Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Mrs Leslie Marks and Mr Keith Marshall, Mrs Maureen Falloon and Mr Brebner Anderson attended as their respective  alternates.

In respect of Item 8a – Proposed changes to to the Support Planning and Brokerage Service for People who do not meet the Council’s criteria for Social Care – Mrs Maureen Falloon declared a prejudicial interest as the Director of AgeUK Bromley and reported that she would take no part in the discussion.

Councillor Peter Fookes declared that he was a Trustee of Age Concern Penge and Anerley.  Councillor Judi Ellis declared that her father had dementia and was resident in a care home in Bromley.  Councillor William Huntington-Thresher declared that he was the Council’s representative on the Board of Broomleigh Housing Association.  Councillor Diane Smith declared that she was the Local Authority representative on the Board of Bromley Healthcare.  Mr Brebner Anderson declared that he was a Governor on the Bioard of Bromley Healthcare.  Mrs Angela Clayton-Turner declared that her husband was in a care home in Bromley.  Mr Peter Buckland declared that he was a Board member for Affinity Sutton.  Mr James declared the following interests; he had a son on the autistic spectrum who was in Bromley supported living and attending Bromley College.  Mr James also had a 17 year old son who was currently going through transition.  Mr James was also a Trustee of Advocacy for All (formerly Bromley and Bexley Advocacy), and an Associate Governor at Nash College.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Thursday 24^th November 2011.

No questions were received.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Thursday 24^th November 2011.

No questions were received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2011 be agreed.

Report RES11122

The Committee considered issues that continued to be outstanding from previous meetings.

The Assistant Director (Housing and Residential Services) tabled the trend data relating to housing services that had been requested by Councillor Grainger at the last meeting.

RESOLVED that the progress on recommendations made at previous meetings be noted.

The Committee noted the decisions taken by the Portfolio Holder since the last meeting held on 27 September 2011.  The Chairman highlighted that comments made by the Committee at that meeting were not reflected on the decsion sheets and the Portfolio Holder confirmed that he was happy to have the comments reflected.

The Adult and Community Portfolio Holder to present scheduled reports for pre-decision scrutiny on matters where he is minded to make decisions.

Report ACS11067

The contract with Age UK Bromley for the provision of support planning and brokerage to people who have moderate needs or who are self-funders was due to expire on 31^st March 2012.  During the remaining period of the contract term, Age UK Bromley was proposing to test whether people would be willing to pay for this service in the future. The Portfolio Holder introduced a paper setting out Age UK Bromley’s proposals for introducing charges for the support planning and brokerage service.

Maureen Falloon, Director of AgeUK Bromley and the Assistant Director (Commissioning and Partnerships) attending the meeting to answer the Committee’s questions.

The Assistant Director (Commissioning and Partnerships) highlighted an error in paragraph 3.13 of the report: 238 people had been provided with a support planning intervention against the annual target of 420 people.

The Chairman questioned how the charging policy would work and whether there would be a process for triage.  Maureen Falloon confirmed that clients would receive a free initial consultation lasting up to 30 minutes. The service would be explained and support needs identified.  Mrs Falloon stressed that information, advice and guidance would remain free at the point of contact.

In response to a question about how the service could provide social capital, Mrs Falloon explained that this would be provided through the Time Bank which provided one to one companionship and assistance with activities such as shopping and gardening.

In response to questions surrounding charges for the service, the Assistant Director (Commissioning and Partnerships) stressed that there was no intention to means test the service and the view that had been taken was that the £10 charge was not beyond the means of the people who accessed the service.  Mrs Falloon reported that the fees levied would depend upon the level of support that was agreed at the initial assessment with the client.  Mrs Falloon indicated that the charge for a low level of support would be approximately £75, the charges for a medium level of support would be £150 and the support for a high level of support would be £250.  The charges would be made up from a combination of an hourly rate and a fixed fee.

Mrs Falloon also reported that AgeUK Bromley had merged with AgeUK  Greenwich and this merger could utilise the benefits of economies of scale in the future.

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder be recommended to support the introduction of charges to Age UK Bromley’s Support Planning and Brokerage Service from 1^st January 2012.

Report ACS11059

The Portfolio Holder introduced a report which provided an overview of the half year performance of Housing & Residential Services against the key objectives and targets for 2011/12.

In response to a question regarding the number of over 18’s in shared accommodation, the Head of Housing Needs and Enforcements reported that there were approximately 220 adults in bed and breakfast accommodation with about a third of these in shared accommodation.

Noting that the number of empty properties had reduced by a further 82, a Member questioned what the number of empty properties had reduced from.  The Assistant Director (Housing and Residential Services) reported that he would provide this information following the meeting.

A Member asked if information regarding the levels of demand for different types of accommodation (for example family accommodation) had ever been provide to the Committee.  The Head of Housing Need and Enforcement reported that this data would be provided to the Committee in March 2012 once the new registration process had been implemented.

The Committee also considered the need to encourage more people into the private rented sector.  The Head of Housing Needs and Enforcement reported that this was one of the main aims of the Department however, recent changes to Housing Benefit was making this increasingly difficult.

A Co-opted Member highlighted the need for the Council’s Planning Department to work with Local Housing Associations to ensure that as many applications as possible were approved.

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder be recommended to agree the actions being taken to meet the range of housing duties and needs in Bromley to deal with the increased pressures on the service resulting from the current economic climate.

Report ACS11062

The Committee considered a report providing an update on the implementation in 2011-12 of the revised Personal Budgets and Contributions Policy, approved by the Portfolio Holder on the 18^th March 2011 following consultation. The revised policy was effective from 16^th May 2011 and introduced a number of changes which were outlined in the report.

The Chairman questioned when clients would start receiving their bills.  The Exchequer manager reported that in terms of day centre charges, bills were being issues as part of a phased roll out and bills would be issued 6-8 weeks in arrears.  As clients on average attended the centres two days a week their would not be facing large bills.

The Committee heard that there was approximately 200 people attending day centres who were awaiting a further financial review.  Bills would not be issued until the financial review had been undertaken.

A further report would be presented to the Committee in April 2012 and this would provide an overview of the impact of the charging policy.

RESOLVED that a further report on the impact of the introduction of day care charges be presented to the meeting of the Adult and Community PDS Committee in April 2012.

Report ACS11056

The Committee considered a report providing an update on the changes in performance resulting from the introduction of a new structure designed to improve the response to service users agreed by Executive on 8^th December 2011.

Referring to the Acceptable waiting times for care packages, a Member asked what was being put in place to ensure the targets were met.  The Assistant Director (Older People) reported that a number of the delays in care packages were due to waiting for specialised services.  The key target was the acceptable waiting times for assessment (within 28 days) and the department was exceeding this target.

In response to a question regarding how the assessments were undertaken, the Head of Assessment and Care Management reported that the Department undertook a mixture of face-to-face and telephone assessments.  Officers would return to the Committee with a further breakdown of the numbers of clients undertaking each type of assessment.

RESOLVED that progress towards achieving the objectives of the assessment and care management restructure be noted.

Report ACS11058

The Committee considered a report providing an update on progress against the Portfolio Plan 2011/2012 and the first Bromley Local Account for the year 2010/2011,the new performance assessment framework for adult social care announced by the Government in Spring 2011, which would have full implementation from April 2012.

Referring to the Annual Account, a Member suggested that it would be helpful to include statistics for private rented provision of extra care housing as this would provide a complete picture of the total provision in the Borough.  Officers agreed that this sound be included in the next annual report.  The Committee also agreed that this issue should be further considered at the Accommodation and Care for Older People Reference Group who could report back to the Committee in the summer of 2012.

The Chairman suggested that in future reports it would be helpful for the Committee to have data for comparative Boroughs as well as national data.

RESOLVED that the outturns for the Bromley Local Account be noted.

Report ACS11069

The Committee considered the budget monitoring position for 2011/2012 based on activity up to the end of October 2011.

RESOLVED that the projected underspend of £374,000 be noted.

Report ACS11060

The Committee considered a report providing an update on the work undertaken to monitor the quality of Domiciliary care services provided in the Borough by internal and external providers.

Members of the Committee stressed that there should be zero tolerance regarding missed calls.  Officers stressed that missed visits were taken very seriously and were thoroughly investigated.

A Co-opted Member highlighted the importance of the quality assurance process.  

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Report ACS09123

The Committee considered an update on the Substance Misuse Service in respect of substance misuse treatment.

Members heard that 85% of clients did not return to treatment within six months but that there was no accurate way of determining whether clients had continued with substance misuse after treatment.

In response to a question, Members were informed that there were a number of wayd clients were referred to the service including, self referral, GP referrals and conditions of probation.  Information regarding the proportion of users in the Borough would be distributed to Members following the meeting.

RESOLVED that the Substance Misuse Commissioning Annual Report 2011 be noted.

The report considered by the Executive on 7^th September 2011 has been circulated under separate cover and Members are requested to bring copies with them to the meeting.

Members suggested that the Financial Strategy should, in future, be considered by the Executive and Resources PDS Committee for comments to be reported to Executive.

Report RES11139

On 16^th November 2011, the Executive received the 2nd quarterly capital monitoring report for 2011/12 and agreed a revised Capital Programme for the four year period 2011/12 to 2014/15.   The Committee considered a report highlighting the changes agreed by the Executive in respect of the Capital Programme for the Adult & Community Services Portfolio.

RESOLVED that the changes agreed by the Executive in November 2011 be endorsed.

Report RES11121

The Committee considered its work programme for 2011/2012.  Members noted that the meeting in January had been moved to 26^th January 2012.  There would be an additional meeting on 13^th December where the Day Care Gateway review would be considered.  A report on high cost placements would be presented to the January meeting.

RESOLVED that the updates to the Work Programme be noted.

The briefing comprises:

• Taxi-Card Update
• Health Watch Arrangements

Members and Co-opted Members have been provided with advance copies of the briefing via email.  The briefing is also available on the Council’s website at the following link:

http://cds.bromley.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=559&Year=2011

Printed copies of the briefing are available on request by contacting the Democratic Services Officer.

A Co-opted Member highlighted deficiencies in the quality of the taxi card service.  It was agreed that issues would be reported to the Assistant Director (Commissioning and Partnerships) for further review.

The Chairman to move that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business listed below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

RESOLVED that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business listed below as it was likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

The Committee noted the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2011.

RESOLVED that the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2011 be agreed.

The Committee noted the exempt decisions taken by the Portfolio Holder since the last meeting held on 27 September 2011.

Report ACS11064

The Committee considered and supported the recommendations.

Report RES11128

The Committee considered the report and supported the recommendations.

Report ACS 11066

The Committee considered the report and supported the recommendations.

Report ACS11065

The Committee considered the report and agreed that further reports be submitted on a 6 monthly basis.