Agenda and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL. View directions
Contact: Emily Wilcox Democratic Services Officer
Media
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Apologies for Absence/Replacement Members Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors B Adams, Councillor A Hagues, Councillor M J Overton MBE, R A Wright and W Bowkett (Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health).
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Declarations of Members' Interests Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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Minutes of the meeting held on 14 July 2021 PDF 434 KB Minutes: Iin response to a question, the Head of Finance – Adult Social Care and Wellbeing confirmed the council was on target to distribute letters to all individuals who had been overcharged as a result of changes in the Adult Care Charging Policy by the end of 2021. 199 families had already responded and been issued with refunds, and the council was awaiting confirmation of the addresses of 407 families. It was clarified that the council owed £384,000 in overcharges, of which £67,000 had been distributed to date. It was agreed that The Head of Finance – Adult Social Care and Wellbeing would provide a breakdown of these figures to the committee.
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting on the 14 July 2021 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
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Announcements by the Chairman, Executive Councillor and Lead Officers Minutes: The Executive Director – Adult Care and Community Wellbeing referred to the comments made by the Prime Minister in relation to the Social Care Reform and would provide further details on the impact to Lincolnshire in due course.
The committee was pleased to see the issue was finally being considered and welcomed an update on the Social Care Reform that had recently been announced by the Prime Minister.
The Chairman welcomed Lucy Gavens, the newly appointed consultant to Public Health to the meeting. |
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Overview of Prevention Services PDF 406 KB (To receive a report from Derek Ward, Director of Public Health, which provides the Committee with a definition of prevention and a summary of Public Health activities mapped against the three levels of prevention)
Additional documents:
Minutes: The committee received a presentation from the Director of Public Health, which provided an overview of prevention services for Lincolnshire, including:
The committee welcomed the informative and interesting presentation and during the discussion the following points were noted:
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Role of Director of Public Health and Service Areas PDF 585 KB (To receive a report from Derek Ward, Director of Public Health, which outlines the role and responsibilities of the Director of Public Health and to provide details of the three domains of Public Health - health improvement, health protection and healthcare Public Health)
Additional documents: Minutes: Consideration was given to a presentation by the Director of Public Health which outlined the role of the Director of Public Health and the service areas within, including the following:
It was noted that Lincolnshire's public health budget for 2020/21 was £44.79m, which included £33.9m Public Health Grant & £10.89m Lincolnshire County Council core funding, which was used for statutory functions and health improvements. The Director of Public Health emphasised the importance of prevention within the health service, emphasising that investing in protection could protect individuals and their health as well as parts of the wider economy.
The committee welcomed the informative presentation and during the discussion the following points were noted:
RESOLVED:
(1) That the presentation and comments made be noted.
(2) That consideration be given to establishing a working group, with Councillors R J Kendrick, A M Key and C E H Marfleet recording their interest in being ... view the full minutes text for item 22. |
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Report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman PDF 614 KB (To receive a report by Roz Cordy, Assistant Director - Adult Care and Wellbeing, which invites the Committee to consider a report on the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which is due to be considered by the Executive on 5 October 2021. The views of the Scrutiny Committee will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)
Additional documents: Minutes: Consideration was given to a report by the Roz Cordy Assistant Director of Adult Care and Wellbeing and Pam Clipson, Head of Finance, Adult Care and Community Wellbeing which invited the committee to consider a report on the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman which was due to be considered by the Executive on 5 October 2021.
Members were advised that the Ombudsman had issued a report, attached at Appendix A, following an allegation of maladministration by the Council in the exercise of its adult social care functions. The Ombudsman had concluded that the Council was guilty of maladministration and that this caused injustice and included recommendations that he considered would be necessary to remedy the injustice in this case.
The Ombudsman's recommendations to the Council could be found in the report attached at appendix B. It was also accepted that there was a requirement for the Council to act with all possible urgency to move from a net to a gross payment arrangement consistent with properly managing the risks of the change for the Council, providers and service users, and therefore the report recommended that the Executive approved the actions taken to implement change in systems to bring about the changes required to its payment mechanism.
Members supported the recommendations as set out in the Executive report and during the discussion the following points were noted:
· The committee was reassured that adequate testing carried out before the new payment system was officially launched in April 2020. Weekly testing was already taking place between the council's finance and IT departments and external service providers. · The amount each individual paid towards their care was the assessed contribution financially. For instances where another party chose to top up their care, it was not necessarily paid by the service user. · The council covered any core payments and any third party top ups were paid to the provider directly. · Officers did not expect a large increase in care home beds so did not foresee there being an issue with dealing with capacity for processing the payments. · Going forward, the council would be bringing in whole person reporting, meaning that service users would have one point of contact within the council, rather than being involved with a large number of departments. It was hoped that this would improve the service for individual service users and minimise errors leading to ombudsman complaints. · The complexity of the system for assessing the financial eligibility of people for social care funded by the local authority was acknowledged. · It was a benefit of the new arrangements that the pressures on care providers would be alleviated. · There was a suggestion that training for all relevant staff should be reviewed. Practitioners, who were experts in the assessment of care needs, were not necessarily experts in finance. Members were reassured that dedicated phone lines and email accounts had been set up to assist service users, with support available from adult care and finance backgrounds to assist. It was wished to be noted for ... view the full minutes text for item 23. |
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Lincolnshire Sensory Services Re-Commissioning PDF 541 KB (To receive a report by Marie Kaempfe-Rice, Senior Commercial and Procurement Officer, which invites Committee to consider a report on Lincolnshire Sensory Services Re-Commissioning, which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health between 13 and 17 September 2021. The views of the Scrutiny Committee will be reported to the Executive Councillor as part of her consideration of this item)
Additional documents: Minutes: Consideration was given to a report by the Commercial and Procurement Manager, which invited the committee to consider a report on the Lincolnshire Sensory Service Re-Commissioning, which was due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health between 13 and 17 September 2021.
The Lincolnshire Sensory Services (LSS) was a preventative and re-ablement service for both adults and children with a sensory impairment, both cognitive and acquired and their associated disabilities where applicable.
The current contract had been delivered by RNID since April 2016 but had exhausted all options for extension within the current contract, it was therefore proposed that the Executive approve that a procurement be undertaken to deliver a contract to be awarded to a single provider of county-wide sensory services for adults and children for a period of three years, with the possibility of a further two year extension on a one plus one basis.
Members supported the recommendations set out to the Executive and during the discussion the following points were noted:
RESOLVED:
12:15 Cllr T Young left ... view the full minutes text for item 24. |
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Strategic Market Support Services Re-Procurement PDF 588 KB (To receive a report by, Alex Craig, Commercial and Procurement Manager, which invites the Committee to consider a report on Strategic Market Support Services Re-Procurement, which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health between 13 and 17 September 2021. The views of the Committee will be reported to the Executive Councillor as part of her consideration of this item)
Additional documents: Minutes: Consideration was given to a report by the Commercial and Procurement Manager, which invited the committee to consider a report on the Strategic Market Support Services Re-Procurement which was due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health between the 13 – 17 September 2021.
The report set out the proposal to re-procure the Strategic Market Support services based on a new structure and an increased transparency of provider performance, with the successful provider to actively source external funding so that the contract became self-sustaining by the end of the next contractual term. It was proposed that the contract be split into two parts, one for the core market support and workforce development requirement (Parts A and C) and the other for the Care Home Trusted Assessor service (Part B). Members supported the recommendations as set out in the report, and during discussion the following points were noted:
· The potential for self-funding of the service could be explored further. · The procurement might seek to identify good practice by the new contractor, such as their emphasis on recruitment and retention policies, including low rates of staff turnover. · The committee requested an update from the new provider in October 2022.
RESOLVED:
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Service Level Performance against the Corporate Performance Framework - Quarter 1 PDF 422 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Corporate Performance, which summarised the Adult Care and Community Wellbeing Service Level Performance for Quarter 1.
Members were advised that in Quarter 1, six measures had exceeded their target; seven measures achieved their targets; one measure was improving but did not achieve its target; 3 measures did not achieve their target and 1 measure is not reported due to definition change.
The Head of Corporate Performance provided further information on the were three measures which had not achieved their target:
A summary of all target measures could be found in Appendix A to the report.
It was noted that Carers First had now informally contacted all of their carers to discuss their needs and provide reassurance. Members considered the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:
· It was hoped that a review of the safeguarding referrals process would be concluded by the start of 2022. · 'Carers First' commissioned a service which provided additional support to young carers. It was agreed that the committee receive a report providing further detail on the support provided to young carers at a subsequent meeting. · Members raised concerns that only around 25% of safeguarding concerns raised had led to a safeguarding enquiry and requested further clarity on the reporting process and eligibility criteria for an enquiry. It was agreed further information on this be provided as part of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Adults Board – Update Report to the meeting of the committee in December. · The Assistant Director – Specialist Services emphasised that there was an ongoing audit of safeguarding referrals and it has been identified that a number of key partners were sending safeguarding information on the safeguarding concerns form. There was therefore a need to work with partners and separate out general information from legitimate safeguarding concerns. Operational meetings were being progressed with partners including the Police, EMAS and the Care Sector in order to clarify the reporting process. Work was also being undertaken to review the Safeguarding Concern Form to make it easier for key stakeholders to use and to improve data quality. · Care plans were reviewed annually for those receiving long term care, with further reviews provided if necessary.
RESOLVED:
That the report be noted. |
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Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Programme PDF 710 KB (To receive a report by Simon Evans, Health Scrutiny Officer, which invites the Committee to consider and comment on its work programme for the coming year)
Minutes: Consideration was given to a report by the Health Scrutiny Officer, which invited the committee to consider it's work programme.
Members were referred to the work programme which was set out at appendix A to the report.
Following the discussion around mental health earlier in the meeting, the Health Scrutiny Officer highlighted that the Chief Executive from the Mental Health Trust was due to attend the meeting scheduled for 1 December 2021. Members welcomed reporting on mental health and emphasised a need for a preventive approach to mental health which was being adopted by the council.
RESOLVED:
That the work programme be noted. |
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CONSIDERATION OF EXEMPT INFORMATION In accordance with Section 100 (A)(3) of the Local Government Act 1972, agenda item 13 has not been circulated to the press and public on the grounds that it is considered to contain exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended. The press and public may be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of this item of business. Minutes: RESOLVED:
That In accordance with Section 100 (A)(3) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of this following item of business as it is considered to contain exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.
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Provision of Day Service in Grantham (To receive an exempt report by, Gareth Maddison, Service Development Manager, Adult Care and Community Wellbeing, which invites the Committee to consider a report on the Provision of Day Service in Grantham, which is due to be considered by the Leader of the Council (Executive Councillor for Resources Communications and Commissioning) and the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health between 9 and 17 September 2021. The views of the Committee will be reported to the Executive Councillors as part of their consideration of this item) Minutes: Consideration was given to an exempt report by the Assistant Director, Specialist Services which invited the committee to consider a report on the Provision of a Day Service in Grantham, which was due to be considered by Councillor for Resources Communications and Commissioning and the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health between 9 and 17 September 2021.
Members considered the report and supported the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
That a summary of the comments made be reported to the Executive Councillors as part of their consideration of this item. |