Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and temporary appointments.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Bulmer, Graham, and Rooke.

See guidance note on the back page.

There were none.

The Committee is recommended to APPROVE the minutes of the meeting held on 19^th September 2024 and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes for the meeting held on 19 September 2024 were AGREED as a true and accurate record.

Members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection. 

To facilitate ‘hybrid’ meetings we are asking that requests to speak or present a petition are submitted by no later than 9am on 28^th November 2024 Requests to speak should be sent to the Scrutiny Officer at scrutiny@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that your views are taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9am 2 working days before the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

There was none.

Cllr Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Karen Fuller, Director of Adult Social Care, Victoria Baran, Deputy Director of Adult Social Care, and Ramone Samuda, Adult Social Care Assurance Lead, have been invited to present a report on a CQC Assurance Update.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and raise any questions, and to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet arising therefrom.

Cllr Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, was invited to present a report on the CQC Assurance Update.  Karen Fuller, Director of Adult Social Care, Victoria Baran, Deputy Director of Adult Social Care, and Ramone Samuda, Adult Social Care Assurance Lead, were invited to answer the Committee’s questions.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care noted that the Quality Care Commission (CQC) would be assessing the County Council in January 2025, their first visit since 2010. He stressed the significance of this assessment to highlight the good work that had been done and to identify areas for improvement. The service looked forward to showcasing the Council's efforts. Emphasising the importance of prioritising individuals' voices, as highlighted by the CQC, remained key.

Officers summarised preparations for the upcoming CQC inspection, discussing the self-assessment with more than 250 pieces of evidence submitted in July. They highlighted strengths like dedicated staff, user satisfaction, strong commissioning, and an environment of constant learning, and acknowledged challenges such as reducing waiting lists, improving access to information, housing options, and data use. An improvement plan included embedding the Oxfordshire Way, enhancing co-production, improving data and transforming pathways. Progress had been made in reducing assessment wait times, safeguarding enquiry delays, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards backlog, and improving relationships with care homes. Efforts continued to amplify the voice of individuals and to enhance plain language use.

Members asked about the impact of COVID-19 on service and assessment wait times. Officers explained that demand for assessments and services increased during the pandemic as people preferred to stay at home, creating a post-COVID backlog. The spike in demand was notable for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) assessments due to more referrals and better relationships with private homes. However, it was emphasised that general assessments by locality teams did not see a significant post-COVID spike, and improvements in timeliness were due to internal process changes.

Members enquired whether the current staffing levels were adequate to maintain reliability and flexibility, ensuring that safeguarding issues were properly addressed and that waiting times did not increase.

It was stressed that safeguarding was a shared responsibility; it was Everybody’s Business. This meant all social workers and areas of adult social care were expected to address safeguarding concerns, ensuring a collaborative approach to risk management.

There was close monitoring of demand and  collaboration across teams to balance workloads and feedback from locality teams was provided.  This ensured efficient management of enquiries and that no team was overwhelmed.

Members were keen to ensure this collaboration and adaptability was communicated to the CQC assessment team.

There was a culture of learning and sharing best practices across departments, with frontline practitioners enhancing service delivery. For example, collaboration with the Social and Health Care Team reduced the time for individuals to enter adult social care, involving project planning, audit trails, and weekly meetings. These measures were documented to present to the CQC, demonstrating effective working practices. Maintaining clear records of adapted and improved processes, like project plans and audit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30/24

The Committee is recommended to AGREE its work programme for forthcoming meetings, having heard any changes from previous iterations, and taking account of the Cabinet Forward Plan and of the Budget Management Monitoring Report.

The Committee AGREED to the proposed work programme for the forthcoming meetings subject to the following amendments.

• Confirmation of the provisional meeting on 13^th February 2025

• Clarity over what would be covered during the inequalities item
• Addition of a report about the use of technology in the service area, and how that impacts older generations without limiting their access

The Committee is recommended to NOTE the progress of previous recommendations and actions arising from previous meetings, having raised any questions on the contents.

The Committee NOTED the progress made on the Action and Recommendation Tracker.

There were no expected responses to Scrutiny recommendations.

There were none.