Agenda and minutes

• Councillor Aden, substituted by Councillor Molloy
• Councillor Mahmood
• The Venerable Archdeacon Catherine Pickford

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

Personal interests were declared as follows:

Ø  Councillor Ethapemi – spouse employed by NHS

Ø  Councillor Rajan-Seelan – spouse employed by NHS

Ø  Councillor Collymore – Patient Voice

Councillor Sheth highlighted that his register of interest could be found on the Brent website.

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations received.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 April 2024 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

There were no matters arising.

To present the Brent Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) Annual Report covering the period from April 2023 to March 2024.

The Chair welcomed Nicola Brownjohn (Independent Chair, Brent Safeguarding Adults Board) to the meeting, who had been in post since January 2024, and invited her to introduce the report.

Nicola Brownjohn began by highlighting that she had started in post outside of the timescales of the annual report period but hoped to give an overview of the work the Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) would be looking to do over the coming reporting period. She explained that her role as independent chair was to provide an external view, completely independent from any partners, to take forward and lead the SAB. Continuing to provide an overview of the arrangements, Nicola highlighted that SABs became statutory in 2014 under the Care Act, and within the remit of SABs was to produce an annual report every year, to set strategic priorities, to undertake Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) and to take forward learning. Her role ensured that the safeguarding system in Brent was established and working well, and part of her role was to challenge the partners working within the SAB. The three strategic partners were the Council, health and police, but there were other agencies involved to support the SAB including the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Brent’s hospital trusts, Brent’s mental health trusts, voluntary services, and other Council departments such as housing. In concluding her introduction, she highlighted the importance of coming together and working collaboratively.

The Chair thanked Nicola Brownjohn for her introduction and invited comments and questions from the Committee, with the following issues raised:

The Committee began by asking what Nicola had found coming into the SAB that she felt worked very well in Brent, and where she felt there needed to be some more focus. She responded that she had been struck by the positive way partners worked together. When she had joined Brent, she had some ideas for changes which had been taken forward quickly, with partners accepting them and adapting to them well. She had found very good listening and meaningful conversations were taking place between partners, and was pleased at the range of agencies involved with SAB and the commitment from those agencies. Her ‘wow’ factor for Brent’s arrangements was the relationship the partners had with voluntary services. One of the SAB strategic priorities was substance misuse and housing, so she had visited Skylight in Harlesden to look at the services on offer there and had been enthused by the depth of knowledge of the staff and the ‘built for zero’ work being done. In terms of works in progress, she had found when she started there was a gap in terms of understanding the data available. The partnership was very engaged so a subgroup was being launched which would take that work forward, looking at the data and any outlying areas and taking forward areas where there might be further themes to explore.

Noting that the Chair of SAB would have experience from other areas of the country, the Committee asked how Brent compared  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To present the Brent Safeguarding Children Partnership (BSCP) annual report covering the period from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2024.

The Chair welcomed Keith Makin (Independent Chair and Scrutineer, Brent Safeguarding Children Forum) to the meeting and invited him to introduce the item.

Keith Makin began by highlighting the similarities and coherence between the children’s and adult’s safeguarding arrangements, whilst also noting the different legislation and guidance, which was outlined in the report. He advised members that the key role of the partnership was to ensure that the three statutory partners – police, health, and the Council / local authority – worked closely together on safeguarding and were well sighted on strategic priorities that needed to be developed and achieved. The partnership was also required by legislation to produce an annual report. In addition to this, the partners were tasked with ensuring that that the learning and development programme and strategy was developed based on what was happening in Brent and nationally. Part of the safeguarding arrangements were to carry out safeguarding children practice reviews and rapid reviews, which he felt were developed very well in Brent. His role as Chair was to be a critical friend and ensure that challenge between partners happened in a healthy way. There was a small Safeguarding Partners Executive Group which he was a member of and a much wider Brent Safeguarding Children Forum which had a large range of partners including people from the community, voluntary organisations, education, hospital trusts and mental health providers.

Councillor Grahl (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools) added that there were some very longstanding relationships within the Brent safeguarding partnership and an institutional culture of openness and honesty, which she saw as crucial to safeguarding. She concluded by highlighting that the learning that took place within the partnership filtered through to all aspects of children’s social care in Brent.

The Chair thanked Keith Makin and the Cabinet Member for their introduction and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following issues raised:

The Committee began by asking Keith what he had found coming into the partnership that he felt worked very well in Brent, and where he felt there needed to be some further focus. In response, Keith Makin advised that he had worked across a number of partnerships both in London and nationally, and one of the roles of the Independent Scrutineer was to bring experience from other places, including national developments, to make comparisons and bring in good practice. He had witnessed partnerships at different stages of development, and felt that the ‘wow’ factor in Brent was that colleagues had been very welcoming, open, and the discussions he had with different agencies and partners had been very mature. He had been impressed by the level of involvement from GPs which he highlighted was strong in Brent compared to other places he had worked. The Partnership Managers were also very supportive, and he offered thanks for their work. In terms of work in progress and areas for focus and improvement, there had been four areas of development recommended by the most recent Ofsted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To present the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Recommendations Tracker.

The Committee noted the recommendations tracker.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Deputy Director – Democratic Services or their representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.