Agenda and minutes

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board held on 10 September 2024 and to approve them as a true and correct record of the proceedings and to be signed by the Chair.

Resolved: - That the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board held on 10 September 2024 be approved as a true record, which included Councillor Yasseen’s amendment that the Council did not have more children going into care than other Local Authorities but it does have more in SEND children than other Local Authorities.

To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To receive questions relating to items of business on the agenda from members of the public or press who are present at the meeting.

There were none.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

There were none.

Report from the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve option 1 to implement a new technology enabled care delivery model under a collaborative approach between Rothercare and an independent sector technology partner.

2.    Approve a competitive procurement process and award of contract on the basis of a 5-year initial term. The contract will include potential extensions for up to 3 years (to be taken in any combination). The new arrangements will commence April 2025.

3.    Agree the new charging policy and rates for Rothercare from 2025/26 for existing customers and the policy of applying a new rate to new customers from 2025/26 onwards.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health outlined the Council's assistive technology offer, which was delivered in-house by a dedicated service known as Rothercare. Members were informed that Rothercare provided an end-to-end telecare service, managing referrals, installing equipment, monitoring, and responding to alerts. The service would also procure all technical aspects including both hardware and software. The review of the service aimed to ensure it remained fit for purpose and could respond to future needs and technological advances, including the transition from analogue to digital due to the UK Telecom infrastructure upgrade.

The Cabinet Member outlined that the Council's ambition for Adult Social Care was to deploy and utilise assistive technology to enable the people of Rotherham to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. Increasing the amount and variety of assistive technology deployed would help to realise and anticipate the model of care by using non-intrusive devices to prevent the deterioration in people's needs whether they were living at home or in supported environments. This type of technology would contribute to the efficient use of resources across Health and Social Care services. The review of the service identified opportunities to address any operational challenges and to remodel the assistive technology offer, as the service could not expand in its current format.

She explained that several options had been explored. One recommended within the report (Option 1) would be a collaborative approach between an independent sector technology partner and Rothercare, which would achieve significant advantages compared to the other three options from the report.

It was explained that under Option 1, Rothercare would continue to handle referrals, triage, monitoring, and response to service, while the assistive technology element would be delivered by a technology partner procured from the independent sector. This partner would be responsible for identifying assistive technology solutions, installation, recycling, disposal, and maintenance of all assistive equipment.

Rothercare was currently funded through a combination of weekly charges to customers and a subsidy from the Housing Revenue Account. The revenue cost associated for the collaborative approach between an independent sector technological partner and Rothercare was estimated at £1.6 million per year. The ongoing service costs would be met through income generated by the service to ensure its sustainability. Consequently, there was a need to revise the charging policy and the associated Rothercare weekly service charge.

The Cabinet Member further explained that it had been proposed to increase the weekly charge from £3.50 to £4.50, representing an additional £1 per week for a 12-month period from 2025 to 2026. Costs would then rise annually in line with fees and charges, covering the costs associated with the ongoing UK's digital infrastructure digital upgrade across the country. Benchmarking with other Local Authorities who delivered similar services indicated that Rothercare charges were significantly lower making the proposed increase reasonable. It was anticipated that the full revenue costs would eventually be recouped through a phased increase in the weekly charge for both existing and new customers, which would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To consider the Board’s Work Programme.

The Governance Manager referred to the work programme for the Overview & Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) and provided Members with an updated position on a number of items within the OSMB’s work programme.  This included the potential spotlight review on ‘Life-Saving Equipment and Bylaws,’ where plans had been made to meet with the officers involved in the original review to understand what had been discussed when it previously had been brought to OSMB. Members were informed that the Commission intended to contact members to form a small working party as part of this review.

With regards to the ‘Agency Staff’ review, a briefing note was to be drafted and presented at a future scrutiny meeting.

Concerning the potential spotlight review on ‘Grass Cuttings and Grounds Maintenance,’ the Assistant Director was to produce a scoping document for the Commission to consider around mid to late November, where further discussions on the progress of this item would take place.

Resolved: That the Work Programme be approved.

To receive updates from the Chairs of the Select Commission on work undertaken and planned for the future.

The Vice-Chair of the Improving Lives Select Commission noted they had met on the 17th September and presented with the outcomes of the Ofsted focus visit. He informed Members that the outcomes from the Ofsted report did not rate the focus visit as ‘outstanding.’ However, the Vice-Chair believed from his own experience with Ofsted, that the wording and findings within the report actually indicated many outstanding individual aspects which had been identified by Ofsted. However, he stated that previous assessments were based on the old framework, which had since been replaced by a new framework, which eliminated single word judgements.

The Vice-Chair informed OSMB, that the next meeting of Improving Lives Select Commission on the 21st of October, would be a consultation workshop on the ‘SEND Strategy’. This hybrid meeting, scheduled from 11 till 12.30pm, would be led by the Head of Commissioning Performance & Quality, Cary-Anne Sykes.

Additionally, the Vice-Chair informed Members that on the 29th of October, the Rotherham Safeguarding Children's Partnership Annual report and the Safeguarding Adults Board report would be presented. These presentations would be attended by representatives from the South Yorkshire Police and the Interim Care Board.

The Vice Chair of the Health Select Commission, Councillor Yasseen provided a review of the work that had taken place since the election. One of the key highlights of the work programme was the ‘Oral Health’ review, which was the first time the Council included oral health in the Commission's work, and it would be reviewed on an annual basis.

In July, the Health Select Commission worked on a South Yorkshire-wide approach to oral health and the Commission decided that it would need to revisit this, to review the recommendations which had been made 12 to 18 months ago. It was agreed by Members that, given the progress over the past 18 months, that the recommendations needed to be reviewed to ensure they were still relevant and appropriate.

The Vice-Chair informed Members that another key area on the Health Select’s agenda was the Integrated Care Board (ICB), the new system for managing and delivering health services across South Yorkshire, which replaced the CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group). A primary focus for the Health Select Commission, would be to ensure that ICB decision continued to have community influence and input.

Regarding the last meeting by the Health Select Commission, which focused on the NHS, Rotherham Trust Annual Report and Accounts, the Vice-Chair stated the Commission found significant health outcomes delivered by Rotherham Trust and noted progressive responses to government shifts on areas such as the four-hour emergency response window. She stated that while national targets were not being met due to increased demand for emergency care in Rotherham, the response times were something which needed continuous review.

Additionally, the Vice-Chair highlighted other notable findings identified from the report. One key point was the potential, ‘mothballing’ of some hospital accommodation. She suggested that the Council should consider this as an opportunity from a housing perspective, instead of building houses on green spaces.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

To review and identify items for pre-decision scrutiny from the Forward Plan of Key Decisions covering the period from 1 October 2024 – 31 December 2024

The Board considered the Forward Plan of Key Decisions 1 October 2024 – 31 December 2024.

Resolved: That the Forward Plan be noted.

To consider any issues referred for call-in from recent Cabinet meetings.

There were no call-in issues.

To determine any item which the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items however, the Chair indicated the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board would be held on Thursday 17th October 2024 commencing at 5.00 p.m.