Agenda and minutes

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 27 September 2017).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed below.

None.

The Minutes of the meeting of 20 July 2017 have been previously circulated.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2017 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Cabinet considered the Children's Social Care Update. The details were set out in the report.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families introduced the report. He explained that Trevor Doughty had been appointed by the DfE as Children's Commissioner to review Children's Safeguarding Services in March /April 2017. The Commissioner's conclusion was that Worcestershire services were not safe, and this was accepted by the Council without equivocation.  His recommendations had been incorporated into the Service Improvement Plan.

The report recommended that an improvement partner be appointed and that an Alternative Delivery Model (ADM) be considered. This meant that the Council would continue working on its improvement plan but would in addition need to find a new way of providing services.  Essex County Council was our improvement partner.  Ofsted would be publishing an updated report in October.

It was recognised that the task faced by the Council was not an easy one and required a whole Council approach focussing on four areas:

·         Family Front Door

·         Early help

·         Culture

·         What good looks like

The ADM needed to be a radical change but be carefully planned and executed. The list of options included a 'Do nothing' possibility but the Cabinet Member was adamant that this was not an option.  We had to find a model which worked for the county and its children.

It was recognised that although the timetable appeared tough it was achievable.  Consultation with our young people was vital.

In the ensuing debate the following principal points were raised:

·         It was important to proceed at pace but not so fast that things went wrong. It should be noted that an ADM structure would not automatically deliver improvement by itself. At first services need to meet the accepted standard and in time they could aspire to excellence

·         It was important that the Programme Board had a clear remit and that Councillors understood their role on it

·         Essex County Council were thanked for their beneficial advice and expertise. The Interim improvement Board was also thanked for its work

·         The ADM needed to be right for Worcestershire. A structure needed to be found that concentrated on the best outcome for children, not the structure

·         A Member from outside the Cabinet commented that this situation was welcome as the Council needed to get to grips with the situation. All Councillors needed to be aware of their responsibility and Scrutiny members were ready and willing to play their part in improving the service. Robust KPIs also needed to be put in place

·         The Chief Executive reminded the Cabinet that the Council still held statutory responsibility for these services, whichever ADM was decided upon. The situation was complex but the Council would use its best endeavours, following the indicative timetable in paragraph 22

·         The Leader was delighted with the work diagnostic but how the improvement would occur was still debateable.  However, whichever option was chosen the whole Council needed to get behind the plan and focus on improvement in outcomes for children.  The forthcoming Ofsted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1801.

The Cabinet considered the Resources Report. The details were set out in the report.

The Leader (also the Cabinet Member for Finance) explained that after the first four months of the financial year the forecast was for an overall financial pressure of £7.5 million. An overspend of £6 million due to Children's safeguarding and placements was one of the main factors causing the financial pressure, especially in relation to older children.

The easy actions had already been taken so it was likely that the Council would have to take other actions.

Some mitigating features were £0.9 million from Treasury and Debt Management and £1 million of savings from the pre-payment of the Council's employer pension costs.

The other main issue dealt with in the report was investment in in-house provision, which was an effective and efficient thing to do.

It was important to support partners in the LEP and to ensure Worcestershire was a good place to live and work so that the Worcestershire economy could continue to grow.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Services confirmed that along with the considerable pressure from children's safeguarding (Worcestershire were supporting 67 children out of a 10,000 rather than the national average of 60) there were demographic and demand pressures in Adult Social Care. £8.2 million came from one off grants and funding that would need to be replaced in future, for services to remain sustainable. There was a need to plan the direction of travel for Adult Services, to be able to plan services for the future.

There would be capital expenditure on highways, flood mitigation and railways as well as other projects. Investment in in-house children's supported living was important and was more cost effective than using the external market. The overall cost avoidance on the total £4.7million investment was £1.8million which gave a payback period of less than 3 years.

The Cabinet Member for Economy and Infrastructure pointed out the positive growth and productivity in the County.  Unemployment was at 1.3% where the national figure was 4% and it was positive to see investment in the rail infrastructure. It was important to expand the jobs market and then people would come.

RESOLVED: that

(a)  the conclusions of the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Finance (also the Leader of the Council) concerning revenue budget monitoring up to 31 July 2017, be endorsed;

(b)  the current progress regarding the service reforms programme be noted;

(c)  the addition of £4.1million to the Capital Programme for Phase 3 of the development of in-house Post-16 Supported Living Accommodation and residential facilities with Children's Services to be funded by revenue savings from the projects, be recommended to Council for approval; and

(d)  the Cabinet Member's conclusions concerning capital budget monitoring up to 31 July 2017 be endorsed.

The Cabinet considered Worcestershire's Data Sharing Charter. The details were set out in the report.

The Cabinet Member for Transformation and Commissioning explained that in 2016 KPMG produced a roadmap strategy setting out steps to improve service delivery. The roadmap recommended the development of a Worcestershire Office for Data and Analytics (WODA) and a Chief Information Officer had now been appointed.

The Worcestershire Partnership Executive Group agreed to a 12 month pilot to test both the financial and non – financial benefits of enhanced data sharing.  The Charter encouraged data sharing.

The Cabinet Member for Communities said that data sharing had been talked about for years so she welcomed that fact that Worcestershire was now working with different services such as GPs and connecting families to move the project forward.

Members felt this was 'common sense' and a step forward. However, it was pointed out that data sharing had been a constant battle in the past, with people hiding behind data protection as a reason not to take action, but it was important that services had all the relevant information to be able to help people, especially in areas such as Child protection.

It was agreed that data sharing was in people's best interest but protocols were needed and the Cabinet were pleased to be kept aware of the protocol.

RESOLVED that the Worcestershire Data Sharing Charter be endorsed as set out in the Appendix to Agenda item 6.