Contact: John Clifton on ext. 7283 or Barbara Sorkin on ext. 5985

1 Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought.

· That the Executive Member accepts the Annual Review Letter from the SSI with its acknowledgement of many positive developments and the assistance it provides in improving performance.

· That the Executive Member notes with concern the inclusion of areas not under Hampshire's control; specifically the problems being experienced with the recently formed Criminal Records Bureau which are causing serious difficulties nationwide.

· That the executive member requests clarification from the SSI of the final bullet point in 3.2 concerning delays in criminal proceedings.

· That the executive member asks the Policy Review Committee, at its meeting on 26th July, to consider the Annual Review Letter together with this accompanying report and make any further policy recommendations to her.

2 Reason(s)

2.1 The Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) requires the Annual Review Letter to be presented to members within two months of receipt.

3 Other options considered and rejected

3.1 None

4 Conflicts of Interest declared by the decision-maker or a Member or Officer consulted

4.1 None

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

5.1 None

6 Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent

6.1 Not Applicable

Approved by: Date of decision:

Councillor Felicity Hindson

Contact: John Clifton Ext: 7283 or Barbara Sorkin Ext: 5985

1. Introduction

1.1 This report presents the Annual Review Letter from the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) to the Executive Member for accepting and noting. The letter reviews the Social Services Department's key improvements over the year and notes areas for development.

1.2 The letter is informed by the Performance Assessment Framework (PAF) reported to members last Autumn; the spring and Autumn position statements; regular inspections of services; detailed position statements, management action plans and an annual Review Meeting held in March with the Department's management team. The annual review letter, PAF and the spring and autumn position statements will all contribute to the star rating process which will be reported some time during May. In turn the star rating that the department receives will be used as the Social Services' input to the Comprehensive Performance Assessment process to measure the performance of the County Council as a whole.

1.3 This covering report welcomes the annual review as a valuable recognition of achievement and a helpful pointer to required developments most of which are in hand.

1.4 A copy of the Annual Review Letter is attached as Appendix 1.

2. Context

2.1 The PAF indicators were reported to the executive member and the PRC in December and January 2001 to 2002. This covering report will not repeat all the details of the PAF findings and the Department's action plans which are underway; just those concerning the headline indicators.

2.2 The Annual Review Letter has been designed to be short, accessible and informative, so it is suitable for a wide audience. Directors of Social Services have been asked to report the findings and recommendations of the Review to Councillors in open session within two months of the letter being finalised. Following this, the letters will be published on the Department of Health's website and available for comparison from late May. This is planned to augment the star ratings being published at the same time, facilitating improvements in services through information sharing between authorities.

3. Annual Review Letter

3.1 It is encouraging to note the SSI identified the following improvements.

· Progress in organisational remodelling

· Developing a workforce plan

· Four Social Service targets in the Public Service Agreement

· The County Council recognition of budget pressures and consequent increased funding for 2002/03, as in previous years.

· The anticipated balancing of the Social Services budget for 2001/02

· Positive work with key agencies including the care trust demonstrator site with the New Forest PCT, work on health scrutiny and key partnership work in achieving the Supporting People milestones.

· The good track record on direct payments, particularly noting 99 Older People now arranging their own care.

· The best value performance plan complying in all significant respects with statutory requirements.

3.2 The SSI Annual Review letter noted a number of developments that are taking place or are required for the coming year.

· These include ensuring staff at all levels understand their contribution to effective performance, with an acknowledgement that the new SAP system should assist in this process.

· Residential and Nursing Care for older People and delayed transfers of care from NHS hospitals remain a key area for activity. Significant investment of time and planning is taking place to ensure strategic investment of additional funding reduces dependency among older people and provides a speedier discharge from Hospital. The department is working closely with its health partners to achieve better outcomes.

· The acknowledgement that some of the poorer PAF indicators are due to counting problems is welcome. The department continues to address this issue and the County Council is investing in improved Social Care Information System to ensure, over time, improved information and data.

· While cost efficiency is a concern, the acknowledgement by the SSI of the market pressures in the South East of England, and consequent price pressures, is welcome. The department is making links with neighbouring authorities to try and improve service commissioning and is strengthening its contracting arm. These issues are also being addressed through the Best Value proccess.

· The comment about the Criminal Records Bureau, and delays in vetting the records needed to process job applications, is a concern. The remedy is not in the hands of the department, which is putting pressure on the Criminal Records Bureau to improve performance. This is particularly disappointing given the significant rise in costs associated with the formation of the new Bureau.

· The comment about delays in criminal proceedings is unclear and the SSI have been invited to provide information so that an appropriate response can be made. It is hoped that the SSI Inspector will be able to clarify at the meeting the apparent discrepancy between this comment and the records held by the Wessex Youth Offending Team which indicate a significant improvement.

3.3 It is greatly appreciated that the SSI see the Annual Review Meeting as a two way process. For example they have agreed to raise a number of issues more widely within the Department of Health:

· Reduced flexibility as a result of the increased proportion of specific grants.

· The Council received the 2^nd lowest increase in SSA for 2002/03. This has an impact across all client groups, especially when the costs of provision are rising significantly due to market forces within the South East.

· "Fairer Charging" guidance is likely to lead to significant loss of income from non residential charging.

· Concerns regarding the impact on services should the Council lose the area cost adjustment.

· Concerns about the real financial impact of the transfer of preserved rights.

3.4 At the Annual Review meeting Hampshire's action plans for dealing with poorer indicators were discussed.

(i) Across all indicators, where full details are not generated using the ACMS system, improved counting methods to be used to avoid the historic undercounting of jointly funded and specialist services.

(ii) Adults and Older People helped to live at home. It is expected that improvements in counting will significantly raise performance against all the 'helped to live at home' indicators. Additionally, workgroups have been established to make recommendations on any policy issues affecting these services.

(iii) Health of Children Looked After. There are two issues affecting this indicator, both related to the lack of relevant information. During 2000-2001 no data was available, and consequently this indicator was highlighted by the SSI. Work is continuing with both the Strategic Health Authority and the PCTs to facilitate collection of immunisation records. Some data has already been provided although there are ongoing problems with varied understandings around 'Caldicott Guardianship' rules relating to electronic data sharing. Additionally, training has been provided for Social Workers emphasising that records must be updated regularly with details of health and dental checks.

(iv) Percentage of people receiving a 'Statement of Needs'. This indicator is expected to remain poor for 2001-2002. While action has been taken to ensure that our care managed users have received a statement, the new users identified through improvement to the counting methods will not have received statements during the year. Work is underway to find methods for addressing this during 2002-2003 in a cost effective way.

4. Conclusions

Apart from one or two concerns, the ARM letter is a balance of recognition of achievement and areas for development and will assist the department in developing its services in 2002/3.

5. Recommendations

5.1 That the Executive Member accepts the Annual Review Letter from the SSI with its acknowledgement of many positive developments and the assistance it provides in improving performance.

5.2 That the Executive Member notes with concern the inclusion of areas not under Hampshire's control; specifically the problems being experienced with the recently formed Criminal Records Bureau which are causing serious difficulties nationwide.

5.3 That the executive member requests clarification from the SSI of the final bullet point in 3.2 concerning delays in criminal proceedings.

5.4 That the Executive Member asks the Policy Review Committee, at its meeting on 26th July, to consider the Annual Review Letter together with this accompanying report and make any further policy recommendations to her.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

None

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.