Review of Safeguarding Arrangements at West Midlands Fire & Rescue Authority

1. West Midlands Fire & Rescue Authority Scrutiny Committee 27th Feb 2019 Review of Safeguarding arrangements – Alan Lotinga, WMADASS Associate Consultant

2. Overview Who am I? Reminder of the work brief Progress to date Some highlights – positives and areas for improvement Next steps

3. Reminder of the work brief – main lines of enquiry – safeguarding of Adults and Children Leadership - policy is owned by the most appropriate SET member, and that is clear, so that safeguarding is seen as everyone’s responsibility Policies and procedures compliant with legislation, statutory guidance and learning lessons from a recent multi-agency review Workforce has the necessary skills and knowledge to identify safeguarding concerns and apply policy etc competently and consistently + recruitment, selection and relevant training are sound Quality standards, assurance and monitoring processes are in place to ensure safeguarding concerns are identified and managed in accordance with policy

4. Outcomes expected Analysis of current safeguarding arrangements within WMFS Report on extent to which WMFS compliant with the above 4 lines of enquiry Recommendations for action to address gaps and shortfalls and improvement where required Present the analysis to WMFRA Scrutiny Committee – update/work in progress today, and final report and recommendations to 27th March 2019 Committee

5. Progress to date – current position Sources of information – legislation and national, regional (some draft) and Service-specific guidance and templates, policies and procedures, website and intranet, SG reviews, group and individual discussion with specific staff and with Scrutiny Members, Service background information, personal historic experience and of other key partners Thanks – everyone open, generous and keen to improve Conscious you are serving a large population (2.57m), 7 LA metropolitan areas, multiple deprivation, wide diversity, resources very tight

6. Some highlights – positives (1) LEADERSHIP A strong and accessible 2018-21 WMFS Community Safety Strategy: Safer, Stronger and Healthier hitting the right leadership messages Determination to “add-value” to local communities and Safeguarding Boards, and to learn from major local and national reviews Excellent reputation with key partners Re-organisation/updating of WMFS approach to SG (eg Complex Needs Officers) part of a bigger picture change programme – Vulnerability to Fire – which will be reviewed and evaluated in due course Strong emphasis on prevention, with excellent innovations egSafeside

7. Some highlights – positives (2) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES A number of very good policies, including your Safeguarding policy (keep it as one), and relevant cross-references A number of helpful, clear sets of relevant support materials/processes – e.g. who does what in what circumstances Keen to develop “Making Safeguarding Personal”/”Voice of the Child” approaches – based on what the person wants to achieve

8. Some highlights – positives (3) WORKFORCE Some excellent practice to celebrate and a genuine commitment and desire to do the right thing A genuine concern to support staff in their SG and wider welfare roles and their own wellbeing Recruitment and selection procedures and competency framework (for adult SG) and how they are applied appear sound Impressive structure and range of relevant training OVERSIGHT AND ASSURANCE A good amount of SG and related data/intelligence available

9. Some highlights – areas for improvement (1) LEADERSHIP Location of, capacity and expert support for safeguarding leadership Could be more “robust” with your 7 SG areas – eg seeking just 2 sets of annual self-assessments and referral forms; senior level requests to SG lead partners to confirm who, if at all, needs to cover multitude of groups and meetings POLICIES AND PROCEDURES SG policy – some relatively small updates, particularly on Children’s SG, and from national Service guidance (I can help with this) Some additions might be helpful eg People in Positions of Trust (I can help with this) – don’t just rely on disciplinary policy MSP/Voice of the Child – keep it simple, relevant and it’s not just about telling people what they need to do

10. Some highlights – areas for improvement (2) WORKFORCE More re-assurance to staff that they are doing the right thing and where they don’t need to get involved and why – all of it isn’t your responsibility More training needs to be mandatory and some regularised Understand better the impact of training, different types of training (eg e-learning), feedback and evaluation More emphasis on Mental Health Act/capacity awareness More, co-ordinated, sharing and learning from case studies – use Tactical Decision Exercises and one-minute briefings

11. Some highlights – areas for improvement (3) OVERSIGHT AND ASSURANCE Could do better at bringing procedures, work-flows, training and key data together eg a more co-ordinated SG section in the MESH intranet system A “one record” approach to logging and recording, and therefore oversight and monitoring of SG alerts, incidents, themes and their closure or resolution To support this, scope to have a sharper “duty” process to triage concerns compared to SG thresholds, and limit “near misses”

12. Next steps Final assembly of information and analysis Full report for March Scrutiny Committee and analysis of strengths and areas to develop across the 4 key lines of enquiry Recommendations Action/Implementation Plan framework Recognition of key moment in time – WM Combined Authority changes