Agenda and minutes

Venue: Bromley Civic Centre

Contact: Jo Partridge  020 8461 7694

Items
No. Item

65.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor David Jefferys and Francis Poltera, and Councillor Will Rowlands and Rona Topaz attended as their respective substitutes.

 

In respect of item 4, apologies were received from Councillor Christine Harris.

66.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

Co-opted Member, Vicki Pryde declared that she now had paid roles with Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich Mind and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

67.

QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ATTENDING THE MEETING

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions that are not specific to reports on the agenda must have been received in writing 10 working days before the date of the meeting. 

 

Questions specifically on reports on the agenda should be received within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda.  Please ensure that questions specifically on reports on the agenda are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday 16th March 2022.

Minutes:

No questions had been received.

68.

BROMLEY HEALTHCARE COMMISSIONER ASSURANCE pdf icon PDF 260 KB

Members of the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee are invited to attend the meeting for consideration of this item.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The Chairman welcomed Members of the Children, Education and Families Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee, and the Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families, to the meeting for consideration of this item. A copy of the presentations received from the Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning and Jacqui Scott – Chief Executive Officer, Bromley Healthcare (“CEO – BHC”) and Michael Nutt – Chairman, Bromley Healthcare (“Chairman – BHC”) had been provided in the published agenda pack for the meeting.

 

The Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning provided an update in relation to commissioner assurance arrangements. Members were advised that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had published a report on 4th February 2022 stating that Bromley Healthcare (BHC) had been rated overall as ‘Requiring Improvement’ following an inspection between August and September 2021. Three service areas had been inspected: Inpatient (‘Good’), Adults (‘Requires Improvement’) and Children, young people and families (‘Requires Improvement’). Across the five inspection domains BHC had been rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ for being Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well led, and rated as ‘Good’ for Caring.

 

BHC had held initial discussions with key stakeholders regarding their response to the CQC report and a high-level presentation and action plan had been shared with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), along with a more detailed list of actions. BHC had produced a CQC Action Plan, which had been submitted, and responded directly to the CQC directions ‘must do’ and ‘should do’.

 

Members were informed that BHC had established additional Governance around the action plan, including a CQC Assurance Board sub group, which would include representatives from the SEL CCG and Local Authority. As other neighbouring local authorities also commissioned services from BHC, they would have representation on the Commissioner Assurance Board in order to agree a single assurance process, which would be led by Bromley. It was noted that the Board would be time limited and would report on a quarterly basis to the Bromley Local Care Partnership Board and, as part of the CCG reporting, the Council’s Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee. There would be a link between the oversight Board and BHC CQC Assurance Board via the CCG representative.

 

In relation to the Commissioner Assurance Board, a Member enquired if it was intended for there to be a single point of contact across the named local authorities, of if various issues would be split across the group. The Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning said that the finer details were still being worked through with the neighbouring local authorities. There were common themes across the organisation, and in order for services to focus on making improvements they wanted to avoid having lots of individual meetings. It was anticipated that the finalised scheme would be in place from April 2022 – the Board would be time limited but would remain in place until they were satisfied that BHC was meeting all requirements.

 

The CEO – BHC informed Members that the CQC Inspection had consisted of on-site visits across community bases and the bedded rehabilitation unit;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

69.

MINUTES OF ADULT CARE AND HEALTH PDS COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 27TH JANUARY 2022 pdf icon PDF 358 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 27th January 2022 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

70.

WORK PROGRAMME AND MATTERS OUTSTANDING pdf icon PDF 256 KB

Minutes:

Report CSD22040

 

The Committee considered a report setting out matters outstanding from previous meetings and the proposed work plan for 2022/23.

 

The Chairman requested that the Director of Adult Social Care consider when updates on the Bromley Healthcare CQC Action Plan should be scheduled into the work programme for the year ahead.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

71.

UPDATE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF ADULT SOCIAL CARE

Minutes:

The Director of Adult Social Care gave an update to Members on work being undertaken across the Adult Social Care department.

 

The Director of Adult Social Care noted that as this was the final meeting of the fiscal year, she wanted to reflect back on the last 12 months and share her thoughts on priorities for the next year. This year had been another year of change and disruption with a number of significant losses and change for all. The Director of Adult Social Care said she wanted to recognise the impact of this on the team and put on record her thanks to them for their continued hard work and support to the vulnerable population in Bromley. As the return to the workplace began, staff faced another period of adjustment and change, whilst acknowledging that sadly the pandemic remained a part everyone’s lives.

 

Members were advised that there had been a number of staff changes within the Directorate. A number of new staff had been welcomed, including the arrival of Nikki Gage to complete the senior team, and goodbyes said to some long-standing colleagues, most notably Ruth Wood, who left a few weeks ago after many years working for the Council. The Director of Adult Social Care said she was also very pleased and relieved to share with Members that John Harrison was about to return to work, following his extended period of absence.

 

The Director of Adult Social Care highlighted that as they headed into the new fiscal year the Directorate had a number of priorities to respond to, as well as delivering their statutory services. Importantly, they were now well placed to introduce the long awaited for Information Sharing agreement and practice across health and social care, which was something that the Director of Adult Social Care said she had been working towards for many years and never thought would be possible. The governance was just being concluded to introduce this in Bromley, aligning practice with all other boroughs in south east London. This was an important tool to enable improved integrated working and removed a number of the barriers to effective joined up working.

 

Members were advised that the Directorate was currently working to fully understand the implications of two government White Papers, the first of which introduced a major change in the way they worked with the public and care providers to reduce the gap between the fees that the Council paid and those charged to private payers. This was known as agreeing the ‘Fair Cost of Care’. There was also a need to develop new systems to enable the introduction of the ‘Lifetime Care Cap’, ensuring that they were sighted on progress that individuals made towards this and could monitor the financial impact on the Council. To respond to these priorities, the Directorate planned to form a small, short life team, to ensure that the required deadline of 2023 for the introduction of these changes could be met. The team would be funded from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

72.

PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF ADULT CARE AND HEALTH PORTFOLIO HOLDER REPORTS

Portfolio Holder decisions for pre-decision scrutiny.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the following reports where the Adult Care and Health Portfolio Holder was recommended to take a decision.

72a

CAPITAL PROGRAMME MONITORING - QUARTER 3 pdf icon PDF 443 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report FSD22031

 

On 9th February 2022, the Executive received a report summarising the current position on capital expenditure and receipts following the 3rd quarter of 2021/22 and agreed a revised Capital Strategy for the five-year period 2021/22 to 2025/26.

 

The Head of Finance for Adults, Health and Housing advised that the remaining budget for planned capital expenditure had been re-phased into the 2022/2023 budget.

 

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder be recommended to note the current position in respect of Capital Schemes agreed by the Executive on 9th February 2022.

72b

BUDGET MONITORING 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 220 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report FSD22023

 

The Committee considered a report providing the budget monitoring position for 2021/22 for the Adult Care and Health Portfolio, based on activity up to the end of December 2021.

 

The Head of Finance for Adults, Health and Housing advised that there had been some issues with the migration of data from CareFirst to LiquidLogic, as well as the creation of Business Object reports, which meant the data could not be relied on for budget monitoring purposes. Care package projections had therefore been based on data from CareFirst as at 20th October 2021, which added some uncertainty. The current position was a projected underspend of £113k on the controllable budget, which was a reduction from the figure quoted in the quarter 2 report.

 

The Head of Finance for Adults, Health and Housing advised that £1m of COVID grant funding from the un-ringfenced Contain Outbreak Management Fund had been legitimately allocated to offset much of the pressures identified. It was noted that in November 2021, the South East London CCG confirmed they had allocated one-off financial support to the six local authorities to help maintain a robust social care offer over the remainder of the financial year. From this funding, £920k was being used to help offset some of the additional care packages and other pressures during the pandemic, with Assessment and Care Management, Learning Disabilities and Mental Health all having an increased spend. The Head of Finance for Adults, Health and Housing advised that the full year effect going into 2022/23 was £6.4m, with £4.5m included for growth and additional pressures.

 

A Member enquired as to why the £1m COVID grant funding was reported separately and not incorporated into the overall figures. The Head of Finance for Adults, Health and Housing said that was to highlight the underlying pressures and ensure that they were not masked. Another Member noted that the grants received would not necessarily be sustained for future years – this indicated that the Portfolio would be running at an overspend and should be a consideration for next year’s budget. The Head of Finance for Adults, Health and Housing said that this was linked to the full year effect – the draft budget had been based on figures from quarter 2, but pressures had since increased. It was noted that additional grant funding would be received, but it was not guaranteed that it would cover all the pressures identified. The Director of Adult Social Care highlighted that during the pandemic the directorate had been required to operate differently, including discharging people from hospital more quickly – the grants received had reflected the need to change in order to protect the NHS. It was hoped that they would soon return to a more natural practice and that these demands would begin to reduce.

 

A Co-opted Member highlighted the general increase in financial burdens and enquired why there had been an increase in the re-assessments of client contributions. The Head of Finance for Adults, Health and Housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72b

73.

PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF EXECUTIVE REPORTS

Minutes:

The Committee considered the following report on the agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 30th March 2022:

73a

AWARD OF CONTRACT: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INTERVENTION SERVICE (PART 1) pdf icon PDF 455 KB

Minutes:

Report ACH22-007

 

The Committee considered a report seeking Executive approval to award the Primary and Secondary Intervention Service (PSIS) contract, scheduled to commence on 1st October 2022, to the successful bidder. The request to award followed on from the approval by Executive on the 30th June 2021, for commissioners to re-tender the PSIS contract to enable the commencement of a new service contract from 1st October 2022. The Service was jointly commissioned by the London Borough of Bromley (LBB) and South East London Clinical Commissioning Group (SEL CCG), with LBB as the lead commissioner for the service.

 

The Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning advised that the report set out the results of the tendering process for the provision of the PSIS contract, which resulted in negotiated dialogue with the sole bidder and recommended the award of contract. It was noted that the report should be read in conjunction with the Part 2 award report.

 

RESOLVED that the Executive be recommended to:

 

i.)  Approve the award of contract for the provision of the Primary and Secondary Intervention Service as detailed in the accompanying Part 2 Report. The proposed contract will commence on 1st October 2022 for the period of five years plus the option to extend for up to two years; and,

 

ii.)  Delegate authority to the Director of Adult Services to apply the 2-year contract extension, subject to agreement with the Portfolio Holder, the Director for Corporate Services, the Director of Finance and the Assistant Director, Governance and Contracts as determined by Contract Procedure Rules.

74.

TACKLING LONELINESS STRATEGY - ACTION PLAN pdf icon PDF 141 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report ACH22-008

 

The report presented provided an update on the delivery of the Tackling Loneliness Strategy Action Plan which was approved in November 2021 and launched at the end of 2021. At that time Members were advised that an Action Plan would be brought to the Adult Care and Health PDS in March 2022 with evidence of progress made in order not to delay delivery.

The Strategy Officer advised that the action plan, which was a four-year living document, had been populated to reflect the work being undertaken by the Council and its partners relating to the three key priorities:

-  Priority One: organisation and services.

-  Priority Two: community infrastructure that empowers social connections.

-  Priority Three: building a culture that encourages strong social relationships.

 

The Strategy Officer noted that accessing information about local community groups, activities and support services for loneliness had always been an issue. To help address this, Community Links Bromley had been funded to update their Simply Connect e-directory resource to hold information about local groups, activities and support services which could be accessed by all. Work would also continue to produce the Adult Care Services Directory and Children’s Early Help Directory, for which consultation feedback had highlighted the need for printed and digital materials.

 

Another action would be to look at the physical resources available across the borough, including consideration being given to maximise the usage of the Mottingham Community and Learning Shop and the Cotmandene Community Resource Centre as community resources. It was noted that the Council’s Guide to Accessible Transport was currently being updated and libraries were working hard to re-establish programmes of activities.

 

The Strategy Officer advised that a communications campaign was being developed to help raise awareness and reduce the stigma of loneliness and in June, a month-long campaign around Loneliness Awareness Week would be carried through social media. A mapping exercise was also underway to give an understanding of access to activities across the borough and identify any gaps in provision or coverage.

 

Councillor Cuthbert emphasised that the action plan was an important tool to monitor the objectives of the strategy, and she expressed her thanks to the Assistant Director for Strategy, Performance and Corporate Transformation and the Strategy Officer for their work in relation to this. Thanks were also extended to Members for their assistance in publicising the strategy. It was highlighted that the number of organisations listed on the Simply Connect e-directory had increased from 80 to 177, with a total of 382 activities. Members were encouraged to view the e-directory and advise if they were aware of any other organisations that were not already included.

 

In response to a question from a Co-opted Member, Councillor Cuthbert said that the objectives of the strategy were currently included in the action plan. Officers had undertaken research of what was already in place and new actions would come out of other requirements identified – for example, if it was felt that a requirement could not be met, consideration could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

75.

CONTRACTS REGISTER AND CONTRACTS DATABASE (PART 1) pdf icon PDF 691 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report ACH22-006

 

The Committee considered an extract from the February 2022 Contracts Register of contracts with a whole life value of £50k or higher, which was presented to Members for detailed scrutiny. The report was based on data as at 19th January 2022 and presented to the Executive, Resources and Contracts Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee on 7th February 2022. The Contracts Register contained in Part 2 of the agenda included a commentary on each contract to inform Members of any issues or developments.

 

The Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning noted that there were two Public Health contracts flagged as ‘red’ and two Extra Care Housing contracts flagged as ‘amber’. Members were advised that these four contracts had since been either extended or awarded and were now flagged as ‘green’.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

76.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNUAL PDS REPORT - FOR NOTING pdf icon PDF 196 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Annual Scrutiny Report detailing the work of the Committee during the 2021-2022 municipal year. The Annual Scrutiny Report  was included on the agenda for the Executive, Resources and Contracts Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee and would be presented to a future meeting of Full Council.

 

RESOLVED that the Chairman’s Annual Scrutiny Report be noted.

77.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS AMENDED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) (VARIATION) ORDER 2006 AND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

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.

 

Minutes:

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 following summaries

Refer to matters involving exempt information

78.

PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF EXEMPT EXECUTIVE REPORTS

Minutes:

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 2 agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 30th March 2022:

78a

AWARD OF CONTRACT: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INTERVENTION SERVICE (PART 2)

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Part 2 information within the report.

79.

CONTRACTS REGISTER AND CONTRACTS DATABASE (PART 2)

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Part 2 information within the report.