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Annual Corporate Safeguarding Report

Published: 18/02/2019

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet will be invited to review and approve the Corporate Safeguarding Panel’s Annual Report 2018 prior to publication when it meets later this month.

Safeguarding is everybody’s business in every service within the Council. The Corporate Safeguarding Panel was established in December 2015 and its report sets out steps which have been taken to ensure robust corporate safeguarding arrangements are in place. These include:

• provision of drama style safeguarding training available for both employees and elected members;
• publication of a regular Safeguarding Bulletin to increase employee awareness of safeguarding issues;
• inclusion of safeguarding clauses in contractor terms and conditions for passenger transport services and the requirement for drivers to attend safeguarding training;
• inclusion of corporate safeguarding as a priority in the Council Plan 2018/19.

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Members for Social Services, Councillor Christine Jones, and for Corporate Management and Assets, Councillor Billy Mullin, who are both members of the Safeguarding Panel, said:

“Flintshire is committed to its responsibilities and, as can be seen by this report, we have taken positive steps to ensure that there are robust arrangements in place for protecting children, young people and adults.

“The report also identifies positive stories, including how concerns raised by a Council sub-contractor regarding the safety of a child resulted in Social Services intervention. The child is now living in foster care and the parents are being supported and engaging with services. This shows the importance of all employees and contractors reporting concerns, ensuring appropriate investigations and actions are taken.”

The key actions to be completed during 2019 include:

• Continuing to deliver safeguarding training across the Council.
• Raising public awareness of safeguarding, including modern slavery.
• Continuing to raise awareness of exploitation which was the theme of national Safeguarding Week 2018.
• Participating in national Safeguarding Week 2019.