Agenda item

The Director of Adult Social Care submits a report that outlines the draft budget proposals for 2014/15 to 2015/16 for the Adult Social Care portfolio.  The Commission is recommended to make any comments to the Overview Select Committee, for subsequent consideration by that Committee at its meeting on 13 February 2014.

The Director of Adult Social Care submitted a report outlining the General Fund Budget draft budget proposals for 2014/15 to 2015/16 for the Adult Social Care portfolio.

The City Mayor reminded the Commission that the format of the budget was different this year.  In previous years, the General Fund Budget had been prepared annually, but the scale of the financial cuts that the authority needed to make made it more appropriate for the budget to be managed continuously during the course of the year.  This was done in various ways, including through a series of reviews of services, which meant that full scrutiny of the Council’s services could be undertaken.

Philip Parkinson, Interim Chair of Healthwatch Leicester, addressed the Commission at the invitation of the Chair, advising Members that Healthwatch Leicester had submitted a response to the overall budget.

The Commission noted that, when residential care provision moved beyond Band 5, it became a health care need.  However, reports had been received from residents that Clinical Commissioning Groups were reluctant to approve funding for this care.  It therefore was questioned whether the Council had to meet the cost in these situations.

In reply, the Director of Adult Social Care and Safeguarding advised the Commission that there were different aspects to nursing care funding, which were costs met by the National Health Service via Clinical Commissioning Groups.  The Council was part of the decision-making process on such funding and it was very rare that there was any formal dispute over decisions.  As a result, the Director did not feel that the Council had experienced any generalised problems in obtaining the funding. This view was supported by the fact that Leicester City had the third highest number of people in the East Midlands attracting health funding.

The Commission was reminded that some of the Council’s new health care responsibilities included work on prevention.  The need for this work to be more co-ordinated across the Council was stressed, as this would enable decision-making to be more cohesive and therefore of greater benefit to residents.  An example of this was the work being done on Winter Care Planning, which brought together various services and agencies.  The City Mayor confirmed that the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board was developing, with more opportunities being found to participate in cross-cutting issues, which would assist in achieving this.

In reply to a question, the City Mayor advised that work was underway in establishing the membership of the new Elderly Persons’ Commission and undertook to advise Members of when it was anticipated the Commission would be formally instituted.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the draft General Fund Budget proposals for 2014/15 to 2015/16 for the Adult Social Care portfolio be noted;

2)    That the Chair of this Commission advise the Overview Select Committee that the Commission is concerned that the Adult Social Care budget is facing large cuts, despite the services falling within this portfolio working with some of the city’s most vulnerable people;

3)    That the Chair of this Commission inform the Overview Select Committee of this Commission’s view that greater co-ordination of health care work is needed across the Council, in order to facilitate greater cohesion in decision-making processes and ensure that such decisions are of maximum benefit for residents; and

4)    That the City Mayor be asked to keep the Commission informed of progress in establishing the new Elderly Persons’ Commission.