AT A MEETING of the SOCIAL CARE POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on Friday, 19 March 2004

PRESENT

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

Mrs. P. Dickens; A.G. Dowden; Mrs. J.K. Frankum; E.F. Gale, MBE; Mrs. C.A. Leversha;

A.R. Ludlow; Mrs. A.M. McNair Scott; Mrs. P.G. Peskett; Mrs. E.M.F. Randall; Mrs. V. Steel; Mrs. P.A. West.

143 DECLARATIONS 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 the 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 the matter is discussed.

Councillors Mrs. Dickens and Ludlow declared non-pecuniary interests in Item 10.

144 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 23 January 2004 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

145 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

(a) Children Bill

At the request of the Chairman, the Director of Social Services outlined the proposals contained in the Children Bill and the proposed timescales.

146 MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

There were no Members' questions to this meeting.

147 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations to this meeting.

148 LEIGH PARK FAMILY AND SCHOOL SUPPORT TEAM (FASST)

The Director of Social Services presented a report on the performance of the Leigh Park Family and Support Team (Item 6 in the Minute Book). He outlined what was offered under the scheme and gave examples of families and situations that the support team had been dealing with. Members were of the opinion that this was an excellent example of multi-agency working and commended the report to the Education Policy Review Committee.

RESOLVED:

That:-

(a) The report be received and it be noted that the FASST approach was a possible contribution to the County Council's work in the light of the Children Bill.


(b) The report be commended to the Education Policy Review Committee for consideration.

149 SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY
BEST VALUE OPTIONS REPORT

The Chief Executive and Director of Social Services presented a report detailing the options available following the best value review of support for children and young people in the community (Item 7 in the Minute Book). The report concluded the second phase of the review. The review focused on inclusion of social workers in schools, reception and assessment teams and the out-of-hours service. The timescale for the review had been extended by four months in the light of the publication of the Green Paper "Every Child Matters" which set out a framework for wide-ranging reforms of children's services.

The report gave details of the findings of the review and identified the options for change, and proposed that the findings and options that had been developed be considered as part of the joint work being carried out by the Social Services and Education Departments in response to the Children Bill.

It was agreed that there should be an internal review of family support teams and care leavers' teams with continued involvement of elected Members and the findings be presented to the joint working group of the two departments.

RESOLVED:

That:-

(a) The findings of the review and options that had been developed be considered as part of the joint work being carried out by the Social Services and Education Departments in response to the Children Bill, with scrutiny by elected Members, improvement planning, implementation and monitoring arrangements being addressed within the joint work.


(b) The care review team draw up an action plan to implement service improvements identified in the review.


(c) Councillor Jenny Wride replace Councillor Mrs. Leversha on the care review team.


(d) An internal service review of family support teams and care leavers' teams be carried out, with the continued involvement of elected Members and the findings be presented to the joint working group of the two departments.

150 MONITORING OF BEST VALUE REVIEWS

The Director of Social Services presented a report informing Members of the progress made on the reviews completed in years 1, 2 and 3 (Item 8 in the Minute Book). All reviews in years 1 and 2 had now been completed, the review of support for children and young people in the community had been dealt with in the previous item and progress of the review on sensory services would be phased in over the next two years and continued to be monitored.

RESOLVED:

That:-

(a) Progress made on best value reviews to date be endorsed.


(b) Completed reviews will not be the subject of further monitoring reports.


(c) A further report on the progress of the sensory services review be presented to the Committee in March 2005.


(d) The appendices attached to the report inform the development of the Hampshire County Council Performance Plan.

151 SUB-GROUP ON CHILDREN'S ISSUES - RESIDENTIAL CARE

The Director of Social Services presented a report on the work being undertaken by the sub-group of Members looking into children's residential care provided by Hampshire County Council (Item 9 in the Minute Book). Councillor Jenny Wride, Chairman of the sub-group, outlined the terms of reference of the sub-group and the issues it had addressed to date. She urged all Members to take the opportunity to visit children's homes. She said that the issues being explored were complex and there was a need for further examination in order to respond fully to the terms of reference and that firm conclusions at present would be premature with the recent publication of the Children Bill.

RESOLVED:

That the period of time for the sub-group to scrutinise residential care be extended by a further six months in order to:-

(a) Allow sufficient time to address the issues raised, including the appropriate use of transport.


(b) Examine in more detail the outcomes of those children and young people receiving support from the Social Services Department's residential services.


(c) Consider the implications of the Children Bill.

152 DELAYED TRANSFERS OF CARE UPDATE

The Director of Social Services presented a report updating Members on delayed transfers of care (Item 10 in the Minute Book). Staff had worked hard in a pressurised and difficult environment to reduce social care delays over the past year.

153 SOCIAL SERVICES WORKFORCE PLAN

The Director of Social Services presented a summary of the workforce plan for Social Services which will be presented to Cabinet (Item 11 in the Minute Book). He highlighted the detailed strategy, which included children and families; youth offending team partnership; older persons; adults - learning disability, mental health and physical disability; the resource sector and partnerships and supporting people, and summarised changes in workforce numbers.

RESOLVED:

That the Social Services workforce plan be commended to the Cabinet.

154 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 12 in the Minute Book). Councillor Mrs. Banks gave details of the Altogether Now - Partnership Working between Education, Health and Social Care in Services for Children with Special Educational Needs conference that she had attended at the University of Birmingham.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and Councillor Mrs. Banks be thanked for her presentation.

155 COMMITTEE'S WORK PROGRAMME

The Director of Social Services presented the Committee's forthcoming work programme (Item 13 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

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