Agenda and minutes

None received.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business.  (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear.  New items will be dealt with at item 8 below).

None received.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Member’s Register of Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Member’s Code of Conduct.

Cllr Adamou declared that her daughter is a Haringey Social Worker.

To consider and comment upon the Draft Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan 2013-2016 as follows:

1. Cabinet Member Introduction;
2. Review of Budget proposals from the draft MTFP;
3. Consideration of identified area(s);
4. Conclusions and recommendations.

Cabinet Member Introduction

Cllr Vanier, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Services introduced the budget by setting the context for the service:

• There is a rising demand due to an ageing population and an increase in health challenges for example long term conditions.
• Adults accounts for approximately 20% of the Councils spending.
• The recent Care and Support White Paper provided no recommendations for improved funding.
• The service provides statutory duties and therefore can’t easily be cut.
• Challenge is how we fund the service with a lower budget and higher demand and customer expectations.

Review of Budget proposals from Draft MTFP

A1 – The reduction in this post is due to the majority of the post being transferred elsewhere.    In order to manage change and deliver savings the post is still currently needed due to the level of seniority and experience. It is listed as a saving for 2015/16, if possible it will be brought forward.

Noted that the current staff to Manager ratio is approximately 1:11.

A2 – This saving relates to the integration agenda and will involve service restructuring and consultation due to it resulting in a complete change in the way that the service is managed.

Consideration is being given to integrating Occupational Therapy with another provider.  This already happens in Boroughs such as Islington and Croydon.

Noted that people do not mind who is delivering a service as long as it is being delivered.

Whilst there is no discretion in what statutory services can be delivered, there is discretion in the way in which these services can be delivered and therefore can aim for better quality and value for money.

The preference would be with commissioning a healthcare provider.

This saving is not about merging social work with occupational therapy posts.

There is still a lot of work to be done on this proposal and the service is still in the early stages of looking at models, including Haringey being the lead.

Models are successful elsewhere, for example Barnet, Westminster, Hammersmith and Kensington & Chelsea are integrating many of their assessments into one provider – Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) NHS Trust.

Would need to ensure local governance and management structures.

The Panel noted that any provider would need to focus on the needs of the whole local community and ensure that those in the east of the borough are not disadvantaged.

A3 – This is also a transformational saving which will reduce a management tier and result in a generic management structure.

Concerns were raised about the extra burden that this may place on staff in a climate where there is an increased demand and a decrease in staff.

Noted that there is an aim to reduce management costs, but that there is no absolute guarantee that this won’t have an impact on service delivery and staff support.

A4 – No impact on service delivery

A5 – Currently vacant posts

The Panel asked whether a risk assessment had been done in order to mitigate any risks should  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To approve minutes of the meeting held on 27^th September 2012 and the Special meeting held on 13^th November 2012.

Approved

The Whittington Health Foundation status update is to be deferred until the Panel on 2^nd April due to the application being put on hold for a few months.

10^th January 2013, 18:30

2^nd April 2013, 18:30

To consider any items admitted at item 2 above

None received.