Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tony Cottier, Simon Mountney and Clare O’Hagan.

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 were asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests and any other relevant interest and to state the nature of the interest.

The following declarations were made:

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2021.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2021 be agreed as a correct record.

No public questions, statements or petitions had been received.

The Assistant Director for Care and Health, and Commissioning for People introduced the report of the Director for Care and Health which sought the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee’s approval for the extension of the existing contracts for AccessAble and Payroll and Managed Accounts Service.

It was reported that the Accessable contract included the promotion of accessibility of places that enhance health and wellbeing so disabled people and carers were confident they could visit and Committee approval was sought to extend the current arrangements for a further 3 year-period to October 2024. Furthermore, the Payroll and Managed Accounts contract with Wired was to support people receiving a Direct Payment as an alternative to directly commissioning services, and approval was sought to extent this contract until 30 November 2022.

Members discussed the work of AccessAble and considered ways in which Wirral could become more accessible as well as the work the organisation was doing with local businesses to gain more data to support their work. As part of the discussion it was proposed that members would benefit from dementia training.

Resolved – That

(1)  The Director of Care and Health be authorised to proceed with the renewal of contracts for AccessAble and Payroll and Managed Accounts Service.

(2)  A further report be received following the completion of the Direct Payments review in March 2022.

The Senior Public Health Manager introduced a report of the Director of Care and Health which provided an update on progress in delivery of the Wirral ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) Accelerator programme. The Committee was reminded that most areas of the country had received funding for one year, Wirral had since received a further year of funding and following the spending review this may be extended further.

Members were taken through a detailed presentation outlining the impact the ADDER funding had made, which detailed the links between deprivation and drug related crime and the enforcement activity that had been ongoing, including information on the advancement of community sentencing which when appropriate diverted people away from custodial sentencing into mental health or drug support. It was reported that there had already been early case studies of people breaking the pattern of repeated criminal behaviour through these interventions.

The Wirral Change Grow Live Services Manager provided a further update to the Committee on the impact the funding had made on the Wirral Ways to Recovery programme, with the growth of the Community Integration Team and the advancement of the proven ‘Through the Gate’ support offer. The specific projects that had benefited from the funding included additional support for women in probationary services with drug misuse problems, as well as the clinical interventions in partnerships with organisations such as Cheshire and Wirral Partnership and Wirral University Hospital Trust to provide additional mental health support and respiratory care caused by drug harm. Further detail was also provided on the Community Pharmacy and outreach programmes.

Members welcomed the update and felt further updates in the future would be beneficial. The Committee discussed the key performance indicators that would be used to measure the success of the project and the enhanced links with primary and secondary healthcare, as well as children’s services.

Resolved – That the contents of the report on the progress made in delivering the Wirral ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) Accelerator programme be noted.

The Assistant Director for Early Help and Prevention introduced the report of the Director of Children, Families and Education which provided an update on the progress made by Wirral’s Domestic Abuse Alliance in delivering the Domestic Abuse No Excuse strategy and presented the Annual Report, a narrative from the frontline, on the positive impact the strategy was having.

Members were advised on the detail of the early intervention programme which had received funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner to deliver a range of services including the domestic abuse programme. The Chair of the Wirral Domestic Abuse Alliance detailed the work of the alliance which had involved a significant level of coproduction with survivors to produce the Domestic Abuse Strategy, which had brought about a number of positive changes including support for survivors navigating the child protection order process which they had identified as an issue, and the opening of the lighthouse centre for victims of domestic abuse. Further detail was provided on the ‘Drive’ programme which involved working with perpetrators of domestic abuse, where it was reported that work was ongoing with 51 perpetrators which it was hoped would have a positive impact on 56 associated victims and 108 associated children.

Members welcomed and commended the work that had been undertaken. The level of engagement in the Drive programme was discussed, where it was reported that it was a 12-18 month programme therefore it was too soon to measure its success, but that only 10 people had declined to be involved. A further discussion ensued on the need to further explore the prevalence of domestic abuse in underrepresented groups such as LGBTQ+ and BAME and it was reported that the alliance would be working with partner organisations to understand and operate the best practice for engaging with those groups.

Resolved – That

(1)   the progress made by Wirral’s Domestic Abuse Alliance in the first of its 5-year strategy be noted and endorsed.

(2)  the Domestic Abuse Annual Report be noted and endorsed.

The Director of Care and Health introduced the report which set out the financial monitoring information for the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee and provided an overview of budget performance for this area of activity. The report also detailed the projected year-end revenue position, as reported at quarter 2 (Apr-Sep) 2021/22. It was reported that the projected year-end revenue forecast position was £0.481m favourable which was partly as a consequence of reduced central staffing cost due to a lower than expected take up of the Real Living Wage. Members expressed disappointment in the take up on the Real Living Wage in the sector where it was outlined that there was some resistance from the independent fee-paying providers.

Resolved – That

(1)  the projected year-end revenue forecast position of £0.481m favourable, as reported at quarter 2 (Apr – Sep) of 2021/22 be noted.

(2)  the progress on the achievement of approved savings and the projected year end forecast position at quarter 2 (Apr – Sep) of 2021/22 be noted.

(3)  the reserves allocated to the Committee for future one-off commitments be noted.

(4)  the projected year-end capital forecast position of £0.125m adverse, as reported at quarter 2 (Apr – Sep) of 2021/22 be noted.

(5)  the current activity profiles from 2018 to quarter 2 (April – Sep) of 2021/22 be noted.

The Director of Care and Health introduced the report which provided an overview of the outcomes of the budget workshops held in the recent months to consider and comment on different budget options. The Chair noted that members had been present during those meetings and discussions.

Resolved – That the budget workshop feedback and outcomes as detailed in appendix 1 to the report be reported to Policy and Resources Committee for consideration.

The Assistant Director for Care and Health and Commissioning for People introduced the report of the Director of Care and Health, which provided a performance report in relation to Adult Social Care and Health, designed based on discussions with Members through working group activity in 2020 and 2021.

Updates were provided on a wide range of performance indicators, including care home occupancy with 3,500 beds available and a 16.4% vacancy rate which had reduced slightly due to activity in hospital discharges, and an update was provided on direct payments and supported living with an increase in people living in Extra Care Housing including the Poppyfields development nearing full occupancy. At the previous meeting the Committee requested data in relation to local NHS performance, where it was reported that the 4 hour Accident & Emergency target had been met in 65.8% of cases and that people awaiting treatment in surgery remained high due to the national backlog, with 28,567 people in Wirral awaiting surgery.

Members felt that the extension of community provision such as extra care housing would support hospitals to be able to discharge more patients effectively. The issues in relation to staffing for domiciliary care were highlighted and the impact of long-term stays in hospital or discharge to care homes in terms of deconditioning were highlighted.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Chair outlined that the Director of Public Health had passed her apologies due to being a close contact of someone who had tested positive for Covid-19. The Committee was asked to send any specific comments in relation to the Covid-19 Response Update to the Director of Public Health directly.

Resolved – That the content of the report and the progress made to date be noted and the ongoing Covid-19 response be supported.

The Chair outlined that the Head of Legal Services had passed her apologies due to being a close contact of someone who had tested positive for Covid-19.

Resolved – That the work programme for the remainder of the 2021/22 municipal year be noted.