City of York Council's Executive Members for Housing and Adult Social Services and Advisory Panel (EMAP) will consider the annual report of the North Yorkshire and York Safeguarding Adult Partnership Board at a meeting on 29 October.

The board, formerly known as the Adult Protection Committee, was set up in 2003 to respond to  government guidance on developing and implementing policy and procedures to protect vulnerable adults against abuse. It was agreed from the outset that City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council would set up joint policies and procedures so that  seamless working arrangements would be in place with the NHS and police, regardless of local authority borders.

Although the report is primarily for information, the EMAP will be invited to comment on its contents.

It highlights  the fact that the number of cases of alleged abuse investigated rose from 58 in 2005/06 to 70 in 2006/07. However, this is thought to be largely due to increased awareness and better recording of information, and the figure remains low when compared to those from other local authority areas.

The report indicates that the most prevalent types of abuse are physical (36 per cent) and financial (25 per cent) and that the majority of cases affect older people (66 per cent) and people with learning disabilities (23 per cent).

Training and awareness are a focal point of the board's work on adult protection, and this takes the form of multi-agency awareness raising events and specific training for staff.