Agenda, decisions and minutes

Purpose: To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

Personal interest declared by Councillors Dave Mackie and Hilary McGuill.

Councillor Dave Mackie declared a personal interest in the following items as he was a member of the Community Health Council and the Fostering Panel:

Agenda Item 4 - Social Services Wellbeing Act Update

Agenda Item 5 - Q2 Mid Year Improvement Plan Monitoring Report

Councillor Hilary McGuill declared a personal interest on Agenda Item 5 as a family member had been the recipient of a Disabled Facilities Grant.

Purpose: To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2015.

That, subject to the amendment, the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2015 had been circulated with the agenda.

Accuracy

On Declarations of Interest, the Chairman clarified that he was a member of the Adoption Panel and that Councillor Dave Mackie was a member of the Fostering Panel.

Matters Arising

Councillor Hilary McGuill asked that the criteria for the new national eligibility framework be shared before March 2016, along with the current criteria.  The Senior Manager: Commissioning and Performance agreed to share the current criteria and would circulate the new criteria when this had been received from Welsh Government.  Councillor McGuill asked that the two sets of information be provided in the same format to allow for comparison.

On rota visits, the Chief Officer confirmed that visits had taken place to at least three private sector homes and had been well received by Members.

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the amendment, the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

(a)       That the overall assessment that we are well placed in preparing for the implementation of the Act; and

(b)       That the Committee receive regular updates about implementing the Act and gives further consideration to how elected Members can support the core principles and key messages of the Act.

The Chief Officer introduced an update on the fundamental changes in the policy and legislative framework which underpinned the Council’s work to prepare for implementation of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act from 6 April 2016.  The legislation was important not only to Social Services but also to wider services and its extensive scope included new responsibilities for councils and health boards on transforming service delivery.  The legislation would be implemented through a phased approach and would change expectations between service providers and service users by providing support at an earlier stage to encourage longer independent living.

The Senior Manager: Commissioning and Performance said that the Council was well placed to prepare for the incoming Act and detailed the key principles, as set out in the report, to be implemented on completion of the formal consultations.  These were linked to the ‘What Matters’ assessment, the development of the Single Point of Access (SPOA) system and the new regional Dewis portal.  To explain more about the aim of the Act, the Committee was shown a brief animation clip entitled ‘What matters to you - matters to us’ available on the Social Services Improvement Agency (SSIA) website.

Although some details were still awaited from the Welsh Government (WG), the Council had already begun preparations through a range of training sessions aimed at raising basic awareness with staff with more targeted training for practitioners.  The Workforce Development Manager encouraged Members to access details on the Act via the Care Council for Wales information and learning hub, of which a link would be made available.  She spoke about the Council’s involvement in the SSIA pilot initiative on outcome focussed training and the rollout of nationally commissioned training modules in February 2016.

The Occupational Therapist Senior Practitioner from the First Contact and Intake team delivered a presentation on actions which had been taken to address the increase in referral rates and decreased resources.  She described improvements to the team structure and the trialling of integrated assessment documentation which had been well received, and gave example case studies where the team had worked with individuals to identify and resolve underlying issues to achieve the outcomes expressed by those individuals.

The Information Officer provided details on the Dewis portal which offered a range of information on the requirements of the Act and shared copies of newsletters on the system and SPOA.  The Dewis portal had been live since September 2015 and would be publicly launched in February 2016 to coincide with further information on the Act.  A link to the Dewis Cymru website was included in the report and Members were offered the opportunity for a practical demonstration after the meeting.

Whilst Councillor Dave Mackie welcomed the layout of the report in clarifying the 11 key proposed changes from the Act, he pointed out that links to background documents should be accessible to allow proper consideration.  He felt that presentations should be based on information already given to Members rather than new information, and that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

(a)       That the report be noted; and

(b)       That the comments on the ‘red’ risk areas be referred to the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny who are responsible for the overview and monitoring of performance.

The Facilitator introduced the regular update report to consider progress towards the delivery of the impacts set out in the 2015/16 Improvement Plan, focussing on the areas of under-performance relevant to the Committee during the second quarter.  The only red risk area was where performance on the average number of calendar days taken to deliver a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) for children had slightly exceeded the target.

Councillor Hilary McGuill referred to changing needs over time and felt that a better approach was for more cost-effective responsive intervention by Occupational Therapists to help families with a disabled child.  The Chief Officer agreed and said that alternative proportionate options were explored, as opposed to traditional approaches, to respond to the needs of individuals.  On the performance outturn, he reported that there had been some improvement despite the number of complex cases.

The Senior Practitioner added that Occupational Therapists tended to adopt a more creative approach as part of their everyday work and shared information with peer groups.

In response to questions from Councillor McGuill, the Senior Manager: Integrated Services, Lead Adults explained that the red risk had not met its target due to legal aspects on property ownership rather than the assessment process.  She was aware of a list of DFG adaptations for adults but would check if a similar list was kept for children.

Councillor Dave Mackie asked if future reports could include reasons for where the target had not been met.  The Chief Officer agreed to relay this to colleagues.  On family support, Councillor Mackie reiterated concerns raised by schools on the need for parents to ensure their children were toilet trained before attending nursery, and the impact this had on school resources.  Councillor Jones said that the support available from Flying Start worked well in those particular areas and the Senior Manager pointed out the role of health visitors in supporting parents.  In response to further queries, explanation was provided on progress with the integration of teams and availability of confidential working areas in the Flint office.

On safeguarding, Councillor McGuill welcomed the integration of adults and children’s services but questioned whether effective communication channels were in place, following an email recently circulated.  She stressed the importance of preparing children in care for adulthood to ensure they were equipped with the life skills needed for that transition period so that they were able to cope when support was later withdrawn.

As a kinship carer, the Chairman commended the different elements of support given to him and his family.

The Chief Officer said that the Safeguarding Unit was highly regarded as had been recognised during the recent inspection of Children’s Services.  He explained that services for adults and children were co-located in the Flint office which enabled easier communication.  On Children’s Services, he said that the Authority was doing as much as any other to seek improvements and share learning, and that there was a balance of support for children in care to prepare them for the wider  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Purpose: To receive a verbal report from Members of the Committee.

That the information be noted.

Councillors Dave Mackie and Hilary McGuill gave a positive report on their visits to independent sector care homes.  They praised the expertise and knowledge of Nicki Kenealy and referred to the importance of these homes in providing aftercare for people leaving hospital.  Councillor Mackie also gave positive feedback on the support provided to people attending the short-term care houses for learning disabilities at Hafod and Woodlee, and on the management of this service (Jayne Appleby).

Councillor Christine Jones spoke in support of her visit to The Cottage Nursing Home in Mold.

RESOLVED:

That the information be noted.

That the Forward Work Programme be updated accordingly.

The Facilitator introduced a report to enable the Committee to consider the Forward Work Programme.  The following was agreed:

·           The CSSIW Annual Report to be prioritised first on the agenda for the meeting on 21 January 2016.

·           Confirmation that the Committee would meet to finalise the 2016/17 budget on Monday 25 January 2016 at 2pm.

·           Members of the Committee would be invited to attend the Organisational Change Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting in February 2016 for a report on alternative delivery models.

·           The two Children’s Services related items scheduled for 3 March 2016 to be combined into one report.

·           A working group on the Annual Council Reporting Framework (ACRF) would need to be arranged prior to consideration of this item at the Committee’s meeting in April 2016.

·           Representatives of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to attend a special meeting of the Committee on Wednesday, 8 June 2016 at 10am.

The Chief Officer advised that this would be the last time that the ACRF would be presented, due to a change to the regulations next year.

RESOLVED:

That the Forward Work Programme be updated accordingly.

There were no members of the press or public in attendance.