Wrthi'n llwytho
Y penderfyniadau fel y mae cofnodion y cyngor yn eu cofnodi. Bydd crynodeb mewn iaith glir yn dilyn pan fydd wedi'i ysgrifennu.
RESOLVED that the report be received.
RESOLVED that the report be received and that future reporting would be on a bi-annual basis.
RESOLVED that the report be received.
RESOLVED that the report be received.
RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.
An apology for absence was received from Councillor B.A.L. Roberts.
Councillor Minute No (s) Nature of Interest A. Evans 4 – Revenue & Capital Budget Monitoring Report 2024/25 Personal - Mother received Disabled Facilities Grant in 2024/25 financial year and also receives Carer’s Allowance. There were no declarations of prohibited party whips.
The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED that the report be received.
(NOTE: 1. Councillor A. Evans having earlier declared an interest in this item remained in the meeting for its consideration. The Committee considered the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Report in relation to the Health and Social Services, which provided an update on the latest budgetary position as at 28th February, 2025 in respect of the 2024/25 financial year. The Health and Social Services was projecting an overspend of £6,897k on the revenue budget and net variances of -£271K against a net budget of £1,135k on Social Care projects and a £671k variance against the Children Services projects net budget of £136k. The Committee noted that £407k would be needed from funds set aside for Plas Y Bryn to fund development costs in 2024/25. Following presentation of the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring report by the Group Accountant, a number of questions were raised to which officers responded. The main matters were as follows: · In response to a question regarding Physical Disabilities – Community Support and the need for budgets to be reviewed and re-allocated, the Director of Community Services advised that this was due to a move to Direct Payments which is under pressure. It was stated that Direct Payments was a different way of delivering community support and was not a cut to the provision for Physical Disabilities. The budget would be re-set and the funding re-allocated against the service lines such as Direct Payments where the demand was higher. · In reference to Learning disabilities - Residential Care Homes, Group Homes/Supported Living and Adult Placement/Shared lives and the overspend and concerns that the solutions taking were longer than anticipated, the Director of Community Services advised that there had been issues regarding the pace of roll out for supported living accommodation. It was stated that currently services for supported living was sometimes bought in and while not always cheaper it did maximise people's independence. One of the reasons for the delays was due to lack of Programme and Project management capacity available to progress the projects along at pace which had been a lesson learnt. The other challenge impacting the pace of rollout was due to protracted procurement processes. · It was asked given the Committee’s role in helping set the budget, what steps could be taken to identify new funding ideas and the review of current resources due to the ongoing concerns regarding financial limits from both central and devolved governments. In response the Director of Community Services advised that the Committee would shortly be receiving the Adult Social Care Sustainability Services report that would provoke a number of questions for the Scrutiny Committee and how the Council was going to meet the need. Despite transforming how services were delivered there would still be a funding gap and that a discussion was needed due to the national picture and the lack of a national financial plan to meet the demographic growth. He expressed concerns regarding the lack of UK wide plans on taxation or on models of care. · The Committee noted that the right sizing of individual packages of care in Mental Health had been a priority in 2024/25 and it was asked if it would also be a priority in 2025/26. The Director of Community Services advised that right sizing was how the market was managed and stated that people change and transformed their lives so it would still be a priority. The move to a supported living model provides better integration and independence for individual but there would always be a small need for residential care. · In response to a query regarding the overspend on Commissioned Services for highly complex placements, the Head of Children and Families stated that the overspend in the division was almost entirely related to placements. The scale of difficulties facing families and the difficulties that children were experiencing was on a level not seen before and that the division was having to rapidly adapt while ensuring that appropriate support was provided. It was noted that the aim was to build services at every entry level to try and reduce demand for placements. The Committee was advised that they are able to review progress via the regular Children & Families Services Transformation Programme Board Updates. RESOLVED that the report be received.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED that the report be received and that future reporting would be on a bi-annual basis.
The Committee considered a report it had requested surrounding the current pressure on domiciliary care and the impact that was having on hospital discharges together with providing an assurance patients were being safely supported to leave hospital, outlining service pressures and how Carmarthenshire County Council was responding to those pressures. This report was the sixth update the Committee had received which included the latest available data captured for Quarters 3 and 4 for 2024/25. The Cabinet Member for Health & Social Services noted that improvement across the board in terms of all 4 key metrics had been made and that an overall growth in the number of hours commissioned for domiciliary care and a reduction in hours and people waiting across community and hospital sites was positive. The following questions / issues were raised on the report. · Reference was made to the Welsh Government 50 day challenge funding and the success of the 3 month pilot to develop a rightsizing pathway. The Senior Delivery Manager for Long Term Care advised that the 50 day challenge did last longer than 50 days and was available from January to March which allowed for the purchase of extra capacity into the system. It was noted that the funding had now stopped however Welsh Government had announced that additional funding would be made available again but the Terms of Reference for this funding was not yet known, nonetheless plans had been developed in preparation. The Committee was advised that work would continue on utilising the releasing time to care methodology to reduce care packages where appropriate and release hours to support others. Also, recruitment was underway to increase the capacity within the team. · Reference was made to the growth in Micro Enterprises within the County. The Senior Business Support Manager advised that this covered commissioned services but was mainly purchased through direct payment and that vast growth had been seen over the last 12 to 18 months. It was noted Micro Enterprises were now more regulated through the system and monitored in the same way as other services provided through the Care First system. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received and that future reporting would be on a bi-annual basis.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED that the report be received.
The Committee considered an update on delivery to date against the Children and Transformation Programme plan and programme measures. The Committee noted the key achievements achieved since January 2025. A number of questions were raised to which officers responded. The main matters were as follows: · In response to a concern raised regarding the reliance on grant funding, the Head of Children & Families advised that most of the Transformation Programme had been co-funded through growth and in particular, those key areas around children’s homes and support for disabled children. One area that the Authority was reliant on was eliminating profit from grant funding which provided support around foster care development. Work was continually being undertaken in conjunction with the group accountants and partners to plan ahead and reprofile areas that would need on-ging funding to ensure that essential services were not at risk. · In response to a query regarding care homes and the associated risks the Head of Children & Families advised that it was anticipated that two additional care homes would be available within 2 years. It was noted that a Delivery Group reported into the Board regarding capital builds so that risks could be monitored. · In response to a query regarding the recent migration to Eclipse, the Head of Children & Families advised that the system was working well and that the next steps were to amend how data was gathered. Work had been undertaken to prioritise the functions and that the key area was to be able to provide reports to Welsh Government. During discussions it was noted that AI was being used and that Social Workers had been trained on using Magic Notes. · In response to a query regarding fostering, the Head of Children & Families advised that more foster carers were needed and that one of the key investments of the grant funding was for marketing of the service. · A question was asked regarding the barriers preventing a reduction in caseloads for the managers and what timelines were in place to resolve this. The Head of Children & Families advised that the main issue had been vacancies in children’s social workers that the Authority hadn’t been able to fill for the last five years or so. The grow our own social worker scheme had now changed this and a number of social workers were now on the path to qualify. Unfortunately, the newly qualified, social workers coming through the system lack the necessary experience to enable them to safely provide support for some children with very specific needs resulting in a period of time where managers would have to do more than normally expected. It was envisaged that this position will be much different in 3 years following post qualifying experience, but the situation would need careful management until that time. It was emphasised that reducing caseloads for managers would have to be done safely and that the management of support for children was essential and needed to be provided by experienced people. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED that the report be received.
The Committee considered the update report detailing progress in relation to actions, requests and referrals emerging from previous meetings. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.
The Committee received an explanation for the non-submission of the following scrutiny reports. · Adult Social Care Sustainable Services · Draft Local Authority Social Services Annual Report 2025/25 RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.
UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 20th March, 2025 be signed as a correct record.
Rhaid i gynghorwyr ddweud pan fydd ganddyn nhw gysylltiad personol â rhywbeth sy'n cael ei drafod, fel swydd, eiddo neu aelod o'r teulu. Mae buddiant sy'n rhagfarnu yn ddigon cryf i'r cynghorydd adael yr ystafell fel arfer a pheidio â chymryd rhan.
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