Agenda and minutes

It was proposed by Councillor Hoare, seconded and

RESOLVED: that Councillor Liz Brighouse be appointed as Chairman for the 2015/16 Municipal Year until the first meeting in 2015/16.

It was proposed by Councillor Stratford, seconded and

RESOLVED:           that Councillor Neil Fawcett be appointed as Deputy Chairman for the 2015/16 Municipal Year until the first meeting in 2015/16.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13  March 2014 (PSC3a) and 5 June 2014 (PSC3b – to be circulated separately) andto receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2014 were approved and signed.

The Committee was advised that the minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2014 would be submitted to the next meeting.

1010

Head of Policy, Maggie Scott will present a paper (PSC7) outlining the Council’s performance for the fourth quarter of 2013/14. The Performance Scrutiny Committee has invited selected Directors and Deputy Directors to answer questions about specific areas of concern in the performance report.

Maggie Scott introduced the contents of the report and in response to questions confirmed that there were new performance indicators for 2014/15 that responded to feedback being smarter and more targeted than previously. She undertook to circulate a copy of the new indicators to Committee Members. She confirmed that with officers attending from Adult Services and Children, Education and Families the focus of the discussion would be on these areas, none the less members could raise questions on other areas.

Adult Social Care

John Jackson, Director for Social & Community Services and Seona Douglas, Deputy Director Adult Social Care, attended to answer questions on the performance information.

John Jackson commented that there was a danger of focussing solely on the negatives and stressed that overall performance was relatively good. In particular the latest user survey was extremely positive.

During discussion the following points were made:

(1)            Members generally welcomed the positive report.

(2)            Responding to questions about the development of the community involvement network John Jackson advised that it was early days but that he was excited by its potential.

(3)            John Jackson agreed to circulate the survey questions to Members. He confirmed that the satisfaction level of users with waiting and assessment times was addressed. He added that he personally saw all complaints and that there were very few each year.

(4)            Responding to a question about response levels to the survey John Jackson agreed to send Members figures on the numbers of surveys sent and returned.

(5)            There was lengthy discussion on the reablement service. John Jackson explained the national context to the service in reducing the need for ongoing care and detailed the performance of the service in Oxfordshire. Although doing reasonably well in some aspects the flow of users through the system, particularly of those in hospital was a concern. The pick up times were an issue particularly from community health where the provider was the same for both services. With regard to referrals they were exploring other ways that people could be identified such as by GPs.

During discussion Members referred to the experiences of their residents where there was a perceived gap from being discharged to obtaining services. Seona Douglas outlined the actions taken to improve matters. During discussion of the possible duplication with the hospital discharge team John Jackson emphasised the need for partners to work together. He referred to the proposed move to outcome based contracts with a report going to Cabinet in July.

The use of GPs to increase referrals was seen as sensible and there was discussion about how this could be achieved in such a way as to avoid a spike in referrals.

(6)            John Jackson explained the intention behind their approach to care homes which was to see the level of people in care homes as the lower the better and to allow people to live independently for as long as possible. The development of extra care housing was key to this approach and an indicator was included in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/14

1140

John Courouble, Research and Intelligence Manager will give a presentation outlining the key findings from the Children’s Needs Analysis (PSC8) and how they can be used to within the scrutiny function of the Council.

John Courouble presented the contents of the Children’s Needs Analysis which followed on from the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and focussed on Children & Young People. In future years they would focus on other areas such as older people. During the presentation he showed how the information could be accessed through the web site and agreed to send all councillors a link.

During discussion of the findings Members welcomed the Analysis, commenting that it was an excellent piece of work that would be of practical use to them. The Chairman commented that it was important that it be used as a living document.

1250

The Chairman referred to the number of matters raised during the meeting and it was agreed that she consider with Eira Hale how best to take them forward.

Item 9

It is RECOMMENDED that the public be excluded for the duration of item 11 in the Agenda since it is likely that if they were present during those items there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and specified in relation to that item in the Agenda and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of each case, the public interest in exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

THE REPORT TO THE ITEM NAMED HAS NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC AND SHOULD BE REGARDED AS ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ BY MEMBERS AND OFFICERS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE THEM.

THIS IS FOR REASONS OF COMMERCIAL SENSITIVITY.

THIS ALSO MEANS THAT THE CONTENTS SHOULD NOT BE DISCUSSED WITH OTHERS AND NO COPIES SHOULD BE MADE.

RESOLVED:           that the public be excluded for the duration of item 11 in the Agenda since it is likely that if they were present during those items there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and specified in relation to that item in the Agenda and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of each case, the public interest in exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

PUBLIC SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS HELD IN PRIVATE

1210

Over 15,000 adults in Oxfordshire receive support services that are funded by the Council in some way. These services are provided by over 300 external suppliers. The county council has a strong commitment to work with its suppliers to ensure that good quality services are available for people who need support. The item will demonstrate how the Council works with providers to ensure that they meet the required levels of performance and quality of care, through the presentation of two case studies.

The information contained in the report (PSC11) is exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category:

3 – information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

It is considered that in this case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure may prejudice the commercial position of the parties involved and would prejudice the position of the authority in its future relationships with the persons involved to the detriment of the provision of services to the public. Any disclosure may also raise anxiety with service users who received those services and/or their families and carers.

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The information contained in the report (PSC11) is exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category:

3 – information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

It is considered that in this case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure may prejudice the commercial position of the parties involved and would prejudice the position of the authority in its future relationships with the persons involved to the detriment of the provision of services to the public. Any disclosure may also raise anxiety with service users who received those services and/or their families and carers.

Over 15,000 adults in Oxfordshire receive support services that are funded by the Council in some way. These services are provided by over 300 external suppliers. The county council has a strong commitment to work with its suppliers to ensure that good quality services are available for people who need support.

Through the presentation of two case studies the Committee considered how the Council worked with providers to ensure that they meet the required levels of performance and quality of care.