Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meetings held on 23 February and 13 May 2011.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meetings held on 23 February and 13 May 2011 were approved as correct records 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.

Councillors and officers were invited to declare any interests which they had in any of the items on the agenda for this meeting.

The following interests were declared:-

Personal Interests

To consider call-in items (if any).

There were no call-in items to consider.

To consider a presentation from the Director, Adult Social Care.

The Director, Adult Social Care will attend the meeting and make a presentation on the current issues facing the service and challenges going into the future.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to consider and comment on the presentation and use it as a resource to assist in guiding the work of the Scrutiny Committee over the course of the municipal year.

Officer contact: Terry Dafter 474 4401 email: terry.dafter@stockport.gov.uk

The Director of Adult Social Care attended the meeting and made a presentation on the current issues facing Adult Social Care and challenges going into the future.

The presentation provided a broad overview of the staffing and budgetary resources available within adult social care and how this was committed.  It also set out the national context for the development of services and the direction of service provision in the future in addition to local developments.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         It was important that wherever direct payments had been set up with a service user, that there remained direct involvement from a social worker.

·         The principles behind the direct payment initiative included to speed up service provision and to reduce bureaucracy, although it was acknowledged that this was not necessarily straightforward and posed a challenge for the service.

·         There was a general move away from block contracts although there would always be a requirement for some element of this within the totality of services provided for.

·         Service users have a preference for personal assistants, and those with their own budgets have paid for greater provision in this area which was often cheaper than paying for agency staff.

·         The Scrutiny Committee expressed its concern that service users could be engaging the services of individuals who had not bee subjected to CRB checks and could therefore be leaving themselves open to risk.

·         There were restrictions on what people could pay for using the direct payments system.

RESOLVED – That Terry Dafter be thanked for his attendance and presentation.

To consider a report of the Director, Adult Social Care.

At is meeting on 7 June 2010 the Scrutiny Committee considered a report on dignity in care and the role of scrutiny in engaging in issues relating to dignity in care.  At that meeting the Scrutiny Committee requested that update reports be submitted to later meetings.  This report is the first such update report.

The Committee is invited to comment on the report and consider ways in which the Committee’s work programme may contribute to the dignity in care agenda.

Officer contact: Vince Fraga 0161 474 4401 email vincent.fraga@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Director, Adults Social Care submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an update on Dignity in Care in Stockport.  At is meeting on 7 June 2010 the Scrutiny Committee considered a report on dignity in care and the role of scrutiny in engaging in issues relating to dignity in care.  At that meeting the Scrutiny Committee requested that update reports be submitted to later meetings.  This report was the first such update report.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         There were some basic skills which staff were not getting right, particularly around areas of communication.  It was acknowledged that training programmes were in place, and it was important that staff were encouraged to attend these wherever possible.

·         It was important that people were addressed how they wanted to be addressed, and this needed to be established at an early stage in the relationship between staff and service users.

·         Care needed to be taken with residents’ clothing as it was very distressing for residents’ to see their clothes being given to other people.

·         It was noted that while the Council did not have a direct involvement in the assessment of care homes, the Care Quality Commission had a strategic oversight in this area and carry out announced visits.

·         Care homes often struggle for staff and turnover is frequently high which can compound problems in respect of dignity in care.

·         In order to raise quality of care for people, we also have to look at quality of people delivering that care.

·         Additional consultation with residents should be undertaken to assess their views on initiatives to improve dignity in care.

·         Additional direction on the role of the ‘Local Champions’ mentioned in the report needed to be provided.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted,

To consider a report of the Corporate Director, Communities, Regeneration and Environment.

The report provides an of performance which relates to the Adults and Communities Scrutiny Committee.  The information provided is taken from the Council’s 4th Quarter Corporate Performance Report and specific detail and information in relation to the Council’s ‘A Safer, Stronger Stockport’ and ‘A Healthy Stockport’ Priorities.  This is supported by relevant performance indicator (PI) information, as part of which comparisons have been made with 2009/10 performance.

The Scrutiny Committee is requested 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: Doug Holland 474 2976 email: doug.holland@stockport.gov.uk

The Corporate Director, Communities, Regeneration and Environment submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an overview of performance which related to the Adults and Communities Scrutiny Committee. 

The information provided was taken from the Council’s 4th Quarter Corporate Performance Report and specific detail and information in relation to the Council’s ‘A Safer, Stronger Stockport’ and ‘A Healthy Stockport’ Priorities.  This was supported by relevant performance indicator (PI) information, as part of which comparisons have been made with 2009/10 performance.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         The definition of what constituted affordable housing was difficult to pinpoint and was relative to an individual’s circumstances.

·         Housing supply was a issue in Stockport and there were in excess of 8,000 people on the waiting list for social housing in the borough with little capacity for further building.

·         The current trend toward the provision housing seemed to be towards flats, however the demand was for two and three bedroom homes.

·         It was notoriously difficult and expensive to convert properties into homes for rent and was hard to achieve anything other than a poor compromise.

·         It was extremely encouraging to see that all of Stockport Homes housing stock had met the decent homes standard.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) (Five for, 3 against) That the Executive be recommended to give consideration to the reappointment of councillors to the Safer Stockport Partnership based upon the proportionality of the Council as a whole.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director, Business Services.

The report provides an update on the 2010/11 provisional outturn position for the revenue budget and capital programme. The figures presented in the report are draft at this stage and further details will be presented to the Executive Meeting on 13 June 2011.

The Scrutiny Committee is requested to consider and comment on the report.

Officer Contact: Christine Buxton 474 4124 email: christine.buxton@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director, Business Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an update on the 2010/11 provisional outturn position for the revenue budget and capital programme. The figures presented in the report were draft at the stage of submissions to the Scrutiny Committee and further details were to be submitted to the Executive Meeting at its meeting on 13 June 2011.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager.

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

The 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 – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That reports in respect of the following be submitted to future meetings of the Scrutiny Committee:-

·         Housing provision in Stockport.

·         Intermediate care.

·         The future of care for the elderly with particular focus on the current position in respect of Southern Cross.