Agenda item

To receive a report from Sharon Burgess, Head of Safeguarding Adults and Bharat Ayer, Safeguarding Adults Team Manager.

Bharat Ayer, (Safeguarding Adults Team Manager) introduced a report on the   Enfield Safeguarding Adults Strategy 2018 – 23 which has been issued for consultation. He invited comments from OSC.

The following was highlighted:

• One of the Safeguarding Adults Board duties, as a requirement of the Care Act, is to publish a strategic plan for each financial year that sets out how it will meet its main objective and what Safeguarding Adult Board members will do to achieve this.
• The priorities have been developed by a project group including service users, carers and our Quality Checkers. They helped to ensure that the strategy, which was quite a technical area, had been set out in a clear and easily understandable way. It is in plain English and jargon has been removed. It also sets out the telephone numbers/ website address for people to use if someone is suspected of being abused on each page of the draft document.
• The aims of the Board are - to prevent abuse, protect adults at risk, to learn from experience and improve services.

The following questions/ comments were raised:

Q. I notice that the number of concerns reported had increased significantly with 1616 concerns reported for 2017/18 from 1144 the preceding year. 

A. Yes this means that people are reporting more incidents. This is welcomed  because rather than having situations which are hidden, we are able to take steps to resolve any problems.

Q. How does the new Strategy document for the forthcoming five years differ from the previous one? 

A. There has been more focus on community engagement.  It has been led by service users which has made a big difference.  There is also more connection with the use of social media and IT.

Councillor Smith complimented the service on the strategy document which he said was very clear for people to understand.

Q. As there had been a significant number of concerns raised but not an increase in budget, it was asked if they were still being dealt with adequately?

A. Sharon Burgess, Head of Safeguarding Adults confirmed that this is being done.  Although there are budgetary constraints, we are looking at efficiency measures for example making the best use of data to ensure that the response we give is both person-centred and proportionate for what is needed and we try to ensure it is not too bureaucratic.

Sharon mentioned that the aim is to publicise the strategy, by reaching out to the community, especially for those in their own homes who may be socially isolated.  Councillor Levy referred to a recent OSC work stream that had looked at the issue of loneliness and social isolation for those people who may not have the capacity to break away from their situation. There are a number of potential victims. There is a range of situations which may be considered abusive for example being the victim of rogue traders.

Councillor Needs praised the report, and she went on to ask:

Q. What happens when there is an issue that crosses over between the Police and the Local Authority? Whose remit would this come under?

A. We work closely with the police and other contacts and come together under ‘MASH’  the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub – where professionals work together and share information. Therefore if there is a crime we would ensure people have access to the criminal justice system and we lobby the Crown Prosecutor working nationally and locally.

Q. With reference to sex workers, how can we safeguard workers in cases of abuse?

A. Under ‘safeguarding of adults’ we would be looking to see if someone has care and support needs.  In the case of sex workers this may not be the case. However the cases of modern day slavery is rising, and this issue is something we would be looking into in more detail.

This consultation is being led by service users. This has been included in Our Enfield magazine and emailed to Enfield residents and sub groups.  Consultation and continuous engagement to build links with community groups is key.

Q. How effective do you think the strategy has been? Is it working?

A. We believe prevention is most important and this is helped by reaching out to our communities who support each other. We have a five year plan which would be built on; our Quality Checkers are out in homes developing links as well as our usual links with partners.

There was a brief discussion following the earlier points made about sex workers and the need to target those who financially benefit from them. It was thought the increased powers of the police to be able to do this should be beneficial.

It was suggested that the consultation be shared with Enfield Youth Parliament. Susan O’Connell to liaise with officers and provide contact details so that this can be arranged. 

                                                                            Action: Susan O’Connell

Councillor Needs mentioned that she lived on the east side of the Borough and had not received copies of ‘My Enfield’ she thought it was important that information on the ‘Safeguarding of Adults’ is publicised as there are people who may be potential victims in the area.        Action: Bharat Ayer

NOTED

Members noted the Draft Safeguarding Adults Strategy 2018-23 development and consultation.

Sharon Burgess, Bharat Ayer and their team were thanked for their work, also for recent training that had been provided.