Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration.

In February 2019 the Council launched the All Age Living prospectus for healthy, happy homes. This prospectus demonstrates the great opportunity to truly bring together housing, health, social care and our workforce challenges into a single vision and programme for change that will co-design the future for all age living in Stockport with a goal for all residents to look forward to a positive older age. It will be defined by a comprehensive partnership approach to drive change over an ambitious strategy that will be developed over the next 15 years.

This is an ambitious strategy with a vision to transform Stockport into a place where people can learn, play, work and look forward to a positive older age. This means there will be a wider choice of places and ways to live, providing the right homes and underpinned by the right support. This prospectus is the first step in the journey to bring this vision into a reality in the Borough.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to comment on the report and presentation.

Officer contact Vincent Fraga on 0161-474-4401 or email: vincent.fraga@stockport.gov.uk

The Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) detailing the All Age Living prospectus for healthy, happy homes. The prospectus demonstrated the great opportunity to truly bring together housing, health, social care and workforce challenges into a single vision and programme for change that would co-design the future for all age living in Stockport with a goal for all residents to look forward to a positive older age. It would be defined by a comprehensive partnership approach to drive change over an ambitious strategy that will be developed over the next 15 years.

The Cabinet Member for Communities & Housing (Councillor Sheila Bailey) also attended the meeting to respond to councillors’ questions.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         It was important that standards for all-age living were applied equally across the whole housing market including both social and private housing providers.

·         The use of smart technology as means of monitoring vulnerable adults was becoming more ubiquitous and accessible.

·         Integrational living was an important way of normalising interactions between young and older people which had been successfully achieved in other countries.

·         A significant challenge was the ability to attract and retain a social care workforce which needed to include career development and an attractive remuneration package.

·         The prospectus was ambitious against a backdrop of increasingly strained resources, however it was necessary to start thinking earlier in terms of prevention and earlier interventions rather than at the point of crisis.

·         The Local Plan needed to be reflective of not only the number of new houses required but also the housing types that were needed to meet the demographic need in Stockport.

·         A discussion took place in relation to the potential for a greater involvement of co-operatives drawing on the experience of other local authorities who have introduced co-operative based care services.

·         There needed to be greater co-ordination between the various care providers including the sharing of resources such as training facilities and back-office systems.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration.

In February 2019 the Council launched the All Age Living prospectus for healthy, happy homes. This prospectus demonstrates the great opportunity to truly bring together housing, health, social care and our workforce challenges into a single vision and programme for change that will co-design the future for all age living in Stockport with a goal for all residents to look forward to a positive older age. It will be defined by a comprehensive partnership approach to drive change over an ambitious strategy that will be developed over the next 15 years.

This is an ambitious strategy with a vision to transform Stockport into a place where people can learn, play, work and look forward to a positive older age. This means there will be a wider choice of places and ways to live, providing the right homes and underpinned by the right support. This prospectus is the first step in the journey to bring this vision into a reality in the Borough.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to comment on the report and presentation.

Officer contact Vincent Fraga, 0161-474-4401, vincent.fraga@stockport.gov.uk

The Director for Adult Social Care submitted a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Scrutiny Committee to consider the All Age Living prospectus for healthy, happy homes, which was an ambitious strategy to transform Stockport into a place where people can learn, play, work and look forward to a positive older age.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care (Councillor Wendy Wild) attended the meeting to respond to questions from the Scrutiny Committee.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·           Healthwatch welcomed this approach.

·           Comment was made about the difficulties presented by purpose built accommodation for older people that was all electric that meant they were less efficient to heat. The need for higher standards of energy efficiency, along with the need to make homes more easily adaptable, needed to be considered as part of the planning and building regulation process.

·           It was important to ensure that those with lived experience had opportunities to input into the process of the development of the Strategy.

·           Caution was needed in the use of technology as this was often worrying for some people and providing too much ‘enabling’ could be dehumanising.

·           Concern was expressed that the investment in new buildings would not provide lasting improvements due to variability in the quality of the build.

·           The non-housing elements of the strategy were emphasised, such as the ambition to allow people to live independently in its broadest sense as well as to enhance community, relationships and care, and support the workforce.

·           Further information was sought on the All Age Campus, Academy and Beehive Cooperatives. In response it was stated that these were currently only ideas but the All Age Campus was an opportunity for the Council to develop a site that included a mixture of housing types to create a better sense of community; the Academy approach would focus on developing care sector workers; the Beehive Cooperative was an approach to bringing together home care providers to share some costs and improve their sustainability.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted and the Prospectus welcomed.

(2) That the Scrutiny Committee would welcome the submission of the All Age Strategy at an appropriate opportunity.