Agenda item

The Panel received a presentation on Contextualised Safeguarding presented by the Practice Lead for Safeguarding (for copy of presentation see file of minutes).

The Practice Lead explained that the Adolescent Safeguarding and Exploitation Team had been in operation since February 2022 and is currently working with 68 young people aged 14-18 who are victims of, or are at risk of exploitation.  The Panel noted that work takes place with partners across communities in order to increase protection from harm.  Targeted work is undertaken with children who go missing from care to ensure a timely response is provided.

The Panel noted the work to develop a safeguarding pilot in Stanley, working with the community to share information to enable the wider community to become a guardian. It is hoped that learning will be shared across other areas of the county in the future. Councillor Charlton, Member for Tanfield division expressed a wish to be involved in the pilot and asked how many referrals the service receives from the police and neighbourhood wardens.  The Practice Lead responded that the highest number of referrals are from the Police. Councillor Sterling suggested that School Crossing Patrol staff could play an important role in the pilot as they are a useful resource in safeguarding work.

Co-opted Member Sarah Neale, Designated Nurse for Children in Care commented that she and her health colleagues would continue to link in with this piece of work.  The Practice Lead advised that the work of the ERASE team enables information to be shared through their multiagency protocols, which is available for Police Community Support Officers to access.