Agenda and minutes

The Chairman opened the meeting.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 19 September 2019 were agreed as an accurate record.

Apologies were received from Councillor Golnar Bokaei, Cllr Anne Huton and Councillor Reema Patel.

Councillor Claire Farrier substituted for Councillor Hutton.

Councillor Jo Cooper declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of being employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

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The Chairman introduced the report and congratulated officers on the compliments received and also on how well they had addressed matters compared to other local authorities.

A Member asked as the report presented data for 2017-18, when more recent data would be available.

The Assistant Director, Communities and Performance noted that she would update the Committee when she had more information on when the 2018/19 data would be released.

The Executive Director, Adults and Health noted that the benchmarking in the report was not statutory.

A Member expressed congratulations to staff in adult social care in their achievements which were quite positive given the circumstances.

A Member asked why some complaints had not been responded to within the target time frame of 20 working days and how this figure compared to previous years. The Assistant Director, Communities and Performance responded that some had been more complex cases or where cases required working across organisational boundaries. She would come back to the Committee with comparable data for previous years.

Action: Assistant Director, Communities and Performance

The Chairman moved to the vote on the officer’s recommendations. It was RESOLVED that:

The Adults and Safeguarding Committee noted the Annual Complaints Report 2018-19 and approved the report for publication.

The Chairman introduced the report.

A Member asked what had caused the bad debts.

The Executive Director, Adults and Health responded that a debt report was in the public domain and had been submitted to the Financial Performance and Contracts Committee. The biggest bad debtor was NHS Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which owed Barnet for some care costs and community equipment. The other debts related to individuals who were in receipt of care and support.

The Chairman added that for years officers had worked hard to ensure that those who owed Barnet money were followed up. It was not uncommon for the NHS to be in the position of owing money to local authorities around the country, as it had different payment rules to those of local authorities.

A Member enquired about the red flag (page 43 of the report) against ‘Adults with mental health needs who live independently, with or without support’.  The Executive Director, Adults and Health responded that this was being reviewed. The data were from the national return for all adult social care services but related to all on the Care Programme Approach. Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust (BEHMHT) was of the view that there may be gaps in their data. This would be investigated further.

A Member asked what the range of choice was in Barnet as part of social prescribing.

The Executive Director, Adults and Health responded that social prescribing could be made via the Prevention and Wellbeing Team and Wellbeing Coordinators, who connected people to a variety of activities, education and training. Barnet was working with seven primary care networks to recruit seven social prescribers, using dedicated funding from NHS England. Some link workers from the voluntary sector would be recruited to signpost people to various activities including exercise, arts, culture and social activities.

A Member stated that many voluntary organisations were finding it difficult to run activities and asked whether such services were being eroded.

The Executive Director, Adults and Health responded that Barnet had a lot of voluntary and community activity and the Council spent around £3million per year on voluntary sector support for adults’ services. Barnet also offered funding through its grants programme.

The Chairman moved to the vote on the officer’s recommendations. It was unanimously RESOLVED that:

The Committee reviewed the performance, budget and risk information for Q2 2019/20 and made no referrals to Policy and Resources Committee or Financial Performance and Contracts Committee.

The Chairman introduced the report. He noted that the Committee had requested more information on an Integrated Care System (ICS) for north central London at its meeting on 5 June. In the interim the Chairman had attended a meeting with senior members of the Health and Wellbeing Board and health partners some of this discussion was reflected in the report.

The Executive Director, Adults and Health noted that since the report had been written a decision had been made by NHSE that the five CCGs would merge from 1 April 2020. Further to this the CCGs had consulted with their members, who had agreed to the merger. 

A Member enquired how funding would be distributed across the five CCGs and whether Barnet was likely to receive the same, more or less than previously.

The Executive Director, Adults and Health offered to circulate the full case for change to the Committee.  The allocations to each borough were weighted according to National Funding Formula. Historically Barnet and Enfield had received considerably less than some other boroughs as funding was linked to indices of deprivation. However a ‘Fair Shares Allocation had been introduced several years ago and this would ensure that all received the right allocation. Some of the funding decisions should benefit Barnet as the principles were based on funding according to need. 

A Member asked whether officers were doing enough to ensure they maximised Barnet’s funding as there were areas of deprivation in Barnet.

The Executive Director, Adults and Health noted that the Census would be useful for outer London boroughs. The team also worked closely with the CCG which provided a statutory health intelligence function. Whenever pots of money were offered the team was also poised to submit bids for funding at short notice.

A Member noted that it could be difficult to influence the CCGs and she asked the Chairman whether the merger would make this even harder. The Chairman stated that it may not have such an effect, although it was important to continue to work with them to ensure resources were distributed fairly.

Councillor Caroline Stock, Chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board attended meetings with health providers to discuss this.

The Chairman thanked officers for the report and useful update. He requested that officers update the Committee on progress when they felt appropriate.

The Chairman moved to the vote on the officer’s recommendations. The Committee unanimously RESOLVED:

To note the contents of the report.

The Chairman reported that two items had been deferred to the next meeting due to the General Election on 12 December 2019.

An additional meeting would be held on 10 February 2020 at 7pm to consider fees and charges.

Cllr Cooper stated that she would not be able to attend but would organise for a substitute for 10 February 2020.