Agenda item

To receive a report by the Head of Community Support Services (copy enclosed) summarising the Audit Wales Report of the Social Services Budgetary Cost Pressures in Denbighshire and provides Officers’ responses to the Proposals for Improvement.

Welsh Audit officer David Wilson presented the Audit Wales Report – Social Services Budgetary Cost Pressures (previously circulated).

This report summarised the Audit Wales Report of the Social Services Budgetary Cost Pressures in Denbighshire and provided officers’ responses to the Proposals for Improvement

In February 2020, Wales Audit Office (now Audit Wales) undertook a review of the commissioning and administering arrangements of care homes for older people. The final report was issued in August 2020 and reached the conclusion that the Council has been unable to maximise the potential benefits of partnership working when commissioning and administering residential and nursing home care placements.

The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (SSWBA) came into force on 6 April 2016. Under the SSWBA, councils and health boards have a statutory obligation to establish and maintain pooled fund arrangements in relation to the exercise of their care home accommodation functions by 6 April 2018. During Audit Wales’s fieldwork, we were made aware that the Welsh Government was undertaking a review assessing Regional Partnership Boards’ progress in implementing pooled funds. We understand that the Welsh Government would be making recommendations to strengthen and improve the existing arrangements. Denbighshire requested the deadline be extended and it was extended for one year.

The Corporate Director Communities felt it was important for the committee to see the report, and acknowledged the matters raised, the issues raised were not Denbighshire’s alone, and therefore could not be dealt with by Denbighshire alone, with regards to the pooled budget partnership working, we recognised that it had proved difficult.

The Head of Finance also added that the arrangements have been in place since last financial year, and the cost of administrating the money and not the money itself. These processes had been tested robustly during the COVID pandemic, the matter has been a learning curve, and the region wishes to go further with the matter.

General Debate –

·         Members were grateful for the report and agreed with numerous points within the Audit Wales report, the matter of moving money around within the partnership seemed as an unnecessary exercise. Officers responded that due to the movement of the money the partnership had a more financial data and could implement upon decision making.

·         The committee highlighted the uncertainty of the role Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) had throughout the whole process. BCUHB were members alongside the other 6 North Wales Councils, they were to assess how the money was spent as a collective, and the aim was for better integrated working and the use of resources.

·         The committee highlighted that there were two issues, the money being moved and the feeling it was an unneeded exercise, and what was the end aim of the partnership work. The Audit Wales officers responded the matter was not going to be left alone, the matter was in the audit plan for 2021, starting to look at the issues with social services and get a better understanding of the issues.

·         The committee queried whether there would be a follow up report, the timeframe for this piece of work was uncertain, the people who Audit Wales want to speak with were currently battling the second wave of the pandemic, with COVID need to be flexible with the matter, would likely report back in the summer.

RESOLVED that Corporate Governance and Audit Committee note the content of the report and request a follow up report be brought back to the committee in 2021.