Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on the 18^th March 2019 were agreed as a correct record.

Councillor Stock sent her apologies as she was on Mayoral duty. She was substituted by Councillor Finn.

Cllr Hutton declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she is a Trustee of Barnet Carers Centre.

Cllr Cooper declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she is employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. 

None.

Cllr Patel introduced her Members items on the Right to Independent Living. The members item requested the Committee to invite local advocacy and charitable organisations such as Inclusion Barnet and Barnet Alliance for Public Services to address the committee and reverse the planned MTFS savings. The item asked that residents continued to have the option of a community placement.

The request asked for officers to provide the Committee with an update on the implementation of the proposal, including the number of individuals that have been placed in residential care without being given the option to remain in the community by default, if any.

The Chairman confirmed that the Council’s policy on community based care placements would continue to promote the needs and wishes of the individual in the most favourable way possible.

The Committee agreed to the request for a report on the matter to be brought to the next meeting of the Adults and Safeguarding Committee, which would include an update on the implementation of the proposal and information on the numbers of individuals that have been placed in residential care.

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None.

The Chairman introduced the report on the End of Year Performance for 2018/19 which included the Committee priorities in the corporate plan 2018/19, including budget outturns and performance on activities and key indicators, as well as any high level (scoring 15+) risks.

The Assistant Director for Ongoing Support confirmed that difficulties experienced with the Mosaic system had been addressed and that moving forward the reporting would be significantly improved in relation to the indicators that could be provided.

Officers agreed to investigate the reasons behind the drop in percentage of adults with mental health needs in employment and flag anything of concern to Members outside of the meeting, as information about individuals could not be disclosed.

Following consideration of the report, the Chairman moved to vote on the recommendation as set out in the report.

The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to:

Review the financial, performance and risk information for EOY 2018/19 and make any referrals to Policy and Resources Committee or Financial Performance and Contracts Committee in accordance with the terms of reference of these Committees.

The Chairman introduced the report on the Council’s implementation of changes to the way in which direct payments are managed and monitored by Pre-Paid Cards.

The report provided an update on how the changes would improve the experience for people with care and support needs, as well as making it easier for the Council to monitor and audit the use of Direct Payment funds. The implementation would reduce the administrative burden on people with care need and significantly improve the Council’s ability to identify and recoup surplus or misused funds and combat fraudulent activity, as well as forming part of the Committees medium term financial strategy (MTFS) with a savings target of £250,000 for 2019/20.

Officers confirmed that the implementation of the new system would continue to be monitored regularly. The Executive Director for Adults and Health agreed that an update on the implementation could be provided to the Committee at a future meeting.

Following consideration of the report, the Chairman moved to vote on the recommendations as set out in the report.

The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to:

1. Note the contents of the report, which supports the achievement of the council’s medium term financial strategy.

2. Support the implementation of the pre-paid card solution in Barnet adult social care services.

The Chairman introduced the report on the update of the NHS Long Term and Integrated Care Systems. The report provided an overview of the long-term plan to set out organisational change for the NHS through the development of integrated care systems, based on geographical areas such as Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP). The report also updated the Committee on the way in which health services in North Central London (NCL) STP are responding to the long-term plan and key considerations for Barnet Council.

The Executive Director for Adults and Health explained that the organisational changes would have a significant impact on how local NHS services are configured and the report provided the Committee with the opportunity to think about and input into what adult social care and integrated care should look like in Barnet. The Executive Director for Adults and Health explained that this was a five-borough piece of work at the STP level and all boroughs needed to consider the nature of the partnerships, public accountability and local democracy. Formal submissions and concerns raised by this Committee, Health Overview and Scrutiny and the Health and Wellbeing Board would be feedback to the STP leadership.

The Committee discussed the need for the right type of incentives and shared leadership of roles within the model. The Committee also stressed the requirement for greater public engagement to be implemented into the model.

The Committee agreed that any changes around the system of adult social care in Barnet would be a decision for this committee and that any updates on the matter be brought back to Committee.

 The Committee also requested information be provided on the approach being taken by other neighbouring boroughs. The Executive Director for Adults and Health confirmed that the other four borough Councils operated through a cabinet system of decision making and therefore were working with the cabinet member for adult social care and at various Health and Wellbeing Board and Scrutiny committees.

Following discussion of the item, the Committee requested an update report on the integrated care systems be brought back to a future meeting.

The Chairman then moved to vote on the recommendations as set out in the report.

The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to:

To note and comment on the content of the report.

The Chairman introduced the report on the local shared lives scheme, which informed the Committee of plans to establish a dedicated Barnet Scheme. The report outlined the significant benefits for residents, as well as financial benefits to setting up a dedicated scheme in Barnet. If approved officers would commence mobilising the scheme, with initial focus on recruiting a scheme manager, registering with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and promoting the scheme in the community to recruit carers.

The Committee commended officers on the creative idea and approach to this scheme.

Following consideration of the item, the Chairman moved to vote on the recommendations as set out in the report.

The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to:
Agree to establish a dedicated Barnet Shared Lives scheme.

The Committee requested the following to be added to the work programme:

-          Update report on the implementation of the community based care placements policy for the September 2019 meeting.

-          Update on the Integrated Care System to a future meeting.

-          Update on the implementation of direct payments to a future meeting.

Officers would amend the items on the work programme accordingly to ensure reports are flagged correctly as either key or non-key decisions.

None.

Meeting closed at 20.51