Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2019 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.

Mr D Harrison CC declared a personal interest in the report on the Adults and Communities Department Performance 2019/20 as he was a carer for his wife (minute 60 refers).

There were no declarations of the party whip.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Director of Adults and Communities and the Director of Corporate Resources which provided information on the proposed 2020/21 to 2023/24 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 Committee also noted a question that had been received from Dr Eynon relating to the acquisition of the Thomas Cook archive by the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Records Office, and the response provided by the Director.  A copy of the question and response is filed with these minutes.

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

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

Service Transformation

The Service Transformation details were noted.

Proposed Revenue Budget

i)           The revenue budget took demographic growth and known budget pressures into account. Cost and price pressures for 2020/22 onwards had not been factored in but would be provided for centrally.

ii)         Whilst the Adult Social Care Precept monies helped with financial pressures in the short-term, it was felt this was not a sustainable solution for the long-term.

Growth

iii)        Some disappointment was expressed that more growth was not provided to support communities.  However, the details reported related only to the work the Adults and Communities Department held responsibility for. The Director advised that work was also being carried out in other departments such as Public Health and the Chief Executive’s Department and suggested a joint report could be presented to the Commission at a future meeting to provide an overview of the work the Council had been undertaking with respect of Communities, as a whole.

Adult Social Care – Savings

iv)        AC4 – Place to Live – The forecasted social care saving of £50,000 per annum associated with the “Place to Live” Brookfield development project was included in the Adults and Communities MTFS. The estimated net rental income of £150,000 pa which the project was also expected to deliver would form part of the savings for the Corporate Resources Department.

v)         AC5 Implementation of revised Target Operating Model (TOM) – The Programme was currently in the early stages of implementation and was on track to achieve the savings predicted. It was not yet possible to assess whether the Programme would over-achieve against the savings target. The Committee praised the work of all involved, noted the significant positive impact the TOM was expected to make and asked to receive regular updates on progress.

Communities and Wellbeing – Savings

vi)        Restructure of Communities and Wellbeing Service – Approximately £410,000 savings had been identified, which was nearly 10% of the total budget for the service. It was confirmed that the level of restructure required would be significant and a reduction in the number of posts was to be expected. A Human Resources action plan was in the process of being finalised which would confirm the detail.

vii)       Collections Hub – Timescales for the development of the Collections Hub (Phase 2) on the County Hall campus were dependent on the success and completion of (Phase 1) the relocation of the Record Office.

Savings Under Development

viii)     Social Care Investment Plan (SCIP) – Although the overall strategic aim was to reduce the number of people placed in residential care and increase the number supported in community settings, it was acknowledged there would always be a need for residential and nursing care provision, particularly where night time needs were concerned. In recognition of this, the Department had identified several specialised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities which provided an update and recommendation for the re-procurement of home care services, post November 2020.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 9’ is filed with these minutes.

In his introduction to the report, the Director explained there had been some revisions made to the milestones tabled in paragraph 44 of the report; additional flexibility had been built into the procurement and implementation dates to ensure that preparations were fully robust and tested. There had also been changes to the NHS CCGs (Clinical Commissioning Groups) governance, which had now been factored in.

A revised table of milestones would be circulated to members of the Committee after the meeting for information. 

The Cabinet Lead Member for Adults and Communities, Mr. R. Blunt CC, confirmed his support for the service proposals and said that due to the nature of the service, there would always be a significant level of risk. However, it was pleasing to see that every effort was being made to learn from past experiences and find pragmatic solutions to design a new and improved service. He was hopeful that the future service would be successful.

Arising from discussion and questions, the following points arose:

i)           The Committee was pleased to note that consideration was being given to carers receiving the appropriate remuneration for non-contact time such as travel. Discussions would be held with providers to determine sustainability in this regard. The Department was in consultation with the Council’s Internal Audit Team to determine how the remuneration could be effectively measured and monitored.

ii)         It was anticipated that a level of stabilisation would be required between each phase of the implementation period. The actual phasing and level of stabilisation required would be determined following the procurement, using a risk-based approach dependent on the number of existing providers bidding successfully for the new contract or exiting the market. The Committee supported the phased approach to implementation.

iii)        Members welcomed the introduction of four pricing levels (urban, fringe, rural and isolated) for the new service, which had been developed following a comprehensive benchmarking analysis. The Department had brought in an independent consultancy company called Care Analytics, which specialised in cost and pricing models for care and support services and had undertaken the same exercise in several areas of the Country. A substantial amount of work with existing providers had been completed as part of the benchmarking process. 

iv)        The new Home Care Service contract would provide for the joint commissioning of services between the Council and the NHS, which was expected to align better future costs for core home care services where there had previously been disparity. However, there would still be elements of provision, such as the development or establishment of specialist services, which may need to be separately undertaken.

v)         Provider performance would continue to be managed under existing processes. The Department’s Quality Improvement Team monitored and worked closely with providers especially where there were performance issues. Flexibility had been built in to the new service agreement so that other providers could be brought in to meet capacity requirements if a provider contract could no longer be sustained, for example due to consistent underperformance.  Providers could move between “prime” or “supplementary” status depending on the quality of their service.

vi)        It was expected that all providers would have the ability to take on “high dependency” service users as required. Support and training would continue to be available to providers from the Council wherever necessary.

vii)       Members felt assured that lessons learnt from the previous procurement were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Chief Executive and the Director of Adults and Communities, which highlighted the Adults and Communities Department’s performance position in 2018/19 through national benchmarking, and which also provided an update of the Department’s performance at the end of November 2019. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 10’ is filed with these minutes.

With regard to Smart Libraries, it was the intention that the Committee would receive further reports as the transition progressed. A member suggested that when the figures on the number of visits were available, officers consider making the distinction in future reports between the number of web visits and the number of people that had physically visited a library.

The survey results under the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) where the Council had fallen below the national average did not necessarily mean that the Council’s performance was poor, but rather that it required improvement in comparison to other high performing authorities. It was recognised that surveys, for many reasons, did not always provide an accurate reflection and unfortunately the Council had no control over the metrics as these were set nationally. A dedicated officer had been appointed to work on addressing the lower performing areas. Discussions were also taking place with Healthwatch to see how it could be of support to improve the process.

A member queried if the public received feedback on the results, it was confirmed that the survey, which was written by Central Government, did include an option to enable survey respondents to request feedback if they so wished. Headline results were also published online, and the next round of results was due to be available in early February 2020.

RESOLVED

That the Adults and Communities Department’s performance position in 2018/19, and the update of the Department’s performance at the end of November 2019 be noted.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on 9 March 2020 at 2.00pm.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on 9 March 2020 at 2.00pm.