Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2014 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

With regard to paragraph six of minute 30, Mr Kaufman advised that the intention had been to question the integrity and professionalism of the political leadership rather than that of officers.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

All members present at the meeting declared a personal interest in the item titled ‘Strategic Review of Preventative Services – Support for Homeless People – Call-in of the Cabinet Decision’ (minute 37 refers) as members of the district councils.

There were no declarations of the party whip.

A Call-in was received on 25^th September in relation to the Cabinet decision taken on 19^th September on the Strategic Review of Preventative Services specifically relating to support for homeless people, a copy of which is attached to this agenda.

The report on the Strategic Review of Preventative Services which was considered by the Cabinet on 19^th September together with the outcome of the Consultations, the Equalities and Human Rights Impact Assessments and representations received and considered by the Cabinet is attached. 

(Members are advised that the following sections of the attached report and appendices are relevant to the issue of support services for homelessness:

·         Paragraphs 12, 38, 50 to 53 and 90 to 105 of the report

·         Appendices A, B, C and F)

The Director of Adults and Communities and Chief Executive will provide a supplementary report responding to the terms in the Call-in notice. A copy of that report will be circulated to members shortly.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities which drew attention to the receipt of a Call-in to part of the decision of the Cabinet on the Strategic Review of Preventative Services, specifically in relation to support for homeless persons. A copy of the report and supplementary report marked ‘Agenda Item 4’ is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Lead Member for Adult Social Care, Mr D W Houseman MBE CC, to the meeting for this item.

The Director and Cabinet Lead Member advised the Committee as follows:-

·     The consultation process for preventative services had been extensive. Key stakeholders and providers had been engaged with, concerns had been acknowledged and, as a result, proposals had been revised. The Cabinet had considered carefully all the evidence put before it in taking a decision on preventative services;

·     The County Council was seeking to establish a new offer which would ensure a more targeted approach aimed at prevention in the context of reduced resources. Within this offer, homelessness support would include accommodation based support and floating outreach services, the latter aimed at preventing people from becoming homeless and needing more intensive support; 

·     Following engagement with other authorities, stakeholders and providers, and as a result of representations received, the County Council had increased the proposed level of investment for homelessness services from £300,000 to £500,000. This would allow commissioning of a generic floating outreach service for those at risk of homelessness but also provide funding for the commissioning of 25 to 30 units of accommodation. The split of funding between accommodation based support and floating outreach services would be subject to further engagement and the apportionment between these two elements was negotiable;

·       It was expected that the focus of the new model for homelessness services on preventing homelessness would mean that the need for accommodation based support would be reduced. The duty to provide housing rested with the district councils and the County Council only provided accommodation on a short-term basis through hostels. The new proposals were due to be implemented from September 2015 and this would give the Council sufficient time to engage with stakeholders and providers to help ensure that the offer put forward for homelessness best met the needs of service users with the resources available;

·     It was acknowledged that in difficult financial times the County Council had to make best use of the resources available to ensure the best outcomes for the people of Leicestershire, which had led to difficult decisions across all services.  

Arising from discussion the following concerns were raised and responded to as follows:-

(i)          Members sought assurances that the reduction in funding for homelessness support would not increase pressure and costs on the NHS and other health services. The Committee was advised that officers were not aware of any such direct causal link. It was difficult to assess the impact on NHS services that might be caused by a reduction in the level of funding provided by the County Council for homelessness services as this was relatively small and there was a number of statutory agencies involved in the provision of services for homeless people. However, the County Council was engaging with the NHS and other partners to identify any potential implications for health services. The new service model for homelessness services would focus more on preventing people becoming homeless in the first place, hence it should reduce the need for more resource intensive services;  

(ii)         Concern was expressed that there was a risk that existing homelessness accommodation would be lost and whether the market would be able to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on Monday, 17^th November 2014.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Monday, 17 November at 2.00pm.