Two of the county’s most experienced practitioners in adults and children’s safeguarding are publicly endorsing the proposal for a single unitary authority in Suffolk – saying it offers the strongest protection for vulnerable people across the county.
As the government consultation on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) reaches its halfway point, two of Suffolk’s most experienced safeguarding figures have given their backing to the One Suffolk plan.
Anthony Douglas, Independent Chair of the Suffolk Safeguarding Adults Board, and Chris Robson, Independent Scrutineer of the Safeguarding Children’s Board, both warn that the alternative proposal, to divide the county into three separate unitary authorities, poses significant risks for residents who rely on specialist support.
Under the One Suffolk model, all six existing councils would be replaced by a single authority responsible for both local and county-wide services. Government is currently consulting on two options for unitarisation in Suffolk as part of its wider reforms to local government.
Anthony Douglas, Independent Chair of the Suffolk Safeguarding Adults Board, said:
“My responsibility is to keep people in Suffolk safe, and to make sure that the agencies that look after them are doing it properly – and to support them in doing difficult work.
“In terms of what would work best for safeguarding, it has to be the One Suffolk option in which all services are integrated across the county – which includes housing services and many other specialist services that people depend upon.
“For me, running safeguarding services, One Suffolk will be easier to organise, cheaper and more likely to benefit people who need specialist support at short notice than would be the case if families and professionals have to navigate their way through multiple authorities.”
He added that delays caused by navigating multiple authorities to find specialist help could create a “huge problem” for those in urgent need.
