Item 2

AT A MEETING of the SOCIAL CARE POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on Friday, 14 March 2003.

PRESENT

Councillors: M L Sheehan (Chairman); Mrs M D Snaith (Vice-Chairman);

Mrs P G Banks; K G Chapman; Mrs P Dickens; A G Dowden; Mrs J K Frankum;

Mrs K Heron; Mrs C A Leversha; A R Ludlow; Mrs A M McNair Scott;

Mrs E M F Randall; Mrs P A West; W H Wheeler; Miss J D Wride

Also in attendance Councillor Felicity Hindson MBE - Executive Member for Social Care

69 DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of debate, declare their interest and having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst he matter is discussed.

Councillors Mrs P Dickens and A R Ludlow declared non-pecuniary interests in item 6 on the agenda (Partnership Working with Health).

70 MINUTES

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 17 January 2003 were confirmed as a current record and signed by the Chairman.

71 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

(a) Laming Report

The Director of Social Services, at the request of the Chairman, updated
members on the outcome of the Laming Report on the Victoria Climbie Inquiry.
There were three main recommendations and the Government were still
considering a response to these. A multi-agency conference had been held in
Portsmouth attended by Lord Laming at which the County Council was
represented.


(b) Area Briefing for Members

The Chairman reported that, at the request of the Executive Member,
arrangements were being made for area briefings at a local level for Members of
the Committee.


(c) Next Meeting

The Chairman announced that, following the District Auditor's suggestion
that meetings of Policy Review Committees should be held in various parts of
the County, arrangements had been made for the next meeting of the Committee
to be held at Rushmoor Borough Council offices.

72 MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

There were no members' questions to this meeting.

73 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations to this meeting.

74 PARTNERSHIP WORKING WITH HEALTH

The Director of Social Services presented a report on the progress in developing the partnership with health, (Item 6 in the Minute Book). He said that partnership working was a recognised responsibility of all managers in the Social Services Department and Partnership Managers had been appointed to spearhead the planning of innovative and cost cutting services and enter into productive partnership arrangements with the National Health Service and other bodies. Links at a strategic level had been maintained with the new health authority through the continuation of a strong and positive close working relationship. He gave details of the enhanced Partnership Manager arrangements and elected Member links with the Primary Care Trusts - Elected Members had recently been appointed by the Leader of the Council to attend Primary Care Trust Board Meetings.

RESOLVED:

That:-

(a) The progress is developing the partnership with Health be noted.


(b) The arrangements for elected members to attend Primary Care Trust Board Meetings and the joint appointments of additional Partnership Managers to work with Primary care Trusts be welcomed.


(c) The report be commended to the Health Review Committee to inform its work in the overview and scrutiny of health service.


(d) A copy of the report be sent to each of the Primary Care Trusts.

75 SUPPORTING PEOPLE

The Director of Social Services presented a report giving details of the Supporting People programme and its implementation (Item 7 in the Minute Book). He outlined the benefits of the programme which offered the Commissioning Agencies led by the County Council as the Administering Authority the opportunity to make services more flexible and responsive to peoples needs.


RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

76 UPDATE ON RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION WITHIN SOCIAL SERVICES

The Director of social Services presented a report updating Members on the current difficulties in the social care labour market and the recruitment and retention initiatives being undertaken within Social Services.

RESOLVED:

That the actions taken to improve recruitment and retention be endorsed and a further report be presented to the Committee in Autumn 2003.

77 BEST VALUE REVIEWS

(a) Support for Children and Young People in the Community - Project Brief

The Chief Executive and Director of Social Services presented a report
on the Project Brief outline for the Best Value Review of the Support for
Children and Young People in the Community (Item 9a in the Minute Book). In
the light of the remodelling of the Social Services Department, it was proposed
that the review be carried out in two stages. Stage 1, focusing on those services
which remained unchanged as a result of the remodelling of Children's Services,
would include reception and assessment teams; the children and families aspect
of the out-of-hours services (Social Services Direct) and inclusion (school
based) social workers. Stage 2 focusing on Family Support Teams and Care
Leavers' Teams:-

In the light of the timescale identified for the review Members were
requested to confirm their continued participation on the Challenge Group.

RESOLVED:

That:-


(i) The Best Value review of Support for Children and Young People in the
Community proceeds in accordance with the approach timetable outlined
in the project brief.


(ii) The elected members on the Challenge Group be Councillors:
Mrs J K Frankum; Mrs P G E Holder-Brown; Mrs C A Leversha and
Mrs McNair Scott.



(b) Sensory Services - Options Report

The Chief Executive and Director of Social Services presented a report on
the options to deliver service outcomes (Item 9b in the Minute Book).
Option one was for the restructuring of existing staff resources, this being split
into two sections - the restructuring of the present seven teams into four larger
ones and a new element to the service for supporting newly diagnosed clients;
option two explores completely outsourcing the service and option three
examines integrating the Sensory Services into existing physical disabilities or
older persons teams.

RESOLVED:

That the Sensory Services' Best Value Review Team develops an improvement
plan based on option one, in conjunction with the two service improvements.

78 COMMITTEE'S WORK PROGRAMME

The Director of Social Services presented a report on the Committee's
forthcoming work programme (Item 10 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

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