Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Chaplin.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

Members were asked to declare any interest they may have in the business to be discussed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made.

The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education submits a report and Equality Impact Assessments to update the Commission on the outcome of Phase 1 of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Review as reported at the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission meeting on 28^th August 2018.

The Commission is recommended to note the report and provide comments.

The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education submitted a report and Equality Impact Assessments which updated the Adult Social Care (ASC) Scrutiny Commission on the outcome of Phase 1 of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Review as reported at the ASC Scrutiny Commission meeting on 28^th August 2018. The Commission was recommended to note the report and provide comments.

The Chair stated it was important to note the services affected were non-statutory, and could not be run in the same way due to government funding cuts, and that it was essential to prioritise the provision of statutory services. She added the authority had difficult decisions to make.

It was noted that at the previous ASC Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 28^th August 2018, a verbal update had been received on the VCS Review Phase 1, and detailed discussion had taken place. Members had requested a report to expand on the information received verbally, alongside an EIA for each affected service area.

The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education said that the ASC Department had looked at non-statutory services to consider whether they could evidence whether they prevented or delayed individuals requiring statutory support.  Therefore, in the current financial climate, difficult decisions had to be made to deliver the overall savings of £790k for 2018/19. He added that an annual growth pressure of £5million a year also needed to be met. He reminded those present that whilst the Department had been efficient over the previous three years, there had been no change in the Government’s position with regards to funding. It was noted that the Green Paper on care and support for older people had not yet come forward. However, communication from central Government indicated that it would not be available for at least another couple of months. The Department had moved on with the savings put in place, and the reports presented to the meeting related to non-statutory spend.

The Chair stated she sympathised with the position faced by the Department, and felt it was important that the Commission were able to seek reassurance that with the services being changed, service users and carers would be reassured and signposted adequately.

The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education responded the Members’ questions with the following information:

·         Carers support offered advice and guidance, but not practical care. Carers support would continue through advice, guidance and signposting to appropriate support.

·         Lunch clubs were predominantly used by older people, or occasionally younger people with a disability or other need.

·         The visual and dual sensory impairment support was a service which commissioned a range of sub-services with some statutory provision, for example, it was a statutory requirement to maintain a register of individuals using the service. Vista support service also guided people as to what equipment was available, and offered reablement support.

·         Some advocacy support contracts provided a combination of statutory (as defined by the Care Act 2014) and non-statutory advocacy, for example, supporting individuals with the engagement with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education submits a report to update the Commission on the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Review Phase 2 – Advocacy, Stroke Support and Disabled Peoples’ Support Service.

The Commission is recommended to note the report and provide comments.

The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education submitted a report which updated the Commission on the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Review Phase 2 on Advocacy, Stroke Support and Disabled Peoples’ Support Service. The Commission was recommended to note the report and provide comments.

The report was taken with the report on VCS Review Phase 1: Carers’ Support, Lunch Clubs and Visual & Dual Sensory Support at Appendix 1, as noted above.

The Chair asked that the contents of the report on VCS Review Phase 2: Advocacy, Stroke Support and Disabled Peoples’ Support Service be noted. The Chair requested that a further update with monitoring information be brought back at an appropriate time to the ASC Scrutiny Commission on progress.

It was AGREED that:

1. The report be noted;
2. The service note the concerns raised by Members, and continue to reassure people where services being changed, particularly those who were vulnerable and those accessing more than one of the services be adequately supported during the phased implementation of the new proposals;
3. A further update with monitoring information be brought back to a future meeting of the ASC Scrutiny Commission on progress.

The meeting closed at 6.20pm.