loader Det. Supt. Barry Loader said that one of the reasons for reforming the Metropolitan Police 32-borough model was to reduce expenditure. The new structure placed a greater emphasis on safeguarding which had been a direct response to the findings of the Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspection conducted in May It was based on 12 Basic Command Units (BCUs) which had been gradually phased in with the last BCU scheduled to go live in February. Furthermore, there were 12 Superintendents accountable for 12 thematic areas Key Points reporting to Commander Richard Smith. On a local level, the Barnet, Brent and Harrow BCU had been launched in November 2018, with the sexual offending teams and the child abuse teams expected to be merged in February. Members heard that Det. Supt. Loader s team consisted of 12 thematic leads who had local knowledge and accountability. In addition, approximately 100 members of staff were expected to join the BCU which would fill existing gaps and enable the service to operate at full capacity.

7 P a g e 7 Members enquired how the changes would affect the way professionals contacted the Police. DCI Kaye Wise explained that each borough would have a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) team. Officers, along with the referral desk, would be colocated at MASH teams and contact numbers would be provided. A further update on the new arrangements for the Barnet, Brent and Harrow BCU would be provided at the next LSCB meeting in February. The meeting was adjourned for a comfort break between 3:10 pm and 3:25 pm.

8 P a g e 8 Item 6 Brent Council Children s Services Police Nigel Chapman Review of inspections Det. Supt. Barry Loader Carol Ann Williams Nigel Chapman said that Brent Council had been inspected in May 2018, with the inspection report published in July The Local Authority had been judged by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) as Good overall, with the experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers rated as Outstanding. The overall judgement of Good was the best inspection result achieved by Children s Services in Brent. He referred to some of the areas of strength such as strong strategic and political leadership; partnership working; corporate parenting; and communication with children and young people (for more details, please see paragraph 4.2 of the report (page 28 of the Agenda pack)). The inspection had identified four areas for improvement (outlined in paragraph 4.3 of the report (page 29 of the agenda pack)) and the Council had implemented an action plan to address these. The Board heard that progress was monitored through a monthly Protection Improvement Group, chaired by the Strategic Director of Children and Young People. The majority of actions had been completed with the exception of the ones related to the quality of case recording and supervision which required long-term monitoring. Staff turnover had been a key challenge across London. A recruitment drive was taking place at the moment, but unless permanent members of staff were appointed, it would continue to be difficult to improve the situation. The Council had decided to reduce the size of teams so officers felt could feel more supported in their roles. As similar challenges were experienced across the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the Borough, the Local Authority could consider developing key working housing with the aim to improve retention rates, but this could be unsuitable for agency staff and people with large families. A Board member enquired whether health professionals had been invited to participate in the meetings of the Protection Improvement Group and Mr Chapman said that the Group had engaged with the Designated Doctor for Safeguarding Children, the Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children and representatives of Brent Family Front Door who had been asked to join the meetings and feed back to their respective organisations. The Chair referred to section nine of the report (pages 31 and 32 of the agenda pack) and said that once the vulnerable adolescents risk assessment had been developed, it could be presented to the Violence, Vulnerability and Exploitation Priority Group for feedback and comments. It was noted that the topic of missing children would be re-examined in in order to monitor the progress that had been achieved. The Board commended the Children and Young People Department s leadership team for the outcome of the inspection and their commitment to safeguarding children in the Borough. Det. Supt. Barry Loader said that in addition to the Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspection conducted in May 2016 the Police were re-inspected in November 2018 on protecting vulnerable people. He reminded the Board that the result of the previous inspection had been requires improvement. The full report, along with the official grading, on the recent inspection would become available in. Det. Supt. Loader added that Commander Richard Smith had introduced six-monthly thematic reviews of each of the safeguarding strands in addition to the annual assessment conducted by the HMICFRS.

9 P a g e 9 London North West Healthcare University National Health Service Trust Carol Ann Williams delivered a presentation on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of the London North West University Healthcare National Health Service (NHS) Trust. She reminded members that the CQC had visited the Trust in June 2018 and had published its report in August The inspection had identified 74 areas of improvement; 39 must do actions and 72 should do actions. Ms Williams that these would be addressed through stronger leadership; clear actions to tackle barriers to progress; clear accountability; and delivering against the Trust s Key Performance Indicators. Moreover, a transformation programme had been established to provide continuous improvement structure and the Executive Team met monthly to review progress on actions taken to address the CQC findings and transformation. The Chair said that he had met with Ms Williams and Lesley Tilson to discuss the presentation and he highlighted that it was important to note what had been achieved. He acknowledged that the issues identified by the CQC were challenging, but actions had been taken to reduce the risk of harm for children. He noted that the findings identified in relation to safeguarding and the transition from adolescent to adult services for children with challenging behaviour, mental health problems or special needs were not unique to the Trust. Duncan Ambrose said that Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) welcomed the openness of the leadership of the Trust which had provided reassurance that the findings of the report had been addressed. He spoke of the difference between community and acute provision and stressed that the scale of the planned changes should not be underestimated. The CCG was willing to provide support through dedicated managers and the role of non-executive directors was crucial for the provision of independent scrutiny. The Chair confirmed the Board s willingness to support the Trust and referred to the expertise of the LSCB members which could be used to provide a different perspective on the issues that had been identified. Item 7 Any Other Business Chair Meeting venues The Chair encouraged members to contact Wendy Proctor and Nikolay Manov if they wished at host an LSCB meeting. Section 11 audit The Chair informed the Board that there were plans to carry out a Section 11 Audit in. However, the format would be changed as organisations would be able to measure their safeguarding performance against a set of indicators relevant to them (selfassessment). Members heard that there had been a proposal to spend approximately 8,000 of the LSCB reserves to commission an independent company to carry out a Section 11 Audit, but a final decision had not been made and further suggestions were encouraged. Exploitation Learning Event It was noted that the Exploitation Learning Event would be delivered jointly with Brent Safeguarding Adults Board through the SAB annual conference.

10 Agreed Actions P a g e 10 Action Action Owner Deadline Provide an update on the work on the Information Sharing Agreement Mike Howard / Wendy Proctor Circulate a short briefing note on actions related to private Nigel Chapman fostering that had been undertaken since June 2018 Provide information on private fostering to local foodbanks and refugee families Examine ways of capturing referrals made by agencies other than the Police as part of Operation Encompass Provide an update on the number of referrals received by the CSA NWLH Hub Nigel Chapman Relevant Priority Group Dr Arlene Boroda TBC Put forward ideas how to make the Section 11 Audit more relevant to partner organisations Consider whether it would be feasible to advertise children and adult safeguarding courses together Provide a further update on the new arrangements for the Barnet, Brent and Harrow BCU Discuss the unannounced inspection of the London Ambulance Service All Janine Georgias / Pamela Stewart Det. Supt. Barry Loader Mike Howard / Alan Taylor TBC TBC The meeting closed at 4:26 pm.