Apologies for absence were received from Councilllors PA Andrews, JM Bartlett and PM Morgan.

In accordance with paragraph 4.1.23 of the council’s constitution, Councillor FM Norman attended as a substitute member for Councillor JM Bartlett.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2015.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed by the chairman.

To note and use Understanding Herefordshire as the overall evidence of need to inform business planning, decision-making and commissioning and to note the Herefordshire Health and Wellbeing Strategy that has been approved by the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The cabinet member for economy, communities and corporate introduced this item which included a joint strategic needs assessment which the council had a statutory duty to produce. This would ensure that service priorities are based on key issues and that decision-making is informed in order to meet the needs of the population.

A presentation on Understanding Herefordshire was given by the adults and wellbeing directorate’s research and intelligence lead. The presentation provided a picture of the county and key issues in terms of health, social, economic and demographic factors.

The leader thanked officers for the presentation and the report.

The group leader for Herefordshire Independents welcomed the recognition in the report of the military population and defence as an employer in the county, which had not been recognised previously. It was noted that it was intended to develop work on this sector of the community.

The group leader for It’s Our County gave thanks for this work and commented that it would be useful to have a trajectory to enable tracking of data using the JSNA as a primary reference. He asked for assurance that data was comprehensive and accurate.

The cabinet member for economy, communities and corporate explained that there were additional areas in this year’s report including the military sector and the economy making the data more comprehensive. There were two further documents that inform decision-making, and these were the mental health needs assessment document and the children’s integrated needs assessment. It was noted that the trajectory had changed in response to the evidence base and quality assurance. All data was quality assured before publishing and statistics were based on national databases and were therefore robust. The research and intelligence lead welcomed enquiries from any member interested in the data.

In response to a further question from the group leader for It’s Our County, the research and intelligence lead confirmed that data was quality assured and scrutinised and that reports were also quality assured by stakeholders and other partners.

The chair of the general overview and scrutiny committee referred to a recent meeting with Herefordshire Voluntary Organisations Support Service (HVOSS), highlighting a need to consider the voluntary sector in Herefordshire. Volunteers played an important and powerful role and were relied upon yet could withdraw from providing valued services at any time. It was noted that there was also an aging volunteer population. The clergy was also cited as a valuable yet shrinking resource in the community.  In response, it was confirmed that HVOSS were involved in the JSNA and mapping work and it would be possible to develop more support for voluntary organisations to deliver services.

The cabinet member infrastructure commented on data regarding leisure activity and unemployment which suggested that there was a high proportion of people on pensions who cannot afford leisure activities. It was clarified that in the 16% classified as workless this did not include retired people. 

The leader commented on an article in today’s Hereford Times reporting on an increase in employment in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

The cabinet member, young people and children’s wellbeing, presented a letter of 24 March 2015 from the secretary of state addressed to the leader which confirmed the removal of an improvement notice. The letter congratulated the council for bringing about significant change and it was noted that staff had worked hard to achieve the notice being lifted. He added that whilst the letter was welcomed, there is no time for complacency.

The chair of the general overview and scrutiny committee made enquiries about the efficiency and efficacy of the social care system, Frameworki. He further noted concern about the red ratings in relation to the ratio of permanent and agency staff and asked about the impact of the social work academy.

The head of safeguarding and quality explained that Frameworki remained a challenge although it compared well with other similar systems; improvements have been made and there is more performance information available. Recruitment and retention impacting on caseloads remained an issue but problems could be identified much earlier. A major project was planned for next year on data migration and upgrading between Frameworki and Mosaic which would ensure that that the system was more user friendly. Progress was being made and priorities were clearer, including work on a module for looked after children. 

The chair of the general overview and scrutiny committee enquired further about concerns that were reported regarding the use of tablet devices and their interface with Frameworki. It was clarified that there remained a reliance on access to secure wi-fi at bases such as the multi-agency offices. There was work in progress to integrate devices with systems such as Agresso and HR.

The Liberal Democrat group leader commented that at least two leavers had cited to him their reason for leaving was Frameworki.

The cabinet member for young people and children’s wellbeing expressed confidence that strategies were in place to address recruitment and retention issues and that the results would be seen in the long-term. 

In answer to a question from the chair of the general overview and scrutiny committee regarding the social work academy, it was confirmed that there were a number of recruits progressing through the academy who were  working well and there was evidence that they intended to stay with Herefordshire. The first cohort had formed a peer group that was committed and putting down roots in the county. It was expected that the academy would pay dividends in the long term.

The group leader of Herefordshire Independents asked about the time taken to establish high-quality supervision. He further enquired about steps towards workers’ access to information on missing children, and multi-agency safeguarding training. 

The director children’s wellbeing commented on the importance of understanding the reality of the position that the directorate was in and the reasons for the intervention. It was not the case that no progress had been made and the report charted progress in the move towards “good”. The red ratings indicated that there needed to be faster progress in those  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89.

To invite cabinet members to consider performance for the first two months of 2015/16 and the projected budget outturn for the year.

The cabinet member for economy, communities and corporate introduced the report which used to be presented as two separate reports. Performance is RAG-rated (red, amber, green) and although there were some high risks, there were controls in place.  Feedback on format of reports and the information presented was welcomed in order to make them as useful as possible.

The director of resources presented the financial highlights from the report. The overall projection of overspend was not a concern and there was confidence that this would be addressed through the year. The contingency fund and reserves could cover the overspend if things remained unchanged. There were concerns regarding safeguarding spending and plans not being achieved. Spending was at the same rate as last year alongside significant reductions in budget. However the HIPPS programme was proving successful. It had been anticipated that external fostering costs would reduce during the year but they had not reduced in line with the plan, hence the variance. Plans were in place to review all cases to ensure children did not stay in external fostering longer than necessary.  It was not expected that safeguarding would come within budget this financial year. Plans were in place to reduce agency staff, but there remained a need to staff the service. The ‘grow our own’ strategy through the academy was working but was a long term plan. Consideration was to be given to how to address budget plans for 2016/17 as there were plans to reduce the budget further.

The budget for adults and wellbeing and economy, communities and corporate directorates were spending within budget.

Budgetary control across the board was considered to be good.

In relation to interest rates, the director of resources explained that they had been low for a number of years but an increase at the turn of year was anticipated by the Bank of England. The impact on the council would be minimal as the majority of borrowing had been fixed at low interest rates.

In answer to a question from the group leader of the Herefordshire Independents regarding the monetary policy committee, it was clarified that this was made up of economists.

The director of adults and wellbeing answered his further question regarding the risk referred to in appendix D and non-compliance of the Care Act. The council remained in dispute with the clinical commissioning group regarding the amount of budget available to support the existing commitments and therefore the contracts had not transferred to the local authority. Ongoing dialogue was taking place and the actual service provision was continuing. Phase 2 of the Care Act was due to be implemented from April 2016; however the government had just announced that phase 2 would now be delayed until 2020. This risk would be amended in light of this announcement. In terms of phase 1, the information, advice and signposting function was now fully commissioned though would not be fully operational until later this year and so remained a risk to the council though mitigation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.