Agenda and minutes

The Chair reminded Members of the need to declare any known interests in any matters to be considered at the meeting. There were no declarations made.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th July 2014.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th July 2014 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Members expressed concerns about not receiving responses to a number of questions asked at the last meeting.  The Director of Law and Democratic Services explained that August was the traditional time for officers to take annual leave and that the time between the last Scrutiny Committee and this meeting was very close. However, he would arrange for the responses to be followed up.

There were no public questions. 

Councillor Brian Mattock, the Deputy Leader of the Council and Vice Chair of Cabinet and Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, was in attendance and presented a detailed report summarising progress and performance in respect of each of the following service areas within his portfolio of responsibility:

·        Adult Services / Older People’s (Social) Services

·        Health and Wellbeing Board

·        Close working with the  Care Quality Commission

·        Community Mental Health Services

·        Enterprise Works

·        Public Health

·        Supporting People

·        Learning Disability Partnership Board

·        Maintaining links between the Council and partner organisations in the Health Services

·        Services for People with Disabilities

·        Adult Social Care Services Department Management Overview

·        SEQOL Client Lead Member

·        Control Room Operations

·        Emergency Planning

·        Wichelstowe

·        Supporting the Cabinet Member for Communities and Volunteering to develop community capacity

At the request of the Chair, Councillor Mattock, in his presentation of the report, commented specifically on those elements within his portfolio which he felt had been most successful, those where a different approach might have produced better results and the lessons that might have been learned as a consequence, and the challenges he expected to be faced by the Council relation to these service areas in the coming year and beyond, particularly in relation to on-going budgetary constraints.

Following his presentation of the report, Councillor Mattock responded to members’ specific questions and observations on the following topics:

·        How Localities helped to deliver the Adult Social Care change programme

·        The need for Localities to be more than an informational resource and to be aware of the challenges that the Council faced in the sphere of Adult Social Care

·        The on-going issue of the provision of the Memory Service within Swindon

·        The resources available to manage increased referrals for the Authorisation of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding following the ruling by the Supreme Court.

·        Information about the person taking on the role of the Best Interest Assessor

·        The increasing financial burden on Councils of residents taking up places at residential care homes and the issue of putting a cap on the contribution made by the Council

·        Concern at the results of the 2013/14 Adult Social Care Outcome Framework annual statutory Client Survey in relation to the proportion of people who use services who find it easy to find information about services

·        The safeguards in place to avoid abuses of the process in relation to responsibilities under the Mental Health Act, in particular where a person lacks the Mental Capacity to make their own decisions about where they live and the support that they need, the home or hospital has the ability to grant themselves up to 7 days Authority to Deprive that person of their Liberty in order that they can receive the care that they require

·        The challenges presented to the Council in managing the demand for services with the projected increases in the number of people requiring the services of adult social care by 2031

·        The need to know the future increase in numbers of people demanding services in addition to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.