Agenda and minutes

Personalisation Agenda

The Chair announced that a suggestion had been made by Kim Curry, Director of Commissioning and Partnerships, to run a training session on the whole personalisation agenda and the progress Adult Services had made.  A date of 19 February 2009 had been suggested and members of the Panel were asked whether they preferred this to take place in the morning or the afternoon.

Members agreed to consider this and for a decision to be made at the next meeting on 8 January 2009.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no members of the public and press present.

Kim Curry, Director of Commissioning and Partnerships gave a presentation in relation to the Carers Strategy.

The presentation drew specific attention to:-

• What the carers said whilst the review of the old strategy was being undertaken
• The new Carers Strategy
• Local Contexts
• National Strategy – “Carers at the Heart of the 21^st Century Families and Communities”
• Consultation
• Our Vision for Carers
• What we will do
• The 7 Main Aims
  • Better access to information
  • Training and support to carers
  • Carers assessments and early identification
  • Flexible support services
  • Better access to health services
  • Training – employment and finances
  • Protecting and supporting the lives of children and young carers

• Carers Grant
  • 2008/09          £1,243,000
  • 2009/10          £1,333,000
  • 2010/11          £1,427,000
• Action Plan monitoring and evaluation
• Performance

A question and answer session ensued and the following issues were discussed:-

• Whether the Carers Strategy allowed for family carers to have respite. 
• Was the Carers Information Centre to be included in the strategy and if so would funding be made available to run it.
• It was difficult to get appointments at some GP surgeries in South Yorkshire.  Why did this happen when there is supposed to be standards set which all surgeries should be working to.  It was confirmed that all surgeries were supposed to be working to core opening times.  50% of surgeries were actually working longer than this and were offering extended hours.
• Would training for carers include how to transfer patients from one location to another?  Confirmation was given that the training would include the correct way to lift a cared for person.
• Whether there was a national definition of what was a carer.  It was confirmed that a national definition was available and had been included in the strategy
• Was data kept in relation to carers?
• Concern was expressed about children and young people caring for parents when they should be attending school.
• How widespread was it that children were carers for parents?
• The Government had announced an extra £150m of new funding to double the amount of respite care available over the next 2 years.  What tangible improvements would carers in Rotherham see from this?
• Were there any plans for Rotherham to be involved in the Department of Health’s pilot for annual health checks for carers?  It was confirmed that this had been flagged up in the strategy.

Members of the Panel considered a report which contained an update from service areas on the progress made on the Joint Disability Equality Scheme.

Sayed Ahmed gave an update in relation to Rotherham Hospitals which highlighted that

• Consultation and Engagement had been undertaken
• Key areas of work centred around the deaf community which included looking at the consistency and competency of signers, training undertaken
• Work had been undertaken in respect of Accident and Emergency and the views of the public had been sought

Caroline Naylor reported on progress made in Neighbourhood and Adult Services.  She confirmed that there had been 15 actions on the RMBC Action Plan, and progress had been made on all of them.

Zahid Qureshie reported on progress made by EDS which included:

• A council wide review of Fire Safety Policy and arrangements, ensuring compliance with the Fire Safety Reform Order head been completed.  This included and Emergency and Evacuation Strategy for employees and the public from all Council buildings
• All new local authority buildings now complied with Part M of the Building Regulations and the Requirements of the DDA.
• Relevant groups and individuals were now always involved in all new and major planning applications.  Rotherham Access Audit Group received all planning applications by email and was able to feed comments directly into the planning officer.  Feedback was provided regarding outcomes and justification for decisions made.
• Options in order to provide specific disability equality training to all its hackney carriage drivers were being explored.  Go-Skills offered training for licensed drivers including a BTech qualification and an NVQ Level.  They were looking to offer the courses throughout the Yorkshire and Humber region and were looking to local authorities to sign up to a Quality Partnership Agreement. 

A question and answer session ensued and the following issues were discussed:-

• Concerns were raised about access to the hospital.  The road outside the hospital was extremely difficult to cross and a query was made as to why there was no crossing.  It was agreed that contact would be made with the Highways department to establish whether anything could be done to rectify this.
• A member of Speak Up commented that no consultation had been undertaken with them in relation to the disability scheme.  Also there were no disabled people involved at a strategic level.  It was felt that there should be representatives at all levels and a query was raised as to how many disabled people were included in the membership of the Access Audit Group.  It was agreed that this information would be sought and fed back to members of the Panel.
• How many crossings had the noise to alert blind people when they could cross, as there didn’t appear to be that many?  It was agreed that this information would be sought and reported back to the Panel.
• What assistance was provided for people with Autism who have a high IQ, as they do not class as disabled.  It was confirmed that work was being undertaken nationally with regard  ...  view the full minutes text for item 206.

Simon Cooper HR Manager, Policy and Partnerships, presented the submitted report in relation to the Excluded Adults Employment Plan.

The report outlined the developments and actions that had been taken this year and provided a framework for the further and ongoing development of supporting disadvantaged and excluded individuals into employment.

Each of the services within Adult Services had a plan or strategy that identified employment as a key development activity.  In the case of the Joint Learning Disability Service, they had in place a developed and recently revised Employment Strategy.  In the case of older people and people with physical disabilities, their actions in relation to employment were embedded in the Opening Doors and Older People “Wellbeing in later Life”.

Some of the achievements that had been delivered through these plans included:

• Top band performance on employment of people with learning disabilities into work (paid and permitted earnings)
• People with learning disabilities employed as trainers, and as consultants in high profile and valued roles
• Service directory for people with physical disabilities produced in a range of formats
• Delivery of training, with service user involvement, direct to employers.

The plans had been revised and brought together to form one strategy for Neighbourhoods and Adult Services.  This strategy would be further developed over the next year, with the Head of Learning Disability Services taking a lead on its development and delivery across the whole of NAS, with the intention of persuading and influencing those who provided employment to recruit people from excluded groups.  This would be more effective if undertaken across a corporate agenda, so a key action would be joining the RMBC Work and Skills Group, and tapping into the new working neighbourhoods programme aimed at tackling worklessness in the most deprived communities in the Borough.

A question and answer session ensued and the following issues were discussed:-

• How much emphasis was put on educational qualifications when advertising jobs and was personal experience taken into consideration?  It was reported that RMBC were looking to undertake work placements in the future, and look beyond purely educational qualifications.
• How do the council overcome health and safety legislation?

Jackie Bickerstaffe gave a presentation at this point which updated members of the panel on the work undertaken in respect of excluded adult employment. 

Concerns were raised at the length of time that had been given in relation to this work and how little appeared to have been achieved.  

Finally, Jonathan Evans and Victoria Farnsworth from Speak Up gave a presentation on the work they did and how it had changed their lives.

Angela Power, Scrutiny Adviser presented the submitted report which presented options for a Scrutiny Review for Members and co-optees to decide which area they would like to scrutinize.

The suggested areas to review were:

• Supporting people off incapacity benefit and back into work
• Supporting and promoting independence in older people

Resolved:- (1) That the review on Supporting and promoting independence in older people be agreed.

(2)  That the Panel nominate 4-5 members to sit on the Review Group and anyone else they may wish to co-opt at the next meeting of the Panel.

Members considered the Cabinet Member Forward Plan for December 2008 to February 2009.

Resolved:- That the Cabinet Member Forward Plan be noted.

Members considered the Adult Services and Health Scrutiny Panel Draft Work Programme for 2008/09.

Resolved:- That the content of the Draft Work Programme be noted.

Resolved:- That the of the meeting of the Panel held on 6 November 2008 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chair.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the meetings of the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health held on 20 October 2008, 3 and 17 November 2008 be received and noted.