Issue - meetings

Annual Report of the Chair of the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership, attached.

Mr Paul Northcott will be in attendance (via Teams) to present their Report.

RESOLVED that the TDSAP be thanked for their work and the production of an informative Annual Report.

(Councillors Connett, Hannaford and Whitton attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Chair of the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership (TDSAP) and the Chair of the Board, Paul Northcott, attended the meeting remotely to present the Report. The Cabinet noted it was a statutory requirement, under the Care Act 2014, for each Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) to produce and publish an Annual Report and present this to Health and Wellbeing Board(s).  As in previous years, the TDSAP also presented the Annual Report to the relevant Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet.

The TDSAP acted as the key mechanism for agreeing how agencies worked together to safeguard and promote the safety and wellbeing of adults at risk and/or in vulnerable situations. It did this by co-ordinating what each of the TDSAP partners did and ensured that they do it effectively.

The full Annual Report, which had been circulated with the agenda summarised the safeguarding activity undertaken throughout 2020-21, including the work of the various sub groups.

The Report would be published on the website, alongside full details of Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs), which had been published during this and previous years. Work was also currently underway to produce easy read versions of the Report.

The period covered by the Report ended on 31 March 2021.  Covid-19 had had an impact on the work of the partnership and had brought many challenges. However, despite these additional pressures, all partners had continued to work effectively together and responded well when being held to account Partners had shown continuous commitment to the key strategic areas and provided a good level of assurance throughout the year.

The TDSAP was also required to produce a Strategic Business Plan and the e plan for 2021–2024 had been developed and published - Strategic Business Plan 2021-2024 - Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership

More detailed information about the work of the TDSAP was available on the TDSAP website: Home - Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership

It was MOVED by Councillor McInnes, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

RESOLVED that the TDSAP be thanked for their work and the production of an informative Annual Report.

Covering Report of the Chair of the Devon Safeguarding Adults Board, attached. The annual Report is also attached.

(Councillors Biederman, Connett, Dewhirst and Hannaford attended remotely in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet welcomed the Chair of the Devon Safeguarding Adults Board to the meeting and then considered the Report of the Chair of the Devon Safeguarding Adults Board which summarised the work which had taken place during 2019-20. This included the work of the various subgroups including the Safeguarding Adults Review Core Group (SARCG), Operational Delivery Group (ODG), the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) Subgroup, Learning and Improvement (L&I) Subgroup and Community Reference Group (CRG) Subgroup.

More detailed information about the work of the Partnership was available on the DSAP website:

The Report contained information on the multi-agency partner achievements during the year and set out what the Board had achieved against the DSAP strategic priorities for the year which had included finding the right solution at the right time for the most at-risk people, increasing public awareness of Safeguarding, improving the experience of children transitioning (moving) to adult services, working together to ensure they remain safe and improving staff legal literacy.

The Annual Report had been published on the website along with full details of all the Safeguarding Adult Reviews which had also been published in 2019/2020.

In terms of the Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs), in 2019/ 2020 the DSAP had agreed 2 SARs – the Atlas Care Homes SAR and SAR Charles. The former had taken considerable resources as the abuse highlighted in the Crown Court Case was complex and had required input by many organisations outside Devon.

There had been two SARs agreed by the Board in the previous reporting year, but these had been published in 2019/ 2020, these were called SAR Rita and SAR Sally.

The period of time covered by the Report ended at 31 March 2020, therefore both the impact of COVID-19 and challenging times ahead remained. However, partners had shown continuous commitment to the key strategic areas and this would be reported within the next Annual Report.

Both the Cabinet and Officers of the Council paid tribute to Sian Walker for her dedication to the Board and hard work over the last five years and wished her well in her forthcoming retirement.

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor Leadbetter, and

RESOLVED that the Board be thanked for their hard work and the informative Annual Report, the contents of which be noted, welcomed and supported.