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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED – That the Work Programme, as attached as Appendix 1 to report COGC/85/23, be agreed.
AGREED – That the Committee thanked the Lead Member and Officers for the report. The Chair welcomed future reports to include plans identifying how these services will be shaped in the future.
AGREED - (i) The Chair thanked the Lead Members and Officers for their honesty and detail in delivering the report. (ii) The committee welcomed the three monthly budget updates due in December & April. (iii) Information in relation to benchmarking in terms of agency costs particularly in relation to other local authorities.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Beryl Blackmore, Krista Childs, Alison Tynan and Kate Wilkinson.
AGREED – That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 12 July 2023 be signed as a correct record
Decision as recorded
AGREED – That the Work Programme, as attached as Appendix 1 to report COGC/85/23, be agreed.
Chief Officer Governance & Customer submitted a report (COGC/85/23) asking Members to consider the Committee’s work programme. The Scrutiny Facilitator presented the report and highlighted the main points within it: · He advised that at the July meeting it was highlighted that we needed to populate the programme for 2023-24. · It was initially decided that two topics would be added to the September committee meeting namely items on the Social Care Budget and the Adult Social Care Contract Monitoring. · Following the Chairs Planning meeting on the 28 June a separate meeting date had been identified for 20 July to focus on the Work Programme for 2023/2024. · The Work Programme will be finalised at the September 2023 Committee meeting. As a result a draft calendar was produced and this was shared with the Chair & Vice-Chair. · The first two items for discussion were also shared with Committee Members as advance notice. · The Children’s & Adults Social Care Budget item set for September 2023 meeting will be followed by further updates in December 2023 and April 2024. · Currently, there are three vacant slots in the Work Programme in October and two in June. The vacant slot in October has arisen due to the fact that the funding contribution for PCSO’s has now been withdrawn due to budget constraints and therefore requires no monitoring. · This has now been filled by an item on the Social Care Annual Report, which will go to Executive Board prior to consideration. It is included in the programme for public scrutiny and the awareness of the Committee. · Each committee meeting it is envisaged that we will continue to have two items on the agenda for discussion. However, it has been acknowledged that on occasion as in May 2024 we could have up to 3 items providing that extra items are short updates on previous reports. · After discussion the item on the Community Safety Plan set for October is now to be moved to the November meeting to ensure full police attendance. The Chair requested that a report on Child Poverty be added to the Work Programme for future consideration by Committee. AGREED – That the Work Programme, as attached as Appendix 1 to report COGC/85/23, be agreed.
Decision as recorded
AGREED – That the Committee thanked the Lead Member and Officers for the report. The Chair welcomed future reports to include plans identifying how these services will be shaped in the future.
The Lead Member for Adult Social Care submitted a report (COSC/17/23) to provide Members with information on contract monitoring arrangements for the externally commissioned statutory service provision within Adult Social Care during the financial year 2022-23, with the inclusion of notable updates from April 2023 to date. Lead Member for Adult Social Care introduced this item and in doing so informed members of the following points: · Adult Social Care commission external contracts with a range of registered providers to deliver statutory social care and support services. Appendix 1 shows the number of people supported by the Council at the time of reporting · Contract Monitoring activity and resources within the Department for the year 2022/23 was able to resume in full following the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, as restrictions on visiting care homes and other people’s homes began to be lifted. · From April 2022 onwards, some targeted monitoring took place in certain settings in order to safeguard the welfare of people supported as well as driving up provider standards. The North Wales Quality Services: Delivering What Matters (known as ‘Escalating Concerns’) continued to be referred to and followed where issues with service provision were identified. · Feedback questionnaires were sent out to all people receiving domiciliary care in their own homes, and to all recorded relatives for people living in residential homes. All responses to the survey were submitted anonymously. · The responses received informed the Contracts Team’s monitoring activity for the reporting period, members were referred to Appendix 2. · This report provides information on the services provided by the Contracts Monitoring Team from September 2022 – August 2023 The Lead Member stated that currently over 1700 individuals are in receipt of a social care package, there are 61 providers currently used in a range of settings. The report covered the post pandemic period and reflected key issues such as: · pressures in the care home market · recruitment issues · pay eroded by inflation The annual report covered contract monitoring put in place to cover commissioned services, it specifically covered domiciliary care, supported living and specialist residential / nursing placements. The Chief Officer Social Care accompanied by Senior Head of Service for Adults & Children and Interim Service Manager for Older People & Contracts reminded Members that Contract Monitoring activity covers a vast amount of services, he responded to the issues raised by Members during the debate. · Clarification was sought by members with regards to Agency Workers and any difficulties caused by having to use them in contracted services. · Confirmation that the use of Agency Workers has been beneficial in many ways including reducing the waiting lists across homecare where some agency staff have helped subsidise our in-house service. · Clarification was sought by members with regards to adult care homes and whether we have third sector homes as well as private homes. · Confirmation that there is a diversity of provision, with most being in the private sector, assurances were given that we are looking at developing our own care development sector. · The model for ‘in house home care’ is to have strong providers, with our in house service being a strong part of this market. · Members were advised that there are cost implications involved when refurbishing the older buildings to the specification and standards required for a care home. · Concern expressed by members regarding the closure of care homes and assurance sought that the majority of residents will be placed in Wrexham. This reassurance was provided. AGREED – That the Committee thanked the Lead Member and Officers for the report. The Chair welcomed future reports to include plans identifying how these services will be shaped in the future.
Decision as recorded
AGREED - (i) The Chair thanked the Lead Members and Officers for their honesty and detail in delivering the report. (ii) The committee welcomed the three monthly budget updates due in December & April. (iii) Information in relation to benchmarking in terms of agency costs particularly in relation to other local authorities.
The Lead Member for Adult Services and the Lead Member for Children’s Services submitted a joint report. The Lead Member for Children’s Services introduced the report and informed Members that during the 15 months in post he had initially been focussed on continuing the service improvement journey. He highlighted the significant improvements and thanked staff for their efforts. The Children’s Services budget had risen to £38.1million and strategies such as ‘Care Close to Home’ and ‘Grow Your Own’ have been put in place to support children locally and deliver efficiencies in care delivery. He acknowledged the increased number of looked after children, poverty and Covid-19 pressures were contributing factors in increases in costs. It was also noted that we had worked to reduce caseloads of workers, as identified by external inspection. Agency staff costs had therefore increased during this period but are currently starting to be reduced as some staff are looking for greater stability and taking permanent posts. The increased need for specialist placements for vulnerable children, has had a significant negative effect on the budget. The Lead Member for Adult Services outlined the increase in budget from £41.9 million to £48.3 million. The budget changes were mainly due to: · the demographic increase in older people · the rise in the total of hours per week of care provided to adults in the community and whilst the number of people supported had reduced the average package size had grown due to increased complexity of adults supported. · placements in residential care homes · An increase in the number of people with a disability cared for in Supported Living placements. Adult services are employing a number of strategies to reduce the budget, these include: · Increased income generated through revaluations of properties and resolving Court of Protection matters. · Utilisation of grant underspends, where appropriate, to support overall budgetary position. · Rightsizing & reducing care provision across all areas. · Vacancy Management. A discussion ensued and Members raised the following points: · Officers gave assurances that standards of services were being maintained and that there is a measured risk management approach in place. · The level of quality of care continues to improve. · Clarification sought on reducing the number of high cost placements for children. · Assurances were given that although the aim is to reduce costs, those children who require it will continue to receive specialist care, be it that our goal is for that care to be provided closer to home. · Concern was expressed of the accountability of the Lead Member and their responsibilities in relation to the budget in light if their initial statement. · The Lead Member assured Committee Members that addressing the Social Care Budget was a priority whilst ensuring the safety of all children and adults in Wrexham. · Confirmation that there had been no early indication to members of the steep increase that had occurred in the spend in the last 2 quarters of 2022/23. AGREED - (i) The Chair thanked the Lead Members and Officers for their honesty and detail in delivering the report. (ii) The committee welcomed the three monthly budget updates due in December & April. (iii) Information in relation to benchmarking in terms of agency costs particularly in relation to other local authorities.
RESOLVED - That the press and public be excluded from the Meeting during consideration of the following item as it is likely that, if they were present, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).
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