Agenda and minutes

Councillor Cusworth declared a personal interest in agenda item 6 (Enabling School Improvement) on the basis that she held the position of Chair of the Governing Body at Brookfield Academy in Swinton.

Councillor Sheppard declared a person interest in agenda item 6 (Enabling School Improvement) on the basis that he was a community governor at Rawmarsh Children’s Centre.

1)    Martin Badger representing the Rotherham branch of Unison indicated that staff had been given no outline for what new services were to be and how they would work with carers and customers in future.

In response, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health responded to state the outline was in the case studies and vision document and there were other case studies to share. The Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health indicated that the model would be individually tailored to client need, rather than a building based service. She added that there would be redundancies arising from the closure of buildings as part of the service changes.

2)    Monica Hudson, a parent and carer for someone with a learning disability, asked what alternative care provision there would be for people with learning disabilities and their carers who could not or would not use a direct payment arrangement. In response, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health indicated that there would be no expectation that people with learning disabilities should employ a personal assistant. He added that other local authorities had done this and there would be opportunities to learn from them. The Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health indicated that the Council had a statutory duty to offer a direct payment when an individual became eligible and furthermore the future service would be based on individual reassessment to promote independence.

As a supplementary question, it was asked whether people with learning disabilities would be directly consulted and have the proposals clearly explained to them as they were unable to read complex reports. In response, the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health reiterated the importance of communicating in different ways to enable people to understand proposals.

A further question was asked in respect of why the views of carers and service users had been ignored regarding maintaining the current model of care. In response, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health indicated that regard was had to feedback received in the consultation, but proposals had been developed in respect of the requirements of the Care Act 2014.

3)    Anne McMahon asked for case studies to be shared and the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health gave an undertaking to do so.

4)    Mary Beck indicated that her son had severe learning disabilities who attended the Addison Day Centre and believed that he would not recover from services that he is used to being taken away. She enquired what the Cabinet Member thought this would achieve. In response, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health acknowledged the issues raised in the question, but indicated that the requirements of the Care Act and the authority’s own financial position meant that change was inevitable and very difficult decisions would have to be taken.

The Chair confirmed that there were no items on the agenda requiring the exclusion of the press or public from the meeting.

Consideration was given to a report which was due to be determined at the Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting on 21 May 2018 in respect of the Customer Access Strategy.

It was reported that a new Customer Access Strategy was required to replace the expired Customer Access Strategy, and that provided an opportunity to refresh the Council’s approach by adapting to changing customer needs and expectations and advancing technology. This would therefore demonstrate a modern, efficient council that makes best use of available resources and provides value for money, customer-focused services. The refreshed strategy would seek to strengthen customer relationships, enhance experience and increase satisfaction. It also aimed to influence positive behaviour changes by encouraging engagement, involvement and increasing digital inclusion.

It was noted that the strategy would provide a framework that cut across all areas of business, placing the customer at its heart and adopting a digital first ethos that would enable greater control and independence without excluding anyone from accessing the help, information and advice they needed.

Members initially raised the absence of an equality impact assessment with the report and in response it was confirmed that this would be made available after the meeting,

Reference was made to the Customer Service and Efficiency Board, chaired by the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Services, and Members sought clarification as to who else was on the Board. It was confirmed that it was an internal officer board with an arrangement for the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Finance to provide a political sense check. There was representation from every directorate on the Board. In a supplementary question, clarification was sought as to whether the membership of the board provided a true representation of what customer service was like on the front line. In response it was confirmed that was not the purpose of the Board, but more broadly it was about senior officer buy in. Reference was made to the ongoing work with individual members of the public and community groups who were happy to work with the Council to test new things as the Council developed approaches and practices.

The view was expressed that the document could have been more detailed in respect of channel strategy and it was not clear that the model was able to work in all areas of the borough. In response, it was confirmed that testing was underway to establish how it fit, but there was an awareness that it would not work for everyone. Furthermore, it was acknowledged that further work was needed in respect of the telephony service provided by the Council to ensure that the contact centre was able to handle the widest range of enquiries.

In response to an enquiry in respect of how the customer journey would be simplified, the Leader of the Council indicated that it would be on a case by case basis, but would also require a high level piece of work to review processes in customer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Consideration was given to a report due to be determined at the Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting on 21 May 2018 which provided an overview of proposals for the future enablement of School Improvement in Rotherham and proposals to bring together key strategic partners to create a Rotherham Strategic Education Partnership Board to set and oversee education priorities.

Members recommended that the a representative of the Rotherham Youth Cabinet would add value to the suggested Partnership Board make up and ensure that the voice of the child was heard.

Clarification was sought as to whether the proposal would be open to schools and academies that did not subscribe for the school improvement service. In response, the Deputy Leader of the Council confirmed that it was open to all.

Concerns were expressed in respect of the risk implications outlined in the report concerning the possibility of drift with the virtual school moving into Children and Young People’s Services. In response, the Acting Strategic Director confirmed that the proposals were designed to align education and social to mitigate risk. Members noted the assurance provided that the virtual school body would not change.

Clarification was sought in respect of the leverage that the partnership board would have with schools if they did not buy in. In response, it was explained that the expectation was for the board to be chaired by school partners as experience had shown that there was much more impact if the work was peer led. This was confirmed to be positively viewed by the schools and was in accordance with government policy.

Returning to the composition of the partnership board, concern was expressed that the function could be undertaken by the local authority’s scrutiny function. In response, the Deputy Leader of the Council confirmed that the board would provide an ongoing, constant overview and was not intended to replace or duplicate the role of the scrutiny function.

Resolved:-

1. That Cabinet be advised that the recommendations be supported.

2. That the members of the Rotherham Youth Cabinet be appointed to the Rotherham Strategic Education Partnership Board to ensure that the voice of young people is heard.

3. That the governance arrangements be clarified to include provision for oversight by non-executive Members and through the relevant scrutiny body.

Consideration was given to a report which set out the next steps in the transformation of services and support for people with a learning disability in line with the learning disability strategy, vision and the learning from the consultation with people and families.

It was reported that the needs of people with a learning disability were continuing to change and becoming more diverse. People and families have higher expectations of what it meant to have an independent life in their community, and wanted more control over their lives. It was further reported that there were a number of key steps that the Council needed to take to achieve the vision and the three year improvement journey for people with a learning disability.

Reflecting on the comments of the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, Members observed that austerity was forcing the issue under consideration, rather than causing the issue itself. The promotion of independence was cited as a laudable aim for people with learning disabilities and it was suggested that it would be beneficial to visit other authorities who had adopted a similar approach to learn lessons from their implementation. This would help to provide some reassurance on a sensitive issue and assist in minimising disruption. In response, the Cabinet Member confirmed that opportunities to visit Wigan MBC and other places had been offered to Members and the managers of the Addison and Oaks Day Centres. He confirmed that there was no reason that further visits could not be organised.

Members queried how regularly assessments had been undertaken and it was confirmed by the Strategic Director that the service had not been strong on this historically. As part of the new strategy, a new team would be established that understood learning disabilities and the requirements of assessment. It was also confirmed that the transition from childhood to adulthood needed to be reviewed to improve the offer and it was recognised that a ‘one size fits all’ approach would not be appropriate.

It was confirmed that there had been five referrals to the Addison and Oaks Day Centres in the past twelve months. Responding to a supplementary question, it was explained that people did not want to go to these facilities. The Strategic Director confirmed that this had been down to individual choice and not a result of direction ahead the proposals to change the service.

Reference was made to advocacy services and Members queried the capacity of the advocacy services and whether they could manage the change. In response, the Cabinet Member confirmed that this was very important and the Council would ensure it was provided through organisations such as Speak Up. Following on, the Strategic Director advised that advocacy services were not being used well and contracts were being looked at with an eye to the future.

Resolved:-

1. That Cabinet be advised that the recommendations be supported.

2. That monitoring reports to be submitted to Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and/or Health Select Commission six months after implementation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Consideration was given to a report due to be determined at the Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting on 21 May 2018 in respect of proposals for the future of Rotherham Intermediate Care Centre (RICC).

It was reported that the RICC was located on Badsley Moor Lane in the centre of Rotherham and was delivered in partnership by Rotherham Council and the Rotherham Foundation Trust and contributes to the aims, objectives and outcomes set out in the intermediate care service specification and Better Care Fund Plan 2017/19. The centre was jointly commissioned by Rotherham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Council through a Section 75 Agreement under the Better Care Fund to provide rehabilitation and community integration facilities within a day setting for residents of Rotherham or who are registered with a Rotherham GP practice.

Members noted that the report had been through the CCG’s governance and the BCF governance frameworks. The centre also accommodated therapists, specialist mental health workers and support workers who were providing services across Rotherham to promote and maximise independence following a person’s recent episode in hospital, change in functional abilities or a worsening of their long-term condition.

Members were broadly supportive of the proposal and asked for regular updates on the performance of the re-designed Intermediate Care Service to be submitted to the Health Select Commission, with a specific view to gaining assurance there had been no negative implications for the client experience.

Resolved:-

1.    That Cabinet be advised that the recommendations be supported.

2.    That Health Select Commission receive updates on the performance of re-designed Intermediate Care Service to seek assurance that there is no negative implications for the client experience.

Consideration was given to a report which outlined the main findings and recommendations from the cross-party spotlight scrutiny review of Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Services for adults undertaken by the Health Select Commission.

Resolved:-

1.    That the review report and recommendations be agreed.

2.    That the report to be forwarded to Cabinet and Commissioners for their consideration and to Council for information.

3.    That the response from Cabinet and Commissioners be reported back to the Health Select Commission.

Consideration was given to a report which detailed the findings of a spotlight review following the Ofsted Inspection of Adult Community Learning in June 2017.

Members noted that the purpose of the review had been to seek assurance that there was a clear understanding of the issues leading to the inadequate judgement in June 2017; that the issues arising from the inspection had been addressed; and that there were clear plans in place to ensure that adult learners have pathways to secure employment or skills training.

The conclusions and recommendations made by Members were based on information gathered from the spotlight review and examination of related documentation.

Resolved:-

1.    That the report and recommendations from the spotlight review following the Ofsted Inspection of Adult Community Learning be approved.

2.    That the review report be forwarded to the Council for information.

3.    That the response of Cabinet to the recommendations be fed back to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

The Chair reflected on the Children’s Commissioner Takeover Challenge meeting which had taken place on 25 April 2018 and had been widely acknowledged to have been a productive meeting. He placed on record his thanks to the Youth Cabinet, Members, officers and all those who had contributed to the meeting. He paid tribute to the work that Sarah Bellamy and Janet Spurling had undertaken to prepare for the meeting. The Chair further reported that a report was to be prepared outlining the outcomes from the meeting and this would be shared with the Youth Cabinet in due course.

The Chair invited the Chairs of the three Select Commissions to provide an update on their activities and work planning.

Health Select Commission

Councillor Evans reported that the commission were currently preparing a work programme for the 2018-19 municipal year. The work programme for 2017-18 had been delivered and he looked forward to working with new and returning members in the new municipal year.

Improving Lives Select Commission

Councillor Cusworth, Vice-Chair, provided an update and reported that a couple of items (Children Missing From Home and Improvement Plan following the Ofsted Inspection) would be carried forward into the 2018-19 municipal year. Annual Reports were expected from the Local Adults Safeguarding Board and Local Children’s Safeguarding Board. It was noted that the commission would avoid duplicating the work of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

Improving Places Select Commission

Councillor Mallinder reported that work planning for the new municipal year was underway and items were lined up for the next meeting, specifically meeting with tenants and the emerging cultural strategy.

Overview and Scrutiny Management Board

The Chair reported that the final report of the review into the use of agency staff, interims and consultants would be submitted to Council in May. He paid tribute to the work of those who had been involved in the review and the contribution of officers.

The Chair reported that there were no call-in requests for the Board to consider.

The Chair reported that there were not items of business that required urgent consideration.

As it was the final meeting of the municipal year, the Chair took the opportunity to thank Councillor Sheppard for his service on Overview and Scrutiny Management Board during the past year.

Furthermore, the Chair paid an emotional tribute to Councillor Clark, who was standing down as Chair of Improving Lives Select Commission and would no longer be a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board in the new municipal year. The Chair thanked both members and wished them well for their new roles in the 2018-19 municipal year.

The next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board will take place on Wednesday 6 June 2018 at 11.00 a.m. in Rotherham Town Hall.

Resolved:-

That the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board be held on Wednesday 20 June 2018 at 11.00 a.m. in Rotherham Town Hall.