MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE SOCIAL SERVICES, HOUSING AND BENEFITS SELECT COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON TUESDAY, 4 MARCH 2003 COMMENCING AT 9.30 AM

Present :

Mr I R Stephens (Chairman), Mr J R Adams, Mr A C Bartlett, Mrs T M Butchers, Mrs B D Clough, Mr M J Cunningham (deputising for Mrs E Oulton), Mrs D Gardiner, Mr G S Kendall, Mr R C Richards, Mr D G Williams

Apologies :

Mr J A Bowker, Mrs E Oulton

Portfolio Holder :

Mr R G Mazillius

Also Present (non voting) :

Mrs B Foster

STRATEGIC DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES AND HOUSING - MR GLEN GARROD

The Select Committee welcomed Mr Glen Garrod, the new Strategic Director for Social Services and Housing. The Committee expressed their grateful thanks to Mr Jimmy Doyle for taking on the role of Acting Strategic Director prior to Mr Garrods appointment. Thanks were also expressed to all the staff during this transitional period.

 65.      MINUTES

RESOLVED :

THAT the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 February 2003 be confirmed.

66.      DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Mr M Cunningham declared a personal interest as a member of the Management Board of Homestart and as a Director of the Riverside Centre.

67.      URGENT BUSINESS - APPOINTMENT TO AN OUTSIDE BODY

The Chairman advised Members that following the Select Committee’s decision taken on 14 January 2003 to nominate Mr J Adams to the Medina Housing Association Management Board a request had been received from Mr A C Coburn that the vote be taken again. This was because Mr Coburn, who had also been nominated for the position had not specifically been notified that the appointment was due for consideration at that meeting. The Chairman had agreed therefore that the matter should be reconsidered as urgent business. Following a secret ballot it was :

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO THE EXECUTIVE :

THAT Mr J Adams be appointed as the Council’s representative to the Medina Housing Association Management Board.

68.      BUDGET MONITORING REPORT AS AT END OF JANUARY 2003

The Select Committee received the report of the Strategic Director which set out both the revenue and capital for the services within the Committee’s remit. It was noted that the Directorate was currently projecting a potential underspend at the end of the financial year of approximately £19,000. Members were advised that the figures did not include budgets that were controlled elsewhere such as the building maintenance budget which was monitored by the Resources Select Committee and therefore these figures had not been included against individual services. Members requested that this information be included in future reports.

In discussion members were assured that representation to the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister were being made regarding the potential £50,000 overspend arising from the administrative costs incurred within the supporting people programme. It was agreed that members of the Select Committee receive copies of the representations.

The Select Committee requested that any underspend from the current financial year be continued to be identified in future budget monitoring reports, to enable effective management of the budget.

Members congratulated the Social Services Directorate for their careful management of the budget and overcoming the many pressures that it faces.

RESOLVED :

           (a)       THAT the report be noted

           (b)       THAT presentation be arranged for the Select Committee’s meeting in May2003 to scrutinise the budget for 2002/03 and how the growth bids received in 2002 were used.

69.      HOMELESSNESS MONITORING AND NOMINATION STATISTICS

Consideration was given to the report of the Strategic Director which outlined the Homeless Monitoring and Nomination Statistics for January 2003.

Members raised the provision made to the Women’s Refuge. It was noted that for the year 2002/03 up to the 31 January 2003, 51 applications to the refuge had been received and only 22 had been accommodated. It was suggested that a scrutiny session on the Women’s Refuge be held at a future meeting.

Concern was raised regarding the delay in processing applications, the average had increased to 33 days. Members were advised that currently a review was being undertaken of the component parts of the application process to identify any delays, once the review was completed a better target would be set.

As discussed at the Committee’s meeting on 5 February 2003 the report format was in the process of being changed to a graphical format.

RESOLVED :

THAT the report be accepted.

70.      PROGRESS REPORT FROM THE HOME CARE TASK GROUP

The Select Committee considered the progress report of the Home Care Task Group which informed members of the issues identified by the group regarding the state of the care provider market

The Task Group had been established at the Committee’s meeting on the 15 October 2002 and had been tasked with investigating problems in the area of home care, particularly with recruiting and retaining staff.

The Select Committee were advised that the Task Group undertook benchmarking exercises with other comparable authorities. York had been used as a benchmark, as it was within a group of possible comparison authorities and had been considered to be the closest within the intensive care unit. Various reviews had indicated York to be a competent provider of in house services.

One of the problems identified with regard to the retention of staff was the difficulty at getting to widespread addresses with a locality. During discussion it was suggested that the Task Group investigate schemes similar to those that the Rural Community Council use, such as moped schemes.

RESOLVED :

           (a)       THAT the views of the Task Group contained in the report be noted and the Select Committee support further exploration of other areas of care provision such as the residential care market, meals on wheels and the implications of the Fairer Charging Statutory guidance issued by the Department of Health

           (b)       THAT the Select Committee support the level of expenditure identified within the overall content of the report.

71.      CHILDREN’S SERVICES RESTRUCTURING

Members received a presentation and the new Children’s Services structure. The new structure had been established following analysis of performance date, informal consultation and research into three star Local Authorities. Following strategic themes and revised new eligibility criteria the new children’s services structure had been divided into three areas :

           *          Family Services

           *          Jointly Commissioned Services for Looked After Children

           *          Quality and Performance Management

It was noted that the restructuring would be contained within existing expenditure, although following its implementation there may be a need to consider some financial underpinning largely due to the potential need for job evaluations.

During discussion it was requested that the Committee consider Children’s Services in greater detail at a future meeting and the relevant stakeholders, particularly frontline staff be invited to attend. Members were advised that no new posts had been created from the restructure although some job specifications had changed. It was noted that within the new structure there were 8-10 vacant posts it was intended that the vacancy’s be distributed to create two vacancies within each team.

The Select Committee thanked all the staff involved for their hard work and success in restructuring the service.

RESOLVED :

           (a)       THAT the Select Committee accept the report as endorsed by the Portfolio Holder and receive information on the Service as required.

           (b)       THAT Performance Indicators and the underpinning within the Service Plan be included in future reports

72.      PROGRESS REPORT FROM THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION TASK GROUP

The Select Committee received the report of the Task Group which provided Members with an update of their progress. As Members were aware the Task Group had been established in December 2001. At the Committee’s meeting in October 2002 the Task Group had reported that Children’s Services had experienced ongoing difficulty in attracting applications from Social workers and experienced childcare managers. Following a revised national advertisement in January 2003, the Directorate had offered three posts to external candidates, three to internal, two students had been offered placements and two people were given short terms contracts to assess their skills.

The Committee were advised that a Market supplement growth bid had been successful which had enabled a £1,200 market supplement payment for the recruitment and retention of childcare social workers. In addition work was being undertaken regarding bursary and sponsorship schemes with local universities and colleges. The Task Group had devised a letter of sponsorship to be circulated to Island students considering social work courses. Furthermore secondments options for unqualified non social work staff wishing to undertake training was continuing.

RESOLVED :

           (a)       THAT the Task Group continue to meet to oversee progress and the development of the recruitment and retention strategy.

           (b)       THAT the Task Group produce as part of the strategy a paper on workforce planning; for endorsement by the Portfolio Holder and for information to the Select Committee by October 2003.

73.      FORWARD PLAN

The Chairman requested that the format be adjusted to enable tracking of items being considered by the Executive. Members noted that the Disposal of Polars report was now due to be considered on the 26 March 2003.

RESOLVED :

THAT the report be noted.

74.      MEMBERS QUESTION TIME

Mr M Cunningham advised members that Homestart Charity was in need of urgent funding support. The Portfolio Holder was aware of the matter and advised the Committee that now the Social Services Budget for 2003/04 had been set, the possibility of additional support from the Directorate would be investigated as a matter of urgency.

CHAIRMAN