Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2014.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 27 January 2014 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillors and officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider call-in items (if any).

There were no call-in items to consider.

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

The report sets out what Stockport Homes will deliver during the period 2014-2015; how it and the Council will work together and how tenants, the Council and other stakeholders can measure the success of Stockport Homes in achieving its objectives. The document is an appendix to the Management Agreement between Stockport Homes and the Council and sets all the outputs of Stockport Homes, the key performance requirement of the services and includes the performance standards expected. The objectives and targets detailed within the Delivery Plan are directly in line with the Council’s Housing Strategy and aims to contribute towards the Council’s wider strategic priorities. The Delivery Plan also details the financial, staffing and governance resources required to enable Stockport Homes to deliver the services with skill, care and diligence.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to consider and comment on the Stockport Homes Delivery Plan 2014-15 and note the report.

Officer contact: Andy Kippax on 474 4319 or email: andy.kippax@stockport.gov.uk

RESOLVED – That consideration of this item be deferred to a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee pending the resubmission of a revised report to include those figures which had been omitted from the Delivery Plan resulting from the 2013/14 year end data not being available at the time of publication.

To consider a report of the Service Director (Adult Social Care).

The report gives a detailed overview of the proposal to modernise Adults Social Care’s approach to travel assistance provided for people with disabilities and significant mobility problems (older people comprise approximately 30% of the total cohort of people using transport with 70% of people having a learning or physical disability), and potentially to cease the commissioning of block contracted assisted transport provided for people using adult social care services.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to comment on and note the report.

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

A representative of the Service Director (Adult Social Care) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing a detailed overview of proposals to modernise Adult Social Care’s approach to travel assistance provided for people with disabilities and significant mobility problems and to potentially cease the commissioning of block contracted assisted transport provided for people using adult social care services.

The Executive Councillor for Adult Care Services (Councillor Keith Holloway) attended the meeting to answer members’ questions.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         The proposed increase in the charge for transport from £3 to £5 per single journey would constitute an increase in cost of 66% to service users.  However, this would still mean the service was being subsidised at a rate of between 50% and 60% by the Council.

·         The Council would continue to commission services for those few individuals for whom there were complex travel needs to ensure that they could continue to access a full range of services.

·         There would be a need to monitor the impact of the changes on service users with a particular regard to users’ travel patterns and their ability to pay in the light of the results of the consultation which stated that a number of users had expressed the view that they would be inclined not to use the assisted transport service if costs were to increase.

·         It was commented that the report cited that 15% of booked journeys were cancelled at short notice and the implication was that this was the result of a failure on the part of service users.  It was stated that given the specific needs of this cohort of service user there would be an increased likelihood of medical emergency or illness arising which may account for a significant proportion of those cancellations.

·         The majority of journeys were already undertaken using third party providers such as private hire companies.  Although discussion had taken place with a number of providers, at this stage it was difficult to ascertain the likely increase in demand on these services.

·         As the demand on the assisted transport service decreased, the fleet of vehicles operated by Solutions SK would be gradually decommissioned.

·         The service currently operated using a number of agency staff as permanent members of staff left.  Permanent recruitment to these posts had not been sought in this instance to avoid the potential for redundancy at a later stage in the light of the ongoing review of the assisted transport service.

·         A member expressed regret that this front-line service was being withdrawn, particularly in the light of consultation responses which consistently highlighted service users’ appreciation of the service.

RESOLVED – (8 for, 1 abstention) (1) That the necessity of the proposals be noted with regret.

A named vote was requested in relation to the voting on this resolution and the voting was recorded as follows:-

The councillors who voted for the resolution were Councillors Bailey, Dowling, Hawthorne, Ingham, Moss, O’Neill, Somekh and Wild.

Councillor Ben Alexander abstained.

(2) That the Service Director (Adult Social Care) be requested to submit regular monitoring reports to future meetings of the Scrutiny Committee over the next 12 month period to allow the Scrutiny Committee to monitor the impact of the changes to the assisted transport service.

To consider a joint report of the Corporate Directors for People and Place Management and Regeneration.

The report provides a detailed overview of performance which relates to the Adult Care Services and Housing Scrutiny Committee.

The information is provided in the form of the Quarter 3 2013/14 Portfolio Performance and Resources Reports for each of the Portfolios having functions within the remit of the Adults Care Services and Housing Scrutiny Committee namely: Adult Care Services and Communities and Sustainability.

The Communities and Sustainability report includes the housing functions which fall within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:-

(1)  Review the current levels of performance.

(2)  Highlight key areas of, and responsibility for, taking forward corrective action to address any existing or forecast performance issues.

(3)  Identify how areas of strong performance and good practice can be shared in other services.

Officer contact: Peter Owston on 474 3274 or email: peter.owston@stockport.gov.uk

The Service Director (Adult Social Care) and the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a joint report (copies of which had been circulated) providing a detailed overview of performance which related to the Adult Care Services and Housing Scrutiny Committee.

Information was provided in the form of the Quarter Three 2013/14 Portfolio Performance and Resources Reports for each of the Portfolios having functions within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee namely, Adult Care Services and the housing element of the Communities and Sustainability portfolio.

The Executive Councillors for Communities and Sustainability (Councillor Stuart Bodsworth) and Adult Care Services (Councillor Keith Holloway) attended the meeting to answer members’ questions.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

Adult Care Services

·         The reablement service was in a period of transition from a focus on assisting people being discharged from hospital to providing additional help and support with end of life care.

·         It was commented that the reablement service was failing to achieve its savings target.  In response it was stated that reablement had been seen as a way of reducing the care management budget by putting in place short term intensive interventions as a means of preventing longer term needs.  It was now apparent that there needed to be wider involvement from a range of services.

·         Twenty residential beds were block purchased to support the work of the Enhanced Rapid Response Service, and occupancy rates for these were monitored on a daily basis to ensure the best management of this facility.  It was requested that the costs associated with this block purchase be circulated to members of the Scrutiny Committee.

·         It was noted that satisfaction rates of carers with social services was 76.4% which provided an implied dissatisfaction rate of 23.4%.  The single biggest area of complaint related to the reliability of providers and whether they were courteous.

Communities and Sustainability (Housing)

·         There was considerable pressure on the Disabled Facilities Grant such that a number of ‘low priority’ referrals had been placed on a waiting list, and further that the Council was not anticipating the receipt of an additional one-off payment and only a nominal increase in the level of Grant itself.

·         The target of 67 units of additional accommodation for older people or vulnerable households had been missed, although it was noted that 55 properties were expected to completed in April 2014 in addition to the 15 that had already been completed by March 2014.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the Service Director (Adult Social Care) be requested to submit a report to the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee detailing the current position with regard to the administration of the Disabled Facilities Grant including the position of those referrals which had been categorised as low priority.

To consider the final report of the Scrutiny Review Panel – Impact of Welfare Reform.

The Welfare Reform Act brings about a significant overhaul of the way in which benefits are administered and allocated. The diverse scope of the Act cuts across council portfolios and has implications for a range of council services, partner agencies and residents.

The Adult Care Services and Housing Scrutiny Committee, and Corporate, Resource Management and Governance Scrutiny Committee agreed to carry out a joint scrutiny review on the impact of Welfare Reform. The decision to carry out a joint scrutiny review was taken in order to enable co-ordinated and holistic consideration of the impact of welfare changes on service providers and residents.

The Review makes a number of recommendations intended to support and further develop the good work already underway.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to comment upon the draft Final Report prior to its submission to the Executive.

Officer contact: Gaynor Alexander on 474 3186 or email: gaynor.alexander@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Service Director (Adult Social Care) and Councillor Wendy Wild (Member of the Scrutiny Review Panel) submitted the final report of the Scrutiny Review Panel – ‘Impact of Welfare Reform’ (copies of which had been circulated) setting out the findings of the Scrutiny Review.  The report proposed a series of recommendations to support the Council and its partners to build on work already being undertaken to respond effectively to the challenges provided by the Welfare Reform Act 2012.

RESOLVED – (1) That the Final Report and recommendations of the Scrutiny Review Panel – ‘Impact of Welfare Reform’ be endorsed and referred to the Executive for consideration.

(2) That the Service Director (Adult Social Care) be recommended to submit a report to a meeting of the Scrutiny Committee in twelve months’ time detailing progress towards implementing the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review Panel.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager.                                                        

The report sets out planned agenda items for the Scrutiny Committee’s next meeting and Forward Plan items that fall within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to consider the information in the report and put forward any agenda items for future meetings of the Committee.

Officer contact: Damian Eaton 474 3207 email: damian.eaton@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) setting out the planned items for the Scrutiny Committee’s next meeting and Forward Plan items which fell within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.