Venue: Committee Rooms A/B - Neath Civic Centre. View directions
No. | Item |
---|---|
Declarations of Interest from Members Minutes: The
following Member made a Declaration at the commencement of the meeting: Cllr
M Protheroe- the private report of the Director of
Social Care, Health and Housing on Hillside Secure Children’s Home as he sits
on the Board of Governors at Cefn Saeson
School. |
|
Minutes: Members
noted that the minutes stated that the Western Bay Commissioning Strategy for
Care Homes for Older People 2016-25 had been withdrawn from the agenda at the
last meeting and queried if the minutes should have stated the reason why the
report had been withdrawn. Officers confirmed that it had been due to illness
and confirmed that the report would continue to be included on the Forward Work
Programme of the Committee and requested until it was presented to the
Committee. The
Committee noted the minutes. |
|
Scrutiny Forward Work Programme 2017/18 and Actions Register PDF 72 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The
Committee noted the Forward Work Programme and Actions Register. |
|
Minutes: The
Committee received information in relation to the Gwella
Project as contained within the circulated report. The
Director had been unable to provide the detail required by the Committee at the
last meeting hence Members had requested this report as a way of providing further
information on the project. The
Director had stated that he had been unimpressed by a presentation given by Gwella and Members queried why this was. He explained that
in his role as the Chair of the Safeguarding Board he felt the presentation had
been non -specific and lacking in detail but he stressed that this had been a
personal view and the Safeguarding Board took a decision to proceed with Gwella and he stood by this decision. Members
asked in what way had expectations of Gwella not been
fully realised and the Director explained that there had been some slippage in
the project phases. The
Committee asked for information in relation to the Group who oversee Gwella and were informed that they report to the Safeguarding
Board. Members
queried the 4 Local Authorities that had been identified as the sites for the
pilots and wanted to know who had approved these sites and when. The Director
did not know the origin of the pilot areas. The
Committee expressed concern at continued future work with Gwella
and asked what assurances could be given at this stage. The Director explained
that the Children Act 2004, the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014
sets out the operation of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards and they are
not creatures of the Council and there are no official oversight and scrutiny
arrangements of the Boards. Members were assured that it is the frontline services
of the Council who ensure safeguarding responsibilities are met and it is these
services who are held to account and scrutinised. Members
were informed that the Gwella project is funded by
Welsh Government. The
Committee felt it was important that they continue to scrutinise Neath Port
Talbot Council’s involvement in the Safeguarding Board. Following
scrutiny it was agreed that the report be noted. |
|
Elected Members Visits to Social Care and Nursing Homes PDF 88 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The
Committee received information relating to the Lay Assessor Programme of visits
to Social Care and Nursing Homes within the County Borough as contained in the
circulated report. Members
who had been part of the previous Lay Assessor Programme commented that the
visits had been interesting and constructive and were keen to see the programme
continue. The
Committee agreed that attendance at training must be mandatory and completed
before any visits take place. The
Committee approved the recommendations to continue the Lay Assessor Programme
which will consist of annual ‘unannounced’ visits to be carried out by Lay
Assessors to all independent residential and nursing homes in Neath Port Talbot
and to attend mandatory training sessions. Cllr
John Miller abstained will abstain from the Lay Assessor Programme. |
|
PRE-SCRUTINY Minutes: The
Committee scrutinised the following matters: Cabinet
Board Proposals 6.1 Hillside Secure Children’s Home Placement
Fees 2017-18 The Committee received information on
the placement fees to be applied
to Hillside Secure Children’s Home as contained
within the circulated report. Members drew attention to the Financial Impact
whereby the service aims to fully recover its costs. Officers confirmed that
Hillside operates at no cost to the Authority and it is a service which fully
recovers its costs. Following scrutiny it was agreed that the report be
noted. 6.2 Community Resource Team Annual Report
2016/17 The Committee received the annual update on the
progress of delivering the integrated Community Resource Team model as
contained within the circulated report. Members asked for more information in relation to
the workforce and Officers committed to circulating the workforce chart to
Member via email Members noted that the total numbers of unscheduled
care admissions into hospital are 1.6% lower than in 14/15 however the length
of stay had increased by 9.6%. It was discussed that it is important to
understand what it behind these lengthy stays and officers stated that a piece
of work had been undertaken by staff in the hospitals looking into these
issues. Members praised this pro-active approach and requested that a copy of
this report be brought to a future meeting of this committee. Members queried the overspend which is attributed
to an increase in the cost of assistive technology and the fact that after the
budget was set Carmarthenshire Council gave notice that the charge for their
lifeline service was to increase significantly. Officers explained the Service Level Agreement
with Carmarthenshire would be subject to a future report to this Committee. Members commented that aspects of the report were
difficult to cross reference and officers explained that they would take this
into account for future reports. Members asked why total number of bed days data for those over aged 75 was not collected. Officers
explained that the data is available but the intermediate care fund is focussed
on those aged 65 and over and this is the data that is collected for the
purposes of this report. The Committee raised concern at short packages of
care. They understood these were based on specific need and discussed how other
ways to address need could be met i.e. volunteers for socialisation and
encouraging independence. Members commented that they have received positive
anecdotal stories about the work of the team. Following scrutiny it was agreed that the report be
noted. |
|
ACCESS TO MEETINGS Minutes: RESOLVED: that pursuant to Section 100(A) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded
for the following items of business which involved the likely disclosure of
exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the
above Act |
|
PRE-SCRUTINY Minutes: The
Committee scrutinised the following matters: Cabinet
Board Proposals 8.1 Manager’s Report Hillside Secure Children’s
Home The Committee received information on the young
people, staff and service planning and development for the period 1st
May 2017 to 30th August 2017 as contained within the circulated
report. Members thanked the management for the welcome they
had received on a recent visit and congratulated them on the awards they had received. The Committee asked if any good practice could be
taken from Hillside to other education establishments when dealing with difficult
young people. Officers explained that Hillside is the only secure unit in the
UK with an affiliated school and they are involved in a peer education review to
explore best practice; Members looked forward to hearing more about this as it
develops. The Committee expressed concern at the recent
changes in staff and were assured that all issues had been dealt with in
probity. Members asked for more detail in relation to the
staff rota and were pleased to learn
that concerns raised by the staff had been listened to. Members expressed concern at the levels of staff
sickness absence and in particular absences related to stress and asked for
information about how members of staff are supported. Officer explained that
supervision and counselling is offered as the Council’s Sickness Absence Policy
is adhered to. Members understood that stress related absence is not always work
related stress and the figures do not highlight this. They went on to discuss
staff morale and were pleased to note that the movement of staff between
Hillside and Cefn Saeson
School was helping to alleviate staff morale as well as regular supervision sessions. The Committee were pleased to note that the unit is
developing its use of music with the young people. Members agreed that the interests and wellbeing of
the children at the unit is paramount and the focus is always on making it a
caring and stable environment. Following scrutiny it was agreed that the report be
noted |