Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R. Evans, A. McPherson and B.A.L. Roberts.

There were no declarations of personal interest.

There were no declarations of prohibited party whips.

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

The Committee considered the Revenue Budget Strategy 2018/19 to 2020/21 (Appendix A) which had been endorsed by the Executive Board for consultation purposes at its meeting on 27^th November 2017.  The report provided Members with the current view of the Revenue Budget for 2018/2019 together with indicative figures for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years. The report was based on officers’ projections of spending need and took into account the provisional settlement issued by Welsh Government on 10th October 2017.

The Group Accountant advised that although the announced provisional settlement of -0.5% was significantly better than the anticipated -2%, it still meant the authority had to identify efficiency savings for 2018/19 of £8.544m, compared to the initial £12.527m, and would continue to have a negative impact on the Council’s resources.

In summary, the budget proposals would assume full delivery of the £25.6m identified savings over the plan period. Furthermore, the budget proposals assumed a Council tax increase of 4.12% for 2018/19 and that a 1% movement in council tax levels equated to +/-£820k.

The Committee considered the following detailed budget information appended to the Strategy relevant to its remit:

·       Appendix A(i) – Efficiency summary for the Social Care and Health Service;

·       Appendix A(ii) – Growth Pressures summary for the Social Care and Health Service;

·       Appendix B – Budget extracts for the Social Care and Health Service;

·       Appendix C – Charging Digest for the Social Care and Health Service.

The following questions/issues were raised on the report:-

·        Reference was made to the £1.75m of growth bids awarded to the Communities Department within the Strategy and clarification sought on how much of that allocation would be spent within Social Services.

The Group Accountant advised that whilst the Communities Department’s indicative allocation was £1.75m, that was set against a total Departmental bid of £3.779m. As the level of indicative allocation was 50% less than the total growth bid, the Department would need to examine its bids and prioritise where the additional allocation should be directed.

·        Reference was made to the reduction of the Council’s earmarked reserves over the Strategy Period from £74.132m in March 2017 to £17.233m in March 2020. Clarification was sought on whether the reduction could impact on the viability of schemes within the capital programme.

The Group Accountant confirmed the majority of the earmarked reserves were set aside to fund capital projects, all of which would be utilised.

The Committee was further advised that the Authority was examining its use of reserves, with an emphasis being placed on maintaining a general reserve of 3%.

·        In response to a question on the impact of the Releasing Time to Care Project for Domiciliary Care Packages, the Head of Integrated Services advised that related to the initiative introduced by the Authority two years previously to reduce the percentage of care provision packages involving double handling from 21% to match the performance of other best performing authorities where the level was 13%. The Authority now assessed requests for care packages  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee considered the Communities Departmental Draft Business Plan 2018/19 – 2021 in relation to those services falling within its remit i.e. Care and Support, Mental Health Learning and Disability Safeguarding, Integrated Services, Commissioning Services, Business Support and Performance Analysis and Systems. It was noted that further work would be undertaken on the draft following comments and engagement by the Committee and Executive Board Members. Additionally, feedback from staff groups to date had indicated greater emphasis would be welcomed on integrated wellbeing actions through divisional plans together with ensuring the sustainability of services through different methods in the face of growing demand.

The following issues/questions were raised on the report:-

·        Clarification was sought on the level of risk identified within the report on the Authority (as a key partner) being liable for the repayment of significant amounts of grant funding to the Area Planning Board for Substance Misuse with no prospect of recovering those amounts from third parties.

The Head of Mental Health & Learning Disabilities reported that the funding of the service was met via a Welsh Government Grant which was then used to commission services from Drug Aid. The potential risk of any payback was considered to be low, with the only occasion when that would be envisaged being if a commissioned service were to become insolvent. As the providers of those services were required to submit quarterly performance reports, it would be unusual for them to become insolvent without the Authority being aware of any difficulties.

·        In response to a question on qualitative monitoring of substance misuse commissioned service providers, the Head of Mental Health & Learning Disabilities confirmed they were subject to quarterly reviews. The Department would also, in the New Year, be holding a workshop on commissioned services to examine qualitative outcomes. Arrangements could also be made for the committee to be provided with a report on substance misuse in the New Year

The Head of Mental Health & Learning Disabilities requested that if members had any concern on the level of service from the Council’s commissioned service providers they draw them to her attention.

·        In response to a question on the monitoring of the Department’s intent for staff to ‘have manageable workloads, effective and responsive systems and processes, the Head of Integrated Services confirmed the Authority, as an employer, had a duty of care to ensure staff had manageable workloads. Whilst demand for integrated services was increasing, she was confident the workload was being managed within her service.  Staff were also able to raise any workload concerns via regular appraisals and ‘one to ones’

The Head of Mental Health & Learning Disabilities advised that in relation to her service, an analysis was being undertaken on increasing service demand on workloads, especially in relation to the provisions of the Health and Well Being Act.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Communities Departmental Business Plan 2018/19 – 2021 be received.

The Committee received a report and powerpoint presentation on the initiatives being undertaken by the Trading Standards Division aimed at improving citizen’s quality of life at home and improving community resilience by reducing financial exploitation of vulnerable adults. The Committee noted that in 2014 the Division in response to statutory obligations in relation to financial abuse and policy changes brought by the Social Services and Wellbeing Act 2014, had established the Financial Exploitation Safeguarding Scheme (FESS), a multiagency initiative designed to detect and prevent the financial abuse of vulnerable persons.

The following question/issues were raised on the report:

·        Reference was made to the potential for financial abuse of vulnerable persons by family and friends granted Power of Attorney to manage their financial affairs. Clarification was sought on what action, if any, could be taken to address that abuse.

The Committee was advised that a number of options were available and included a scheme operated since 2014 in conjunction with Barclays Bank and the Halifax Bank (and recently the Santander Bank) regarding the reporting of any unusual bank activity on a vulnerable persons account. That could then result in the initiation of a multi-disciplinary response to safeguard the vulnerable person and the prosecution of offenders by a relevant enforcement body.

Arising from the above reference was made on the need to raise awareness of those granted a Power of Attorney of the responsibilities attached to that grant.

·        Reference was made to the financial abuse that could be suffered from un-solicited telephone calls and the Committee was advised that the Division had purchased 220 telephone call blocking devices for installation within vulnerable persons’ homes to help protect them from such calls. Those devices, whilst requiring callers to identify themselves also advised that calls were being monitored by trading standards. To date, over 41,000 nuisance calls had been blocked and 67 vulnerable residents protected from nuisance spam calls.

Other avenues available to protect vulnerable persons from nuisance telephone calls included the Telephone Preference Service and similar blocking services offered by telecommunication companies whereby the caller had to identify themselves prior to the phone being answered. The advantage of those systems were they blocked automated calls.

In response to a question on how vulnerable persons could be referred to the department to receive a call blocking device, that could be undertaken in a variety of ways including referral via social services, the banks and intelligence led. The department also held ‘pop up’ sessions in banks and issued press releases to raise public awareness of telephone fraud.

·        It was recognised that in addition to nuisance telephone calls vulnerable persons could also be targeted via spam mail. The Committee was advised that in response to such activities, the Royal Mail, in conjunction with the National Trading Standards Board, had established a project to provide formal training to post office sorting offices in relation to Mass Mail Fraud. That training had already been provided to the Ammanford sorting office and would shortly be undertaken at the Carmarthen  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee received a report detailing the reasons for the non-submission of the following scrutiny reports:-

-        Mental Health Transformation

-        Carers Assessment

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the explanations for the non-submissions be noted.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items to be considered at the next meeting of the Committee to be held on Wednesday 24^th January, 2018 be noted.