Agenda item

(To follow)

Report ACS09123

The Executive discussed a report outlining the current arrangements for the provision of general and specialist information, advice and guidance services in the field of social care, housing and general enquiry services available to any member of the public and funded by the Council either directly or through various contracts with key providers.  The current arrangements had grown over a number of years but arising from the Supporting Independence in Bromley Programme an Information, Advice and Guidance Strategy had recently been developed to provide a framework for the commissioning of these services and the report recommended the future approach to be adopted.  Included in the confidential part of the agenda were the financial implications.  One of the main contracts was with Bromley Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) to provide a free universal advice and guidance service and members were informed that detailed discussions had been held with their Chairman and he had provided financial information on which the proposals in the Part 2 report were based. 

The report had been pre-scrutinised by the Adult and Community Services PDS Committee who had raised issues relating to specialist advice provision, including benefit appeals, and the concerns about the adequacy of training for staff from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to deal with older people and people with learning difficulties or mental health needs.  The Chairman of the Committee had proposed changes to recommendation 3 of the report which was agreed to be put forward to the Executive.

The Portfolio Holder for Adult & Community Services reported that he had received an email from the Chairman of the CAB who had raised some questions on points of detail in the report which were incorrect and made brief reference to two of the issued referred to.  However, on balance he did not consider the matters made any material difference to what was being proposed at this meeting.  Councillors Fookes and Getgood both spoke at the meeting about their concerns in respect of the proposals and requested deferring consideration of the report.  In particular Councillor Getgood whilst agreeing that the CAB needed to do more outreach work was very concerned at the proposal to lose the Penge Centre.  The Assistant Director advised that in depth discussions had been held with the CAB and the proposals were put forward by them for the reductions and changes to the service.  This was also confirmed by Councillor Evans who had been present at the discussions.  He supported the approach outlined in the report including the comments from the PDS Committee.

RESOLVED that

1)  all Council service providers in future will have clear contractual responsibility to provide information on their service both in hard copy (where appropriate) and electronically and to ensure this is published either directly, or through links to other websites, on Bromley MyLife;

2)  the arrangement for one strategic partner/core contract to be identified for each care group to provide information, advice and guidance and that efficiency savings will be sought with regard to existing contracts be noted;

3)  specialist advice provision, including benefit appeals advice, is to be reviewed to ensure that it is meeting an identified priority need and that the outcome of the review will include future commissioning requirements and decommission intentions, as appropriate, and will be reported back to the Adult and Community Services PDS Committee at its meeting in April 2012;

4)  the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is the primary agency responsible for providing assistance with accessing welfare benefits and that the Council will where necessary arrange training for DWP staff to ensure that they have the necessary skills to assist people with particular needs;

5)  residents be encouraged to access general information, advice and guidance services through the use of the internet and national help lines; and

  6)  the requirement for competitive tendering pursuant to Contract Procedure Rule 13.1 be waived and a new contract be entered into with Bromley Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) for a period of two years commencing 1^st April 2012 as set out in the report in the confidential part of this agenda, with the option to extend for a further year (with authority to exercise the option to extend to be delegated to the relevant Chief Officer in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder);  on the basis that funding will be reduced over a two year period (2012/13 and 2013/14), to enable the CAB, in line with its own development proposals, to move to a service based on outreach provision, telephone and internet access.