To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors GA Powell, ME Cooper and MD Lloyd-Hayes.

To receive details of any Member nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee

Councillor WU Attfield substituted for Councillor Lloyd-Hayes.

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

GUIDANCE ON DECLARING PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AT MEETINGS

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires Councillors to declare against an Agenda item(s) the nature of an interest and whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.  Councillors have to decide first whether or not they have a personal interest in the matter under discussion.  They will then have to decide whether that personal interest is also prejudicial.

A personal interest is an interest that affects the Councillor more than most other people in the area.  People in the area include those who live, work or have property in the area of the Council.  Councillors will also have a personal interest if their partner, relative or a close friend, or an organisation that they or the member works for, is affected more than other people in the area.  If they do have a personal interest, they must declare it but can stay and take part and vote in the meeting. 

Whether an interest is prejudicial is a matter of judgement for each Councillor.  What Councillors have to do is ask themselves whether a member of the public – if he or she knew all the facts – would think that the Councillor’s interest was so important that their decision would be affected by it.  If a Councillor has a prejudicial interest then they must declare what that interest is and leave the meeting room.

Councillor AE Gray declared an interest for Agenda Item 8, Revenue Budget Monitoring, as a provider of care for people with learning disabilities.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2009.

The Committee noted the Minutes of the meeting held on the 25 March 2009. 

In reply to a question regarding the transfer of data from the Clix system to Frameworki, the Associate Director of Integrated Commissioning reported that the data had been transferred successfully, and the process had now reached the point whereby all data had been transferred and the lack of detail in data recording on the Clix system was being exposed. Significant extra resource was being used to clear up the data. 

She went on so say that there were difficulties surrounding how Frameworki connected into the corporate finance system This meant that where staff where recording data for the PCT or the Council, it would have to be entered twice or collected onto a spreadsheet and then uploaded.  Care then had to be taken with the integrity of the data. A report would be provided to the next meeting of the Committee.

Resolved:

That          (a)      In order to ensure that adequate budgetary management for           the Adult Social Care Service and Health Service was possible,     it was recommended that the appropriate financial package to           allow Frameworki to interface with the corporate financial       system was acquired as a matter of urgency.

                           and;

                  (b)    That the minutes of the meeting held on the 25 March 2009 be        confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

There were no suggestions from members of the public.

To consider inviting a representative of the Local Involvement Network to attend meetings of the Committee as an observer.

The Committee considered a report to invite a representative of the Local Involvement Network to attend meetings of the Committee as an observer. 

Resolved:

THAT     (a)        the Local Involvement Network be invited to nominate up to two representatives to attend and contribute to meetings of the Committee;

                           and;

(b)               the term of office of the nominee (s) should be at the relevant organisation’s discretion, subject to the nomination being reconfirmed after the four-yearly elections to this Council.

The Cabinet Member (Environment and Strategic Housing) will comment on the key achievements or topics for improvement in the past year in his programme area as it relates to the Committee; what matters will need to be addressed in the coming year and issues with which he may wish to involve Scrutiny in the future.

This item was deferred to the next meeting of the Committee.

To advise the Committee on the final revenue outturn position for Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing for 2008/09 and to outline the agreed budget for 2009/10, highlighting the emerging budget pressures.

The Committee considered an update on the 2008-09 final outturn position for Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing and the outlined 2009-10 budget position.  The Management Accounting Manager reported that the position on the Adult Social Care Budget showed deterioration from the January position, resulting in a final outturn of an overspend of £713k.  The main area of overspend was that of the Learning Disabilities budget (£726k), where several different factors had influenced the outturn position. The amount of expenditure assessed as meeting Continuing Healthcare criteria has been included in the accounts based on the application of agreed assessment criteria. There were seventeen new residential packages agreed as well as increases in homecare and supported accommodation costs. These increases were partly offset by transport and vacancy savings and increased client contributions

He went on to say that the Older People budget had been over spent by £313k as a result of increased domiciliary costs, partly caused by the ‘red alert’ in hospitals during December and January when patients had been discharged earlier than normal. There were also cost increases that had come about as a result of more complex care needs and an increase in the level of ‘top-up’ payments.

In reply to a question, the Director of Integrated Commissioning said that the Elmhurst building in Hereford had now been declared surplus to requirements for Adult Social Care, and had been returned to Property Services for redistribution or disposal.

In reply to a further question, he said that there was no contingency within the Adult Social Care budget to cover the overspend, but there was in the Council’s overall budget.  The Cabinet Member (Social Care Adults) added that it was important that the mechanisms for budgeting should be sorted out as soon as possible, as she did not feel that she currently had confidence in the budget setting process or, indeed, the budget itself.

The Director of Integrated Commissioning added that it should also be borne in mind that the Council was intending to top slice 5% off the Area Based Grants.  The Cabinet Member (Social Care Adults) said that whilst she supported efficiency savings, care should be exercised when concentrating on these areas, as those who lost out would be vulnerable people. 

To report on the national performance indicators position and other performance management information for the Integrated Commissioning, Social Care Division within the Joint Integrated Commissioning Directorate.

The Committee received a report on the national performance indicators position and other performance management information for the Integrated Commissioning (Social Care) Directorate. 

The Associate Director Integrated Commissioning reported that the end of year out turn position was positive, and showed improvement across most indicators although many did not reach the target set.  For some indicators, the target set was within or above top band 5 UK performance (eg D54 - percentage of equipment and adaptations delivered within 7 working days), so failure to hit the target could indicate a problem with how that target had been set rather than with performance.

She went on to say that only two indicators had failed to either maintain or improve their national banding for performance.  Of these, C29 (People with physical disabilities helped to live at home) was measured by small numbers and so may indicate a statistical anomaly rather than a drop in performance. Further work was underway to explore and rectify potential problems. The other indicator to drop was C51 (measuring the take up of direct payments).  This indicator had been affected by the success of the take up of Individual Budgets (a similar process but not counted in the same way by the Department of Health).  This was a temporary feature, because in the new National Indicator set both direct payments and Individual Budgets were included in the count of NI 130, and that this indicator was performing well.

She went on to draw the Committees attention to Appendix 1 of the report.  She said that indicator C28 (Intensive home care) would no longer be recorded as an indicator.  It was a difficult indicator to measure in rural areas. 

RESOLVED:

THAT:

              (a)      the report on Integrated Commissioning (Social Care) performance be noted;

                        and;

(b)           areas of concern should continue to be monitored.

To report on the national performance indicators position and other performance management information for the Strategic Housing Division within the Regeneration Directorate.

The Committee noted the report on the national performance indicators position and other performance management information for the Strategic Housing Division within the Regeneration Directorate.

The Head of Strategic Housing Services reported that the Local Area Agreement targets for 2009/10 and 2010/11 had been reconsidered in consultation with the Government Office of the West Midlands.  A reduction in the Number of Affordable Homes delivered had been negotiated as a result of the economic downturn.  The targets agreed for the numbers of affordable homes to be delivered in 2009/10 and 2010/11 were 220 and 275 respectively. The target for NI156 – Number of Households in Temporary Accommodation had not been renegotiated; this was also a target that was set by the Department of Communities and Local Government to reduce the use of Temporary Accommodation by 2010.

The Council had been swift to respond to the changes in the market, and was remodelling supply to meet demand.  At the end of the year the target NI 156 had been reached to reduce the numbers of households in temporary accommodation - this would continue to be a challenge for the forthcoming year as the Department for Communities and Local Government Target was to reduce the number of households further with the target being set at 82 for 2009/10. 

It was noted that delays in receiving information of potential properties that had been brought back into use delayed the reporting on target BV64 during the year.  Data had been received and validated, and the target had been exceeded due to regular monitoring of the delivery plan over the 12 month period and working in partnership with key housing providers across the County.

He went on to say that a Rough Sleepers Count had been undertaken in September 2008 during which 7 individuals were found to be sleeping rough in Herefordshire.  5 of the 7 were foreign nationals. The homeless and housing advice service was currently consulting with representatives from the homelessness directorate of the DCLG on approaches which can prevent / resolve incidences of rough sleeping amongst migrant workers and in particular those with no recourse to public funds.  A Rough Sleepers Strategy Group would be convened in order to focus on reducing numbers.  In reply to a question from the Chairman, the Head of Strategic Housing said that the homelessness hostel in Ross-on-Wye was now empty, in line with the Council’s strategy to reduce the use of inappropriate hostels.  In the present economic climate the Council’s Housing Association partners were struggling, and as a result attempts were being made to key in as much Homes and Communities Agency partnership funding as was possible. 

In reply to an additional question, he agreed that more could be done to match households against the appropriate housing and that some bungalows had been delivered, but that such housing represented a large footprint for development. 

RESOLVED:

THAT:

              (a)      the report on Strategic Housing performance be noted;

                        and;

(b)           areas of concern should continue to be monitored.

To consider the Committee’s work programme.

The Committee noted the Work Programme.

RESOLVED:   That the work programme be approved and reported to the                Strategic Monitoring Committee.