Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R Claymore, M Bailey and S Doyle.

Apologies were also received from Councillor D Cook who would be late to the meeting and arrived at 18:13.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 4^th March 2024 were approved and signed as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor D Maycock and seconded by Councillor C Dean)

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The Chair thank the Members and Officers who had supported the Committee throughout the year.

(Update on responses to the Reports of the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee)

The Chair update the Committee that following on from the meeting on the 4^th March 2024 they attended Cabinet on the 14^th  March 2024 to present the Committees recommendations around the Housing Assistance policy where Cabinet approved the Committees recommendation, to look at a proposal for providing extra resource to assist the Assistant Director with the backlog and a review of the process. They moved an amendment to the second recommendation: to look to revise the Housing Assistance Policy to include a provision to provide medically discharged armed forces personnel a priority

(Discussion item)

The Committee considered the following item:

At  Full Council on 28th February 2023 an item was considered by Full Council and referred to Scrutiny for consideration.

The Vice-Chair highlighted to the Committee that prior to the item being considered at Full Council, the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny received a presentation on Loneliness and Addiction Support Organisation and was also receiving updates for the Wellbeing Strategy. The Committee agreed that through the work identified in the report and the Wellbeing Strategy that the Council were already addressing this matter and that a separate item was not required on the work plan.

(To receive the Digest from Staffordshire County Council’s Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee and an update from the County Councillor)

The Chair confirmed that the most recent digest had been shared with the Committee and that there was no County Rep present to provide an update.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Health and Community Partnerships)

The Chair welcome the Portfolio holder for Environmental Health and Community Partnerships who introduced the report to provide a biannual safeguarding update to the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee before handing over to the Partnerships Vulnerability Officer, Jackie Hodkinson who provided a summary of the report to the Committee highlighting the following:

Ø  There have been no referrals to safeguarding for children, however this did not mean there were no concerns but just that they did not meet the threshold for a safeguarding referral.

Ø  Miscellaneous referrals are when someone reports a concern/worry mainly through the Councils enquiries.

Ø  Where a referral does not hit the threshold for safeguarding, action may still be taken, such as a referral to the Tamworth Vulnerability Partnership (TVP)/County or mental health teams.

Ø  Successes had been seen following on from safeguarding training, through the street scene team highlighting concerns.

Ø  Children’s Safeguarding board – Section 11 Audit just being completed – working with other districts and borough safeguarding representatives.

Ø  Proposed membership of Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) – more detailed updates should be available at the next meeting.

Ø  Community Safety Forum – following on from the last meeting Street Angels recruited an additional six volunteers.

The Committee made the following comments/observations and asked the following questions:

1.     The Committee thanked the Officer for the comprehensive report.

2.     Are there separate figures for cases that do not meet the safeguarding threshold?

The Officer confirmed that the miscellaneous figures are these cases, and where they can these are investigated by Officers by a safe and well check. Where a referral cannot be made the data is still recorded.

3.     Do you work with academies as well as county schools when addressing issues such as county lines?

Work is predominantly within schools including with Kettlebrook Short Stay School. There is lots of networking and joined up working.

4.     Where is cyber bullying/cyber-crime picked up, in particular around children?

The officer confirmed that financial abuse is seen through the internet but a lot of financial abuse they see is through people that are known to the victim, i.e carers etc. This is picked up within the safeguarding policy, whistleblowing policy, staff code of conduct etc. There are training modules available to staff. The Community Safety partners have liaised with banks previously to highlight this. Ensuring that staff do not put themselves in a vulnerable situation with residents is also highlighted.

The Council links into Internet safety weeks and highlights national campaigns as well as signposting, however, schools play a vital part in education parents around what young people can access on their devices.

(Report of the Chair of Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny)

Report of the Chair provided the Committee with a draft of the Committee’s Annual Report for 2023/2024 (Appendix 2) together with a draft of the Introductory Report (Appendix 1) which will be presented to full Council in the 2024-25 municipal year.

Please see the link to the Forward Plan:

Forward plan - 1st March 2024 - 30th June 2024 :: Tamworth Borough Council

There were no new items identified.

(Discussion Item)

There were no updates.

To the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Plan

The Committee were happy with the work plan.

The Committee thanked the Chair for the work done this year.

The Committee thanked Councillor Cook for the information and experience he had shared with them.

The Chair closed the meeting