Agenda, decisions and minutes

Resolved:

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2013

Resolved:

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2013

There were none

Resolved:

The Committee received the response from Mayor & Cabinet.

Resolved:

The Committee received the response from Mayor & Cabinet.

Resolved:

That the next budget monitoring report should include:

·         Further details on Cultural and Community Services, including local assemblies and sport.

·         Comparator figures from previous years on the housing rent collection rate.

·         Further details on large capital projects

That further information on contracts that are due to come to an end should be supplied to the Committee.

Peter Stachniewski, Interim Head of Financial Services, introduced the report, and highlighted the following key points:

·         An overspend of £0.6m against the directorates’ net general fund revenue budget is forecast.

·         95% of the £20.9m savings agreed in setting the 2013/14 budget are forecast to be delivered on schedule. Of the 5% that won’t be achieved some have been deferred and some won’t be achieved.

·         Directorates are looking at alternative ways of coming in on budget.

·         Capital programme forecast expenditure for 2013/14 is now £132m, compared to the budget of £150.8m.

·         Council tax collection is 0.52% lower than last year in terms of the percentage of gross cash collected and 0.48% lower against this year’s profile. The impact of welfare reform in this area has been significantly less than expected.

Children and Young People Directorate

In response to questions from the Committee, officers provided the following information:

·         The number of Looked After Children has increased which is thought to be due to a combination of an increase in the school age population and increased economic stress and pressure on families. Officers were concerned with the increase and conducted a sample audit, which showed no changes to criteria people were using when referring children, so the correct referrals were and are being made.

·         The period a child will be looked after by the local authority can vary hugely depending on circumstances of cases. 2 or 3 particularly expensive placements can have a large impact on the overall spend.

·         The 3 main areas of cost, in order of expense, are residential placements, agency foster care and council foster carers. Residential placements have been reduced and Lewisham is recruiting foster carers to reduce agency dependency.

·         The local authority has a duty of care to the children of people who have overstayed in the UK and are waiting to be dealt with by the Home Office. There have been significant delays in the Home Office taking action and this is an issue across London, with some families supported by Lewisham for over a year. A large number of families have been placed in Kent as housing is less expensive.

·         The local authority’s duty of care is to pay for accommodation and utilities and Lewisham does not compensate local authorities or health services in Kent and have not had negative feedback about placements

·         The youth service staff who will leave their posts early will not include those who are tasked with building up capacity in the VCS.

Community Services Directorate

In response to questions from the Committee, officers provided the following information:

·         Lewisham will look to recover direct payments from service users if over 6 weeks’ worth of funding have been saved up. However, if the money has been saved for a purpose, such as buying an expensive piece of equipment, then the money would not be claimed back.

·         There are opportunities to quicken the introduction of direct payments. The previous contract with Freewood was not working well and the management of direct payements has been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Resolved:

That the Chair’s foreword, executive summary and agreed recommendations are inserted into the final report and referred to the next available Mayor & Cabinet meeting.

The Committee agreed the following recommendations:

·         The personalisation agenda within Adult Social Care should be further pursued and promoted by the Council as a way of offering services that are more flexible and suited to individual needs, as well as creating savings.

·         The increased use of direct payments for services should be promoted, ensuring that there is effective oversight and monitoring of the direct payment process in place.

·         Local markets supplying Adult Social Care services to those in receipt of direct payments should be further developed, with particular attention paid to supporting local voluntary and community groups that promote social cohesion. 

·         The Committee supports the work carried out so far to integrate Adult Social Care with health services. This work should be maintained and further advanced with the new Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, GP Practices and Public Health. Opportunities for further savings should be explored through integrating budgets and creating efficiencies.

·         Knowledge of Adult Social Care and the services it offers should be improved among all areas of the health sector. Promoting and improving signposting to Adult Social Care Services could provide improved longer term health outcomes and increased value for money.

·         An assessment should be carried out of the short-term impact that deferred payments for care introduced under the Care Bill will have upon Council finances and ensure there is adequate provision made for any impact.

·         The feasibility of forming a Local Authority Trading Company to trade in Adult Social Care services should be explored.

·         Contracts held by Public Health should be re-examined when due to be renewed,  with funding directed towards areas that will not only lead to longer term health improvement but could also contribute to reduced future spending.

·         That the London Living Wage should be paid for all those providing residential and domiciliary care in London for Lewisham service users, including those employed via direct payments.

·         That further scrutiny and monitoring is carried out by the appropriate select committees on the following:

o    The development of the local market for Adult Social Care services.

o    The in-house direct payments process.

The Committee discussed the Funding and Financial Management of Adult Social care draft report, including recommendations.

Resolved:

That the Chair’s foreword, executive summary and agreed recommendations are inserted into the final report and referred to the next available Mayor & Cabinet meeting.

The Committee agreed the following recommendations:

·         The personalisation agenda within Adult Social Care should be further pursued and promoted by the Council as a way of offering services that are more flexible and suited to individual needs, as well as creating savings.

·         The increased use of direct payments for services should be promoted, ensuring that there is effective oversight and monitoring of the direct payment process in place.

·         Local markets supplying Adult Social Care services to those in receipt of direct payments should be further developed, with particular attention paid to supporting local voluntary and community groups that promote social cohesion. 

·         The Committee supports the work carried out so far to integrate Adult Social Care with health services. This work should be maintained and further advanced with the new Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, GP Practices and Public Health. Opportunities for further savings should be explored through integrating budgets and creating efficiencies.

·         Knowledge of Adult Social Care and the services it offers should be improved among all areas of the health sector. Promoting and improving signposting to Adult Social Care Services could provide improved longer term health outcomes and increased value for money.

·         An assessment should be carried out of the short-term impact that deferred payments for care introduced under the Care Bill will have upon Council finances and ensure there is adequate provision made for any impact.

·         The feasibility of forming a Local Authority Trading Company to trade in Adult Social Care services should be explored.

·         Contracts held by Public Health should be re-examined when due to be renewed,  with funding directed towards areas that will not only lead to longer term health improvement but could also contribute to reduced future spending.

·         That the London Living Wage should be paid for all those providing residential and domiciliary care in London for Lewisham service users, including those employed via direct payments.

·         That further scrutiny and monitoring is carried out by the appropriate select committees on the following:

o    The development of the local market for Adult Social Care services.

o    The in-house direct payments process.

Resolved:

The Committee agreed the work programme

Resolved:

The Committee agreed the work programme

Resolved:

The Committee agreed to refer the Funding and Financial Management of Adult Social Care Review to the next available Mayor & cabinet meeting, subject to the inclusion if the Chair’s Foreword, Executive Summary and Recommendations.

Resolved:

The Committee agreed to refer the Funding and Financial Management of Adult Social Care Review to the next available Mayor & cabinet meeting, subject to the inclusion if the Chair’s Foreword, Executive Summary and Recommendations.