Agenda item

Report of the Group Director of People

The Group Director of People submitted a report (previously circulated) to enable Members to receive and comment upon the Annual Report of the Darlington Safeguarding Partnership (DSP) for the period 2020/21.

The submitted report stated that the Local Safeguarding Partnership was required to produce an Annual Report to account for the Partnership’s achievements over the previous year and make an assessment of the effectiveness of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements within the local area. The submitted report outlined what the Partnership had done over the period 2020/21, drawing upon a range of data and information to outline the progress made and illustrate the effectiveness of multi-agency safeguarding partnership arrangements.

Members welcomed the report and were heartened to see an emphasis on coercive control, suggesting that more needs to be done to highlight this form of abuse. Members also discussed the number of referrals in terms of Domestic Violence, particularly throughout the pandemic period, and suggested that there might be delays in reporting. Members were also keen to establish whether the rationale for a joint safeguarding board was being borne out in practice.  

RESOLVED – That the contents of the report be noted.