Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the SOCIAL CARE POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on Friday, 28November 2003

PRESENT

Councillors: Mrs. P.G. Banks (Chairman); Jenny Wride (Vice-Chairman);

A.G. Dowden; E.F. Gale MBE; Mrs. P.G.E. Holden-Brown; Mrs. C.A. Leversha;

Mrs. E.M.F. Randall; Mrs. V. Steel; Mrs. P.A. West.

Also in attendance: Councillor Felicity Hindson MBE - Executive Member, Social Care.

115 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

No members declared any interest.

116 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 September 2003 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Arising thereon:-

(a) Minute 102(a) - Update on Management Action Plans to improve performance

The Director of Social Services reported that the National Care Standards Commission had now replied saying that they did not keep data on details of the number of single rooms available for purchase in Hampshire. Members were concerned that no such data was kept and requested that a further letter be sent to the National Care Standards Commission suggesting that such data was appropriate and useful.

(b) Minute 107 - Establishment of Policy Sub-Group - Children's Issue

Councillor Mrs. Holden-Brown reported that she would be the other Liberal Democrat representative on the sub-group.

117 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATION

Best Value Reviews of Care Management and Sensory Services

The Chairman reported that Professor Sheldon of the Centre for Evidence Based Social Services based at Exeter University had said that there was widespread interest in the two studies about face to face contact proportion and having read the papers he was greatly impressed with them.

Dr. Roly of Southampton University had also written describing the successful projects that two MSC Management Science students undertook with social services this Summer and wanted to cite these placements, using the County Council logo, in promotional material used by the University. The students had used highly sophisticated mathematical tools (used by Ford and British Airways) to analyse two services and produced concrete recommendations to deliver improvement. A costed implementation plan had been commissioned to realise the students' recommendations.

118 MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

There were no members' questions to this meeting.

119 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations to this meeting.

120 BEST VALUE REVIEW OF SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY - PROGRESS REPORT

The Director of Social Services presented a report updating members on the progress of Stage 1 of the Best Value Review of the support of the children and young people in the community (Item 6 in the Minute Book). He outlined the progress to date with Stage 1 of the Review and summarised the emerging findings. He said that the County Council was in the middle of the consultation on the Green Paper "Every Child Matters" which runs from September to December 2003. The Green Paper included the Government's response to Lord Laming's enquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié and set out the framework for wide-ranging reforms. The Best Value Review was responding to the national context in three ways, by mapping the recommendations of the working groups with the Green Paper recommendations, by enabling stakeholders to consider the implications to the Green Paper at a consultation event on 20 November and by working with the Best Value Review of Education other than school (EOTAS) in order to identify joint proposals. Work was already underway to address some of the areas for improvement identified by the review. Further improvements were needed, these would be brought to the attention of the relevant managers prior to the options report. The Review Team proposed to present the options report to the Policy Review Committee in March 2004 and a revised project plan was presented to Members. Further consultation was required regarding arrangements for Stage 2 of the review which included family support and care leavers services.

RESOLVED:

That:-

(a) All involved in the review to date be thanked for their committed service.

(b) Plans to extend Stage 1 of the Review until May 2004 be endorsed.

121 HAMPSHIRE FOSTERING SERVICE - STATEMENT OF PROGRESS AND ANNUAL REPORT

The Director of Social Services presented the Statement of Purpose and Annual Report for Hampshire Fostering Service (Item 7 in the Minute Book). He outlined the structure of the service, fostering panel functions, the support for foster carers and their families and the recruitment of foster carers. He stressed that there was a legal requirement for an elected member to be on each of the six fostering panels in Hampshire and requested members to give consideration to serving on one of the panels. Councillors Chapman, Mrs. Heron, Mrs. Randall, Mrs. Steel and Jenny Wride had indicated their willingness to serve on the panels.

RESOLVED:

That:-

(a) The report be noted.

(b) The Executive Member for Social Care be recommended to approve the Statement of Purpose for the Hampshire Fostering Service.

122 HAMPSHIRE ADOPTION SERVICE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND ANNUAL REPORT

The Director of Social Services presented a Statement of Purpose and Annual Report for the Hampshire Adoption Service (Item 8 in the Minute Book). He outlined the work of the Adoption Panels, gave a comparative summary of panel activity from 1 April 2002 to 31March 2003 and details of the work of the Adoption Team. It was reported that Barbara Greenrod, the Legal Adviser to the Adoption Panel and Team, was shortly to retire and Members thanked her for her hard work that she had carried out for the Panel and the Team.

RESOLVED:

That:-

(a) The report be noted.

(b) The Executive Member for Social Care be recommended to approve the Statement of Purpose for Hampshire Adoption Service.

123 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OPERATION OF THE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

The Director of Social Services presented the annual report of the Complaints and Customer Care Service which incorporated the Annual Report of the operation of the complaints procedure (Item 9 in the Minute Book). He highlighted two key areas of learning which were how complaints were dealt with and what was the learning for the Social Services Department.

RESOLVED:

That the report be received and noted.

124 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK

The Director of Social Services presented a report describing the Performance Assessment Framework (PAF) process used by the Department of Health to measure national and local performance in giving details of Hampshire's results for 2002/03, highlighting key achievements and areas for improvement (Item 10 in the Minute Book). Hampshire County Council had retained two stars for social services with an assessment of excellent capacity for improvement. The report covered the annual review letter, results for individual performance indicators, the two star rating awarded to Hampshire Social Services and how this fitted in to both the national PAF for social care and the corporate comprehensive performance assessment. Overall Hampshire's social services performance had improved, with some variations between client groups. The County Council was awarded the maximum classification for 13 of the 49 indicators published, 6 for childcare and 7 for adults and older people. The minimum classification was awarded for 3 indicators, employment, education and training of care leavers; healthcare for looked after children and provision of a statement of needs to adult service users. In acknowledging further scope for improvement in these areas, difficulties in collecting the information had contributed to the classification.

RESOLVED:

That:-

(a) The Report be accepted.

(b) All be congratulated on the work and effort that went into achieving the retention of the two star status with an excellent capacity for improvement.

(c) The Executive Member for Social Care be advised that matters of priority that require specific attention and actions subject to available sources are:-

To comply with PAF indicators B17 and C37, every effort should be made to enable people to stay in their own homes with support rather than moved into residential care.

125 MEMBERS ATTENDANCE AT CONFERENCES

The Chief Executive presented a report giving details of conferences attended by members since the last meeting of the Committee (Item 11 in the Minute Book). Councillor Jenny Wride gave details of the Daybreak Building Community Power Networks Conference which she had attended on 7 October; Councillors Mrs. Steel and Jenny Wride gave details of the National Social Services Conference "The Challenge of Change" which they had attended along with
Councillors Mrs. McNair-Scott and Felicity Hindson and Councillor Felicity Hindson gave details of the conference she had attended on the role of Councillors and Councils as corporate parents.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and Councillors Felicity Hindson, Mrs. Steel and
Jenny Wride be thanked for their presentations.

126 THE EQUALITY STANDARDS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Equality and Diversity Adviser presented a report informing members of their role in compliance with the equality standard for local government and the Race Relations Amendment Act through the implementation of the Corporate Equality Plan and Race Scheme (Item 12 in the Minute Book). She spoke about the five levels of achievement and said that level 1 had now been achieved and the County Council was well on the way to achieving level 2.

RESOLVED:

That Members note the training courses available in early 2004 and the need to be aware of the obligation to ensure that decisions clearly show how equality impact assessment had been undertaken.

127 MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSIONING PLAN 2003/06

The Director of Social Services presented the Mental Health Commissioning Plan for 2003/06 (Item 13 in the Minute Book). He described how social service plans to meet national and local requirements in response to the Mental Health National Framework.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and the Executive Member for social care be recommended to accept the Mental Health Commissioning Plan 2003/06.

128 COMMITTEE'S WORK PROGRAMME

The Director of Social Services presented the Committee's forthcoming work programme (Item 14 in the Minute Book). Included within the programme were details of Members' visits to children's homes. He also updated Members on additional reports that were to be presented to the Committee. The Chairman urged members to continue to make appointments to visit children's homes.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and the Director of Social Services circulate all members with the updated programme by e-mail.

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