Issue - meetings

That the Cabinet adopt the Revised Safeguarding Policy 2026 and approve the awareness actions set out in the report.

The report was submitted by Cllr Dewi Jones.

DECISION

That the Cabinet adopt the Revised Safeguarding Policy 2026 and approved the awareness actions set out in the report.

DISCUSSION

It was reported that this Policy was reviewed every two years to ensure that it was up to date and addressed the latest legislation and guidance.

The importance of the Care Scrutiny Committee's views and recommendations as they scrutinised the item was emphasised, noting that their recommendations had been included in the document. 

The Vice-chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee was welcomed to the meeting to present the committee's recommendations to Cabinet. The recommendations were presented, namely to move the list of definitions to the front of the document, and to consider including a clause within the Policy relating to raising awareness of the signs that a child is being groomed or bullied on-line.

It was acknowledged that considerable change had been made to the policy since the last review, emphasising that this reflected the lessons learnt in this field.

It was noted that no equality impact assessment had been completed here as only policy revisions were being done at this point. This was elaborated upon stating that an assessment would need to be undertaken when it would be submitted to the Cabinet in two years.

Observations arising from the discussion:

·       In response to a question relating to assurance about the effectiveness of this policy, it was stated that the information would be submitted to the Scrutiny Committee, the Leadership Team, and the Cabinet on a regular basis. Reference was also made to the Director's Annual Report, and that it was intended to commission an additional audit to assess staff's understanding of the Safeguarding Policy and how it should be implemented. It was hoped that the work would provide assurance of workforce awareness.

It was emphasised that safeguarding was a matter for all departments across the Council, and it was recognised that safeguarding was now on the agenda of every meeting of the Corporate Management Team and departmental management teams.