Agenda item

This report updates committee members with interim feedback from the members’ overview and scrutiny task group which was set up by the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee to review contextual safeguarding in Brent.

Councillor Orleen Hylton (Chair of the Members’ Overview and Scrutiny Task Group) presented the report which provided feedback on the work of the Members’ Overview and Scrutiny Task Group that had been set up to review contextual safeguarding and how it could be introduced more widely in Brent. She informed Members that the approach of contextual safeguarding had been developed in recent years by Dr Carlene Firmin at the University of Bedfordshire’s International Centre. The model asked practitioners working with adolescent children to recognise the limits of safeguarding approaches which just focused on risks within the family and to address the risks from ‘contexts’ outside of the family such as peer groups, schools and neighbourhoods in which an adolescent child lived.

Members heard that the Task Group was minded to develop recommendations in a number of areas, which were set out in the feedback report to the Committee. These included ensuring that in Brent’s approach to online safeguarding was a separate context; making sure that public information was provided to give residents better knowledge about safeguarding; reviewing children’s safety while using the bus network; and addressing the concern about adolescent children’s time during school holidays. The final report on the work of the Task Group would be presented to the Committee at the meeting on 18 March 2019 for agreement of recommendations, following which it would be scheduled to go to Cabinet.

Members welcomed the report and enquired why special attention should be paid to social media, e.g. it had been proposed to add a fifth context ‘online’ to Brent’s approach, and whether consideration had been given to other modes of transport. Councillor Hylton said that a significant proportion of parents were not aware of the content their children accessed online and could not explain to them the dangers of using social media and sharing too much personal information. Moreover, the Task Group supported the view that social media companies should take more responsibility for the way their platforms were used. As far as travel was concerned, the discussion had been focused on buses and the management of the bus system, e.g. travelling by Underground had not been suggested by the Task Group as an area of concern.

In response to a question about developing contextual safeguarding in Brent, Councillor Hylton explained that the thinking was already having an influence and the model was being put into practice in some areas. Various stakeholders were also committed to its principles. For example, schools had already been collaborating with bus companies to promote safer travel and they had organised IT classes for parents. The introduction of more Safe Spaces was being looked at and Brent Council’s Youth Offending Service had been working on identifying safe areas for adolescents who they worked with. Councillor Hylton said the Task Group would examine the budgets for children’s services and implementing contextual safeguarding at its next meeting and the findings would be included in its final report. Councillor Mili Patel (Lead Member for Children's Safeguarding, Early Help and Social Care) reminded Members that when they deliberate on potential recommendations, they should be mindful of the fact that the Council had a limited amount of resources. Therefore, consideration should be given whether existing structures could be improved and how much funding for new initiatives could be secured.

A Member of the Committee referred to the proposal to look at the adolescents using libraries as part of the initiative to identify places which were safe or free from risk (paragraph 5.13 of the report (page 18 of the Agenda pack)) and enquired how confidentiality and data protection would be ensured. Councillor Hylton said that this issue would be discussed by the Task Group and potential suggestions would be reported back to the Committee. This raised a question about the possibility that introducing the model might displace what was being done already by services. Gail Tolley (Strategic Director of Children and Young People, Brent Council) reminded Members that this was an interim report and as such did not contain full details about the implications of implementing contextual safeguarding in Brent. She emphasised that the model would extend the scope of current practices and would not replace child-focused risk-based work. Instead, its focus would be on helping children and adolescents who may not have entered the child protection system had communities known more about contextual safeguarding.

RESOLVED:

(i)    The contents of the Feedback Report: Members’ Overview and Scrutiny Task Group to Review Contextual Safeguarding in Brent, be noted;

(ii)  Making a recommendation about taking forward the notion of Safe Spaces in a way that would be consistent with the demographics of the Borough be considered by the Task Group.