Agenda item

Purpose of Report

To present the revised Safeguarding & Protecting Vulnerable People Policy to Executive for approval.

Decision

That the content of the report, and the updated policy and procedures be approved.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Alternative options considered were that the policy was not updated or that the council had 8 separate policies and procedures for Safeguarding Children, Safeguarding Adults at Risk, Domestic Abuse, Stalking, Hate Crime & Mate Crime, Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking, County Lines & Cuckooing and Preventing Violent Extremism. This was not recommended.

Reasons for the Decision

Safeguarding was a statutory duty for the council. It encompassed a range of legal duties and responsibilities designed to protect people’s health, wellbeing, and human rights, and supported them in preventing problems from escalating and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. This report provided an overview of the policy to support the council to fulfil its statutory responsibilities and to demonstrate safeguarding competence and compliance.

City of Lincoln’s existingsafeguarding policy was already aligned to the agreed county multi-agency policy and practices. Safeguarding compliance was audited and checked through a process of self-assessment and external audit by the respective safeguarding boards.

This report presented the updated safeguarding policy and procedures which had been amended as part of the full review required every three years. The key changes were summarised in the report.