Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Terry Nathan and Councillor Peter Fortune.  Apologies were also received from Linda Gabriel, Healthwatch Bromley and Leslie Marks attended as her substitute.

There were no declarations of interest.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to the Care Services Portfolio Holder or to the Chairman of 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 5.00pm on Wednesday 7^th September 2016.

Ten oral questions and three written questions were received from members of the public and these are attached at Appendix A and Appendix B.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th June 2016 be agreed.

Report CSD16106

The Committee considered its work programme for 2016/17, the schedule of visits to day centres and residential homes and matters arising from previous meetings.

In considering the work programme for 2016/17, the Chairman noted that the Committee would be scrutinising progress against aspects of the Children’s Service Improvement Action Plan at all forthcoming meetings.

RESOLVED that the Care Service work programme for 2016/17, the schedule of visits to day centres and residential homes and matters arising from previous meetings be noted.

All Members of the Council and Co-opted Members of the Education Select Committee and Public Protection and Safety PDS Committee are invited to attend the meeting for consideration of this item.

Report to be published under separate cover.

Report CS17036

The Committee considered a report outlining the findings of the Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services and a linked Inspection of the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board undertaken from 11^th April to 5^th May 2016, the actions taken immediately to respond to these findings, and the Local Authority’s plans for further improvement.

The Inspection had been undertaken using the latest version of Ofsted’s Framework for Inspection which was substantially different to the previous framework used when the Local Authority’s services were last inspected in 2012, and included intense scrutiny and challenge of individual cases.  The focus of the Inspection had been on the quality of frontline practice and management and the ‘child’s journey’ and experience of services, and had included the auditing of a number of cases as well as observation of direct practice, visits to children’s centres and meetings with parents, carers and young people. 

The Inspection report was published on 27^th June 2016.  Although the Inspection had identified some strengths across Children’s Services, the Local Authority had received an overall judgement of ‘Inadequate’ and the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board was rated with a judgement of ‘Requires Improvement’.  The Chief Executive, Interim Director of Children’s Services and the Lead Member for Children had accepted the findings of the Inspection and a number of immediate actions had been taken to address the identified weaknesses.  These included a recruitment drive to increase social worker and management capacity in key areas, measures to reduce delays in achieving permanence for children looked after including the establishment of the Early Permanence Panel, and a range of actions around thresholds including a review of all open Child in Need and Child Protection cases.  Measures had also been taken to address concerns around systems to monitor children missing from home and placements, ensure suitable accommodation and support was in place for young people post-18 years, and provide appropriate legal support to Children’s Social Care staff.  The Lead Member for Children’s Services had established the multi-agency Children’s Service Improvement Governance Board in June 2016 to oversee the improvement process and support the development of the Improvement Action Plan, which had been grouped into ten themes corresponding to the recommendations of the Ofsted Inspection report and would be submitted to the Department for Education for consideration before 26^th September 2016.  A multi-agency Officer Group had also been established to lead on work streams identified in the improvement plan, as well as to monitor the improvement actions and performance measures and report progress to the Governance Board.

Following the publication of the Ofsted report, the Department for Education had appointed the Commissioner for Children’s Services in Bromley.  The role of the Commissioner was to make recommendations for the immediate improvement of children’s social care and recommend any additional support required to drive the required improvement, review the Local Authority’s leadership and management capacity and capability to drive forward the necessary changes, and to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State as to whether alternative  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Report FSD16058

On 20^th July 2016, the Council’s Executive received the 1^st quarterly capital monitoring report for 2016/17 and agreed a revised Capital Programme for the four year period 2016/17 to 2019/20. 

The Committee considered the changes to the Capital Programme for the Care Services Portfolio which included a £19k reduction in grant funding for the Manorfields Refurbishment Scheme from the Greater London Authority, an increase of £739k in grant funding for Renovations Grants (Disabled Facilities Grant) and the virement of £50k for the Eclipse System from Social Care Grant to Performance Management/Children Services - IT scheme.  There was also an increase of £113k in Section 106 receipts from developers (uncommitted balance).  A number of net underspendings were re-phased into 2016/17 which totalled £926k.  Schemes totalling £1,589k were also rephrased from 2016/17 to 2017/18 to reflect revised estimates of when expenditure on Care Services schemes was likely to be incurred including London private sector renewal schemes, Renovations Grants – Disabled Facilities and PCT Learning Disability Reprovision Programme.

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder be recommended to confirm the revised Capital Programme agreed by the Council’s Executive on 20^th July 2016.

Report CS17033

The Care Services Portfolio Holder introduced a report setting out a proposed commissioning strategy for the future provision of Primary and Secondary Intervention Services.  The report also requested approval to develop a Primary and Secondary Intervention Fund work stream within the Better Care Fund and existing strategic partner funding, and to procure the services against the eight categories set out in the report, introducing a new delivery model from April 2017. 

Primary and Secondary Intervention services gave targeted support to vulnerable residents in the community who were at risk of developing further complications or emerging needs to support them in maintaining their independence and to delay or prevent the need for high cost care packages and early admissions to care homes or hospital.  The Local Authority and Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group had a range of statutory requirements to provide Primary and Secondary Intervention Services which were currently delivered by third sector partners through twelve active contracts with six suppliers and included peer support, training, education, advice, support planning and capacity building with carers. 

The proposed commissioning strategy had been developed with the aim of reducing the number of small individual contracts held, and to take a more strategic approach to future funding by utilising the Better Care Fund in partnership with Primary and Secondary Intervention services.  A preferred provider would be identified through a joint commissioning exercise with the Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group, following which the preferred provider would be required to enter a negotiated procurement process and to co-design the specifications for eight identified categories of preventative service provision, as well to build capacity over and above the core funding made available through the Better Care Fund through local voluntary sector capacity and community assets.  It was proposed to engage with the local Third Sector to encourage collegiate bids which complemented the work of the Integrated Care Networks and Building a Better Bromley priorities, and engagement would also be undertaken with service users in the development of services. 

In considering the report, a Member outlined the benefits of commissioning primary and secondary intervention services together which was likely to benefit users through provision of more holistic services as well as realise value for money. 

A Co-opted Member was concerned to note that learning and physical disabilities had been included within the same category and underlined the need for them to be treated separately to ensure that appropriate services that met the individual needs of service users were commissioned.  The Chairman requested that clarification be provided in the current budget for these two distinct areas, and that all future reports identify the funding for learning and physical disabilities as separate categories.  Another Co-opted Member expressed concern that the figures quoted in the report around the number of interactions with each supplier in the current contracts appeared to underrepresent the total number of interactions and requested that this information be checked.  The Programme Manager: Commissioning reported that the data presented was part of the current monitoring arrangements and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23b

Report CS17027

The Care Services Portfolio Holder introduced a report outlining a gateway review undertaken on the Intermediate Care Service which was currently delivered via a contract with Bromley Healthcare which was due to expire in September 2017.  Approval had been granted for the Local Authority’s financial contribution to the Intermediate Care Service until 31^st March 2017, and the report sought the approval of the Council’s Executive for an extension to the existing funding arrangements until 30^th September 2017 when it was proposed the service was once again jointly commissioned with the Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group as part of the wider Community Health Contract.

The Intermediate Care Service supported Bromley residents by facilitating hospital discharge and enabling better and speedier recovery following a period of hospitalisation through health-based therapy services and social care personal care services, both within service users’ homes or in nursing home beds which supported them in maintaining their independence.  The service aimed to reduced readmission rates and prevent unnecessary hospital admission.  The current contract had been awarded to Bromley Healthcare in October 2013 via a joint tender led by Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group and included the provision of intermediate care beds at Lauriston House nursing home and the Community Based Assessment and Rehabilitation Team service.  This service was also supported by 4.25 FTE Local Authority care management staff who worked solely with the Intermediate Care Service and who carried out the social care assessments for referrals to the service.

RESOLVED that the Council’s Executive be recommended to:

1)  Agree the continuation of the Local Authority’s current funding arrangements for the intermediate care contract from 1^st April 2017 to 30^th September 2017 (six month pro-rata amounts) at a cost of £535,500 in 2017/18, of which £150k would be recharged to the Better Care Fund;

2)  Agree to jointly tender the intermediate care services with the Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group with a new contract commencing on 1^st October 2017; and,

3)  Agree to contribute a maximum of £1,071k per annum (of which £150k per annum would be recharged to the Better Care Fund), plus the cost of 6 FTE care worker posts (£188k per annum) to the Intermediate Care Service from October 2017.

Report CS17030

The Care Services Portfolio Holder introduced a report providing a summary to Item 12b: Coppice/Spinney and the Glade which gave an overview of the process for the tendering of the learning disability supported living schemes in accordance with the Local Authority’s financial and contractual requirements.

At its meeting on 2^nd December 2015, the Council’s Executive considered a Gateway Review on the current provision of supported living services for eleven people with significant disabilities living in two properties which projected that these services would be required for future service users in order to prevent their move to expensive residential care.  The Council’s Executive agreed the proposed commissioning strategy for these services and for the commencement of the procurement procedure.

The tender process was undertaken as a two stage open tender procedure using Pro-contract, the Council’s electronic tendering system.  A total of 70 suppliers expressed an interest in providing the service, with 29 suppliers submitting compliant bids.  Following evaluation of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, 8 suppliers were shortlisted to go through to the second ‘service specific’ stage of the tender process, with 3 of these suppliers deciding not to progress.  The evaluation of the tender submissions in the second stage was undertaken by a panel of Officers on a 60% price and 40% quality basis, and supported by supplier interviews which were used to inform the suppliers’ final evaluation scores.  A service user was present at the interviews and asked questions on behalf of service users living in the schemes.

RESOLVED that the Council’s Executive be recommended to note the summary when considering the recommendations in the Part 2 (Exempt) Appendix detail report to award the tender.

Report CSD16130

The Committee considered the final report of the Audit Sub-Committee on the refurbishment of Manorfields which outlined the findings of the review.

Manorfields was a former residential care home which had been converted into a temporary accommodation provision to enable the local authority to meet its statutory housing duties.  The original estimated cost of the necessary works had been £563,437, however a range of additional works had been identified during the refurbishment, including the replacement of the boiler and new fire doors, and it was now expected that the final cost of works would be approximately £798k.  At its meeting on 12^th January 2016, the Care Services PDS Committee requested that a number of issues identified around the refurbishment of Manorfields be considered by Audit Sub-Committee, particularly regarding the cost of the refurbishment.  The review had been undertaken by Audit Sub-Committee during Spring 2016 and the final report of the review was published on 1^st August 2016.

The review concluded that the investigation into the refurbishment of Manorfields had been difficult due to an inadequate audit trail to support the project, key decisions and variances.  Internal Audit had found that the Manorfields project was not robustly managed in terms of financial management and contract monitoring, and that there was a need for management to consider how to address several areas of weakness identified during the investigation.  As no tendering process was undertaken for this project, Internal Audit could not state that value for money had been achieved, but it was noted that the business case for Manorfields should still allow for significant savings to the Local Authority, despite any overspend on refurbishment works.

In considering the final report of the Audit Sub-Committee, Members generally discussed a range of concerns identified in the report.  In response to a question from a Member around what reassurance could be given that a similar situation could not happen again, the Chief Executive confirmed that lessons had been learned from the review and that the identified issues were been addressed at a corporate level, including the introduction of new processes and procedures based on best practice.  The actions taken included the restructuring of all contracts and the appointment of a Director of Commissioning.  The Chairman underlined the need to ensure that the new processes and procedures were followed.  The Chairman also noted that due to continued challenges around housing supply, the length of stay for residents of Manorfields was likely to be longer than initially envisaged and that this should be considered at a future meeting of the Care Services PDS Committee. 

A Ward Councillor was pleased to see that complaints in relation to the operation of Manorfields, including those for anti-social behaviour, were being addressed which would be reassuring for local residents and residents of Manorfields.

The Chairman requested that two reports be provided to the meeting of Care Services PDS Committee on 10^th January 2017.  These would comprise an evaluation of the service provided at Manorfields including occupation,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24a

The briefing comprises:

• Contract Activity 2016/17
• Annual ECHS Complaints Report 2015/16

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=0

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

The Care Services PDS Information Briefing comprised two reports:

• Contract Activity 2016/17
• Annual ECHS Complaints Report 2015/16

RESOLVED that the Information Briefing be noted.

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.

RESOLVED that the exempt minutes of the Care Services PDS Committee meeting held on 28^th June 2016 be agreed.

The Committee noted the Part 2 (Exempt) Annex A to Item 8a: Final Report of the Audit Sub-Committee: Manorfields Refurbishment.

The Committee considered Part 2 (Exempt) information relating to Item 7d: Coppice/Spinney and the Glade – Contract Award and supported the recommendations.

The Committee considered the report and supported the recommendations.

The Committee considered the report and supported the recommendations.