My Lords, I once again thank the Minister for taking time to speak to me last week about my continued concerns in respect of ensuring that adults detained in prison or residing in approved premises have the same protection and care as all other vulnerable adults when it comes to safeguarding inquiries by local authorities.
Clause 75(7) expressly excludes adults detained in prison and those residing in approved premises from the Section 42 duty on local authorities to carry out safeguarding inquiries. I spoke about this on Report believing that it is a serious gap in the Bill in providing safeguards and protection to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and prisons. On Report, I sought clarification about who would be responsible for carrying out safeguarding inquiries in prisons and approved premises, such as bail hostels. The response I received from the Minister was:
“Prison governors and directors, and the probation trust in the case of approved premises, are responsible for safeguarding prisoners … Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Prison and Probation Ombudsman require assurance that safeguarding procedures are in place and their implementation provides equivalent protection to that available in the community”.—[Official Report, 16/10/2013; cols. 623-4.]
In response to my specific question about approved premises, the Minister said that probation trusts have responsibility for carrying out safeguarding inquiries. I was a bit concerned by that response, but I accepted it. I decided to seek further clarification about how it would work in practice in local areas. What I found raised more issues and questions which I shall briefly outline. I should say that I am very grateful to Jenny Talbot and her team at the Prison Reform Trust for their continued support and expert guidance on this matter.
I fully support the concept that all prisons and approved premises should have their own arrangements for safeguarding that include a comprehensive policy understood by all staff and should ensure that vulnerable adults are identified and given appropriate support
within the local authority safeguarding process. I remain uncertain about what the Minister said about probation trusts having the responsibility for carrying out safeguarding inquiries in respect of adults residing in approved premises, so I sought further expert legal advice from people in the field. I was categorically assured that local authority safeguarding duties and, indeed, other community care duties extend to approved premises within the local authority area.
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While this is not explicitly settled in statute, it follows from the policy that the primary responsibility for safeguarding adults is with local authorities, as clarified in No Secrets, the Department of Health guidance document on protecting vulnerable adults in care. Therefore, in relation to safeguarding inquiries in approved premises, the local authority should be the lead co-ordinating agency working with the relevant probation trust and any other appropriate agencies to investigate cases and co-ordinate action.
I initially proposed that the Care Bill should formalise that position with an explicit clause imposing a duty on both prisons and probation trusts to co-operate with the statutory safeguarding lead local authority. However, in response to the Minister’s statement about probation trusts having this responsibility, I have tabled an amendment to ask that the Secretary of State report to Parliament within one year of this clause’s coming into force how probation trusts have discharged their responsibilities for safeguarding adults residing in approved premises.
Since tabling this amendment, I have learnt that the Government may be introducing measures to abolish probation trusts as early as 2014. This clearly poses another issue and lots more uncertainty. I would be very grateful if the Minister could comment on what would happen to vulnerable adults living in approved premises who are being abused or are at risk of being abused if no agency has a clear mandate for carrying out a safeguarding inquiry, or if staff in that agency are preoccupied by the proposed changes and anxious about their future.
I also want to put on record my continued concerns and anxieties with respect to safeguarding inquiries for vulnerable adults in prison. When I sought advice from a range of experts, what I discovered was extremely worrying. The Prison Reform Trust informed me that it could not find any PSI or PSO related to adult safeguarding that specified prison responsibilities. There does not appear to be explicit identification of the role of prison in adult safeguarding outside the general expectation to develop appropriate policies and procedures. The Prison Reform Trust also reported that, although most health and social services have an adult safeguarding policy, most prisons lack a cohesive, whole-prison approach to identify vulnerable adults and lack the training skills and local links with the safeguarding adults boards to carry out effective safeguarding inquiries.
I strongly argue that denying people in prison and people in approved premises the benefit of an inquiry by a local authority when safeguarding concerns are raised places an already vulnerable group of individuals at even greater risk. We must ensure that all people
living in the community, including people in approved premises, must have this equivalence of care. I ask the Minister to accept my amendment if my concerns are not justified or, better still, to impose a duty on probation trusts and local authorities to share the specific responsibility for providing safeguarding inquiries for people in approved premises. I also ask that he extend that to prisons. I beg to move.