Agenda item

To receive and consider the report of the Director of Adult Social Services which responds to the request of The Personalisation Working Group who stipulated that progress made against five key objectives causing concern, and feedback on phase 2 of the personalisation evaluation be reported the Scrutiny Board. This report focuses on the actions taken in response to the five high level recommendations from Phase One and the report from Phase Two. The report also provides information as to overall progress in terms of performance and implementation plans.

The Director of Adult Social Services submitted a report which responded to the request of The Personalisation Working Group who stipulated that progress made against five key objectives causing concern, and feedback on phase 2 of the personalisation evaluation be reported the Scrutiny Board.

This report focused on the actions taken in response to the five high level recommendations from Phase One and the report from Phase Two. The report also provided information as to overall progress in terms of performance and implementation plans.

Appended to the report was a copy of a document entitled ‘Early Implementer Evaluation – Final Report Phase 2 January 2010 – Evaluation report’ for the information/comment of the Board.

The following representatives were in attendance and responded to Member’s comments and queries:-

Dennis Holmes, Deputy Director, Strategic Commissioning

John Lennon, Chief Officer – Access and Inclusion

In summary, specific reference was made to the following issues:-

• clarification as to whether or not Adult Social Care would meet targets set by Government Office, that by March 2010, 15% of service users currently in receipt of community based adult social care would be on Self Directed Support

(The Chief Officer – Access and Inclusion responded and informed the meeting that the target had already been reached in month eleven)

• the Board sought clarification regarding to the statement ‘when people were given the freedom to choose their own services through a personal budget, changes in the demand were likely’

(The Chief Officer - Access and Inclusion responded and referred to a number customer and carer perspective examples outlined in the report. He also referred to the availability of a dvd which provided more examples in relation to this issue and agreed to forward a copy to the Board’s Principal Scrutiny Advisor for dissemination to the Board)

• the need for the Board to be supplied with the economic facts and the  cost of the care around the examples given

(The Chief Officer – Access and Inclusion responded and agreed to forward the details to the Board’s Principal Scrutiny Advisor for dissemination to the Board)

• clarification of how the implementation process was being progressed

(The Chief Officer – Access and Inclusion responded and informed the Board that implementation was being phased from April through to July at which time all new services users will have the option of a personal budget. Currently a dialogue was been undertaken with other neighbouring authorities such Barnsley who have already successfully managed personal budgets for approx 2 years)

• clarification of the Social Care staff results (Leeds Evaluation) outlined in Section 2.19

(The Chief Officer – Access and Inclusion responded and informed the Board that the cohort was four which was the reason for the difference in figures)

• clarification of the spending associated with Day Care, and how the department would address the issue of how the marginal cost to remove a person was close to zero, as the overheads remain the same

(The Chief Officer – Access and Inclusion responded and informed the Board that all services cost money. The Board noted that the department were moving towards costed care plans)

• clarification of how people may use their personal budgets to purchase services from  Neighbourhood Networks

(The Chief Officer – Access and Inclusion stated that an individual would purchase a Neighbourhood Networks service just like any other service. The Board noted that the department would like to encourage self directed support with the aim to increasing access for the individual to a range of facilities)

RESOLVED-

a)  That the contents of the report and appendices be noted in respect of the Early Implementer evaluation.

b)  That approval be given to the steps taken to address the risks and issues highlighted in the evaluation reports.

c)  That approval be given to the progress made in Leeds in delivering the necessary business transformation to make the delivery of Self DirectedSupport possible and in doing so to meet the performance target set and agreed with Government Office.

(Councillor B Chastney and Councillor R Feldman left the meeting at 11.40 am and 11.45am respectively during discussions of the above item)