The Brent Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the annual reports from the Brent Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) and the Brent Safeguarding Children Partnership (BSCP), focusing on multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. The committee reviewed the activities, priorities, and challenges outlined in the reports, and discussed ways to improve partnership working, data collection, and community engagement. The committee also reviewed the Scrutiny Recommendations Tracker to assess the progress of previous recommendations.

Brent Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report

The committee considered the Brent Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report April 2024 - March 2025, hearing from Nicola Brownjohn, Independent Chair for Brent Safeguarding Adults Board, on the work of the board over the past year. The report highlighted the board's strategic priorities, including self-neglect, substance misuse and housing, and learning from Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs).

Nicola Brownjohn explained that the role of the SAB was strategic, to support assurance about the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements in Brent, and not to deliver any operational services. She noted that the board had been working to strengthen its governance, develop subgroups, and improve the quality of SARs. She also highlighted a community engagement project, in partnership with Healthwatch Brent, to bring community voices onto the board.

Catherine Pickford, Archdeacon of Northolt/Willesden Area, Church of England Faith Schools, chief executive of Healthwatch Brent, noted that while the engagement work had been valuable, there was still more to be done to reach communities who may be scared to disclose safeguarding concerns for fear of losing services or work.

Councillor Neil Nerva, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Leisure, highlighted the value of partnership working and the importance of the NHS's continued input at a place level. He also raised the question of where safeguarding stops and quality starts, and vice versa.

During questions, Councillor Kanta Mistry raised concerns about the accessibility of the report, particularly the small font size, and asked what lessons had been learned from the SARs detailed in the report. Nicola Brownjohn responded that the SARs had highlighted the importance of addressing substance misuse and housing needs, and that the board was working with housing services to improve the situation.

Councillor Rochelle Goldberg asked for a more detailed assessment of improvements made over the past three years, with reference to performance indicators. Nicola Brownjohn explained that the board had established a subgroup to look at performance data, focusing on specific areas such as self-neglect.

Councillor Sean asked how the multi-agency ethos was being embedded into partner organisations. Will Lexington-Jones, Detective Superintendent in the Met, said that attendance at statutory meetings and contribution to them was reasonable evidence of commitment. Darren Jones, Director of Nursing within Northwest London ICB, added that the ICB used the system quality group as a platform for partners to share learning and discuss quality issues. Claudia Brown, Operational Director of Adult Social Care, Brent Council, noted that referrals to the high-risk panel had increased significantly, indicating that agencies were working together to prevent safeguarding issues.

Councillor Sean also asked what each partner would want from the others to make the partnership more effective. Sue, from the ICB, said that honesty and the ability to challenge each other were key, while Will Lexington-Jones highlighted the challenges of the police reconfiguration, which split resources across three boroughs. Catherine Pickford said that communities wanted more feedback on the learnings from SARs.

Councillor Tony Ethapemi asked about the relationship between the SAB and the Children's Board, and how they coordinated their work on transitional safeguarding. Nicola Brownjohn explained that she and the chair of the Children's Board met regularly to lead the transitional safeguarding project, avoiding duplication and sharing expertise.

Councillor Kanta Mistry asked how the partnership identified cases that might fall through the cracks. Nicola Brownjohn responded that the learning from the Indira Safeguarding Adults Review had been to advance the high-risk panel and develop escalation guidance.

Councillor Arshad Mahmood asked how widely Nicola Brownjohn had been able to meet people in the community so far. Nicola Brownjohn explained that she had been working with Healthwatch to identify community groups, and that she had found that the word safeguarding could be a barrier to engagement.

Councillor Charlie Clinton asked how the board learned from other boroughs, and whether the report could include more data on broader trends. Nicola Brownjohn responded that the board did learn from other boards, and that she had established a North West London chairs and business managers group to facilitate this.

Councillor Rochelle Goldberg asked whether there were more SARs still waiting assessment, and how that compared to other boroughs. Nicola Brownjohn responded that the board had cleared a backlog of SARs, and that she was confident that they were identifying cases where a review was needed.

Finally, Nicola Brownjohn stated that the key emerging priorities for the next 12 months were self-neglect, substance misuse and housing, and that the board would be looking at what was coming through from SARs and nationally to inform their work.

Brent Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report

The committee then moved on to consider the Brent Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report Apr 24 - Mar 25, hearing from Keith Makin, Independent Scrutineer, who presented the key headlines from the report. Keith Makin explained that the role of the partnership was to seek assurance on safeguarding, not to operationally run the system. He highlighted the development of a new data dashboard, plans to work more closely with children and young people, and closer working with community safety. He also noted that the partnership was working to introduce the statutory requirements of the children's wellbeing and education bill.

Gwen Grahl added that the children's services had successfully carried out a restructure in response to the independent review of children's social care.

During questions, Councillor Ihtesham Afzal asked how the performance of the partnership was assessed, given the lack of data in the report. Keith Makin responded that the partnership learned from a number of different sources, including national and local experiences, and that it looked at other cases to identify areas for improvement.

A representative from Brent Youth Parliament asked why the forum wasn't partnered with all schools in Brent. Keith Makin responded that it was impossible to have all headteachers around the table at one time, but that the partnership wanted to engage with all schools.

Councillor Charlie Clinton asked what specific learnings had been taken from the incident with child Q. Will Lexington-Jones responded that there had been a strengthening of processes and training to ensure that officers followed the correct procedures.

Councillor Tony Ethapemi asked how effective the multi-agency working was in terms of prevention. Palvinder, from the council, responded that without multi-agency arrangements, it would be almost impossible to respond to issues such as county lines and grooming gangs.

A representative from Brent Youth Parliament asked about the recruitment of young scrutineers, and how they would have an impact. Keith Makin responded that the recruitment process had not yet been established, but that the partnership wanted to ensure representation across the borough and that the young scrutineers would be involved in meetings and influencing the annual report.

Councillor Kanta Mistry asked how often the chairs went into the community, and whether they were prepared to go beyond the usual forums and organisations. Keith Makin responded that he was very open to doing so, but that he had limited time available.

Councillor Arshad Mahmood asked about a safeguarding issue from four years ago, where a toddler had died due to poor housing conditions. Keith Makin responded that there had been some discussions within the borough, but that there needed to be more dialogue with housing colleagues.

Councillor Charlie Clinton asked why online safety was now a focus, and whether there would be an ongoing group to review and adapt to the evolving online space. Keith Makin responded that the Safe Highly Forum had looked at the online bill, and that it had been realised how quickly the online space was moving. He added that the task and finish group would likely recommend a continuing group.

Recommendations

The committee made the following recommendations:

• For the SAB to make their reports more readable.
• For the BSCP to work with Brentwood's Parliament.
• For the BSCP to reach out to different youth and community groups alongside schools.
• For the BSCP to work with Healthwatch, Brent Health Matters, or other relevant organisations.
• For the BSCP to include more data and key performances in their reports.
• For the BSCP to ensure that the online safety task force is an ongoing thing.
• For the BSCP to share the report from the two head teachers with the scrutiny committee.
• For the BSCP to create a report that looks at how services are supporting young people aged 16 to 25 who are vulnerable but don't hit the adult safeguarding threshold.
• For the BSCP to improve support for youth organisations, including training and referrals.
• For the Council to develop a dashboard to be used to track school performance providing early warning indicators that a school's Ofsted rating might be at risk.
• For the Council to support after-school learning opportunities and develop a community group structure that allows learning and mentoring to continue outside the school environment.
• For the Council to commit to a proactive approach in supporting schools to identify staff pressure points and utilise technological solutions to support staff, including reducing admin tasks.
• For the Council to conduct further research on the reasons for the gap in attainment for Boys of Black African and Caribbean Heritage, considering barriers to learning and creating a CoP (community of practice) dedicated to improving the educational attainment, engagement, and well-being of these boys in primary and secondary education.
• For the Council to commit to a proactive approach in identifying staff pressure points and utilise technological solutions to support staff, including reducing admin tasks.
• For a future paper to come to the Committee on this subject emphasising the coordination between adult's and children's social work and cross-working opportunities, including the recent joint work on transitional safeguarding.

The committee also made the following information request:

• For the Committee to receive Brent specific reasons given by Social Care workers for leaving the organisation at their exit interviews.

Scrutiny Recommendations Tracker

The committee noted the Scrutiny Recommendations Tracker.