Agenda and minutes

The Committee

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of 16 September 2015 be agreed as a correct record.

There were no apologies.

There were no declarations of interests.

There was none.

There were none.

The Committee noted the details of the submitted public questions and the public answers which were provided with the agenda papers for the meeting. Responses to the supplementary public questions were given at the meeting.

There were no public comments.

The Chairman introduced the report which set out a revised savings programme that would inform the consideration of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) in light of future financial challenges following the General Election in May 2015. In addition to the £12.6m saving the Policy and Resources Committee set in June 2014, the Committee was asked to note the additional financial target of £5.9m set by the same Committee in July 2015. The Committee was also recommended to agree to engage with Barnet CCG on the options and implications for increasing the funding in the Better Care Fund for the protections of Adult Social Care.

In response to queries from the Committee, officers advised the following:

·         The proposal to delete 42 FTE posts could change during the consultation with staffing groups. Staff would be consulted on a number of proposals including the creation of 20 new posts alongside the proposed deletions.

·         Telecare is being offered to complement some care packages, rather than a substitute for more traditional means of communication. The savings from the use of Telecare are proposed to be delivered from 2017-18, thus giving the Council time it needs to work to develop the Telecare provision.

·         The Committee commented that future reports of this nature might benefit from being in a larger font size. Officers advised this would be addressed in future reports.

The Chairman moved to the vote on each recommendation as set in the report.

Recommendation 1:

Recommendation 2:

Recommendation 3:

Recommendation 4:

Recommendation 5:

Recommendation 1:

The Adults and Safeguarding Committee RESOLVED that:

1.    the financial target of £12.6m set by Policy and Resources Committee in June 2014 be noted;

2.    the additional financial target of £5.9m set by Policy and Resources Committee in July 2015 be noted;

3.    the savings programme as set out in Appendix A to Policy and Resources Committee is recommended for approval;

4.    the capital investment priorities set out in Appendix B to Policy and Resources Committee is recommended for approval;

5.    public consultation on the priorities and revised savings proposals contained within the report commencing immediately following the Policy and Resources Committee on 16 December 2015 is agreed;

6.    engagement with Barnet CCG is commenced immediately following Policy and Resources Committee on the 16 December 2015 on the options and implications for increasing the funding in the Better Care Fund for the protection of Adult Social Care from £4.2m to £6.6m.

The Chairman introduced the report which proposed that the Council did not enter into a further contract with a Home Meals service provider when the current contract expired on 1 April 2016. The report highlighted the decline in the number of people using the service and the rationale behind this. The report also included details of the consultation that had been carried out with stakeholders which had developed the Home Meals proposals. The Chairman noted that the Council did not have a statutory duty to provide the service, and in fact 52% of London boroughs did not currently provide the service. However, the Council would still arrange the most appropriate means to assess and support those clients considered to have a nutritional need under the Care Act 2014.

Further to queries from the Committee, officers advised the following:

·         the feedback from the consultation with 153 service users had informed the proposals and highlighted the range of options available to them. This included having a private arrangement with the current provider, Sodexo.

·         Sharing the service with neighbouring boroughs would not be feasible as the London Boroughs of Camden, Enfield and Harrow did not provide the service. These authorities signpost clients to other providers, which is what was proposed the Council also do.

·         The appendices to the report set out a range of local food and meal options. Foodbanks were included for information rather than suggested as an alternative to the current service.

·         There are plans for a Jewish Care meals service to be launched in April 2016.

In response to a comment from a Committee member, the Chairman advised that whilst there were negative responses to the consultation, a considerable number of people were no longer using the service

The Chairman moved to the vote on the recommendation as set in the report.

Recommendation 1:

Recommendation 2:

Recommendation 3:

The Adults and Safeguarding Committee RESOLVED that:

1.    from 1^st April 2016, on expiry of the Sodexo Home Meals Contract, that the Council does not enter into a further contract for the provision of a Home Meals Service and therefore by default that the Council discontinues it’s Home Meals Service.

2.    existing and new clients are immediately signposted and supported to find suitable alternative meals options.

3.    where any existing or new clients are considered to have a nutritional need as part of an assessment and support plan under the Care Act 2014, that the Council arranges this through the most appropriate means, with client contributions in line with the published fees and charges for Adult Social Care.

The Chairman introduced the report which proposed that the Committee approve the approach to review the services provided by Your Choice Barnet (YCB) for disabled and older people. YCB was currently under a five year “three plus two” contract from 1 February 2012 to 31 January 2017. The contract was in the first of the “plus two” period, so commissioners took the opportunity to review the range of services provided by YCB to deliver the Council’s Commissioning priorities. As YCB was part of a Council-controlled wholly owned trading company, the “Teckal” exemption applied, meaning the Council could make a direct award of contract to YCB without a competitive procurement under the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

The report outlined the process for entering into dialogue with The Barnet Group and YCB to challenge them to bring forward fit for purpose and value for money service proposals which would achieve the reshaping of services as set out in the Committee’s Commissioning Plan. Officers proposed that the Committee consider a further report at a future meeting which would set out the recommended longer term arrangements between the Council and YCB.

The Chairman moved to the vote and the Committee unanimously

RESOLVED that the Adults and Safeguarding Committee:

1.    approve the approach to review services provided by Your Choice Barnet, as set out in paragraph 2 of the report;

2.    note that a further report will be presented at a subsequent meeting on the preferred option(s) for future delivery.

The Chairman presented the report which sought the Committee’s approval for the Council to enter into a Deed of Novation to release Barnet Centre for Independent Living (BCIL) from its obligations under the Contract with the Council and novate the Contract to Inclusion Barnet from 1 January 2016 for the remainder of the initial three year contract which expired 30 September 2017. The original contract had an option to extend for a further two years from 1 October 2017, and any novation would consider this also.

Inclusion Barnet (IB) was a company set up with charitable status and was effectively the parent company, with BCIL remaining in existence but as the trading arm of IB.

The Chairman moved to the vote and the Committee unanimously

RESOLVED that the Adults and Safeguarding Committee approve the novation of the Contract with the Council from BCIL to Inclusion Barnet from 1 January 2016 for the remainder of the initial term of the Contract and, if relevant, for any extension period of up to two years.

The Chairman introduced the report which was subsequently presented by James Mass, the Assistant Director Community Wellbeing. The report outlined the lessons learnt further to the recent closure of a care home within the borough, and the ongoing work that the Council was undertaking in partnership with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in Barnet and the Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group to safeguard against the circumstances that led to the closure in future.

The Committee noted that the CQC’s new regime supported the Council’s approach to ensuring the quality, safety and efficacy of the care services it provided.

The Chairman moved to the vote and the Committee unanimously

RESOLVED that the Adults and Safeguarding Committee note the on-going work to develop and improve the approach to responding to concerns with providers in the regulated care market.

The Chairman introduced the report which considered the outcomes of the first stage of a delivery model project to identify the best way to respond to the challenges facing adult social care services (ASC). This was in the face of unprecedented pressures  in adult social care nationally and further to the Committee’s approval of the project to consider alternative delivery models for ASC in January 2015.

The report considered a number of different models. Dawn Wakeling, Adults and Health Commissioning Director, in particular described the Shropshire model of using community hubs which implemented more preventative measures rather than more traditional care services..

During the course of the debate, the Committee requested that it be recorded that they were agreeing the principles and objectives behind the provision of adult social care. The Committee requested that future reports on ASC operating models would include the following:

·         the principles behind the model for adult social care

·         how the model would work, and that

·         any future consideration would include an evaluation in-house option.

The Committee also agreed the strategic outline case would include:

·         The scope of the model including the services in it and the client groups whom it would support

·         The principles and if they will meet the objectives set by the committee

·         The practice including cultural, process and systems aspects.

The Chairman moved to the vote on the recommendations as set in the report and the Committee unanimously

RESOLVED that the Adult and Safeguarding Committee

1.    approve the approach to the proposed new ASC operating model;

2.    agree the proposed approach to developing an outline business case for an alternative model.

The Chairman advised the Committee that the Enablement Home Care Strategy was to be considered. He introduced the report which recommended that the Committee endorse the Council’s approach to developing its enablement model and ensuring the targeted interventions support people to experience better outcomes, and reduce their reliance on other services.

The Chairman moved to the vote and the Committee unanimously.

RESOLVED that the Adult and Safeguarding Committee endorse the approach to enhancing the enablement offer in Barnet to support delivery of the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Care Act (2014) requirements.

The Chairman introduced the Committee’s Forward Work Programme, as set out in the report.

A member of the Committee suggested that the Committee should consider a report on the changes that had been implemented further to the Care Act 2014. Officers agreed that they would add a report to the forward work programme, having considered the most appropriate  time for a progress report.

RESOLVED that the Committee note the Forward Work Programme.