Agenda and minutes

Apologies from Councillor Arash Fatemian (Councillor Louise Chapman substituting in a voting capacity).

On behalf of the Commissioning Body Councillor Gibbard thanked the outgoing Chairman Councillor Hibbert-Biles for her work and support of the worrk of the Commissioning Body during her 2 years as Chairman.

Councillor Gibbard declared a personal interest insofar as he held a monitoring role for Cherwell District Council on the Charter Housing Board.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2010 (SP4) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2010 were approved and signed.

32/10 – Annual Plan 2010-11

At the March meeting it had been agreed that a letter should be sent to the Public Service Board regarding ‘ring fencing’ of funding for vulnerable people. Councillor Hibbert-Biles expressed concern that that letter had not yet been sent.  The Commissioning Body noted that a draft letter had recently been circulated for comment but felt that the letter needed to state more clearly its concerns regarding funding particularly in the light of discussions likely to take place at this meeting.  The Commissioning Body asked that a revised draft be circulated to members of the Commissioning Body for comment as soon as possible to reflect discussions held at this meeting and the letter submitted to the Public service Board when it met on 1 July 2010.

A large surplus was achieved in 2009-10, as planned, to enable the partnership to manage the impact of 5% annual cuts by the Government in Oxfordshire’s Supporting People Grant.

The budget monitoring report attached at SP5 shows the Administering Authority achieved a surplus of £837,121k compared with the original budget surplus of £439,567k.

This larger surplus is the net result of various changes, some of them reflecting the inherent uncertainty relating to forecasting the results of means-tests for long term chargeable services; others due to some new services not starting this year. Detailed explanation of these changes was presented and discussed at the last meeting of the Commissioning Body. 

The report shows the overall picture by client-group, and the same picture is broken down both by client-group and district for the benefit of individual partners.

The Commissioning Body noted information set out in the Supporting People Budget 2009-10 Final Report and the confirmation given at the meeting that figures could and had been rolled forward.

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

The first budget monitoring report for 2010-11 is being prepared and would be tabled at the meeting.

Ms Latchkou tabled the first budget monitoring report showing the first quarter year spend.

The Commissioning Body discussed the disparity in figures between district areas.

Ms Latchkou advised that some figures, eg those for the Miles Project were based on it being a countywide service could not be split on a district basis.  However, figures produced for the ¼ ending 1 October would be clearer.

Members considered that they needed to have much more detailed and clearer information regarding the budgetary position particularly now when public sector spending was subject to increased scrutiny and uncertainty.  They stressed they were not looking to undertake a fundamental review but merely required more information.

Further discussion regarding the impact and implications of a cut in the administrative grant for supporting people and the need to make further strong representations to the Public Service Board to ring fence funding for this important area of work.

The Supporting People Commissioning Body agreed:

(a)               to note the report;

(b)               ask for more detailed information regarding budgetary issues to future meetings;

(c)               make strong representations to the Public Service Board to ring fence funding for vulnerable people.

Oxfordshire Supporting People Strategy is being reviewed in 2010-11 with a view to set strategic and financial objectives for the programme in 2011-2016.

On 26 March 2010 the Commissioning Body members considered a range of new flexibilities available to the partnership in managing the programme in future years and provided a steer to the officers regarding the content and format of the strategy review.     

The officers took this work forward at their meetings in April and May and produced a draft framework and timetable for the review. This information is presented in a paper attached at SP7 (a and b).  

The Commissioning Body members are asked to comment on these proposals.

The Commissioning Body received a report on the Review of Supporting People Strategy recognising that the Strategy, whilst setting strategic and financial objectives, needed to be considered in the light of future financial planning.

It was confirmed that wider consultation did not mean a statutory consultation process but more a case of testing an agreed programme on a particular group.

Members welcomed that course of action but also highlighted the need for clarity from the Public Service Board on the supporting people budget.  It was imperative that this was done to enable real and meaningful dialogue with stakeholders.

The Commissioning Body agreed to note the report subject to inclusion of an additional date in the timetable for review between 3 and 17 September for circulation of the draft strategy document to the Supporting People Commissioning Body.

A table is attached at SP8 showing progress against the Annual Plan and a report attached at SP8 (a) gives further information about any items in the Annual Plan which the administering authority is not on track to deliver

The Commissioning Body considered a table showing progress against the Annual Plan with further information about items in the Plan which were not on track for delivery.

Mr Stratford asked the Commissioning Body to authorize further consultation with other providers to secure capital funding for the Wet House project.  The Commissiong Body agreed to sanction further discussions but if no progress were made then the project would need to be removed from the plan.

It was unclear what projects were to be recommissioned but that information would be needed to take this forward.

The Commissioning Body agreed:

(a)                to convene an additional meeting of the Supporting People Commissioning Body on 4 August 2010 and to circulate the Impact Assessment to Core Strategy at that meeting;

(b)               to note the report at present and that no decisions could be taken at this stage due to the uncertain financial position;

(c)                lobby the Public Service Board regarding protection for services for vulnerable people.

A set of reports is attached at SP9 (Annexes A-C) showing Oxfordshire’s performance on National Indicators 141 and 142.

This information shows how the performance of Oxfordshire’s services in the second quarter of 2009-10 compares with the regional and national averages. This comparison is based on a government analysis which is circulated some months after the end of each quarter.

This information is presented in a new format, which links these reports closer to the targets that are being monitored.

Key messages from these reports are:

·                                The NI 141 LAA end of year target of 60.0% is now well within reach, with a score of 68.0% this quarter. The improvement compared to last year has been in the single homeless services.

·                                The NI 142 local end of year target of 98.8% will be achieved if the current position can be maintained. Both frail elderly and mental health scores for Oxfordshire services fall below the regional and national scores. This will be addressed with relevant providers.

·                                By client group, the most noticeable improvement for short term services is in single homelessness services. The three largest services have all achieved a 10% plus improvement compared to last year. Among long term services, generic services and women at risk services have seen the biggest improvement compared to last year.

·                                By district, performance of short term services in all districts has improved compared to last year. Long term services in most districts have a similar score to last year.

Preliminary information for quarters three and four suggest that these performance trends are continuing, as indicated by the summary data below:

·                                Short term services – quarter 3 (71.38%), quarter 4 (66.26%), total (66.64%).

·                                Long term service – quarter 3 (98.94%), quarter 4 (98.87%), total (98.88%).

Full reports would be produced when national comparison data becomes available and would be circulated in due course.

The Commissioning Body noted reports showing Oxfordshire’s performance on national indicators 141 and 142

The next meeting will be held in Meeting Room 1, County Hall on 17 September 2010.

Remaining meetings 2010/11:

17 September 2010

10 December 2010

25 March 2011

The Commissioning Body agreed the schedule of future dates subject to an additional meeting being scheduled for 4 August 2010 at 2 pm.