Agenda item

6.1      Aileen Buckton (Executive Director for Community Services) introduced the report; the following key points were noted:

·         The report followed from previous discussions at Committee about changes to day centre provision.

·         The service was being tasked to make a £1.3m saving in relation to its properties.

·         Following scrutiny of the consultation options at Committee in January 2015, Mayor and Cabinet had agreed to consult on a proposal to consolidate directly delivered services for people with complex needs.

·         There was a related report being considered by the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee about changes to accommodation for the Community and Voluntary Sector and proposals for community hubs.

·         The Ladywell centre would be retained for the provision of specialist support.

·         Mulberry, Leemore and Naborhood centres would be developed as community hubs.

·         The hubs would better utilise the available space, provide facilities for community organisations and training spaces for volunteers.

·         The Leemore centre would operate as an information and advice giving centre.

·         Voluntary sector organisations would be tasked to work more closely together.

·         Work had been carried out to ensure that those who wanted to could still attend MENCAP evening club provision.

·         Sessions had been held with service users and their advocates about the changes.

·         If further staffing changes were required – consultation would be carried out with staff.

6.2      Aileen Buckton (Executive Director for Community Services) and Heather Hughes (Joint Commissioning Lead, Complex Care & Learning Disability) responded to questions from the Committee; the following key points were noted:

·         It was agreed that the description of people ‘living at home’ might be misleading because wherever a person lived was their home. The term was used in the report to create a distinction between people who were in supported living and those who lived with family carers.

·         Most of the work on transport issues had been completed; there were still some things to resolve in relation to people who were placed in Lewisham care from other boroughs.

·         People would be helped to use different means of transport. Work with volunteer drivers had shown that they were eager to have regular hours, so transport to clubs would work well.

·         Respondents to the consultation were not overwhelmingly against the proposals. There were specific concerns about some parts of the proposals, but it was recognised that there needed to be a change.

·         There had been different views about different aspects of the consultation.

·         Services users wanted assurances that their services would remain safe, that there would be some choice over activities and there were specific appeals for particular services.

·         Some services were not sustainable and reorganisation was necessary.

·         Officers would work to ensure there was a sensitive transition which would take account of the needs of affected staff.

·         Assessments of all service users had not yet been completed. Reviews had been concentrated on people who would be most affected by the proposals, but there was more work to do.

·         The case for change had been made in the original proposals, which were presented to Mayor and Cabinet. It was agreed that the consultation would be carried out on the option to consolidate day service provision.

6.3      The Committee also discussed their concern about the way in which consultations were presented and carried out. Some Members felt that certain consultations did not give enough weight to the responses received. Members also highlighted their concerns about the inability of the online system used to receive responses to determine whether there were multiple responses from the same source.

6.4      Georgina Nunney (Principal Lawyer) advised the Committee that there was a clear process for consultation, and the actions the local authority should take because of consultation responses, as set out in recent case law. There had to be an option to ‘do nothing’, the consultation should also seek to determine whether or not the proposal was achievable as described. The consultation carried out on the day centres proposals had been through a number of steps and it should be viewed as a whole.

6.5      Resolved: to note the report.