Report of the Strategic Director, Children and Education Services

This report provides an update on the development of the Complex Safeguarding Hub and focuses on the identification and response to vulnerable children and young people at risk of exploitation including the approach and impact from risk management. It also provides feedback on a recent LGA Peer Challenge in relation to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). 

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which provided an update on the development of the Complex Safeguarding Hub and focused on the identification and response to vulnerable children and young people at risk of exploitation including the approach and impact from risk management. It also provided feedback on a recent Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Challenge in relation to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:

• Governance and Accountability Arrangements;
• The Complex Safeguarding Hub;
• Missing from Home and Care; and
• The LGA Peer Challenge in relation to CSE.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• The importance of safeguarding young people visiting Manchester, not just Manchester residents, including young people attending events in the city and trying to travel home afterwards;
• What was being done to address the emerging use of Xanax by young people; and
• The workloads of staff within the Complex Safeguarding Hub.

The Strategic Head of Early Help acknowledged the issue of young people being reported missing from home due to difficulties and delays in travelling home after events.  She reported that work was taking place at a Greater Manchester level on the role of transport providers in relation to safeguarding and she offered to raise Members’ concerns regarding this with the Greater Manchester Partnership.

The Strategic Head of Early Help outlined the work taking place in relation to the use of Xanax among young people.  She reported that the Population Health and Wellbeing Team was leading on communicating public health messages on Xanax and was monitoring trends in relation to Xanax use.  She informed Members that the Complex Safeguarding Hub was being used to co-ordinate intelligence-gathering in relation to the contextual safeguarding issues, looking not just at what was happening within peer groups but also issues relating to the supply of Xanax and the risk of exploitation.

The Strategic Head of Early Help reported that, as part of the implementation of the Complex Safeguarding Hub, an assessment had taken place of the resources required.  She advised Members that demand and capacity were reviewed on an ongoing basis and that currently the Hub was well-resourced.  She also informed Members that, while the Hub provided a specialist resource, ownership of cases was shared, with staff in the Hub working alongside locality social workers and other partners.

The Executive Member for Children and Schools informed Members that, following the recent LGA peer review, the Council had received verbal feedback which had been largely positive, including in relation to Greater Manchester Police’s role, while also highlighting a few areas for improvement.  He offered to share the formal letter providing feedback, once this was available.

Decisions

1.            To note that the letter from the LGA providing feedback on the review of the effectiveness of the Complex Safeguarding Hub and multi-agency arrangements in response to children at risk of sexual exploitation and those being exploited will be shared with Committee Members, when it is available.

2.            To continue to monitor this area of work.