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Introducing Martin...
My name is Martin Spence. I am a Station Commander within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
I have worked in the service for 19 years and have a varied background within the service. I have been an operational Firefighter at a variety of stations and also supported by local On Call station to provide a response in more local communities. My role has included working as a training officer delivering core skills to firefighters and managers.
What I do...
I have recently taken over the role as the Community Safety Engagement Officer and have responsibility for Prevention, Protection and Preparedness. This role is pivotal in ensuring the safety of our communities and partnership working is vital in it's success.
When I'm not working...
Away from work I am married to Trudi, and have two grown up children, Elliot and Madelaine. I enjoy keeping myself fit through cycling and have a keen interest in golf playing at Loudoun Gowf Club, as well as walking our Cocker Spaniel, Lola.
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Introducing Lisa...
My name is Lisa Punton and I'm the Housing Services Manager with East Ayrshire Council. I joined the Council in 1997 as a skill seeker and have never looked back. I have worked within Housing Services for around 24 years in various positions including Allocations Officer, Housing Officer and Housing Options Manager.
What I do...
In my current role I have operational and strategic responsibility across Housing Services. I love the variety of the work within Housing Services. Originating from East Ayrshire it is a privilege to have the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of our tenants and residents.
My direct areas of responsibility include:
- Housing Options and Homelessness
- Neighbourhood Housing Teams
- Strategy and Policy
- Universal Credit Support
- Housing Register Teams
I work with and through Community Planning partners to deliver services and ensure everyone has a warm, safe affordable home to live in.
When I'm not working...
I live with my husband, two kids, two hamsters and two dogs. When I'm not spending time with my family I enjoy reading and cross lift.
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Fond farewells..
We say goodbye to;
Donna Sinforiani, ASP Lead Officer who retired after 40 years of service at the end of October 2024.
Donna has been steadfast in leading East Ayrshire on its Adult Protection journey since it's inception, we thank Donna for her contribution to keeping people safe and protection in East Ayrshire and wish her all the best in her retirement.
Maxine Ward, Senior Manager and ASP Lead Officer and wish her well in her new promotion to Head of Service with Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership. We thank Maxine for her contribution in keeping people safe and protected in East Ayrshire.
Irene Clark, Manager of East Ayrshire Advocacy Services we are wishing her well in her retirement. During Irene's time as Manager of East Ayrshire Advocacy we have developed a strong working relationship and have undertaken a lot of partnership working together. We look forward to continuing this work with her son, Neill Clark who is taking over as Manager of East Ayrshire Advocacy Services and we thank Irene for her contribution to ensuring people at risk of harm are listened to and treated with respect and kindness.
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East Ayrshire Engagement and Communication Sub Group Improvement Plan is currently 81% complete.
East Ayrshire had suggested to the National Adult Support and Protection Co-ordinator that the Sextortion Resources originally developed for National ASP Day in February 2024 be used for a Higher Education/Further Education Campaign with colleges/universities across Scotland.
This was taken on board and the campaign was launched on 14 August 2024. The National Adult Support and Protection Co-ordinator expressed thanks to East Ayrshire Engagement & Communication Sub Group and advised that this “…made for a great campaign and reused materials we already had…”
The Group has also worked in partnership with the East Ayrshire Improvement Sub Group in developing Function 3 - Public Information, Engagement and Communication for the 2025 - 2026 Improvement Plan.
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East Ayrshire Improvement Sub Group Improvement Plan is currently 84% complete.
The group has completed its review and development of the new ASP Improvement Plan which covers the timeframe 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2026. This was submitted to Committee for endorsement and was approved in November 2024.
The 2025 Audit Co-ordination Group was stood up and it was agreed that the theme for the 2025 Audit would focus on reports of adults at risk where the person has been recorded under the category of Learning Disability and will include activity to self-evaluation ASP Planning Meetings performance standards.
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The East Ayrshire APC Biennial Report was endorsed by the COG at their meeting on 1 October 2024. Chief Executive Eddie Fraser commended the work, in particular, of the Adult Protection Team and our Public Protection partners across out APC, in delivering the work highlighted throughout the Report.
The Biennial Report highlighted priority areas for our attention going forward which included for example: Continuing our EA approach where we are seeking to ensure that ASP is ‘everyone’s business’ - at an APC level, Service level, with individuals involved in ASP and the wider community. In part this is about shifting the emphasis about ASP from negative to highlighting the benefits to both the individual and the community.
The Biennial Report has now been submitted to the Scottish Government.
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To ensure consistency in what children, adults at risk of harm, and families can expect in terms of support and protection from health services in NHS Ayrshire and Arran an Improvement Plan 2024 - 2026 has been developed.
This is in line with the NHS Public Protection Accountability and Assurance Framework 2022 and provides reassurance that there is
"...adequate and effective governance, accountability and assurance reporting frameworks in place which ensures all health staff, including those contracted to deliver services, are competent in fully discharging their public protection responsibilities..."
The Improvement Plan brings together all improvement actions from the recently completed self-evaluation undertaken by NHS Ayrshire and Arran against the eight framework standards identified in the nationally developed toolkit, as well as improvement activity identified in learning reviews, into a single NHS Plan.
The NHS Ayrshire and Arran Public Protection Executive Governance Group will maintain oversight of progress made within this two year plan.
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Joanne Stevenson, Team Manager, Southern Locality: East Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership attended the Adult Protection Committee on 20 August 2024. She delivered a presentation on Financial Harm and the impact and challenges experienced by Council Officers when seeking information from financial institutions under ASP Legislation.
The presentation was well received and generated a lot of discussion between Committee Members. Committee Members agreed that this topic required further exploration and would be discussed at both the Ayrshire Chairs and Leads and the National Conveners meeting to ensure that a national approach to this issue is taken given that financial institutions are likely to be national entities and it would be helpful to engage with our national partners, including the Scottish Government and the Office of the Public Guardian.
Committee Members thanked Joanne for bringing this matter to their attention and providing them with such a powerful presentation.
IRISS have developed a seven minute briefing on Financial Section 10 Requests which is available on their website
Tenancy sustainment and homelessness prevention
East Ayrshire Councils emphasis on self-neglect and wellbeing has resulted in a focused approach to tenancy sustainment and homeless Prevention by building lasting relationships with tenants.
Following a review of Procedures in October 2023, Housing Services and Housing Assets Services worked together to introduce a more robust method of tracking and monitoring properties which had the gas supply capped for safety reasons. This work also considered actions identified to prevent and address self-neglect in the authority.
In the period 2023/ 2024 East Ayrshire Council had an average of 270 properties affected by gas supply being capped. Since the inception of our new process and management procedures this average has dropped to 230 properties for the current financial year. This results in a 14% reduction from the previous year
Since April 2024 Neighbourhood Coaches have carried out 477 successful visits to properties having positive interactions and discussion with tenants, in order that self-neglect is discussed alongside dealing with reasons for gas being capped. A further 327 unsuccessful visits have been attempted
62 Referrals have been made to our partner agency for utility debt and assistance to enable utility debts to be addressed
34 Tenanted properties have had their utilities reconnected since April 2024
From April 2024 a total of £20,000 has also been awarded via the Tenancy Support Fund to address utility debt and enable reconnection
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On 28 August 2024 The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) has launched their ASP Hub. This is a website where resources relating to ASP are stored and searchable.
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The Quality Improvement Framework was published on 15 October 2024. Its main aim is to support adult support and protection partnerships to carry out multi-agency self-evaluations of their adult support and protection arrangements.
You can also use it to underpin future joint inspections of adult support and protection. It will:
- Be a vital tool for the effective governance of adult support and protection
- Drive improvement and measure progress with the partnership’s improvement activities
- Identify good practice
- Assess progress for key themes, such as involvement and inclusion of adults at risk
- Reveal problems the partnership needs to rectify
- Contribute to the safety, health, and wellbeing of adults at risk.
The QIF will be presented as the next ASPire (ASP innovation and research event) on 28 November 2024.
To register your interest for this session please click here, although please note you have already received an email invite for this session.
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