Issue - meetings

Report CS18074

The Committee received a presentation on the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2016/17 by Lynn Sellwood, who had been appointed Independent Chairman, Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board in March 2017 and Raynor Griffiths, Manager: Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board.

The Local Authority had a statutory duty under the Care Act 2015 to establish a Safeguarding Adults Board to ensure that there were local safeguarding arrangements in place within the Borough to protect vulnerable adults.  The Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board had three main functions comprising developing a strategic plan, publishing an annual report and undertaking Safeguarding Adults Reviews to investigate serious incidents.  The Board’s statutory partners were Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group and the Metropolitan Police, and the Board worked across wide range of non-statutory partners including the Care Quality Commission and local voluntary organisations, and had two Lay Members. 

During 2016/17, the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board had worked to engage service users in the development of the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Strategy 2016-19 and had delivered a workforce strategy, with 619 staff trained in safeguarding.  A highly successful annual conference had also been arranged around the theme ‘accessing judgement’ which had been attended by 150 delegates.  The Board continued to work with all key partners to deliver a range of preventative work, including Trading Standards and Bromley Fire Brigade.  A mapping exercise was also underway to plot all reported safeguarding incidents in 2016/17 and enable future service delivery to be more closely targeted to areas of need.  An increase in the number of inappropriate safeguarding referrals made by the Metropolitan Police had been identified as a training issue and would be addressed. 

In response to a concern raised by a Member, the Independent Chairman, Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board confirmed that the Board’s priorities for 2017/18 included the issues of hoarding, self-respect and domestic violence.  Fire safety had been considered at a recent meeting of the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board and would continue to be a key area of focus for the Board going forward in partnership with the Bromley Fire Service.  Looking ahead, the Board was seeking to develop closer links with the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board on cross-cutting issues such as gang membership, and would be also working with further education colleges to ensure the right measures were in place to protect vulnerable adults from radicalisation.

The Chairman led Members in thanking Lynn Sellwood and Raynor Griffiths for their excellent presentation which is attached at Appendix B.

RESOLVED that the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2016/17 be noted.