Agenda and minutes

To declare any personal / prejudicial interests for the purpose of Section 81 (3) of the Local Government Act 2000 and paragraphs 8 to 12 of the Members Code of Conduct.

The following personal declarations of interest were made in regard of Agenda Item 7, Request for Scrutiny from UNISON and others – Closure of Mental Health Services (Minute No. 85 refers).

• Councillor S Hamilton as a UNISON Member and Branch Secretary.
• Councillor J Chapman as she has a family member who was employed in the provision of Mental Health services.
• Joy Fisher and Sally Morgan due to their positions with the Alliance of Service Users and Carers.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors P Davey, A Hussain and K Renshaw.  Councillors P Grahame, R Grahame and M Coulson were in attendance as substitutes.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 16 February 2011

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 February 2011, be confirmed as a correct record.

To receive and consider the attached report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development

The report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development informed the Board of a request for scrutiny that had been received from UNISON concerning the two mental health day centres.  Reference was also made to the proposals to close the Crisis Centre which had been previously considered by the Board.  The matters of issue raised by UNISON included the following:

• Potential failures of the Executive Board process with regards to the day centre report
• Failure to properly equality impact assess the proposals to decommission two mental health day centres.

In addition, the Scrutiny Unit had received 29 individual requests for Scrutiny from members of the public.  The following reasons were cited for the request for scrutiny:

• That the i3 document used by Adult Social Care in the deliberations to close the day centres states that there should be no closures
• The lack of appropriate consultation

The Chair welcomed Tony Pearson, Regional Organiser for Leeds UNISON and Alex Offer, Barrister acting on behalf of the Tri-centre Group to the meeting.

Tony Pearson gave the following reasons in support of UNISON’s request for scrutiny:

• Confusion caused at the Executive Board meeting which initially considered the closure of Mental Health Services due to the introduction of revised information which was not available to all attendee as there were insufficient copies.
• A failure by the Council to carry out its ‘duty to consult’.
• Reliance on the i3 report.
• Closure of the centres would not be a qualitative measure.
• Risk assessments for current service users had not been undertaken.
• Lack of proper consultation with stakeholders – without this the shape of future services could not be determined.
• Lack of dialogue with other groups that use the centres including the physically disabled.

In summary, he reported that the situation was causing a great deal of distress to service users and asked the Board to give further consideration to the issues raised before referring the issue back to Executive Board.

Alex Offer addressed the Board on behalf of the Tri-centre Group.  He highlighted the following points of concern and reasons to support the request for scrutiny over the proposals to close Mental Health services:

• Most users of the day centres felt unable to cope with having to access services at other locations
• Should two of the existing centres close, there would not be enough capacity to carry out the required services.
• The proposals had caused a great deal of anxiety and stress to service users and there were humanitarian and medical reasons to reconsider the proposals.
• The Tri-Centre Group was willing to work in partnership with the Council in an attempt to identify alternative solutions.
• The full views of service users had not been taken into account.
• The decision in principle was flawed and it was irrational to carry out consultation after the decision.
• It was requested that the proposals be given further scrutiny with an option for service users to participate.

In response to Members comments and questions, the following issued were discussed:

• Lack of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

To receive and consider the joint report of the Chief Executive and Director of Adult Social Care

The report of the Chief Executive presented proposals for the new set of strategic planning documents for advice and consideration before they went to Executive Board and Council for approval.  They included the proposals for the long term partnership strategy for the City, the Vision for Leeds 2011 to 2030 and the first set of delivery plans for the first 4 years.  These proposals had been developed in light of the current financial situation which meant that priorities had to be more focussed than in previous plans.  The proposals also took into account, the results of two recent public consultations on the Vision for Leeds and the Spending Challenge.

The Chair welcomed the following to the meeting for this item:

• Dennis Holmes, Chief Officer – Commissioning
• Stuart Cameron-Strickland, Head of Policy, Performance and Improvement
• Steve Clough – Head of Corporate Policy and Performance

Members attention was brought to the new city planning framework which would focus on the Council’s key priorities.  This would be supported by 5 priority plans,  the Council’s Business Plan and other arrangements.  Attention was also brought to the outline framework for the Vision for Leeds 2011 to 2030 and appendices that showed the city priority plans in greater detail.  It was reported that the most relevant areas for the Board were those priorities that focussed in Health and Wellbeing issues and the Adult Social Care Directorate priorities as detailed in the Council Business Plan were highlighted.

In response to Members comments and questions, the following issues were discussed:

• Partnership Board representation – final arrangements were still to be confirmed but would involve both officers and Elected Members as well as representatives from other organisations including the NHS and GPs consortia.
• The City Priority Plans had been developed over a period of time through various consultations and had taken account of issues such as the Council’s spending challenge.
• Although there was not a specific priority plan aimed at older people, the Health and Wellbeing Priority Plan had a very strong focus.  Other priorities also included the needs of older people.
• Increasing personalisation and concerns regarding safeguarding – it was reported that personalisation of services only progressed following thorough assessment by social care professionals and that there was satisfaction that safeguarding issues would not be a concern.
• Equality Issues – these were covered across all the priorities particularly those related to Safer and Stronger Communities.
• Key performance indicators – in relation to the indicator for service users having control over their daily life, it was reported that the information was gathered over an eighteen month to two year period to get a balanced result.  Sample surveys were carried out on a quarterly basis.

RESOLVED – That the report and discussion be noted.

To receive and consider the attached report of the Head of Policy and Performance

The report of the Head of Policy and Performance summarised progress against the Leeds Strategic Plan relevant to Adult Social Care for the third quarter of 2010/11 which was the final year of the pla.  The report included a Performance Indicator report and of the indicators that could be reported, 33% were on track to hit target.

In brief summary, the following issues were discussed:

• The performance indicators related to the old performance management framework and there would be changes to the indicators in future in line with the new priorities.
• Concern with the indicator that relates to the timeliness of social care assessments (Adults). It was reported that this was affected by a new assessment process and increased safeguarding concerns. An action plan was being developed to deal with any backlogs.

RESOLVED – That the report and discussion be noted.

To receive and consider a report from the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development outlining the Scrutiny Board’s work programme for the remainder of the current municipal year.

The report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development detailed the Board’s Work Programme and also contained the Council’s Forward Plan and recent Executive Board minutes.

It was reported that Recommendation Tracking and an update on Domiciliary Care and Reablement would be on the Board’s next agenda.

RESOLVED –

(1)  That the Executive Board Minutes and Forward Plan be noted.

(2)  That the Board’s Work Programme be agreed and amended as appropriate.

To note that the next meeting of the Board will be held on Wednesday, 13 April 2011 at 10.00 am with a pre meeting for Board Members at 9.30 am.

Wednesday, 13 April 2011 at 10.00 a.m. (Pre-meeting for all Board Members at 9.30 a.m.)