Corporate arrangements for safeguarding are 'variable' across Wales
Some councils need to strengthen how they deliver their corporate responsibilities for safeguarding
The Auditor General has released his report looking into the corporate arrangements of councils in Wales for the safeguarding of children. It has found that whilst all councils have established systems and processes to oversee the safeguarding of children, there are opportunities to strengthen how councils manage these responsibilities.
The report also found that whilst most councils have established good systems for safe recruitment and training, some need to strengthen their approaches to ensure their corporate safeguarding responsibilities are effectively discharged and that monitoring and evaluation are better aligned with the work of scrutiny and internal audit.
Auditor General for Wales, Huw Vaughan Thomas said today:
Whilst all councils have established systems to safeguard children and young people, there are opportunities to embed this work more effectively to cover all aspects of a council’s work. I would encourage all councils to use my report and its good practice checklist to self-assess and identify how they can improve their internal management arrangements.
In all, the report makes eight recommendations for improvement, including:
- creating clear lines of accountability for safeguarding
- ensuring the work of all council services is captured in corporate-wide policies on safeguarding; and
- ensuring staff and elected members are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities.
