Issue - meetings

A paper is attached at SP5a reminding the Commissioning Body of the requirements in the Memorandum of Understanding regarding the contents of the annual plan.

The Core Strategy Group at its meeting on 7 March 2012 discussed a draft Annual Plan 2012-13. Officers recommended a list of major projects for 2012-13 attached at SP5b.

These priorities were drawn from the Supporting People Strategy 2011-16 approved by the Commissioning Body on 17 June 2011 and the Delivery Plan 2012-16 considered by the officer group on 4 January 2012. The Delivery Plan 2012-16 is attached at SP5c for reference.   

Officers have also considered a budget showing the amount to be spent on each primary client group attached at SP5d. This budget is based on the financial strategy previously agreed by the Commissioning Body on 9 December 2011.

It is issued with two qualifications:

a)     Exact amount of the carry forward won’t be known until the administering authority has closed accounts for 2011-12 and, as importantly, confirmed that this carry forward has been approved. Necessary processes to achieve this aim have already started and the partners would be kept updated of the progress.

Key milestones are:

·        Approval at Directorate level – late April/May 2012

·        Approval by Cabinet – 19 June 2012

b)     Work on agreeing how additional savings will be allocated against budget lines for services for older people, those with learning disabilities and homeless people is continuing with named lead commissioners. Therefore in these cases it is not yet possible to split additional savings further. This will be done as soon as relevant decisions are taken and will be shown on future versions of the budget.         

The Core Strategy Group RECOMMENDS that the Commissioning Body approves the Supporting People Annual Plan 2012-13.

Delivery of the Supporting People Strategy 2011-16 and the Annual Plan 2012-13 is underpinned by two key administrative elements of the programme: the Eligibility Criteria and the Charging Policy. Both of these documents have been reviewed in 2012.   

The draft Eligibility Criteria were discussed by the Commissioning Body on 30 September 2011 where the members recommended further consultation on the document. The consultation period was from 24 October to 21 November 2011. Report containing summary responses and action taken is attached for information at SP 5e.

Post-consultation draft of the Eligibility Criteria was considered by the officers at their meeting on 1 February 2012 and is attached at SP 5f.

Revised version of the Charging Policy was discussed by the officers at their meeting on 7 March 2012 and is attached at SP 5g.

It contains two revisions:

·        Points 27 and 28 have been revised to refer to all applications for direct payments, not just those from leaseholders which was the case previously;

·        Review date has been set in three years’ time, in March 2015.  

The Core Strategy Group RECOMMENDS that the Commissioning Body approves the Supporting People Eligibility Criteria March 2012 and the Charging Policy March 2012.