Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2017 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2017 were agreed as an accurate record subject to the following amendment:

The Sub-Committee concluded that Members were encouraged to attend Alliance meetings as they developed.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

There were none.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

To review the activity of the Safeguarding Adults Board April 2016 to March 2017

The Director of Adult Social Care and All Age Disability presented the report which detailed the activity and effectiveness of the Croydon Safeguarding Adults Board (CSAB) for the 2016/2017 period.

The report outlined current activity and progress made by CSAB to imbed the six principles of safeguarding.

The Sub-Committee learned that the priorities for 2017/2018 included the following:

- The voice of the service user being central to all activities

- Early identification and prevention of risk

- Commissioning of appropriate services

- That communication between residents, agencies, partnerships and boards was robust.

The Sub-Committee was directed section 3.8 of the report which detailed the situation regarding the appointment of a permanent Chair for the board. The Chair took up post on 25 January 2018.

The Sub-Committee learned that the key priorities identified in the report were already being implemented.

Members were informed that Croydon had a larger care market compared to other boroughs and there had been a year on year increase of safeguarding referrals received. This had been taken as an indication that awareness and understanding of safeguarding has increased amongst professionals and residents. It was noted that whilst there had been an increase in reporting, the volume of actual referrals that resulted in formal investigations had fallen due to the robust triage function of the safeguarding team.

Member’s queried lessons learned, changes to be taken through in terms of governance, addressing issues of attendance and ensuring that partnership and governance arrangements were strong and robust. Officers responded that the separation of Chairs for the adult and children’s safeguarding board following the Ofsted report would strengthen expertise of each individual board. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had commented that Croydon’s board was more progressive than some local authorities. Officers also stated that key members of the board attended 100% of meetings and this should have been made clear in the report.

In response to a Member question on checks conducted to ensure partnership obligations were fulfilled, officers advised that there were key committees that work under the board, meetings were well attended with good participation from partners. There was also strong management in the Council to monitor safeguarding activities.

Members highlighted concerns with low figures of involvement of third sector and voluntary organisations and suggested that Croydon Neighbourhood Care Association (CNCA) could be approached regarding membership to fill the gap of local voice representation. Officers responded that membership issues were one of the priorities that the new Chair would address. It was noted that while MIND regularly attended meetings, other organisations had limited resources and were not always able to attend meetings.

In response to a Member comment that there had previously been issue with attendance of sub-groups, officers stated that their attendance and participation had improved.

Members commented that a governance review report should be presented to Scrutiny for comment on matters such as size and principles used in appointment of members, additionally that the timing of the annual report be reviewed as it should be presented  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4/18

The Director of Public Health introduced her report to the Sub-Committee and stated that the intention of the report was for the information contained to be a useful tool for Councillors to be used in their respective wards.

The report provided a compendium on the demographic changes and challenges for Croydon and acted as a tool to be used to understand differences across the borough’s population.

The Sub-Committee learned that the data collated would enable appropriate planning and resourcing of services to assist in addressing issues and the reduction of health inequalities.

Members commented that the report was missing comparative data with other London Boroughs and information on what Croydon could do to address inequalities in the Borough. The Sub-Committee was informed that this report was independent and focused on gathering evidence and data that could later be used as a tool to support officers with their own reports in relevant subject areas.

In response to Member comments that Addiscombe was stated to have a high percentage of working aged population of 34%, the officer advised that this was the proportionate figure available pertaining to that ward and agreed to clarify the figures following the meeting.

Members queried the low figures of GP registrations and what further work could be undertaken to improve registrations as this remained a concern.

The Cabinet Member for Families Health and Social Care stated that there had been issues with low numbers of registration evident in certain community groups. Extensive work was being undertaken to educate and encourage registration within those community groups.

Members questioned what would be the theme for next year’s report. The Director of Public Health responded that this was still being considered and would welcome suggestions. The main intention was for the report to be informative, useful and purposeful.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Sub-Committee concluded that this was good report that was user friendly.

2. Clarity was required for the working age population figures for Addiscombe

Question time for the Cabinet Member for Families, Health and Social Care, Councillor Louisa Woodley

The Cabinet Member for Families, Health and Social Care delivered a presentation on her portfolio.

The Presentation included highlights and challenges faced which included the following:

-  Transformation of Adult Social Care

-  Savings on Over 65’s care

-  Completion of phase one of the Croydon One Alliance programme

-  The Woodley Review

-  Backlog of ordinary residence related costs

-  Success of LIFE team programme with GP’s expressing a desire for an extension of the programme.

-  Success of the hospital out of care network

-  Workforce reform

-  CQC rating of SLAM community services as requiring improvement. A comprehensive plan had been developed to address the issues highlighted.

The focus for 2018/19 was to include:

-  Management of Budget Pressures due to the aging population and increases in complex need.

- Driving phase two of the Croydon One Alliance

- Further Integration of services

- Lobbying of Central Government for further funding for Mental Health. Croydon currently spent £50 per head below the national average.

In response to Member questions as to morale of permanent front line staff and the situation with recruitment and retention, officers advised that there had been an increase in morale of staff. Senior management was ensuring that they were interacting on a regular basis with staff and the line of visibility had increased. Information derived from staff was that they were aware that services were now being delivered differently. There had been an extensive drive on reduction of agency staff and work was being completed to encourage conversion to permanent contacts.

Members queried the number of agency staff. Officers responded that there were 74 agency staff which was equivalent to 30% of staff, the target was to reduce the numbers to 15% and incentives to make this possible such as a London wide network to cap levels of pay were being considered.

The Sub-Committee was informed that staff were being encouraged to concentrate on their personal development and senior management were working on assisting the workforce to realise their potential through various learning and development programmes. There was a focus on achieving a balance between capability, competence and passion.

The Sub-Committee Members asked what areas were of most concern and presented challenges for the coming years. Officers responded that the impact of overspend on the budget of ordinary residents’ care as a result of people moving into the borough was a key challenge. There were also concerns regarding the appropriate funding of mental health services, in particular the Child, Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) which was not been adequately funded. There had been a rise in incidences of self-harm despite a national suicide prevention strategy. There was work being undertaken in those areas to address ongoing issues.

The Sub-Committee further learned that there were challenges faced in the fragility of the care market and the sustainability of costs. This was a national issue, with a central government funding consultation to take place in March 2018 which Croydon would be looking to influence through  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6/18

Oral Update

The Sub-Committee was informed that this matter was still with the Secretary of State with no update received as yet as to the outcome of the referral.

An update was received on current work of Healthwatch.

There was none

Oral Update

The Chair informed the Sub-Committee that the South East London JHOSC had ended for the 2017/18 municipal year.

The Sub-Committee was informed that there had been discussions that were still ongoing, on setting up a JHOSC between Croydon, Epsom, Surrey and Sutton.

To consider and approve the Committee’s work programme for the municipal year 2017/2018.

The Chair noted that the meeting scheduled for 27 March 2018 would be focused on SLaM and also requested that the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) attend to provide an update on commissioning of Mental Health services.

The Sub-Committee NOTED the work programme for the rest of the 2017/18 municipal year.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This was not required