Agenda and minutes

NOTED that the meeting was webcast.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hearn and Yvonne Denny.

Councillor Ibrahim attended as a substitute for Councillor Hearn.

It being a special meeting under Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 17 of the Council’s Constitution, no other business shall be considered at the meeting.

It being a special meeting under Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 17 of the Council’s Constitution, no other business was permitted.

No declarations of interest were made in relation to items on the agenda.

NOTED that deputations were made by the following groups/individuals, the main points of which are recorded below:

a.         Save Autism Services (Deputee -Mary Langan) against the budget proposals highlighted in the call-in including:

1.  The level of savings proposed and changes to care packages would put vulnerable people at risk.

2.  Previous representations by service users, families and carers against the closure of day centres had not been taken into consideration.

3.  The Council should consider keeping the day centres open until satisfactory alternative arrangements were in place.

NOTED in response to questioning by the Committee:

4.  The Ermine Road Day Centre, proposed as an alternative to the Roundway Centre, was not suitable provision for people with autism, who needed more specialist support. 

5.  It had taken service users 6 months to settle from the 2013 move from Ermine Road to the Roundway and a further move could be detrimental to their health and progress.

6.  People with autism required consistency of staff working with them and the retention rates for personnel in this sector were low posing further risks to the wellbeing of service users and their carers.

7.  The Acting Director of Adult Social Services explained that in the last 3-4 years the Council had not made any placements at in-house learning disability day centres, as personal budgets were used by service users to manage their care via direct payments.  Some service users opted for the Local Authority to manage their budgets.

b.         Haynes Relatives Support Group (by Heath Martin and Emel Teymur) against the proposals to cut day centre provision, particularly for those with dementia, including:

1.  The Haynes and Grange Day Centres had only recently risen to a good level of service further to the 2011 budgetary cuts.  The Haynes was a centre of excellence and should be protected.

2.  The uncertainty was causing service users and their families distress and short term cuts should not be made until all stakeholders were satisfied that a decent, alternative provision was in place.

NOTED in response to questioning by the Committee:

3.  The level of care and activities provided by individual carers in the home was not comparable to the service provided at a day centre. The proposals would require service users to travel around the Borough, which could prove difficult within personal budgets and would mean additional work for carers and families.

4.  Currently service users were able to spend up to six hours a day at the Haynes Day Centre for £34.  Carers in the home would cost twice as much.  Ms Tarka clarified that day centres were subsidised by more than £400,000 each year for 18 placements a day.  The daily cost to the Council would be provided.

Action: Beverley Tarka

5.  Helena Kania (representative of the Local Involvement Network (LINk)) expressed that the cuts would impact on the physical and mental heath of service users and their carers.

6.  Ms Tarka explained, in response to claims that there would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

a)         Report of the Monitoring Officer (TO FOLLOW)

b)         Report of the Interim Director of Adult Social Services (TO FOLLOW)

c)         Report of the Assistant Director Quality Assurance, Early Help and Prevention (TO FOLLOW)

d)         Appendix (For information only):

       d.1)   Copy of the ‘call in’

d.2)   Draft minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 10 February 2015

d.3)   Corporate Planning Documents considered by the Cabinet on 10 February 2015.

A decision on the above item was taken by the Cabinet on 10 February 2015.

The decision has been called in, in accordance with the provisions set out

in the Constitution, by Councillors Elliot, Beacham, Morris, Engert and Carter.

Clerks note:  The order in which the following points have been recorded may vary slightly to the order in which they were discussed.

a.         Call-in of CAB 809 – Corporate Planning

RECEIVED the call-in of Cabinet decision CAB809 – Corporate Planning, taken on 10 February 2015, and associated documents (pages 1 to 433 of the agenda pack).

The call-in was introduced by Councillor Elliot and Councillor Engert, and covered four areas:

1.    Children’s Centres – including: children’s centres had been successful in improving the lives of the families that they reached and the loss of this early intervention would result in more expensive support and would be damaging to the lives of the vulnerable children.  The proposals should not be put into effect until the planned early years review took place next year.  The Committee was urged to recommend that the proposals be rejected.

2.    Learning Disabilities – the Council should be recommended not to close day centres, particularly the Roundway Centre.

3.    Youth Services – including that the proposals to merge youth offending and youth services would leave the latter with few resources.

4.    Adult Care – including: early prevention could prevent further costs to the Council; the excellent services provided at the Roundway could not be replicated at Ermine Road; a lack of contingency planning and safeguarding for vulnerable adults, there was no evidence that Neighbourhood Connects would provide an acceptable service.  The Committee was urged to recommend that no day centres be closed.

b.         Report of the Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal Services

NOTED the report of the Monitoring and Head of Legal Services (pages 1-4 of the supplementary agenda pack).

c.         Report of the Interim Director of Adult Social Services

RECEIVED the report of the Interim Director of Adult Social Services, Beverley Tarka (pages 5-10 of the supplementary agenda pack).

NOTED that Ms Tarka and Councillor Morton, the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing responded to the deputations and further questioning from the Committee, including:

1.    Carers would continue to receive support from the Local Authority (LA). The proposals were focussed on reducing the need for care and offering different approaches for people to remain at home for longer.

2.    The proposals, if taken forward, would be within the law and included further assessment of individual needs and transition plans in consultation with service users and other services.

3.    There were no specific reserve funds earmarked for care packages.

4.    It was recognised that some service users required specialised services which would be provided from Ermine Road. The proposals included developing Ermine Road into a purpose built resource space to meet complex needs but also to enable normal activities for these service users.

5.    A feasibility study for the Roundway had been conducted the last year and had concluded that £300,000 was required to bring the building into good repair.  This did not include running costs.

6.    The Haven Day Centre provided services to around 50 people and this figure was determined by staffing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.