Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2009 (AS3) and to note for information any matters arising on them.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2009 were approved and signed.

10:15

Contact Officer: Lorna Baxter – Assistant Head of Finance (Corporate Finance),  01865 323971

The attached report (AS5) sets out the Business Improvement & Efficiency Strategy for the Social & Community Services Directorate. The strategy contains the identified pressures and proposed savings over the medium term from 2010/11 to 2014/15. For reference, the current financial context and the report to the Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee are included. The scrutiny committee is invited to consider and comment upon the strategies and the pressures and savings contained therin.

Comments from each scrutiny committee will be collated and fed back to the Cabinet by the Strategy and Partnerships Scrutiny Committee which meets on 14 January 2010.

Members of the Committee will have the opportunity to question the Cabinet Member for Adult Services, together with the Director for Social & Community Services, Mr Paul Purnell (Head of Social Care for Adults), Mr Simon Kearey (Head of Strategy and Transformation) and Heads of Service and other officers on the identified budget pressures. Officers from Financial Services will also be present at the meeting to answer any questions that the Committee may wish to ask.

The Director for Social & Community Services will commence this agenda item with a presentation to the Committee giving an overview of the budget.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to consider and comment upon the Directorate Efficiency Strategy plus the identified pressures and proposals for savings contained therein.

13:15 – 13:45 SANDWICH LUNCH

The report before the Committee (AS5) set out the Business Improvement & Efficiency Strategy for Social & Community Services. The strategy contained the identified pressures and proposed savings over the medium term from 2010/11 to 2014/15. The Committee was invited to consider and comment on the strategyand the pressures and savings contained therein.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Services, together with Mr John Jackson (Director for Social & Community Services), Mr Paul Purnell (Head of Social Care for Adults), Mr Simon Kearey (Head of Strategy and Transformation) and Ms Maureen Elliott (Finance Business Partner – Social & Community Services) attended for this item, together with other Heads of Service, in order to answer the Committee’s questions in relation to the identified pressures and proposed savings.

The Assistant Head of Finance (Corporate Finance) also attended to answer any questions which the Committee may have wished to ask.

The Director for Social & Community Services gave an overview of the budget for Adult Services (Refer Annex 1) which covered the Directorate’s vision, how this relates to the Corporate Plan, some key figures, an overview of the Service and Resource Plan, demographic change, the Directorate’s Business lmprovement and Efficiency Strategy, delivering the unidentified savings, working with the NHS, potential risks 2010/11 and potential risks in the medium term.

The Committee then asked a number of questions. A selection of the Committee’s questions, together with the officers’ responses, is listed below:

·        If extra savings were required corporately would the Directorate be able to make further savings? ie had the Directorate left some money in reserve should this be needed?

It would probably be possible to make additional savings in the next financial year but the contingency was needed to cover the potential risks. These were the major overspend on the older persons pooled budget and the potential cost of free personal domiciliary care, should primary legislation be passed before the next General Election. Considerable savings were expected from Transforming Adult Social Care including Self Directed Support, but the potential risks in the medium term also had to be taken into account.

·        Why had there been an overspend on the older persons pooled budget?

This was a budget of two halves rather than a ‘pool’. The Primary Care Trust’s (PCT’s) half of the budget had been overspending for some time and related to Continuing Health Care. The Council’s half had been generally close to the budget but this year there had been an overspend.  A major factor in the overspend was that Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) had been reduced, in terms of speeding up hospital discharges. Therefore, most of the forecast overspend had come from the increased demand for community care, especially domiciliary care (home support). Officers were reasonably optimistic that this could be reduced to a £1.5m overspend by the year end.

·        If the overspend on the older persons pooled budget was to be reduced would this result in more DTOC?

It would be necessary to try to reduce weekly new commitments and to review  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35/09

13:45

Contact Officers: Sean Collins, Assistant Head of Shared Services – Financial Services, (01865 797190), Tarquin May, Money Management Team Leader, (01865 797189)

Mr Collins, accompanied by Mr May, will attend for this item.

In July this Committee had received an update report on the money management service and had agreed to:

• note that there were still problems within this service which officers were trying to eradicate through the use of IT and other techniques; and
• advise the Cabinet that a further report on this “essential” service would be brought to this Committee’s December meeting to enable it to consider – prior to the setting of the 2010/11 budget – whether the situation had improved as a result of the implementation of the specialist money management database. 

It was agreed that this report would include the results of the planned benchmarking work to be undertaken by the Association of Public Sector Deputies (APAD) and the impact that the new joint panel arrangements would be having on both the waiting lists and the numbers of clients supported to return to independent living in the community.

A report on the Money Management Service which sits in Shared Services is attached (AS6(a)), together with the Minute of the Committee’s discussion at its July meeting (AS6(b)).

The Committee is invited to consider whether it wishes to provide any advice to the Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee in relation to the Money Management Service.

In July this Committee had received an update report on the money management service and had agreed to:

• note that there were still problems within this service which officers were trying to eradicate through the use of IT and other techniques; and
• advise the Cabinet that a further report on this “essential” service would be brought to this Committee’s December meeting to enable it to consider – prior to the setting of the 2010/11 budget – whether the situation had improved as a result of the implementation of the specialist money management database. 

It was agreed that this report would include the results of the planned benchmarking work to be undertaken by the Association of Public Sector Deputies (APAD) and the impact that the new joint panel arrangements would be having on both the waiting lists and the numbers of clients supported to return to independent living in the community.

An update report was before the Committee (AS6(a)), together with the Minute of the Committee’s discussion at its July meeting (AS6(b)).

The Committee was invited to consider whether it wished to provide any advice to the Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee in relation to the Money Management Service.

Mr Sean Collins (Assistant Head of Shared Services – Financial Services) attended before the Committee in order to provide an update and to answer the Committee’s questions.

Following a brief discussion, the Committee AGREED that in light of the current position as set out in the report and the financial circumstances facing the Council, it did not wish to suggest to the Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee that additional resource should be put into the Service.

15:00

Contact Officer: Julian Hehir, Scrutiny Review Officer, (01865 815982)

[Lead Member Review Group comprises Councillors Mrs Anda  Fitzgerald-O’Connor and Timothy Hallchurch MBE].

This Review explored the effectiveness of efforts to achieve a single point of access for people in need of care, for instance upon leaving hospital. It looked at the role of the Access Team in Social & Community Services and of other agencies, in the provision of care and at efforts to improve information flow and co-ordination.

This Review was considered by the Cabinet on 21 October 2008. The Cabinet agreed nine of the ten recommendations, noting that many of the recommendations were in train or had already been actioned.

A tracking template is appended at AS8, which includes progress to date on the agreed review recommendations, together with the Cabinet’s original response.

A copy of the scrutiny review report has been sent to all members of this Committee. Members may wish to bring this with them to the meeting.

A copy of the scrutiny review report will also be available for public inspection and is available on the County Council’s website www.oxfordshire.gov.uk. [refer Cabinet Agenda 21 October 2008].

Mr Simon Kearey (Head of Strategy and Transformation), together with the Cabinet Member for Adult Services, will attend for this item in order to answer any questions which the Committee may wish to add.

The Committee is invited to evaluate progress regarding implementation of the agreed review recommendations and to consider whether to sign off the review or to conduct further monitoring in relation to any areas of concern.

[Lead Member Review Group comprises Councillors Mrs Anda Fitzgerald-O’Connor and Timothy Hallchurch MBE].

This Review had explored the effectiveness of efforts to achieve a single point of access for people in need of care, for instance upon leaving hospital. It had looked at the role of the Access Team in Social & Community Services and of other agencies in the provision of care and at efforts to improve information flow and co-ordination.

The Review had been considered by the Cabinet on 21 October 2008. The Cabinet had agreed nine of the ten recommendations, noting that many of the recommendations were in train or had already been actioned.

A tracking template was before the Committee (AS8), which included progress to date on the agreed review recommendations, together with the Cabinet’s original response.

Following a brief update from the Lead Member Review Group, the Committee AGREED to sign off the Review on the grounds that it was satisfied with progress to date.

14:15

Contact Officer: Alan Sinclair, Programme Director – Transforming Adult Social Care (01865 323665)

It has been agreed that a report on Transforming Adult Social Care will be brought to each meeting of this Committee and will include detail on self directed support.

A progress report on Transforming Adult Social Care is attached (AS7(a)). The new National Progress Measures and Draft Terms of Reference for the Programme Assurance Group are appended to the report (Annex 1 and Annex 2).

As part of the work on Transforming Adult Social Care, the Directorate is looking to set up a working group to help ensure that the programme is delivering against its expected outcomes and timescales. This function is called programme assurance and acts as an insurance policy for the programme board. A wide range of stakeholders are sought to join this group, including Councillor representation.

The details of how the group will operate, including initial terms of reference and the time commitment required will be agreed by the group when it first meets.

Existing Members of the Self Directed Support Task Group who sit on this Committee may wish to put themselves forward as may any other members of this Committee.

The Self Directed Support Learning Exercise Evaluation is attached at AS7(b) – comprising a short summary, executive summary and full report.

Mr Sinclair will attend to provide the update and to answer the Committee’s questions, accompanied by the Cabinet Member for Adult Services. 

Mr Sinclair will begin this item by summarising progress on Transforming Adult Social Care and will then focus on the officer evaluation of the self directed support learning exercise.

The Committee is invited to:

·                    track progress on the whole of Transforming Adult Social Care;

·                    conduct a question and answer session on the Officer Evaluation of the Self Directed Support Learning Exercise;

·                    offer comment to the Directorate on both of the above, if necessary; and

·                    nominate one Member to join the Transforming Adult Social Care Programme Assurance Working Group.

The Committee had before it:

·        a progress report on Transforming Adult Social Care (TASC) (AS7(a));

·        the new National Progress Measures and Draft Terms of Reference for the Programme Assurance Group (Annexes 1 and 2 to AS7(a));

·        the Self Directed Support Learning Exercise Evaluation Report (AS7(b)), (short summary, executive summary and full report).

Mr Alan Sinclair (Programme Director – Transforming Adult Social Care), Mr Martin Bradshaw (Assistant Head of Service – Reshaping the Supply Market), Mr Nick Horn (Assistant Project Manager – TASC Programme) and Mr Jon Ray (Senior Project Manager – Strategy and Transformation) attended before the Committee in order to answer Member’s questions on the evaluation of the Self Directed Support Learning Exercise.

Mr Sinclair summarised progress in relation to the Transformation of Adult Social Care.  In response to a question from the Committee, Mr Sinclair stated that although progress was slower overall than originally intended, it was important not to rush many of the activities and it had been difficult to align numerous different tasks throughout the Council. However, as the overall budget for Adult Social Care was dependent on the successful delivery of TASC, it would be necessary to continually monitor adherence to the timescale for the delivery of the project milestones.

The Committee also noted that as part of the work on Transforming Adult Social Care, the Directorate was also looking to set up a working group to help to ensure that the programme was delivering against its expected outcomes and timescales. This function (programme assurance) would act as an insurance policy for the programme board. A wide range of stakeholders were sought to join this group, including Councillor representation.

Mr Sinclair then drew the Committee’s attention to the evaluation highlights from the Self Directed Support Learning Exercise, notable successes and areas for improvement, as detailed in the report.

Support brokerage had worked well, clients had spent 9% less of their personal allocation than anticipated (the national pilot figure was 8%) and the cost of external home support was lower than that of internal home support. Eleven out of the thirty three people who had chosen a direct payment had used it to purchase a personal assistant rather than to arrange care through an agency, which had worked out at approximately £12 - £15 per hour, as compared to £20 per hour for Council services. Although questionnaires and interviews had been based on a low number of people (those 55 people who at the end of August had support plans in place), the findings were in line with the national pilots and results from other local authorities.

Areas where improvement was needed were also detailed in the report, including an acknowledgement that the interim IT arrangements that were in place were sufficient to manage the current level of clients, but that once the project was implemented, would not be able to cope with the increased numbers and data. The emphasis in the systems review would be to ensure that IT systems and processes were fit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38/09

15:40

The Committee is asked to note any items on the current version of the Forward Plan which covers the time period December 2009 – March 2010.

The Committee noted the items on the current version of the Forward Plan.

15:45

The Committee is reminded that the following pieces of work are planned for future meetings:

·        Duty to involve – Q&A and report at its February meeting on what this new statutory commitment involves and what the Council will be doing;

·        Services for Adults on the Autistic Spectrum – Q&A and report at its April meeting or once the Joint Needs Assessment has been finalised if later;

·        Dementia Strategy – Q&A and report at its April meeting in order to monitor progress in relation to issues and gaps in provision;

·       Telecare– Q&A and report at its October meeting;

·        Domiciliary Care – consider at a future meeting once both inspections have been completed.

The Committee noted the items listed on its work programme.

15:50

·                    Green Paper on Care and Support: Shaping the Future of Care Together

On 4 November the Leader of the Council (with responsibility for Finance) and the Cabinet Member for Adult Services agreed the County Council’s response as endorsed by this Committee, for submission to the Department of Health.

The Committee noted the tracking information as listed on the face of the agenda.