Agenda and draft minutes

Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting.

No declarations of interest.

Notice of items which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

No urgent matters.

To receive Minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 02 March 2017 (copy attached).

The minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee held on 02 March 2017 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 02 March 2017 be received and approved as a correct record.

To consider a report by the Project Manager- Regional Collaboration Team (copy attached) to provide an update of the Regional work underway to develop integration and pooled budgets for Health and Social Services.

9.35 a.m. -10.15 a.m.

Introducing the report (previously circulated)  the Corporate Director:  Communities (Statutory Director of Social Services) informed the Committee that the work underway to develop regional pooled budgets for North Wales, under the direction of the North Wales Regional Partnership Board (NWRPB), was still very much in its infancy.  Whilst Section 33 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 had created a legislative framework to facilitate the creation of pooled health and social care budgets, these provisions had not been widely used.  Consequently, the Welsh Government (WG) had in Section 9 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 made regulations requiring the establishment of pooled budgets for specific functions, these being:

·         Care home accommodation

·         Family support functions; and

·         Functions exercised jointly as a result of an assessment carried out under Section 14 of the 2014 Act, or any plan prepared under Section 14A of the same Act.

If appropriate pooled budgets could also be established to meet the costs of delivering other joint health and social care services.

Whilst the requirement to establish pooled budgets for family support functions and jointly exercised functions had come into effect from 6 April 2016, the pooled budget for care home accommodation functions would not become mandatory until 1 April 2018.  Agreements were already in place to facilitate the delivery of joint services in areas such as Integrated Family Support Services, the North Wales (Central) service covered Conwy and Denbighshire.  This practice would just need to be formalised in a legal agreement.   The Corporate Director explained that work was currently underway to establish which services, outside of the mandatory pooled budget services, could potentially benefit from a pooled budget approach.  Whilst the Health Board and local authorities were required by law to develop pooled budgets for the specified service areas, other organisations were not precluded from being partners in a pooled budget.  However, the driver for integration and pooled budgets should be needs identified within local Population Needs Assessments.  The NWRPB had established a Regional Pooled Budgets Project Group to develop a North Wales Integration Agreement for the approval of all six local authorities in the region and the Health Board.  At present the Project Group, chaired by Denbighshire’s Director of Social Services and supported by the Council’s Section 151 officer and Deputy Monitoring Officer, was exploring a number of areas for their suitability for pooled budget arrangements, as well as the viability of including current pooled budgets within future formal arrangements i.e. equipment stores etc.

Options on how best to deliver and govern ‘pooled budgets’ were currently being tested and quality assured by applying them to smaller budget commitment areas.  The results of this options appraisal would be presented to the NWRPB at its meeting in June 2017, for it to determine how best to proceed.  For care home accommodation pooled budget purposes individuals’ health and social care needs would be subject to the same assessment processes as at present.  A pilot project was due to be undertaken in Gwynedd to test out the legal aspects of care home accommodation pooled budget arrangements.   Legal aspects would be subject to thorough testing with a view to ensuring that one or more partners were not able to over utilise the pooled budget to alleviate their own budgetary pressures.  To safeguard against such practices robust governance arrangements would need to be established and embedded if pooled budgets were to realise their full potential.  Despite the need to ensure that all safeguards were robust prior to the establishment of pooled budgets the concept behind their establishment were commendable, as their creation would secure more buying power  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider a verbal update on the progress made to date with the development of the regional safeguarding boards and their work to safeguard vulnerable children and adults in Denbighshire.

10.30 a.m. – 11.15 a.m.

The Corporate Director:  Communities in response to the Committee’s request following consideration of the regional Safeguarding Boards first Annual Report in mid-2016, gave a verbal progress report on a number of issues raised by the Committee at that time.  She advised that the first annual report, since adult safeguarding had been placed on the same statutory footing as the safeguarding of children, had been produced jointly by the North Wales Safeguarding Children’s Board (NWSCB) and the North Wales Safeguarding Adults Board (NWSAB) and published as one report.  However, in future both boards would be required to publish separate reports.

During her presentation the Corporate Director informed the Committee that:

·         Denbighshire was now the host authority for the business functions of both Safeguarding Boards as well as all other regional social services collaborative projects.  All vacant posts had been subject to a recruitment campaign.  Nevertheless, there would always be vacant posts at some point in time due to staff moving on.  As Safeguarding posts were regional specialist posts, the majority of which required Welsh language skills in addition to other specialist skills, the pool of potential applicants was smaller.  Recruitment into one post could potentially lead to a vacancy elsewhere.  At present, following the departure of the Business Manager to a post elsewhere, a temporary Business Manager was in place pending the recruitment of a permanent post holder;

·         Finance for the Boards’ work for both the 2016/17 and 2017/18 had been agreed.  However, there was some uncertainty in relation to future funding due to the fact that the Board had built up some reserves with a view to cover potential shortfalls.  From 2018 onwards partner organisations’ financial contributions towards the Boards’ finances would be set as per a formula set out in Regulations;

·         All regional and sub-regional groups etc. established by the Safeguarding Boards had specified terms of reference.  Membership of those groups were subject to change based on the nature of the work they were tasked to undertake at any specific time;

·         The independent chair of the Child Practice Review Group had been a voluntary (3^rd) sector employee.  As that person had recently retired the chair’s role would be reviewed;

·         With respect to the standardisation of policies, protocols and procedures in relation to elected home education the Regional Safeguarding Children’s Board was of the view that the WG had not given adequate support to local authorities and Boards in this particular area of work.  The NWSCB did not have concerns about those children who were registered with local authorities as ‘elected home educated pupils’ their concerns lay with the ones who were not known to the authorities.  Citing a recent tragic case in Pembrokeshire members were requested, as part of their Corporate Safeguarding responsibilities role, to report to Social Services any cases they were uneasy about;

·         Denbighshire’s Chief Executive had been appointed as the Chair of the Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Executive Group;

·         The NWSAB did not have the powers to report on care home non-compliance matters to Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW)

·         Regular training on child and adult protection awareness was provided to all staff who had patient/client contact, be they care, health, Police or other staff.  Specialist training was provided to those who required specific skills in a particular area;

·         Board members were not remunerated for their roles on the Boards, they were salaried for their regular employment duties.  It was only the Boards’ Business Unit staff that were salaried.  Some Board Members served on both the NWSCB and the NWASB, the objective of this was to ensure that all areas of concern were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

At this juncture (10.50 a.m.) there was a 15 minute break.

The meeting reconvened at 11.05 a.m.

To consider a report by the Scrutiny Coordinator (copy enclosed) seeking a review of the committee’s forward work programme and updating members on relevant issues.

11.15 a.m. – 11.25 a.m.

A copy of a report by the Scrutiny Co-ordinator, which requested the Committee to review and agree its Forward Work Programme and provided an update on the relevant issues, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

A copy of the “Member’s proposal form” template had been included at Appendix 2, Cabinet’s Forward Work Programme had been included as Appendix 3, and a table summarising recent Committee resolutions and advising on progress with their implementation had been attached at Appendix 4.

The Committee confirmed its draft Forward Work Programme for future meetings and the following additions were agreed:-

14 September 2017-

Local arrangements for existing Pooled Budgets.

02 November 2017-

Regional Pooled Budgets

RESOLVED that subject to the above, the Forward Work Programme be approved.

To receive any updates from Committee representatives on various Council Boards and Groups.

11.25 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.

No feedback.

As the meeting was the Committee’s last scheduled meeting prior to the local authority elections the Chair thanked members for their contribution to its work during the current Council’s term of office.  She wished all members who were seeking re-election well in the forthcoming elections and conveyed the Committee’s gratitude to officers who had supported the Committee’s work throughout the above period.

The meeting concluded at 11.25 a.m.