Issue - meetings

(a)       That the reductions to the Supporting People Grant be noted and the proposed approach to managing reductions be supported;  

(b)       That the progress of the Supporting People team in the last twelve months be noted;

(c)        That the Draft Flintshire Local Commissioning Plan be supported;

(d)       That regular updates on the progress of the grant be reported to Committee; and

(e)       That progression of the draft Flintshire Local Commissioning Plan to the final document be reported to Committee.           

The Community Support Services Manager introduced a report to update the Committee on the Supporting People Programme in Flintshire and seek support for the Local Commissioning Plan. 

It was reported that the Local Authority was required to develop a three year Commissioning Strategy that would inform the priorities within the Regional Commissioning Strategy.  However, Local Authorities in North Wales had developed 12 month Commissioning Plans to cover the transition period and allow time for reviewing of existing services, new developments and appropriate targeting of reductions.  Welsh Government had been supportive of this approach, recognising that the level of reductions in North Wales made longer term planning at this stage more of a challenge.  The Programme was facing significant reductions in funding year on year and it had been indicated that funding would reduce by approximately 5% in 2014/15 and 2015/16.  An approach was being considered of how to respond to the reduction in funding which could include remodelling projects or working with providers on leaner processes but it was important not to apply a blanket cut approach to services.  The Community Support Services Manager advised that the Flintshire Supporting People Team had led on a number of successful local and sub regional developments over the last twelve months which included Flintshire ‘Nightstop’ Service, Body Positive and the Support Gateway and she provided further details on the schemes/projects.  It was also reported that there were opportunities for some short term developments to make best use of funding that was available now but could not be committed long term which included a two year mental health low level floating support service and one year additional funding to Age Connects.  Reductions from the service were also reported and included a reduction of £98,280 from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) Learning Disability Services which were not eligible to be funding by Supporting People Programme Grant. 

In response to a question from Councillor Carol Ellis about the total amount of the grant, the Supporting People Manager said that it had been indicated that the grant would be approximately £6.8m for 2013/14, £6.4m for 2014/15 and £6.1m for 2015/16.  She also confirmed that the six North Wales authorities were also seeing reductions in their funding but that some Councils, including those in South Wales, would be receiving an increase in the grant. 

Councillor Alison Halford referred to the opportunity for a two year mental health low level floating support service and said that as mental health could affect anyone whether they be young or old, that funding be treated as a priority.  Following a question from Councillor Rosetta Dolphin about whether funding was being withdrawn from the Acquired Brain Injury project in Greenfield, the Community Support Services Manager advised that funding had been realigned but that this would not have an impact on the project.  In referring to mental health issues, Councillor Hilary Isherwood said that mental health was the ‘cinderella’ of the health care service.  She added that it was crucial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11