Agenda and minutes

A webcast of the meeting can be viewed at http://council.webcast.vualto.com/leicestershire-county-council/home/?EventId=21055

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2017 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 35.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).

Dr T Eynon CC had submitted comments and questions relating to the Update on the Implementation of the Communities and Wellbeing Strategy 2016-2020 (minute number 26 refers).  These questions would be responded to when that item was discussed.

There were no urgent items for consideration.

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

No declarations were made.

There were no declarations of the party whip.

The Chairman sought and obtained the consent of the Committee to vary the order of business from that set out on the agenda.

The Committee considered the report of the Independent Chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Adults Board presenting the draft Annual Report 2016/17 of the Board for consultation and comment.  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

In introducing the report, the Independent Chair detailed the work that had been undertaken during 2016/17 and the key messages from the Safeguarding Adults Board for Leicestershire.  Arising from the discussion, the following comments were made:-

·         A query was raised around Deprivation of Liberty Standards (DoLS) asking whether there was evidence that urgent cases and those that had been outstanding for some time had been dealt with.  Assurance was given that the Department followed national guidance regarding the prioritisation of cases and that urgent or longstanding cases were addressed first.  Partners were interpreting the law around DoLS correctly which was the reason for the high volume of cases.  However, all cases were risk assessed and any concerns were addressed. 

·         The Board’s relationship with other organisations was questioned, in particular local universities in terms of whether they promoted the safeguarding of students.  Consideration would be given to partnership arrangements, but there was an expectation that where vulnerable adults in university required additional support, there would be a relationship between the university and the appropriate organisation to ensure that support was being provided.  It was stressed that the Board had an overview role but if a specific area of safeguarding concern was identified, this would be looked into.  The Adults and Communities Department also targeted resources at those known to be at risk, and this should include students. 

·         It was stated that there were examples of partnership working between Local Safeguarding Boards and other organisations across the country from which lessons could be learnt.  It was recommended that the Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Board contact the local universities to establish a partnership link and to ensure that they were aware of the Safeguarding Board and its work, including its procedures.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2016/17 be noted;

(b)  That the comments now made be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration at its meeting on 15 September.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities which provided a summary of the complaints and compliments for Adult Social Care Services commissioned or provided by the Adults and Communities Department in 2016/17.  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’ is filed with these minutes.

The Cabinet Lead Member, in introducing the item, gave assurance that the Department wanted to learn from the complaints it received and used these positively to improve the service.  Arising from the discussion, the following points were raised:-

·         A query was raised around the fact that a large number of complaints were dealt with locally and therefore outside of the formal complaints procedure.  It was very much dependent on the issue that was being raised as to how it was dealt with, but assurance was given that officers would never try to prevent an issue going through the formal complaints procedure if this was necessary. 

·         There was concern around potential trends in relation to local issues.  It was felt that there could be instances where a complaint that was dealt with locally could also be raised in other localities, and there should be a mechanism to highlight this to service managers so that the issue could be dealt with on a service-wide basis.  It was stated that issues were picked up and dealt with through the most appropriate channel, for example some complaints were dealt with directly by the Director of Adults and Communities, the Quality Assurance Team would address issues around providers, and there were other areas where activity was monitored.  There were also regular meetings of the Service Manager groups where complaints and issues were shared.

·         It was felt that the recording of formal complaints might not provide Members with a complete picture of performance due to the number of informal complaints dealt with and the fact that these would not be recorded.  It was stated that officers would escalate an informal complaint if they were not satisfied that it had been resolved fully.  However, it would be difficult to record the number of informal complaints that were dealt with immediately as these were not entered into the database in a way that could be easily analysed.  The process was generally managed well as a culture was being developed whereby managers forwarded complaints into the system where necessary. 

·         Lead Practitioners had been appointed earlier in the year and these were currently developing their role and work programme, for approval by the Departmental Management Team.  It was intended that the Lead Practitioners would influence the development of practice, including through analysis of complaints and identification of trends. 

·         It was queried whether there were any statistics indicating where formal complaints had been resolved in the first instance.  Some data was available around contacts, and details would be recorded where there had been interactions.  However, it would be possible to add a further recording layer.

RESOLVED:

To note the contents of the Adult Social Care Complaints Annual Report, covering the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Chief Executive and the Director of Adults and Communities presenting an update of the Adults and Communities Department’s performance at the end of quarter one for 2017/18.  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

RESOLVED:

That the update of the Adults and Communities Department’s performance at the end of quarter one be noted.

A copy of the report to be considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 15 September is attached for the consideration of the Committee.

The Committee considered a report advising the Cabinet of the work undertaken to implement the Communities and Wellbeing Strategy 2016-2020, and of the actions that would be progressed to enable the next phase of implementation.  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 10’ is filed with these minutes.

In his introduction to the report, the Director responded to comments and questions that had been submitted by Dr Eynon CC, the Local Member.  A copy of her submission is appended to these minutes.  With regard to enabling primary care professionals to register patients for SMART libraries, the Committee was advised that a link between the professionals in localities and libraries would be encouraged to enable them to help people register at their local library.

Regarding the future of the Century Theatre, the Director advised that the Cabinet was being recommended to approve further work, including consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, on the options for maintaining the theatre.  The outcome of consultation and proposed way forward would be presented back to this Committee and submitted to the Cabinet for approval. 

The Cabinet Lead Member, in introducing the item, confirmed the importance of the Communities and Wellbeing Service.  He felt that every proposal in the report would result in an improved service as well as efficiencies and his intention was for the service to be an exemplar.  He reminded members that SMART library technology had been piloted following best practice from elsewhere in the country.  It would be important for the Council to continue to provide a service that people wanted to use.  He encouraged members to volunteer to use the SMART library technology in order to advocate using the service.

Arising from the discussion the following points were raised:-

(i)            Members were encouraged by the results from the pilot of SMART library technology at Syston library and gave their support to the proposal to roll this out to the sixteen market town and shopping centre libraries.  Some concern was expressed regarding the safety of library users and the possibility of theft during unmanned hours but the Committee was assured that there would be CCTV installed at each library, which would be monitored by Hub Library and County Hall at weekends.  Each library would have an individual risk assessment prior to rolling out the scheme.  It was stressed that those using the SMART library technology would have to register to use the service and would need a pass to access the library out of normal hours.  An induction process would be delivered to all those taking part.  It was also noted that libraries would still be staffed at specific times, when it was known that certain groups would be more likely to be using the library, for example children and people with a disability.  A mixture of engagement and usage patterns would be considered to determine when these times were.

(ii)          Members noted the success of community managed libraries, which they felt provided an improved service with stronger links to the community.  It was suggested that consideration be given to introducing more community involvement in the libraries where SMART technology was being rolled out.

(iii)         The Committee was pleased to note the intention to continue with the mobile library service as part of the Council’s commitment to providing a comprehensive library service.  However, concern was raised around the statistics relating to the usage of the mobile library and Members agreed that it was necessary to review the current routes to ensure that it provided the most efficient service.  An impact assessment would need to be carried out to ensure that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

Future meetings of the Adults and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be held at 2.00pm on the following dates:-

14 November 2017

16 January 2018

6 March 2018

5 June 2018

11 September 2018

13 November 2018

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on 14 November 2017 at 2.00pm.

Future meetings of the Adults and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be held at 2.00pm on the following dates:-

16 January 2018

6 March 2018

5 June 2018

11 September 2018

13 November 2018