Cllr Sarah James, Cabinet Member for Adults and
Health provided a short update to the Panel on developments within
her portfolio. She said that the major preoccupation of services
was obviously on the Covid outbreak and
the second lockdown. Although case numbers did not seem to be as
severe this time round so far, there was potential for infection
rates to rise rapidly. There had been small numbers of cases in
care homes this time so far but no major outbreak.
Cllr James said there had also been a lot of work on
improving discharge from hospitals, getting autism services up and
running again, supporting care homes, the launch of a new Carers
Strategy, work on a Modern Slavery Strategy and also work on VAWG
as discussed earlier in the meeting. The Connected Communities
programme had been shortlisted for a pan-European award for the
second year running, a mark of the ongoing work to support the
community and keep people safe and healthy during difficult
times.
Cllr James then responded to questions from the
Panel:
- Asked by Helena
Kania about the Joint Partnership
Board’s ‘Living Through Lockdown’ report and when
the Council’s response to this was expected, Cllr James said
that the report was very helpful and was being discussed in
meetings on a regular basis in terms of the response to the needs
of the community caused by lockdown. Charlotte Pomery, AD for
Commissioning, echoed this point, saying that the report was being
used to help with the planning of services including on the themes
such as communications. She and Rachel Lissauer had recently
attended a meeting of the Joint Partnerships Board with next steps
being shaped on working together with a number of people there.
Charlotte Pomery indicated that they would be happy to return to a
future meeting of the Board at their invitation. Cllr Connor
suggested that after officers had met with the Joint Partnerships
Board, they could then report back to the Adults & Health
Scrutiny Panel as is currently pencilled in for February 2021.
(ACTION)
- Asked by Cllr Stone
about progress towards the opening of services at Walthoef Gardens, Cllr James said that she had
visited the site a couple of weeks previously and builders were on
site to redevelop the interior of the site. The opening of new
services was expected in the New Year, dependent on the situation
with Covid. There are two buildings on
the site, one of which would be used for a complex learning
disability and autism service to be known as the Haringey
Opportunities Project. The commissioning process had already been
concluded with Centre 404 providing the services. The second
building would be used for an autism hub which would focus on
residents who are autistic but without a learning difficulty. The
service had already been staffed and was already working as a
virtual service.
- Cllr Brabazon asked about intergenerational housing
projects, specifically two sheltered housing blocks in Tottenham.
There had reportedly been some recent difficulties including a
police raid and the arrest of a gang member but there were also
some vulnerable elderly people living there. Cllr James said that
this area was not within her portfolio though she had taken an
interest in it. In general, she said that she saw it as a positive
initiative, though there may inevitably be difficulties at times.
Charlotte Pomery added that while she was not able to respond to
the specific case raised, the service had been commissioned by the
Council and delivered jointly by Centre Point and Homes for
Haringey (HfH). It was a two-year pilot
scheme that was currently one year in. There had recently been a
review, they were aware of some recent challenges in bringing such
an innovative scheme forward and there was a significant amount of
scrutiny on the project. Cllr Peacock noted that she had been
closely involved in the scheme when it was being set up. She said
that the premise of the scheme was a good idea and was confident
that the recent issues mentioned were being addressed. Cllr
Brabazon agreed that inter-generational
communities were a good idea but said that schemes like this needed
careful managing and monitoring. Charlotte Pomery said that there
was a lot of collaborative work ongoing with feedback from any
complaints, a detailed review, regular meetings with the two
providers and helpful feedback from residents. Cllr Connor asked if
the written review could be shared with the Panel and Charlotte
Pomery said that at least a summary of the review could be
provided. (ACTION)
- Cllr Brabazon asked about the new commissioning
arrangements referred to earlier in the meeting during the mental
health item, and whether there could be an overreliance on
volunteers. Cllr James said that this was an important initiative,
bringing people together cooperatively to achieve particular ends.
She said that mental health services had sometimes been fragmented
in the past so this would help to ring them together through
strategic aims. She added that this was not a way of getting free
volunteer labour - groups such as MIND were leading the Haringey
Volunteer Network, a large number of community groups were involved
in wellbeing work and a network of social prescribers were
commissioned through the NHS. These groups could reach people that
the Council or the NHS alone could not reach so this kind of
approach would help towards making communities more resilient.
Charlotte Pomery added that the voluntary and community sector had
an important role to play in the work coordinated through the
Borough Partnership and this approach would not only highlight that
but ensure that they get funded and reimbursed for that work. The
voluntary and community sector had reach into the community, trust
and the ability to work flexibly. Cllr Brabazon and Cllr Connor suggested that further
scrutiny of this approach should take place at a future meeting.
Cllr Connor suggested that this could be most beneficial early in
the process, potentially as early as Feb/Mar 2021.
(ACTION)
- Asked by Cllr Connor
about the shortage of refuge spaces referred to earlier under the
VAWG item. Cllr James acknowledged that this was a huge issue, made
more challenging by the shortage of housing in the Borough. A new
4-bed BAME space would be coming on stream soon but overall this
remained a difficult problem. Charlotte Pomery added that the
Council was actively looking at expanding refuge provision and was
working closely with the GLA on the funding for that. Cllr Connor
recommended that the Panel keeps a watching brief on this issue.
(ACTION)