Agenda item

(a)     That Members note the work of the contracts and commissioning team and the number of services they support and develop both in Flintshire and out of county; and

(b)     That Members note the planning work being undertaken for the new regional domiciliary care framework agreement needed to replace the existing framework which runs to 31^st March 2025.

The Senior Manager - Safeguarding and Commissioningadvised that this report had been brought toCommittee to repot the activity for the North Wales Domiciliary Care Agreement and the framework that was under development, stating that commissioning was a large part of the service provided by Social Services.

The Commissioning Manager gave background to the report before going into detail about the Domiciliary Care Agreement stating that Commissioning was a cyclical activity to assess the needs of its local population for care and support services.  She explained that the North Wales Domiciliary Care Agreement was a project between the six local authorities and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and that it had been in place since 2018 and was due to end on 31 March 2025 and that work had been started to complete the cycle. The agreement was a list of providers who had demonstrated their ability and competence to deliver domiciliary care that allowed them to purchase placements. The current Agreement covered Domiciliary Care Services for adults only but due to the success, the re-tendering would be expanded to include Domiciliary Care Services for Children / Young People / Adults and their Families / carers and older people.

          In response to Councillor McGuill’s question, the Commissioning Manager confirmed that there were 13 registered Children and Young People Residential Homes which included new in-house homes.  On the number of current Out of County Placements for children, the Senior Manager (Children and Workforce) replied that there were usually around 40 children in residential care of which some would be based in the 13 homes within Flintshire, but gave assurance that all the children were in registered homes and that the out of county data would be provided.

          Councillor Owen questioned the difference between registered and non-registered places. The Commissioning Manager advised that the difference was that registered places were registered and Inspected by the Social Services Inspectorate - Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW).  She gave an example of unregistered as Micro Carers stating that even though they were delivering a regulated service, there was no requirement for them to be registered as long as they were only delivering a service to no more than four individuals.

Councillor Mackie questioned Welsh Government’s requirement of service providers not being allowed to make a profit and asked if it had any effects or impact on Flintshire and if there were any concerns. In response, the Commissioning Manager said that it was having an effect and impact and that to date the focus had been on Children’s Services although ambitions were to extend that across. She explained that some providers were taking the approach to step away from services in Wales as a result of the initiative which included a service that had already closed in Flintshire, whilst other providers were taking a positive look at it and converting their business model into non-profit organisation.  She added that she did not see it as a negative as they had a plan in place giving the example of the development of in-house services to mitigate some of the exits from the market.  Her thoughts were that nationally there was a fear that the Welsh Government’s initiative was going to impact negatively on the sector which was already in crisis.

The Senior Manager - Safeguarding and Commissioning added that the changes were to come into force in 2027 and that conversations had already started with all of their care providers and through members support the provision of in-house residential services was something that the Council has been pro-active with.

The recommendations were moved by Councillor Hilary McGuill and seconded by Councillor Debbie Owen.

            RESOLVED:

(a)     That Members note the work of the contracts and commissioning team and the number of services they support and develop both in Flintshire and out of county; and

(b)     That Members note the planning work being undertaken for the new regional domiciliary care framework agreement needed to replace the existing framework which runs to 31^st March 2025.