Agenda and minutes

A webcast of the meeting can be viewed at [insert link].

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 2018 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).

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 Committee considered a joint report of the Director of Adults and Communities and Director of Corporate Resources which provided information on the proposed 2019/20 to 2022/23 Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) as it related to the Adults and Communities Department.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 8’ is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman welcomed Mr R Blunt CC, Cabinet Lead Member, to the meeting for this item.

In introducing the report, the Director advised members of the financial challenges facing the Council and the demand and cost pressures facing adult social care services in dealing with an ageing population and an increased number of people with complex disabilities.

Arising from the comments and questions raised, the Committee was advised as follows:-

Service Transformation

i)             Work was progressing on the integration of services with Health and a report would be made to a future meeting on the new Home First service and the proposed development of primary care services for people with complex needs.  These developments were aimed at helping more people to receive services in their own home.

Proposed Revenue Budget

ii)            The revenue budget did not take into account any pay or price inflation.  A contingency was held centrally and allocated in-year when the position became clearer.  In the previous year a sum of £3.7 million had been transferred for price inflation and £1.5 million for pay and pension inflation.

Growth

iii)           G10 – Transforming Care transfers from Health This growth was required to cater for additional cost the Department would incur for the 23 patients with very complex and challenging needs who would be ready to be discharged into the community over the next few years.  The cost would be met by the NHS, social care and the  Transforming Care Programme.  Whilst the intention was for the Transforming Care Programme to come to an end soon, discussions were ongoing at a national level to ensure that mechanisms were in place to manage discharged along with funding.

iv)           G12 – Transitions Four additional members of staff were required to assist with the work with the increased number of young people transitioning to adult services.  A Development Manager post had also been established to look at how adult and children services could be better aligned.  A report on this would be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee.

v)            G6 and G7 – Increased demand from Older People and Learning Disabilities This growth recognised the increasing demands from demographic growth and the increasing complexity of care and fragility of some service users.  A report was due to be presented to a future meeting of the Committee on how needs were being met and the impact on carers.  It was noted that the demographics and the fact that people were living longer, but often with poorer health, required support to be provided to more people with complex needs.

Adult Social Care – Savings

vi)           There were no new savings in this area of service.

vii)         The proposed saving around staff absence was set to increase.  The target was phased over two years to allow time for the improvements to take effect.  Work was continuing within the Department to further reduce the level of staff absence.

Communities and Wellbeing – Savings

viii)        There were no new savings in this area of service.

ix)           The closure of the CareOnLine service had contributed to savings within this area of the department.  A report would be presented to the March meeting of the Committee, post closure of the service, on how the provision of services had been reconfigured.

x)            The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

A Powerpoint Presentation will be given at the meeting.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities seeking the views on the final draft of the adult social care Direct Payments Development Plan 2018-2023.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 9’ is filed with these minutes, along with a copy of the presentation that was given to the Committee.

Arising from the discussion, the following comments were raised:

i)             The local authority retained a duty of care to the service users in receipt of a direct payment, and aimed to undertake a review of each individual at least annually to ensure that the direct payment remained appropriate.  It was noted that the Direct Payment cards had made a difference in that any anomaly to the individual’s expenditure profile would trigger a review.

ii)            In response to a query as to whether the maximum level of take up had been reached, it was stated that Leicestershire was currently third out of 152 local authorities providing direct payments.  It was the intention to continue making further improvements to the provision of the service.  Confirmation was given that Direct Payments were now the preferred way of providing a budget for service users.

iii)           It was the intention that more service users would take up Direct Payments to employ a personal assistant, and there was also the potential to join direct payments with personal health budgets.  Over the long term, it was expected that there would be a gradual increase in users until this became the predominant payment method nationally. The Action Plan sought to support service users with finding personal assistants.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Chief Executive and the Director of Adults and Communities highlighting the comparative performance position in 2017/18 through national benchmarking, and presenting an update of the Adults and Communities Department’s performance at the end of November 2018.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 10’ is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the discussion, the following comments were raised:

i)             Members commented on the use of libraries as community hubs and the positive impact this had had in local areas.  However, a concern was raised that the choice of library books was now not changed as frequently – this reflected the change in people’s reading habits and the significant increase in the use of e-loans.

ii)            Further work was due to be undertaken following the results of the service user survey, as there was concern around the feedback that had been received.  A further update would be presented to the Committee when this had been undertaken.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on 11 March 2019 at 2.00pm.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on 11 March 2019 at 2.00pm.