Archived decisions

REPORT OF THE

EXECUTIVE MEMBER

ADULT SOCIAL CARE

PART II

HAMPSHIRE SAFEGUARDING ADULTS BOARD ANNUAL REPORT

Hampshire County Council Adult Services have the leadership role for safeguarding adults across all agencies and the Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Elected Members provide scrutiny of this role. All safeguarding referral alerts raised, either through Hampshire County Council or partnership organisations, are reported to the Adult Services Department and are included within the data outlined in the Annual Report published on behalf of the Hampshire Safeguarding Adults Board. The Executive Member for Adult Social Care has endorsed their recently published 2008/09 Annual Report .

The 2008/09 Annual Report describes all the activity of the Safeguarding Adults Board and highlights issues for key partner agencies who are members of the Board, along with major priorities for 2009/10. It contains contributions from the broad range of agencies who are members of that Board, reflecting a strong joint commitment and the continuing and positive development of a robust multi agency response to Safeguarding Adults in Hampshire.

The Annual Report demonstrates that there has been significant progress against the priorities set out in the previous annual report, particularly around the approach to:-

(i) commissioning and providing safe services in Hampshire;

(ii) the involvement of Service Users in Safeguarding Adults;

(iii) responses to national inquiry findings such as the inquiry into the murder of Steven Hoskin (in Cornwall) ;

(iv) Contributions to and learning from national developments in the field of Safeguarding Adults.

The report also positively highlights an increase in the number of reported cases of adult abuse during 2008/09. This increase is evidence of;

· Hampshire County Council and partners having worked hard to raise public and professional awareness of safeguarding. This work has included the production of public awareness literature, developed alongside service users through the Safeguarding Board Forum.

· There having been increased levels of training for professionals, both provided by individual organisations and in partnership with one another, which lead to increased referrals

· Data collection processes having been refined in order to make better links between the information and other systems across partner organisations.

· Increased life expectancy, with increasing numbers of older people and adults with complex needs, who are most vulnerable to abuse, living in the community

During 2008/09 there has also been a focus on financial abuse, which has shown a 76% increase in cases being reported. This increase reflects the County Council's proactive work with the police, legal and banking organisations - both locally and nationally - to develop our joint approach to situations of financial abuse and to raise awareness of what it is and how to report it.

During 2009/10 the safeguarding agenda will be developed, with a particular focus on:-

(i) Personalisation: to ensure that safeguarding is embedded in the development of the personalisation agenda, to enable people to have more choice and control in the approaches they take to meeting their needs and the outcomes they wish to see.

(ii) Prevention of abuse: a programme of work to reduce the risk of abuse/neglect across a range of settings will be developed, including work with service users, to enable them to identify safeguarding risks and develop strategies for preventing abuse.

(iii) Data Collection: data collection processes will continue to be refined, to develop measurable outcomes from safeguarding processes.

(iv) Promotion of Awareness: this will continue and most recently, has resulted in a piece about financial abuse, placed in the Hampshire Now magazine.

Further details of the report considered by the Executive Member for Adult Social Care may be found at /decisions/decisions-docs/091009-ascexc-R1002095728

SUPPORTING PEOPLE APPROACH TO PROCUREMENT/
EXTRA-CARE HOUSING TENDERING & PROCUREMENT

The Executive Member for Adult Social Care has recently approved revised procurement procedures to be used in respect of services funded through the Supporting People (SP) Programme. Having done so, the Executive Member then also approved the approach to be used when tendering and procuring contracts in respect of Extra-Care Housing schemes (both for new-build and enhanced schemes).

The Supporting People (SP) programme has been in existence since 2003. The programme is based on close partnership working, with the County Council acting as administering authority on behalf of a partnership of the County Council, the eleven District, Borough and City Councils contained within its boundaries, the Hampshire Probation Service and Hampshire NHS. The direction and policies of the partnership are determined by the County Core Group which brings together these partners along with representatives of the Third Sector and Service Users. This partnership was recognised by the Audit Commission in their 2007 report as providing "an excellent service that has excellent prospects for improvement". This is the highest possible rating from the Audit Commission and Hampshire is the only two tier authority to have received it.

The programme delivers housing support services to some 14,000 individuals across Hampshire. Services are commissioned according to need within the context of the overall financial allocation. Budget management is carried out over a three year cycle with contracts being awarded for a similar period.

Funding for these services is received from Communities and Local Government (CLG) under Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 (in 2010/11 it is proposed that this become a named grant within the Area Based Grant). Funding received for the programme for 2009/10 is £31.01m with a provisional allocation from CLG for 2010/11 of £30.12m.

The procurement process that the Executive Member has agreed for the SP programme is divided into two parts. Firstly the process establishes the competency and fitness of the prospective organisation to hold a contract with Hampshire County Council by inclusion on an `Approved Register of Providers'. The Supporting People team then assess the capacity and ability of potential providers to deliver a specific service and procure them accordingly. Applications to join the Approved Register of Providers are invited annually by means of public advertisements on appropriate websites. Applicants for inclusion are then assessed on:

(i) financial viability; (ii) competency of administrative procedures; (iii) Effective employment practices; (iv) Robust management procedures and (v) Track record & competence. Once accepted onto the Approved Register of Providers, an organisation remains so for three years, and is notified of all services to be tendered by Hampshire SP, including those where support and care are to be jointly provided.

During the life of the contract, each service is subject to a rigorous process of quarterly performance monitoring against the set targets. In addition, service quality is assessed annually through a nationally developed Quality Assessment Framework. Before the expiry of each contract a more in depth review is conducted and an assessment is made regarding the continuing need for the service and the quality of the current provider's performance. If the service remains relevant, continues to be needed, provides value for money and over the life time of the contract has been consistently delivered at a high standard then the existing provider will normally be offered a new three year contract. This minimises disruption to vulnerable service users, ensures standards are maintained throughout the life of all contracts and that value for money is maintained. It also ensures service providers are provided with an incentive to invest and continually improve the quality of the services they deliver. If it is proposed to substantially change the nature of a service or if quality has not been maintained then the service required will be advertised for open tender to all providers on the Approved Provider list.

Cabinet approved the Adult Services Department Modernisation Strategy in December 2006 and the Better Housing Solutions Strategy in September 2007. This set the strategy for creating an alternative to residential care. Extra-Care housing is an alternative to other forms of housing support and social care, the implementation of which is now being led by the Executive Member for Adult Social Care.

Support for Extra-Care schemes emphasises Hampshire's commitment to its long-term strategic approach to a new generation of housing support and care for older people. Extra-Care schemes promote and support Independent Living and Lifetime Neighbourhoods with benefits including residents being able to stay in their own homes for longer, couples being able to stay together, building sustainable communities and preparing for the demographic challenges facing Hampshire County Council.

Having agreed the formal procurement procedure to be adopted for joint care and support contracts, the Executive Member for Adult Social Care then agreed that care and support for the currently planned schemes can be delivered through a joint single contract for each Extra-Care scheme. The length of each contract will be for three years with an option to extend by an additional two years. Schemes considered by the Executive Member (four new build schemes and eight enhanced schemes, located in Andover, Basingstoke, Eastleigh, Fareham and Lymington) now bring the total forecast number of Extra-Care housing units across Hampshire to 573.

The Executive Member received a detailed financial appraisal in respect of the Extra-Care Housing tendering and procurement report that she considered on 9 October, some elements of which were confidential so as to avoid prejudicing the tendering process.

Further details of the reports considered by the Executive Member for Adult Social Care may be found at /decisions/decisions-docs/091009-ascexc-R1002095703 and /decisions/decisions-docs/091009-ascexc-R1002095715.

FELICITY HINDSON, MBE

Executive Member for Adult Social Care