Minutes:
(A) Mr Boulter asked the following question of
the Leader or his nominee:-
“1. How
many of our Help to Live at Home providers have a CQC rating of Outstanding,
how many are rated Good and how many are rated as Require Improvement?
2. How
many of our Help to Live at Home service users receive a service from a
provider with a CQC rating of Outstanding, how many receive service from one
that is Good, and how many from one that Requires Improvement?
3. How
does this compare to the service we used to offer Leicestershire residents
before Help to Live at Home?
4. Is
the Council on track to make the £1 million a year savings? How much is expected to be saved this year?”
Mr Blunt replied as follows:-
“1. The
County Council currently purchases domiciliary care services from over 50
providers, which are rated as follows:
Outstanding – 0 providers
Good – 41 Providers
Require Improvement – 6 providers
Yet to be rated – 6 providers
2. Good - 820 Service users
Requires Improvement – 421 Service
users
Yet to be rated – 465 Service
users
3. CQC
publishes only the current ratings of regulated providers therefore this
information is not held by the County Council.
4. The County Council is on track to achieve
the £1m saving this year.
The Homecare budget has been reduced by a further £5.6m (from £21.14m
to £15.58m) to reflect the emerging trend of Service Users choosing to have a
Direct Payment rather than a managed home care service.”
Mr Boulter asked the following supplementary
question:-
“Can I thank Mr
Blunt for the reply but could he please explain why the County Council gave
contracts to six providers that still require improvement? I would have thought that one of the basic
things to have done was for the County Council to choose providers that have a
good CQC rating rather than knowing they need improvement.”
Mr Blunt replied as follows:-
“Seeking people to
help with living at home, is quite difficult.
There are many, many challenges to do with the cost of what people get paid
and a variety of things. We do the very
best we can to find the best services that we can. CQC are the people who regulate the industry
and we are always working with them and with the providers to improve their
service. I think it is unfortunately endemic
in the business that we are in that not everyone is good. We would like
everybody to be outstanding.
Unfortunately that is not available in Leicestershire and sadly it is
not available anywhere else in the country.”
(B) Mr Osborne asked the following question of
the Leader or his nominee:-
“The current
contract with Menphys for Early Support and Inclusion ends at the end of this
month. The Budget for 2017 was
£213.700. The service is being taken
in-house in order for the budget for 2018 of £170.000 to be achieved. Would the Leader advise:
1. Whether
the in-house service will provide the same services to the 420 families who are
currently being supported under the present contract? If not, what services will be stopped?
2. Is
the provision of early support and coordination for children with complex needs
to be in-house?
3. Will
the staff currently employed by Menphys be TUPE transferred to the County
Council and, if so, will it be necessary to have a restructuring of the
service, and what would be the costs if that were to happen?
4. What
assurances can be given to families who are using the early support service for
children with complex needs about continuity of service since the contract with
Menphys finishes at the end of the month?
5. Will
there be any change in the threshold for families wishing to access the
service?”
Mr Ould replied as follows:-
“Before answering
the five specific questions I need to point out to Mr Osborne that the total
funding from the original contract with Menphys to provide the service to
children and families with SEND - £213,700 – has not been reduced. The revised specification was for £170,000 as
some aspects had already been brought in house along with the funding needed to
provide the particular service.
1. Menphys
has informed the Department it is currently working with 305 cases. Menphys has identified that 98 of these 305
cases will require ongoing support and the others (207) can be closed.
Of these 98 at least 40 will be taken on by health services. This leaves a maximum of 56 cases to be taken
on by the County Council’s in house service.
The services delivered by Menphys under the current contract will be
continued under the new in house arrangements.
2. Early
support and coordination for children with complex health needs will be
undertaken by the NHS. They already fund
a worker who is based at Menphys to undertake the work. The County Council will provide case
coordination for children with SEND who do not have complex health needs.
3. The
staff who are eligible for TUPE will move across to be employed by the County
Council. It will not be necessary to
have a restructure of the service as a result of this.
4. Menphys
are talking with families about their need for ongoing support. If they need this and want it, then the case
will transfer over to the County Council, who will write to families to explain
this. For children with complex health
needs, the health worker who is based at Menphys will continue to undertake
this work.
5. Families
will be able to access information and advice, access to more specialist short
break services, and information about universal and targeted play and leisure
services through the in-house service.
For families who need additional support or where needs are not
sufficiently clear, an Early Help assessment will be undertaken in order to
identify needs and deliver required support through groups or on a one-to-one
basis.”
Mr Osborne asked the following supplementary
question:-
“I am grateful to Mr
Ould for his replies. In the penultimate
sentence of the reply to (b) you say that, of the 98 children, 40 will be taken
on by the health service. As you are
aware, as am I, the contract with Menphys finishes in December and I would like
some surety for families who use the facilities. Are you therefore saying that you have
concluded a contract with the health service or is it just a wish?”
Mr Ould replied as follows:-
“I’m not in a
position of knowing whether a contract has been given to the health service so
I will find out and reply to Mr Osborne in writing.”
(C) Mr Osborne asked the following question of
the Leader or his nominee:-
“Could the Leader
indicate:-
(a) How
many children in the County have autism stated on their Education, Health and Care
Plan (EHCP)?
(b) How
many of those children are in mainstream education but have high needs?
(c) How
many children are in outside provision, i.e. not in mainstream nor a county
special school?
d) What is the average cost of buying in
outside provision per pupil?”
Mr Ould replied as follows:-
“(a) 628
(b) 280
(c) 150
(d) £64,734”