Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Members are reminded that they should also declare whether they are subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

Councillor Clements declared a personal interest by virtue of her employment in an early years setting.

Councillor Roberts declared a personal interest by virtue of her appointment on the Management Committees of Arch Initiatives and Wirral Council for Voluntary Service.

Councillor Mooney declared a personal interest by virtue of her employment with Age UK.

Councillor Williams declared a personal interest by virtue of his appointment on the Management Committees of Arch Initiatives.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the last meeting of the Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee held on 4 November, 2013.

(To Follow)

RESOLVED:

That the accuracy of Minutes of the meeting of the Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee held on 4 November 2013 be approved.

To consider follow-up information in relation to the following:

·  Shared Services & Integration (Verbal Update)

·  Childrens Centres (Verbal Update)

Further to the Budget Options considered in November, The Committee received a verbal update from the Director of Adult Social Services and the Head of Target Support following a request by Member for further information in relation to Shared Services and Integration and Children’s Centres

Mr Graham Hodkinson, Director of Adult Social Services gave a short update on arrangements being put in place, and progress being made to deliver greater integration of health and social care services.

He reported that a Strategic Commissioning Group, reporting to the Health and Wellbeing Board, had been put in place by the Local Authority and Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure that key commissioning decisions support better use of resources and more effective outcomes for the people of Wirral.

He highlighted that Vision 2018 brought together commissioners and providers across the health and social care economy under the governance of the Health and Wellbeing Board to understand the implications of the financial challenge across the system and drive change around a set of defined work-streams, highlighting funding reform proposals which were an important lever in transforming change the Integration Transformation Fund.

The Resource

• For 14/15 made up of existing £900m s.256 transfer + additional £200m
• 2 year allocations, but
• For 2015 £3.8bn to ensure closer integration - £1bn linked to outcomes/performance measured.

·  Includes Clinical Commissioning Group carers breaks

·  Clinical Commissioning Group Re-ablement funding

·  Capital including DFG’s

·  Existing transfer as set out for 14/15

Performance element 50% paid at the beginning of 2015 contingent on H&WBB adopting a joint plan by April 2014

·  Arrangements for intermediate care and re-ablement

Part of 2014 plan includes £2.1M re-ablement grant transferred into the joint fund to make a total joint spend of £5.44M

·  35 IC beds

·  35 transitional beds

·  Re-ablement

·  Domiciliary Care

·  Efficiencies from current spend DASS 400k CCG 200k.

Operational Overview

Ms Chris Beyga, Head of Delivery gave an overview of operational developments indicating that Wirral were currently in a strong position regarding integration and strategic work lead by Graham Hodkinson and Clare Fish had been established and was progressing well.

Operationally several integrated teams were already in place so Wirral was starting from a positive position; work was underway to build upon work undertaken in last two years and develop plans for the Integration Transformation Fund (ITF) with CCG colleagues.

Update on operational integration

The implementation of the Integrated Care Co-ordination Teams was currently being rolled out across Wirral. There was a potential impact on the number of workers, and the terms and conditions of staff across Health and Social Care organisations, but this would depend on the extent to which those organisations need to change as we bring together working practices and standards. There were regular meetings with the union and staff side representatives and full time officers through the Workforce domain of the Programme Board, and the DASS Business link in HR was a part of this domain’s work.

Integrated Teams roll out - The delivery would begin where there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

To consider the report of the Children’s Services Director

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children’s Services providing an update on developments and performance in Wirral Fostering Services in accordance with the requirements of the Fostering Regulations and Guidance 2011(National Minimum Standards 25.7, Regulation 35). This was an annual report and a further three reports are submitted throughout the year to the Corporate Parenting Group to support the meeting of requirements of the standard.

In response to Members, Mr Simon Garner, Senior Manager for Children in Care and Specialist Support Services indicated that the low take up of foster carers was attributed to natural barriers and also the public’s perception of the recruitment process. In relation to competition from outside foster care agencies, Mr Garner indicated that the Authority had to ensure that the reputation was good with foster carers in order to compete.

In relation to the postcode evidence detailed within the report, it was indicated that the strategy needed to ensure wider engagement with groups to further encourage those in the areas where there was evidence of a low take up.

In response to Members, it was indicated that in relation to treatment fostering, this was felt to be quite a prescribed approach and that it was very restrictive and required a lot of input from Mental Health services and others to provide 24 hour support, these carers now came under placement and stability services who jointly worked with experienced specialist carers and the CAMHS team, this had improved the service provision and enhanced support to a much wider group.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

To consider the report of the Children’s Services Director

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children’s Services which provided an update on developments and performance in Wirral Adoption Service in accordance with the Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013. These had been issued to amend the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005 by substituting a new Part 4 (Duties of Adoption Agencies in Respect of a Prospective Adopter). Part 4 made provision for the assessment of prospective adopters and was amended to introduce a new two-stage approval process. One of the aims of the amendment was to ‘fast track’ adoption assessments for particular children and to enable ‘fostering to adopt’ and ‘concurrent’ adoption placements for children to reduce delay.

The report also provided an update on Adoption activity and outcomes across the borough following the Government’s approach to addressing delays in the adoption system which was detailed in An Action Plan for Adoption: Tackling Delay (published by the Department for Education in March 2012).

In response to Members, Mr Garner indicated that in relation to the scorecard method used for measuring performance thresholds in relation to adoption, the Department was confident of continuous improvement but it was difficult to predict the overall results of the project the scorecard was also submitted to Government on a voluntary basis to ensure the department was kept on track.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  the report be noted;

(2)  the Director of Children’s Services and her team be congratulated on their progress so far in relation to the adoption service.

To consider a presentation by Clare Fish, Strategic Director, Families and Wellbeing

The Committee considered a presentation from the Strategic Director, Families and Wellbeing giving Members an overview of the leisure services review.

Ms Fish indicated that the Cabinet on the 19 September 2013 had considered the review of leisure centres and golf courses (Minute 55 refers). 

Ms Fish, outlined the need to ensure that the leisure offer was fit for purpose, whilst delivering the best value for the money possible as the Council sought to improve the health and wellbeing of the borough. The presentation detailed the transformation project; the drivers behind the need for change; the areas of scope; key findings; key challenges and opportunities; the delivery option; recommendations and the progress to date.

Mr Damien Walsh, Head of Sports and Recreation in response to Members, indicated that the Department were working very closely with the Human resources Department to address the sickness related absenteeism and support staff to return to work.

In relation to Members comments regarding the Leisure offer, Ms Fish indicated that the Department’s aim was to drive up the standard and ensure the redeveloped offer met the needs of local residents utilising the limited funding available. 

Members raised concerns regarding catering which was reported to be operating at a loss. Ms Fish indicated that catering needed to encompass the healthy agenda; the department was currently working with Best Bites to enhance the offer and provide catering at each of the centres to avoid further losses.

In relation to the Invigor8 membership package, Ms Fish indicated that the review on this had taken longer than anticipated. However, the department was looking at similar offers from neighbouring authorities to ensure our packages were fit for purpose.

In response to Members, it was clarified that the offer would remain free for those serving in the Armed Forces and reiterated that there were no plans to close any golf facilities.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  the update on the Leisure Services Review be noted

(2)  the Strategic Director of Families and Wellbeing be requested to update the Committee at a future meeting.

The Committee is asked to note this item which had been previously considered by the Health and Wellbeing Board on Wednesday 13 November 2013.

The Committee considered a verbal update from Fiona Johnston, Director of Public Health and Head of Policy and Performance in relation to the Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2013/15.

Ms Johnstone indicated that following the Health & Social Care Act 2012, the Council took on a new duty to establish a Health & Wellbeing Board and produce a Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The Strategy sets out the overarching framework which described how the public, private and voluntary sectors will work with local residents to improve their health and wellbeing. The Strategy was not intended to replace existing commissioning plans rather it was aligned with them and was intended to support the commissioning of health, social care and wellbeing services.

It was a public document which could be accessed via http://www.wirral.gov.uk/my-services/social-care-and-health/health-wirral/health-wellbeing-strategy.

Three programme areas for shared action had been identified based on the findings of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, public and stakeholder consultation.

These priority programme areas were:

•  Mental Health

•  Older People

•  Alcohol

Separate workshops were facilitated on each of the three main areas with key stakeholders who set out a programme of activities to address the priorities. All stakeholders had provided their detailed action plans regarding each of the different programme headings for each area their action plans were monitored every quarter with exception reports presented to the Health & Wellbeing Board

The Strategy was an iterative document requiring continuous updating in the light of the developing partnership agenda in the borough. The Council was currently taking stock of delivery of the strategy and ensuring it was fit for purpose via 1:1 telephone interviews and a challenge session to test out the delivery plans, identifying good practice and determining areas that needed further development.

Ms Johnstone stressed the importance of this Committee working jointly with the Health and Wellbeing Board to shape the future of the strategy.

In relation to concerns raised by Members regarding the approach in tackling health and inequalities, Ms Johnstone indicated that health and social care would have relatively little impact on the gap but would assist in improvements to health. Income and education were major factors which contributed to tackling inequalities and would need addressing in any future planning.

Members welcomed a cohesive approach and welcomed the reported improvement in health outcomes.

In relation to support for people with mental health issues, the Committee welcomed the work undertaken and supported this being identified as a priority as they felt this was an important issue which needed to be addressed.

In response to a Member, Ms Val McGee, representing Cheshire and Wirral NHS Partnership Trust indicated that the Trust currently funded a piece of work to get those with mental health issues into employment and volunteer work within their local communities. However, a lot of work was needed to change the public’s perception of those with mental health issues.

Members raised concerns regarding young people with alcohol related issues, it was commented that more outreach work was needed to target young people in the community  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

In relation to work programme items, A Member suggested that a Task and Finish Group to look at Safeguarding Children be the next review to undertaken.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  a Task and Finish Group in relation to Safeguarding Children be added to the work programme to be the next review to be undertaken; and

(2)  Members of the previous Task and Finish Groups and Alan Veitch, Scrutiny Support officer be thanked for all their hard work.