Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received on behalf of Councillor Roger Cox, Vale of White Horse District Council, Councillor Arash Fatemian (temporary appointment: Councillor Louise Chapman) and Councillor Verena Hunt, West Oxfordshire District Council.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2011 (SP4) and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2011 were approved and signed.

It was confirmed that members of the Commissioning Body be added to the circulation list for Core Strategy Group minutes.

Forward Plan Ref: 2011/087

Contact: Natalia Lachkou, Supporting People Programme Manager Tel: (01865) 894858

Report by Supporting People Programme Manager (SP5a-c).

The partnership reviewed Oxfordshire Supporting People Strategy in 2010-11 and set strategic and financial objectives for the programme in 2011-2016. Outcomes of this review were presented in the draft Supporting People strategy for 2011-16 which was discussed at the last meeting.

This draft strategy was subsequently used to inform further discussions with key stakeholders. Feedback generated by these discussions is summarised in a report attached at SP5a.  

The Core Strategy Group at its meeting on 1 June discussed this feedback and agreed to revise the draft strategy as per recommendations set out in the report. Final draft of the strategy is attached at SP5b. This strategy is accompanied by a programme delivery report which is attached at SP5c for reference. 

The officers have also recommended that future reviews of the strategy take place annually, starting from 2012-13. It is suggested that format for these annual reviews is considered further and formalised during the programme review taking place this year.  It is also suggested that other recommendations set out in the report are taken forward by the programme review. 

The Core Strategy Group RECOMMENDS that the Commissioning Body approves the Supporting People strategy 2011-16.

Councillor Louise Chapman recognised that officers had worked hard to condense the Strategy but felt that it was still too long. She was happy to approve it but the format did need to be revisited for the next Strategy. The Chairman, Councillor Debbie Pickford agreed and in particular highlighted that the use of the word ‘partnership’ throughout was ill defined.

Natalia Lachkou emphasised that the Strategy itself was only 5 pages long and could be read as a stand alone document.

The Commissioning Body RESOLVED:-  to approve the Supporting People Strategy 2011-16.

A smaller than originally planned surplus was achieved in 2010-11, as part of managing the impact of 5% annual reductions in Oxfordshire’s Supporting People Grant.

The budget monitoring report attached at SP6a shows the Administering Authority achieved a surplus of £383 compared with the surplus of £29,047k forecast in November 2010.

This smaller surplus is the net result of various changes in the budget, some of which reflect the inherent uncertainty relating to forecasting the results of means-tests for long term chargeable services; others reflecting additional pressures that presented during the year in some service areas. Further explanation of these changes is given in the report. 

The report shows the overall picture by client-group. The same picture broken down both by client-group and district for the benefit of individual partners is being produced. This report would be tabled at the meeting.

The Supporting People Commissioning Body considered and noted the final report on the Supporting People Budget 2010-11, which included the information broken down by client-group and district submitted at the meeting.

Oxfordshire County Council starts budget monitoring from May spend in each financial year.

The first budget monitoring report for 2011-12 is attached at SP7a.

This report shows the budget for the year and expenditure incurred in the first two months of the year. The administering authority is also working on designing a new report for showing expenditure by district area.

Report attached at SP7b is the first report showing progress made with delivering the efficiency savings programme. Meetings with providers commenced in May and will continue in June. To date providers have responded in a constructive and positive manner to these requirements, which is welcome.  These discussions generated a number of proposals which identified a third of the required efficiency target. Further progress reports would be provided at future meetings.

The Supporting People Commissioning Body  considered and noted the first budget monitoring report for 2011-12 together with information showing progress with delivering the efficiency savings programme.

Responding to queries Simon Kearey indicated that it was early in the year but so far the programme looked on target. Members asked that future reports include an additional column to make clear the expected spend against the actual spend. The Chairman indicated that further information would be available in September regarding the Contingency funding.

There was some discussion about the reallocation of surplus and it was agreed that there was a need for caution.

Report attached at SP8a provides the first progress update on this review. Further information is provided in papers SP8b-f.

Members of the Commissioning Body are requested to comment on this report and provide a steer for the next stages of the review.

The Supporting People Commissioning Body noted a progress update on the review. In particular they noted the timetable set out on page 82 of the agenda which officers assured members was tight but realistic.

Papers attached at SP9a-c provide information to start a discussion about how Supporting People programme could respond to the personalisation agenda as a whole. Similar discussions took place at the Core Strategy Group and Provider Forum meetings in June. Comments and suggestions received would be used to inform further work but the ‘Benchmarking and Best Practice’ working group, which has been tasked to lead on this aspect of the programme review.

Members of the Commissioning Body are requested to comment on issues raised in these papers and provide a steer for the next stages of this work.       

The Supporting People Commissioning Body received information about how the Supporting People Programme could respond to the personalisation agenda. During discussion a number of issues were raised around the options and decisions to be made including that of capacity and cost. The complexity of the issue was accepted and that time was required so that members could understand the impacts on the programme of the choices to be made.

The Commissioning Body recognised the importance of this matter and the need to make progress. It was AGREED to hold a workshop on 30 September involving Commissioning Body members, the Core Strategy Group and representative users and carers.

It was further AGREED to cancel the meeting due to be held on 16 September and to hold it instead at the conclusion of the workshop.

A provisional additional meeting was AGREED to be held if needed on Friday 14 October 2011 subject to Commissioning Body members’ availability.

A report attached at SP10a gives information about any items in the Annual Plan which the administering authority is not on track to deliver and a table is attached at SP10b showing progress against the Annual Plan.

The Commissioning Body noted the progress report.

The next meeting will be held in Meeting Room 3, County Hall on 16 September 2011.