Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Thalukdar and Tracie Rees.

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

Councillor Joshi declared an Other Disclosable Interest in that his wife worked for the Reablement Team in Leicester City Council.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, the interest was not considered so significant that it was likely to prejudice the Councillor’s judgement of the public interest. Councillor Joshi was not therefore required to withdraw from the meeting during consideration and discussion of the agenda items.

The minutes of the meeting of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission held on 16 July 2019 have been circulated and the Commission is asked to confirm them as a correct record.

10. Extra Care Housing Update Including Planned Schemes

Officers were thanked for arranging visits to Danbury Gardens and Abbey Mills for Members. The Strategic Director Social Care and Education suggested early evening visits be arranged for Members with work commitments and would forward some dates and times to Members.

12. Adult Social Care Integrated Performance Report: Quarter 4

It was agreed at the last meeting to invite Scrutiny Members and Micheal Smith (Healthwatch Leicester) to a reference group to test the new format of the report and would be added to the Work Programme for the Commission.

AGREED:

that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission held on 16^th July 2019 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any petitions received.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had been received.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any questions, representations or statements of case.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no questions, representation or statements of case had been received.

The Strategic Director Social Care and Education submits a report updating on the development and implementation of the Joint Social Care and Health Recognising, Valuing and Supporting Carers in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Carer Strategy – 2018 to 2021.

The Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission is recommended to note the report and provide any comments and feedback to the Strategic Director Social Care and Education.

The Strategic Director Social Care and Education also submits a report with an overview of the actions being taken to support the manifesto pledge for supporting carers in Leicester.

The Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission is recommended to note the current work that is being undertaken to support cares and provide comments and feedback on the current arrangements.

Members of the Children, Young People and Schools Scrutiny Commission have received an invitation to attend and participate in the joint consideration of the agenda item.

Members from Children, Young People and Schools Scrutiny Commission were asked to join Members at the table for consideration of the agenda item. Councillors Hunter and Pantling were present.

The Strategic Director Social Care and Education submitted a report which provided an update on the development and implementation of the Joint Social Care and Health Recognising, Valuing and Supporting Carers in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) Carer Strategy – 2018 to 2021. The Strategic Director also submitted a report with an overview of the actions being taken to support the manifesto pledge for supporting carers in Leicester. The Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission was recommended to note the Strategy and report and provide any comments and feedback to the Strategic Director Social Care and Education.

Councillor Russell, Deputy City Mayor Social Care and Anti-Poverty introduced the Strategy which she said recognised the impact of caring in the city for families, and the wider benefits of supporting carers and recognising the role they undertook. It was further noted the Council alone would not be able to afford the support for people that the carers provided.

The Strategic Director Social Care and Education referenced that it was an LLR Strategy and it had been agreed to create a collective strategy as carers did not always live in the city and would provide consistency to carers across boundaries.

Bev White, Lead Commissioner, was present and provided the following additional information:

·         There was no statutory requirement for a strategy, but there had been one in place for a number of years that required a refresh.

·         The Vision at para 4.2 in the report was supported by a wide range of voluntary sector organisations.

·         The strategy was completed after a substantial amount of engagement, and young carers had a huge input into the strategy.

·         The strategy is owned by the LLR Carers Delivery group, and work was in progress to develop a strategic Carers Partnership Board which would include a carers reference group. The first meeting of the Board would take place in November.

·         It was acknowledged that there were different ways to support all carers, engaging with them face-to-face and virtually.

·         An implementation plan was being developed and a series of meetings would be held with young cares in October 2019, following which a further draft would be taken back to the implementation group.

·         More work needed to be done to engage with hidden carers (and identify them).

In response to Members’ questions, the following was noted:

·         During new commissioning of the service, officers were mindful of the fact that people did not know where to go for information and advice, and what was needed was a clearer pathway for people – a carers hub so that professionals would become familiar with referring people in, to try to channel people.

·         Members referenced ASCOF figures showed that during the last quarter the service was not making gains in supporting people and had spend changed. Members were informed that a better interpretation of the figures would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

The Strategic Director Social Care and Education submits a report which notes the outtuen of the Better Care Fund (BCF) activity and performance for 2018/19 and summarises the intentions for the 2019/20 plan. The BCF plan was a two year plan from 2017-19 and a new plan for 2019/20 is due for submission by 27 September 2019 to be approved for submission by the Health and Wellbing Board.

The Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission are recommended to note the contents of the report and make any comments to the Strategic Director Social Care and Education.

Members of the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission have received an invitation to attend and participate in the joint consideration of the agenda item.

Members from Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission were asked to join Members at the table for consideration of the agenda item. Councillor Fonseca and Jeremy Bennett, Strategy Implementation Manager for Leicester City CCG were present.

The Strategic Director Social Care and Education submitted a report which noted the outturn of the Better Care Fund (BCF) activity and performance for 2018/19 and summarised the intentions for the 2019/20 plan. It was noted the BCF plan was a two-year plan from 2017-19 and a new plan for 2019/20 was due for submission by 27 September 2019 to be approved for submission by the Health and Wellbeing Board. The Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission was recommended to note the contents of the report and provide any comments and feedback to the Strategic Director Social Care and Education.

Ruth Lake, Director of Adult Social Care and Safeguarding presented the report, and gave the following additional information:

·         Significant funding was received to protect adult social care, and the report set out the delivery of BCF with specific reference to national metrics.

·         It was a good news story in times of rising demand and a challenged health and care system.

·         There had been an increase in emergency admissions, but growth figures were lower than the national average.

·         Two-years figures for delayed transfers of care (DTOC) showed improvements for 2017/18. Although strong performance had been sustained for 2018/19, ASC struggled to meet the national targets (as it had done so well in Q3 of 2017/18 and targets were set using 2017/18 performance).

·         The graphs showed trajectory around DTOC and Leicester was recognised as a regularly top performing authority.

·         People were supported to enable them to live in their homes as long as possible, reducing the number of people having to move out of their community.

·         The national target of 92% for people aged 65+ discharged from hospital and at home 91 days later was exceeded at 95.3%.

·         The iBCF was spent on service in accordance to the following categories: support to adult social care, the NHS, the care market.

·         The 2019/20 BCF plan will be submitted 27 September 2019. No significant changes were proposed, and ASC had been able to invest in some new preventative services, for example, eye clinic liaison support.

·         The biggest challenge facing the service was the ability to plan when it was not known if funding would continue.

In response to Members’ questions, the following was noted:

·         Whilst My Choice was predominantly online, people had access to professionals and voluntary sector organisations in a format easy to use on mobiles to enable individuals to help people access the service. People could still telephone the council, and a contact response team was maintained to provide information and advice, take referrals, and uphold safeguarding.

·         The increase in numbers under the 91-day reablement was relatively small, but because it was an increase it was investigated to see if more could have been done. It was found that sometimes when people on the reablement programme came out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

The Strategic Director Social Care and Education submits a report to inform the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission of a consultation exercise in relation to proposed changes to the charging policy for non-residential care services.

Members of the Commission are recommended to note the consultation and make any comments to the Strategic Director Social Care and Education.

The Strategic Director Social Care and Education submitted a report to inform the Commission of a consultation exercise in relation to proposed changes to the charging policy for non-residential care services. The Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission was recommended to note the contents of the report and provide any comments and feedback to the Strategic Director Social Care and Education.

Councillor Russell, Deputy City Mayor Social Care and Anti-Poverty introduced the report, and noted that the charging policy was being looked at and had gone out to consultation due to budget pressures, though it was stated that people’s care needs were still the priority.

Ruth Lake, Director of Adult Social Care and Safeguarding presented the report, and provided the following information, and informed the meeting of the commitment to consult as fully as possible to understand what people thought about the proposals, including visiting groups, online, and public meetings.

In response to Members’ questions, the following was noted:

·         In relation to people and financial impact, if the proposal was to go ahead there would be some financial impact but it could not be said what on an individual basis at this point, but nobody would be left without the basic level of finance to live on. If people were using benefits to pay for their care needs, it would be taken into account. In simple terms, disability benefits were paid at different rates. The Care Act had removed a cap and all disability benefits could be taken into account.

·         The link for the online consultation page had been circulated to all Members for them to pass on to constituents.

·         People affected were people receiving services from ASC. Following consultation, the equalities impact would form part of the final report. Individual letters had been sent to those in receipt of services and carers.

·         All steps had been taken to inform people about the consultation. Meetings would be held at the Peepul Centre, Brite Centre and in the City Centre.

·         There was a ceiling of £14,250 savings for individuals whereby savings up to this level are ignored for the purposes of assessment of an individual’s financial circumstances. Any additional capital above this ceiling (up to £23,250) is included in the financial assessment. In summary, for every £250, or part of £250, between £14,250 and £23,250, an individual is assessed as if they have an extra £1 a week in income. The consultation was specifically the treatment around disability benefits, and how ASC regarded the additional bit of benefit that used to be disregarded.

·         The Care Act allowed to take into account full disability benefit but if someone was expending full benefit that would be taken into consideration.

Councillor Russell suggested that pending the outcome of consultation, if the revision to the Charging Policy was enacted, a full report be brought back to the Commission on the number of people where the full charge was discounted.

Matthew Cooper, Contract Assurance and Business Manager informed Members that although the revision was a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

The current work programme for the Commission is attached.  The Commission is asked to consider this and make comments and/or amendments as it considers necessary.

Councillor March presented a scoping document for a proposed new topic for task group review – Adult Social Care Workforce Planning: Looking to the future.

AGREED:

1.    That the review be supported.

2.    Councillors Batool, Joshi, Khote and March form the Task Group – meetings to be confirmed.

Members of the Commission were further invited to provide items for the Commission work programme.

There being no other items of urgent business the meeting closed at 7.27pm.