Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Service for Adult Care Operations and Health (ACOH/20/01) relating to proposals for a merger of Torbay Safeguarding Adult Board (TSAB) and Devon Safeguarding Adult Partnership (DSAP), attached.

An Impact Assessment is also attached for the attention of Members at this meeting.

(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 considered the Report of the Head of Adult Care Operations and Health (ACOH/20/01) relating to a proposal to merge Torbay Safeguarding Adult Board (TSAB) with the Devon Safeguarding Adult Partnership (DSAP). The Report had been circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

The Cabinet noted that work had been undertaken to understand what future arrangements could look like to deliver safeguarding duties and local priorities as effectively and efficiently as possible.

The recommendation of the Report to merge the Devon and Torbay Safeguarding Adult Boards was the result of an options appraisal conducted by statutory partners with targeted engagement from care providers and the people who had lived experiences of safeguarding in Devon and Torbay.

The proposal to form one Board meant a single set of priorities, a single chair, and a number of sub-groups across Devon and Torbay to enable a number of improvements, for example, keeping people in local communities safer, improving partnership working and public awareness, a single reporting framework, enhanced sharing of good practice, improved efficiency of governance arrangements and consistent messages being shared across boundaries.

Pending approval of the proposals, the first joint board would take place in December 2020 and an implementation group would oversee the necessary steps to ensure the delivery of statutory requirements.

Views from independent care providers had been obtained at an engagement event and no perceived disadvantages had been raised. The proposal to merge had the consensus of the attendees. Whilst it had not been the aim to make financial savings, there would be efficiencies from the benefits of merging two statutory boards.

The Head of Service’s Report also incorporated an Impact Assessment attached for the attention of Members at the meeting. This highlighted that a more detailed impact assessment would be completed during the implementation stage and was also a live document to ensure constant review during the implementation stage. There were no unmanageable consequences anticipated as part of the proposals.

The matter having been debated and the alternatives and other relevant factors (e.g. financial, sustainability (including carbon impact), risk management, equality and legal considerations and Public Health impact) set out in the Head of Service’s Report and referred to above having been considered:

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

RESOLVED that the merger of Torbay Safeguarding Adult Board (TSAB) and Devon Safeguarding Adult Partnership (DSAP) be approved.

(NB: The Impact Assessment referred to above may be viewed alongside Minutes of this meeting and may also be available on the Impact Assessment Webpages).