SSASPB Constitution

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE AND STOKE-ON-TRENT ADULT SAFEGUARDING PARTNERSHIP BOARD

Revision history
Revision Date	Revised by	Description of revision
June 2020	Executive Group	Amendment to Freedom of Information references
June 2021	Executive Group	Membership of Board – co-opted members with specialist and specific knowledge Amendments made to the paragraph discussing the 2019 review of the structure of the Board (reduction in sub-groups)
August 2022	Executive Group	Review of SSASPB Independent Chair (flexibility) Remove District Sub-group from list of sub-groups The potential for the reintroduction of the MCA sub-group with LPS legislation expected in 2023
February 2024	Executive Group	General updates: including the change from Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) to Integrated Care Board (ICB) Amendment to Section (7) Complaints: to include how to manage complaints about the SSASPB by members of the public or non-members.

Introduction and vision
Core duties of the SSASPB
Governance arrangements:
SSAPB operational arrangements:
Financing and staffing
Complaints
Disputes
Review of the constitution

1. Introduction

Following enactment of the Care Act 2014; Local Authorities that deliver adult social care have a statutory requirement to lead adult safeguarding and to set up a Safeguarding Adult Board (SAB). The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board (SSASPB) was jointly established by Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council. The Board is a broad partnership of statutory, public, voluntary and independent sector organisations, who commit to work together effectively to reduce the number of adults at risk of abuse and neglect.

A key focus of the Board is to ensure that safeguarding is consistently understood by anyone engaging with adults with care and support needs who may be at risk of or experiencing abuse or neglect. Whilst there is a common commitment by safeguarding partners to improving outcomes, in practice by way of example, this means understanding how to support and empower people at risk of abuse and neglect to resolve the circumstances which put them at risk.

An individual’s ability to decide what actions should or should not be taken where suspected abuse has occurred, will always be based on an assessment of their mental capacity as required by the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The Board seeks to encourage and develop practice which puts the person with care and support needs in control and generates a more person-centred set of responses and outcomes. This means the Safeguarding Adults Board seeking assurances and being confident that effective advocacy services are in place for anyone who may need them at any point during a safeguarding episode.

The response to allegations of abuse must always be proportionate to the seriousness of the concerns that have been raised.

With reference to the Care Act 2014 safeguarding duties apply to an adult who:

Has needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs) and;
Is experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect; and
As a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of, abuse or neglect.

Throughout this document the term ‘adult’ refers to the definition above.

VISION FOR SAFEGUARDING IN STAFFORDSHIRE AND STOKE-ON-TRENT

Adults with care and support needs are supported to make choices in how they will live their lives in a place where they feel safe, secure and free from abuse and neglect.

Our vision recognises that safeguarding adults is about the development of a culture that promotes good practice and continuous improvement within services, raises public awareness that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, responds effectively and swiftly when abuse or neglect has been alleged or occurs, seeks to learn when things have gone wrong, is sensitive to the issues of cultural diversity and puts the person at the center of planning to meet support needs to ensure they are safe in their homes and communities.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE AND STOKE-ON-TRENT ADULT SAFEGUARDING PARTNERSHIP BOARD (SSASPB)

The Care Act 2014 states that the ‘objective of a SAB is to help and protect adults in its area by coordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of what each of its members does’.

2. The core duties of the SSASPB

The Care Act 2014 states that the Board must:

Publish a 3-year strategic plan that sets out how it will meet its main objectives and what the members will do to achieve this. The Plan will be subject to annual review to check relevance and focus and will be developed following consultation with local Healthwatch organisations. Healthwatch will support the SSASPB by providing the views of the Public with reference to voiced Adult Safeguarding priorities. The plan should be evidence based and make use of all available evidence and intelligence from partners to form and develop its plan;
Publish an annual report detailing what the SSASPB has done during the year to achieve its main objective and implement its strategic plan, and what each member has done to implement the strategy as well as detailing the findings of any Safeguarding Adult Reviews and subsequent action;
Conduct any Safeguarding Adult Reviews in accordance with Section 44 of the Care Act 2014.

Other key duties include, to:

identify the role, responsibility, authority and accountability with regard to the action each agency and professional group should take to ensure the protection of adults
establish ways of analysing and interrogating data on safeguarding notifications that increase the SAB’s understanding of prevalence of abuse and neglect locally that builds up a picture over time
establish how it will hold partners to account and gain assurance of the effectiveness of its arrangements
determine its arrangements for peer review and self-audit
establish mechanisms for developing policies and strategies for protecting adults which should be formulated, not only in collaboration and consultation with all relevant agencies but also take account of the views of adults who have needs for care and support, their families, advocates and carer representatives
develop preventative strategies that aim to reduce instances of abuse and neglect in its area
identify types of circumstances giving grounds for concern and when they should be considered as a referral to the local authority as an enquiry
formulate guidance about the arrangements for managing adult safeguarding, and dealing with complaints, grievances and professional and administrative malpractice in relation to safeguarding adults
develop strategies to deal with the impact of issues of race, ethnicity, religion, gender and gender orientation, sexual orientation, age, disadvantage and disability on abuse and neglect
balance the requirements of confidentiality with the consideration that, to protect adults, it may be necessary to share information on a ‘need-to-know basis’
identify mechanisms for monitoring and reviewing the implementation and impact of policy and training
carry out safeguarding adult reviews and determine any publication arrangements;
produce a strategic plan and an annual report
evidence how SAB members have challenged one another and held other boards to account
promote multi-agency training and consider any specialist training that may be required. Consider any scope to jointly commission some training with other partnerships, such as the Community Safety Partnership.

3. Governance arrangements

i. Chairing arrangements

It is the responsibility of the Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council to appoint a Chair who is independent of the local agencies so that they can exercise local challenge effectively.

The Independent Chair must be of sufficient stature and authority to undertake the role and will be selected following involvement with and agreement of multi-agency partners. The appointed Chair will have access to training to support them in their role.

The role and performance of the Independent Chair will be subject to a periodic review, which will be at least every two years, as agreed by the Executive sub-group, against the agreed functions as above. Any variation to this will be documented in the minutes of an Executive sub-group meeting. Feedback from SSASPB members will be sought to inform the review. It will be conducted, following consultation and agreement between the two Local Authority Chief Executives or equivalent, by the Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police and the Chief Executive Officer of the local Integrated Care Board (Statutory partners). The review team should include at least one representative of the Local Authority and one other statutory partner. The Chief Executives/Accountable Officer/Chief Constable may delegate the role to the Director of Adult Social Services (DASS), Integrated Care Board delegate and relevant Assistant Chief Constable.

The Independent Chairperson must retain the continued confidence of all SSASPB members in maintaining the independence of the Board.

The quarterly SSASP Board meetings will be chaired by the Independent Chair, or in exceptional circumstances the Vice Chair of the Board.

The Chair of the Executive Sub-Group will be appointed as the Vice-Chair of the Board. The position of Chair of the Executive Sub-Group will be reviewed at least every three years when the Independent Chair will seek the views of the other sub-group members and base any decision on this. The Vice-Chair of the Executive Sub-Group will be appointed from the Executive membership through expressions of interest and support from other members.

Other sub-group chairs will be an officer to or member of the Board and appointed from the membership of the relevant sub-group, however it may be that the chair is from the previous chair’s organisation without being a member prior to selection if that person is willing to take the position and the rest of the sub-group members agree. Board members may also nominate someone from their organisation to chair a sub-group and the Board member will report to the

Board on their behalf. The term of office for sub-group Chairs will be reviewed every three years or sooner if necessary.

The Executive sub-group will be formed by the Independent Chair, The Vice Chair (usually the Chair of the Executive sub-group), sub-group Chairs, officers to the Board (statutory partner representatives) and the Board Business Manager. It could also include the Local Authority Adult Safeguarding Assistant Directors if they are not a sub-group chair.

ii. Board structure

The Board revised the sub-group structure in 2019. These are currently:

Executive sub-group

Safeguarding Adult Reviews sub-group

Audit and Assurance sub-group

Prevention and Engagement sub-group

Practitioner Forum: A new forum will sit under the governance of the Board at which tactical/operational processes and procedural matters will be discussed. The attendance at the forum will be determined by the topics discussed at each meeting and is intended to address any issues which impact upon how connected agencies work together at a tactical level. The forum will be managed by Adult Safeguarding Leads (or deputies) from key partners and will report directly into the Executive Sub-group. It will meet as and when topics for discussion are raised and frequency will not be mandated. Subjects may be proposed by practitioners, but may also come from SSASPB audits, reviews including SARs and from emerging themes raised locally, regionally and nationally.

Virtual subgroups:

Policies and Procedures: a contact list is held of partners organization staff who will assist with the production and review of policies, procedures, promotional material and guidance. A task to finish group could be formed where necessary.

Mental Capacity Act: this subgroup has a virtual membership and may be reformed to address any matters allocated to them from the Executive sub-group.

Work-stream updates will be routinely provided to the Executive sub-group.

iii. Membership

Through the requirements of the Care Act 2014 Staffordshire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Staffordshire Police and the Integrated Care Board in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire are statutory partners of the SSASPB. Governance and Structure Police and Crime Commissioner Receive Annual Report Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Receive Annual Report Overview and Scrutiny Overview and Scrutiny Health and Wellbeing Board Receive Annual Report Health and Wellbeing Board Staffordshire and Stoke-on- Trent Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board (SSASPB) Executive Sub-group Practitioners Forum Audit and Assurance Sub-group Prevention and Engagement Sub-group Safeguarding Adult Review Sub-group Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire Structure Governance Key:

As part of its inclusive approach that recognises that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility the statutory partners have agreed to invite the following organisations or departments to become members of the SSASPB.

Ø Domestic Abuse Fora

Ø Healthwatch; Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Ø Her Majesty’s Prison Service and their health provider

Ø Humankind – Local drug and alcohol services

Ø Lived Experience representative

Ø Local Authority Lead members

Ø Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust (MPFT)

Ø National Probation Service; Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent (NPS)

Ø North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust (NSCHT)

Ø Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB)

Ø Staffordshire Association of Registered Care Providers (SARCP)

Ø Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service (SFARS)

Ø Support Staffordshire

Ø Trading Standards; Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Ø University Hospital of Derby and Burton (UHDB)

Ø University Hospitals of North Midlands including County Hospital in Stafford (UHNM)

Ø VAST

Ø West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS)

Additional sub-group partners

Ø Asist

Ø Brighter Futures

Ø Housing plus group

Ø Middleport Matters

Ø Practice Plus

Ø Rockspur

Ø Trent and Dove Housing

Subject to the agreement of the statutory partners other organisations may be invited to become members of the SSASPB as required by business plans, or to attend meetings for a specific purpose. The SSASPB may also co-opt members onto the Board where their specialist knowledge and/or skills benefit the Board’s delivery of Statutory responsibilities, Core aims and Strategic Priorities.

Organisations may also request to become members of the SSASPB. Upon receipt of this the applicant will be asked to outline their reasoning for the request and also in what capacity they wish to engage e.g. Board and/or sub-group attendance. This will be done using the Board membership application form. Responses will be considered by the Independent Chair and officers to the Board at the next available Executive sub-group. The Board Manager will advise the enquiring organisation of the result together with reasoning for the decision.

Members of the SSASPB must have sufficient seniority and authority within their organisations to be able to make decisions on their behalf and to cascade information and consult on Board proposals. It is envisaged that Board members will hold the Safeguarding responsibility for their organisation. Members will be asked to identify a deputy to attend the Board for them in exceptional circumstances.

Board meetings will be attended by Officers to the Board. These will be the SSASP Board Business Manager and Safeguarding Leads from Statutory Partners which are the Integrated Care Board, Local Authorities and Staffordshire Police. Officers to the Board are to act in an advisory capacity and will not have voting rights at the Board meetings unless this function has been specifically delegated to them.

Wherever possible the Chair will seek to establish a consensus on any decisions made. If this is not possible a vote will be taken and, if tied, the Chair (or Deputy Chair) will have the casting vote. On the rare occasion where a vote is required only members of the Board (or their Deputies with delegated authority) will be eligible to vote. Where organisations are represented by more than one member, the most senior representative present will have the casting vote.

Attendance at the Board meetings will be reviewed annually in April/ May. If there are significant gaps in attendance at the meetings by a partner then the Chair, on behalf of the Board, may write to that member seeking an explanation. If non-attendance continues, the Chair will follow up with the chief officer of the agency. (This also applies to sub-group membership).

iv. The Partnership Network

As part of its coordination, challenge and seeking assurance role the SSASPB will work closely with other safeguarding partnerships and align its work where possible. Examples of other partnerships are:-

Care Quality Commission

Domestic Abuse Partnerships

Healthwatch Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Learning from Life and Death Reviews (LeDeR)

Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)

Safer Staffordshire Strategic Board is this still in being?

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Health and Wellbeing Boards

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Safeguarding Children Boards/Partnerships

Staffordshire Safer and Stronger Communities Committees

Voluntary sector organizations

Independent Sector Care providers

Whilst one of the roles of the SSASPB is to monitor and review the work of all agencies involved in the protection, safeguarding and promotion of the welfare of adults at risk of abuse, neglect or harm across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent it will also be subject to scrutiny and inspection itself.

The Chair will meet regularly with Directors of both Local Authorities and will attend the Overview and Scrutiny Committees of both Local Authorities and both Health and Wellbeing Boards to present the SSASPB Annual Report. The Chair will also meet with the Lead Councillors for Adult Safeguarding as outlined in the contract.

Once approved by the Board, the Annual Report will be published through the SSASPB website.

The work of the Board will be subject to Internal Audit procedures as part of local authority audit requirements. The effectiveness of the SSASPB will contribute to judgements made in any local authority or individual service inspections.

4. SSASPB operational arrangements

i. Members responsibilities

The key roles of a member are: -

To contribute to the effective working of the SSASPB, promoting high standards of safeguarding work and fostering reflective practice, leading to continuous improvement of outcomes;
To represent their organisation on the SSASPB, speaking with authority for that organisation; committing the organisation on policy and practice matters and holding the organisation to account in respect of its work to ensure the safety of adults at risk of abuse, neglect or harm within the community. Members will be given the opportunity to consult within their organisations on any commitment to resources or actions;
To represent and promote the work of the SASSPB within their organisation, ensuring that the organisation is meeting its obligations to protect adults and acting as its safeguarding ‘conscience’;
To keep in contact with frontline professionals so that their concerns can inform the work of the Board;
To raise unresolved issues of concern to the Board in relation to front line activities if the escalation policy for raising concerns has not been successful;
To be an objective member in undertaking scrutiny of the performance of the SSASPB and the services provided by all organisations. Where necessary this should take precedence over their role as their organisation’s representative;
To work to these agreed terms of reference, with explicit lines of reporting and communication.

Some members may not have clear accountability frameworks for the groups they represent, e.g. the diversity within the structure of the Third Sector. In this case the expectation will be that Board members communicate relevant decisions and make appropriate links to the work of the SSASPB effectively within their organisation and networks.

ii. Responsibilities of the member organisations

Member organisations are required to support their SSASPB representative in carrying out their SSASPB responsibilities. This will include providing dedicated time to fulfil their role, supporting them in developing a safeguarding accountability framework within their organisation, and ensuring that safeguarding underpins all their activities.

To ensure that the aims and functions of the Board are delivered it is expected that statutory partners make an annually agreed financial contribution i.e. Police, Local Authorities and Integrated Care Board.

iii. SSASPB Sub-Groups

The core functions of the SSASPB will be performed by sub-groups in accordance with the Strategic Plan and annual business plans which will deliver the key strategic priorities of the Board. Progress will be monitored by the Executive sub-group and reported regularly to the Board. The annual performance reports of the sub-groups will be incorporated into the Board’s annual report. Task and Finish groups which may be established by the sub-groups will be given a clear remit, reporting arrangements and timescales.

Sub-groups will meet as outlined in their respective Terms of Reference. The Policy and Procedures sub-group will not meet formally unless necessary, all engagement will be done predominantly via email and the final product forwarded to the Executive sub-group for approval.

iv. Sub-group chairs: Roles and Responsibilities

The Sub-group chairs (including the Executive sub-group) will: -

Produce an annual schedule of meetings for the subgroup (with SSASPB admin support)
Work with the administrator and Board Manager to produce an agenda and papers one week in advance of each meeting and approve minutes of meetings within two weeks of meetings taking place
Hold individual Sub-group members to account for the completion of actions that result from Safeguarding Adult Reviews or other learning reviews
Produce and review the sub-group business plan
Attend the SSASPB Executive Group meetings
Produce and review the Terms of Reference of the Sub-group
Produce and review items for the SSASPB risk register
Produce information for the Annual Report with specific reference to

i) Key achievements

ii) Challenges

iii) Messages to Commissioners

iv) Examples of safeguarding in action

v. SSASP Board Meetings

Quarterly meetings of the SSASPB will be held and should last for a maximum of three hours. This may be increased to meet the demands of the agenda and if so advance notice will be given of the extended meeting duration.

The Chair may call an extraordinary meeting at any time, and members can make a written request for such a meeting to the Chair. This will normally only be considered if several members make such a request or in the event of a Safeguarding Adult Review requiring such a meeting.

All SSASPB meetings will be minuted and the minutes submitted for approval of circulation to members as soon as possible after the date of the meeting.

The activities of the Board will be directly supported and have its work co-ordinated by the SSASPB Business Manager.

vi. SSASPB Executive Group

This sub-group will consist of the Officers of the Board, Chairs of sub-groups and may include the two Local Authority Assistant Directors for Adult Safeguarding. The work of the Executive will be: -

To agree a draft annual Business Plan which will include the key strategic priorities to be presented to the SSASPB in April of each year for approval;
To agree the draft SSASPB Annual Report to be presented to the Board at its October Meeting. Once endorsed, a copy of this document will be sent to the Health and Wellbeing Boards, the Police and Crime Commissioner, the two local Healthwatch organisations, the Leaders of the Councils and the Chief Executives of all partner organisations as well as being published on the SSASPB website;
To propose the agenda for the quarterly Board meetings and ensure actions arising from meetings are carried out;
Review and monitor the performance of the sub-groups in relation to their agreed business plans;
To request and receive reports of the sub-groups;
To review and monitor performance in relation to an agreed data set;
To oversee the membership and the attendance of representatives on sub-groups;
To delegate work as required and monitor completion in terms of quality and timescale;
To review and monitor the SSASPB budgets;
To consider communication issues as they arise and if necessary escalate them to safeguarding communication leads for a one-off meeting to take forward specific proposals;
To carry out additional functions as may from time to time be delegated by the SSASPB.

The Executive will meet each month when a full meeting of the SSASPB does not take place. Meetings will be chaired by the Deputy Chair of the SSASPB and convened by the Board Business Manager.

The Executive sub-group is the key decision-making forum at which Board documents and processes are considered and submitted with recommendations for approval to the quarterly board meetings. To maximise the opportunity for statutory partners to be consulted upon with regard to key documents and processes the Executive sub-group must be quorate. To be quorate there must be representation from one of the Local Authorities, the Integrated Care Board and the Police. On the rare occasion that there is no police representative available to attend the meeting a well-informed deputy may attend. Where key decisions are to be made the usual police representative will be canvassed for views and wherever possible a decision made at the meeting with this information. Should that not be possible then a decision will be pended for future discussion when the police representative is present. This process will also be considered if either of the Local Authorities and Integrated Care Board representatives disagree on a decision item where one of the representatives is not present.

vii. Data Protection/Confidentiality and Freedom of Information

Members will ensure that their own organisation’s Data Protection Registration, where appropriate, covers their involvement in the activities of the SSASPB.

All members are expected to comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulations (2018) and maintain confidentiality at all time; other than where a specific exemption under that Act arises. This principle will apply during a member’s participation in the SSASPB and will continue when an individual is no longer a member or following dissolution of the SSASPB.

If any member who has access to confidential information or data knowingly breaches the law relating to particularly, but not limited to, the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information, they may be personally liable. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge that this issue applies to all members of the Board and its sub-group members.

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI):

The SSASPB is an unincorporated partnership or association - i.e. an organisation set up through an agreement between a group of people who come together for a common purpose other than

to make a profit. In a SAB’s case this is to ‘help and protect adults in its area in cases … by co-ordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of what each of its members does.'

Documents produced solely by the SAB, or for the SAB, for the purposes of performing a statutory duty are not covered by FoI. However, documents produced by partner agencies that serve two purposes, one for the SAB and one for the agency's own purposes, belong to the agency and would potentially therefore be covered by that agency's obligations under FoI.

Members of the SSASPB will ensure that there are appropriate arrangements within their own organisations to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

viii. Equal Opportunities/Discrimination/Human Rights

All members of the SSASPB are expected to follow the principles and good practice on equal opportunities principles.

All members of the SSASPB will be expected to adopt and maintain anti-discriminatory practices in the Board’s functions. All members of the SSASPB are expected to adhere to the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998.

5. Financing and staffing

To support the work of the SSASPB, a Board Manager and administrative support staff will be appointed, funded by contributions from partners.

6. Complaints

If any Board member wishes to raise a complaint against another partner agency which cannot be resolved via managerial dialogue, then the complainant must raise this with the Independent Chair of the SSASPB who will consider the basis of the complaint and a way forward.

Any complaint made by one agency against another agency will be retained for any future audit trail and/or reference.

Members of the public or non-Board members who wish to complain about the SSASPB will be directed to the relevant Loal Authority who will appoint an investigating officer.

If that doesn’t lead to resolution, then the complainant will be directed to the Local Government and social care Ombudsman.

Below is an extract from the Local Government Ombudsman: Casework Guidance Statement (2016):

Can someone complain to the LGO about the actions of an SAB or SAR? YES. There is no legal bar preventing the LGO from investigating such complaints. SABs are an administrative function of a council for the following reasons:

Local authorities are responsible for setting them up
Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Health & Wellbeing Boards will monitor the work of SABs
Local authorities have overall responsibility for coordinating adult safeguarding arrangements within their localities

A key test is whether the remedy could be achieved by the local authority rather than some other body participating in the work of the SAB. Should the LGO expect someone to complain to the local authority, as the body responsible for setting up SABs, before asking the LGO to consider their complaint? YES. It follows that if we say that local authorities are responsible for SABs then we should allow a council to look at any complaint before it gets to us. Usual premature rules therefore apply.

Date (adass.org.uk)

7. Disputes

Disputes between Board members or partner organisations will normally be resolved by discussion at a meeting of the Board. If no agreement can be reached the matter will be referred to an appropriate resolution mechanism determined by the SSASPB taking account of:

The type of dispute;
The knowledge, expertise and seniority required in resolving the matter.

Where a dispute remains unresolved despite the above arrangements, it will be referred to the appropriate Director of Adult Social Services (DASS). If the dispute remains unresolved it will be referred to a professional independent adviser.

8. Review of the constitution

The Constitution will be reviewed annually by the Executive Sub-group and any changes will be ratified by the SSASPB. Any member may request a review of this Constitution by writing to the Independent Chair giving reasons for their request and stating the desired outcome.

The Independent Chair will then notify the members of the issue and ensure the item is placed on the agenda of the Executive Sub-group for consideration and, where change is recommended, it will be referred to the SSASPB.

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