Agenda and minutes

The Committee noted that the minutes of the scheduled meeting which had taken place on 10^th September 2012 would be presented to the next meeting of the Committee on 12^th December 2012.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·               Councillor Kate Salinger who was substituted for by Councillor Anthony Finn; and

·               Councillor Ross Houston who was substituted for by Councillor Ansuya Sodha.

a)      Personal and Prejudicial Interests

b)      Whipping Arrangements (in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 17)

None.

None.

None.

During consideration of the following item, Councillor Slocombe entered the meeting at 7.10pm and Councillor Gordon entered the meeting at 7.18pm.

The Cabinet Member for Adults, Councillor Sachin Rajput, and the Deputy Director of Adult Social Care, Dawn Wakeling, presented a report which detailed the key issues arising from the three key adult social care policy documents: Caring for Our Future White Paper; the draft Care and Support Bill; and the Government’s interim statement on funding reform for Adult Social Care.  The report set out the implications for Barnet and outlined the work required to manage the implementation of the new requirements arising from the White Paper and legislation.  The Committee were requested to note the content of the reports, endorse the establishment of a dedicated programme of work to analyse the impact and note the indicative resource requirements arising.

A Member questioned whether the Council had estimated the possible take-up and financial impact of deferred payments.  The Deputy Director of Adult Social Care advised the Committee that Central Government may fund the scheme, but at this stage it was unclear what the financial provisions would be.

The Committee welcomed the new rights of carers to have assessments and noted that the implications of this could potentially be significant for the authority. 

The Committee highlighted the importance of supporting people to continue to live in their own homes and noted that this had increased significantly over the last two decades.  The increased use of Telecare to support people living at homes was welcomed by Members. 

Members noted that the Estates Management Strategy would need to align with the requirement to open up council owned community buildings for local use. 

RESOLVEDthat:

1.            The Committee note the content of the report, endorse the proposed programme of work and note the resource requirements.

2.            The Committee note the importance of carers (including young carers) in supporting the older population in the future

3.            Officers be requested to circulate the report of the Scrutiny Working Group on Young Carers in Barnet to Committee Members to inform the debate on the item being considered at the 12 December 2012 meeting on Carers Support.

4.            The Committee requested that Officers clarify whether War Widows Pensions and Restitution Payments were taken into account when determining eligibility for Adult Social Care Services in the Fairer Contributions Policy.

5.            Officers be requested to forward details of the council’s Asset Register to the Committee Members.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and the Deputy Director of Adult Social Care presented the Adult Social Care and Health Annual Complaints Report for 2011/12.  Adult Social Care and Health are required under statutory regulations to report annually to the relevant Council committee on adult social care complaints and to compile an annual report. 

The Deputy Director of Adult Social Care advised the Committee that the Annual Complaints Report was used as a quality assurance framework which assisted in identifying training needs for staff and addressing more systematic issues.

The Cabinet Member for Adults highlighted that the ‘Quality of Service’ categorisation was too wide.  He added that there was an underrepresentation from Black and Ethnic Minority Groups which the council were trying to understand through the establishment of Expert Through Experience Groups. 

The Committee noted that the increase in the number of complaints could be attributed to the implementation of improved complaints procedures and the implementation of the Fairer Contributions Policy. 

RESOLVEDthat the Committee note the content of the report.

During consideration of the item above, Councillor Zubairi left the meeting at 8.06pm.

The Learning Network Inspector (Central Network), Chris Skinner, presented a report which outlined recent changes to the Ofsted inspection of schools framework and the response of the Children’s Service in terms of assisting schools in preparing for inspections and the outcomes of inspections for Barnet schools.

The Committee noted that the there had been significant changes to the schools inspection framework, with revised arrangements implemented from September 2012.  Members were informed that with each new inspection framework, the standard had been raised making it more difficult to achieve the top rating.  The Committee were also advised that there were an increasing number of academies and free schools in the borough which were outside of local authority control.  

The Committee questioned how the performance of local authority schools compared to private schools.  Officers reported that this data was not available and that like for like comparisons were difficult. 

Officers clarified that where schools obtained an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating, they would be inspected much less frequently than schools that were given a rating of ’good’ or ‘requires improvement’.  Schools judged to be inadequate would either be judged to have ‘serious weaknesses’ or put into ‘special measures.’  These schools would receive regular monitoring visits from Ofsted. It was noted that Ofsted undertook interim (desk-top) reviews and if there was a drop in standards, a change of head teacher or the school converted to academy status (in outstanding schools), then this could trigger an Ofsted inspection.

RESOLVEDthat the Committee note the content of the report.

Members deferred consideration of the item.

RESOLVED that consideration of the item be deferred to enable Officers to discuss options for Member Visits with the Corporate Parenting Advisory Panel and for the report to be re-presented to the 12 December 2012 meeting.

The Committee received the Cabinet Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

The Committee considered the work programme for the 2012/13 municipal year as set out in the report. 

RESOLVED that the work programme for 2012/13 be noted.

That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 9 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended).

RESOLVED that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 12A of the Act (as amended):

                                                                                    Exemption category

Members’ Visits to Barnet’s Children’s Homes                1 and 2

Statutory Officer visits                                                        1 and 2

RESOLVED that the exempt information be noted.

During consideration of the following item, Councillor Slocombe left the meeting at 8.56pm.

RESOLVED that the exempt information be noted.