Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall, Worcester

Contact: Alyson Grice/Alison Spall  Overview & Scrutiny Officers

Items
No. Item

505.

Apologies and Welcome

Minutes:

The Vice-Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that she would be chairing the meeting in the absence of the Chairman.

 

Apologies were received from Councillor Kyle Daisley, Mark Hughes (Parent Governor Representative), Tim Reid (Church Representative) and Paula Furnival, Strategic Director of People.

 

 

506.

Declaration of Interest and of any Party Whip

Minutes:

None.

507.

Public Participation

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance 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 10 January 2022).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

Minutes:

The Chairman reported that 4 members of the public had requested to speak at the meeting. A summary is shown below of the key points raised by the participants.

 

Anne Duddington

 

·         Anne Duddington advised that she wished to speak to the Panel to give the perspective of a family carer whose son has a learning disability and complex health and social care needs. She had asked to speak in relation to All-Age Disability proposal, and specifically wished to address the aspects which focused on preparation for adulthood and the Young Adults Team (YAT).

·         She praised the work of the Council’s Young Adults Team with their firm focus on preparation for adult services and their broad knowledge and expertise, as well as their implementation of the Mental Capacity Act and adult safeguarding.  She highlighted that the work of the Team had been recognised both locally and nationally.

·         She expressed dismay at the proposals to locate the YAT team in Children’s services and furthermore to disband it into locality teams and felt that the risks associated with a restructure had not been adequately explored. She was also concerned at a lack of an equality impact statement considering the impact of significant change could be lifelong.

·         She highlighted that the proposals appeared to be at an early stage, with many unanswered questions and apparently no feasibility study undertaken to conclude that the proposed model should be taken forward. Also, the co-location of some Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) staff in the YAT did not seem to have been considered.

 

Alison Price

 

·         Alison Price advised she was a family carer, having a daughter with learning disabilities and that she had come to speak about the All-Age Disability proposals particularly the plans for the YAT. She highlighted that 10 years ago she had had an active involvement as one of the family carers on the Working Party which had helped to design the YAT.

·         She highlighted that the YAT was held in high regard by family carers and had achieved regional and national recognition for its work.

·         She was concerned that the proposals would disperse the team, lead to a loss of identity and expertise and destabilise the quality of the service provided. She felt that moving the team into children’s services was contrary to the needs of families. She stressed that families needed to turn towards adult services as soon as possible as support for employment, housing and such like were all catered for within that service.

·         She pointed out that the report focussed on the benefits of the proposals, but not of the risks. She felt the proposal should be rejected to allow the effective YAT service to continue.

 

Elena Round

 

·         Elena Round had indicated that she wished to speak to the Panel about the outcome of the Ofsted report the previous week. She felt it would be prudent to temporarily delay any restructuring of the SEND provision until such time as the Ofsted report findings had been fully considered and an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 507.

508.

Confirmation of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

(previously circulated)

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 12 November 2021 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

509.

All Age Disability (0-25) Service Proposal pdf icon PDF 150 KB

(Indicative timing: 10.05-10.45am)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The discussion of the Report was held jointly with Members of the Adult Care and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Panel who had been invited to attend and participate in this part of the meeting.

 

The Panel received a report which provided an update on the transformation and proposed restructure to create a new All Age Disability (0-25) Service, to provide a more coherent and co-ordinated response to need and deliver better outcomes in the short term and into adulthood.

 

The Service was being developed jointly between Worcestershire County Council’s People Directorate (the Council) and Worcestershire Children First (WCF) and was sponsored jointly by the Strategic Director of People and the Chief Executive of WCF/Director of Children’s Services.

 

The Chief Executive of WCF thanked the parents attending the meeting to share their views and stressed the importance of listening and understanding parents’ views.

 

The aim of the proposal was to provide a co-ordinated, positive experience taking children and young people (CYP) through the key transition points in their lives. The proposal joined together teams working in Children services, Adult Services and SEND and brought together the strengths of each service for the benefit of all the CYP. It was recognised that although there were some current challenges within SEND, by working together as one team with the same culture and practice, a better service would be able to be provided. The Panel was informed that better outcome focused plans would be needed for children to prepare them for transition, but that all the specialisms previously offered with the YAT, such as housing and employment support would continue to be maintained going forward.

 

The Panel was informed that the Human Resources Consultation process with staff would commence in February and be completed in March. During this time, further feedback would be sought from parents regarding any issues and concerns. Following on from this, the final proposal would be drawn together.

 

The Interim Head of Service, All Age Disability (0-25) Design and Change provided some further detail about the journey which had been undertaken to reach this stage, which had commenced with consultation and engagement with parents and families in 2019.  The strong message that had been received from that feedback was that there was room for improvement with regard to preparing CYP for adulthood.

 

Members of the Panels were invited to ask questions and the following points were raised:

 

·         It was suggested that the language used in the proposal was jargonistic and that accessibility was an issue.  The Chief Executive acknowledged that that this was a complex area but would endeavour to simplify future reports and include a glossary of terms and acronyms.

·         In response to the question about the target audience for the proposal, it was explained that the proposal had several target audiences.

·         In terms of transparency of the proposal and the perception that a decision had already been made, the Panel was advised that things had not been working well for a while but there had been some delays  ...  view the full minutes text for item 509.

510.

Budget Scrutiny 2022-23 pdf icon PDF 231 KB

(indicative timing: 11.15am -12.00pm)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

As part of the Budget scrutiny process, the Panel considered the draft 2022-23 budget for areas within its remit. The County Council’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) highlighted the main points to note from the draft budget and the medium-term financial plan including:

 

·         The overall net Council budget for 2022-23 was £373.2m, compared to the gross budget for 2021-22 of £349.7m.

·         The significant pressures on the budget included £15.7m for People Services, £10.3m for pay and contract inflation and £5.9m (£7.9m gross) for WCF relating to social care. Specific details were provided as to how it was expected these funding pressures would be met.

·         Several one-off Government grants had been received for 2022-23 including a further £6.1m in recognition of the pressures in Adults and Children’s social care; also, a one-off services grant of £1.4m, discounted in part to reflect that the grant was to fund the Council’s employer liability in relation to the new National Insurance levy.

·         The Panel received a graph benchmarking Council Tax for County Councils in 2021-22 without Fire. The Panel noted that Worcestershire’s average Council Tax (£1,344) was at a lower level than the average, but highlighted the graph was difficult to breakdown in terms of area.

 

In terms of specific budget information in relation to children and families, the Panel was informed that:

 

·         The full year WCF Budget was £134.9m gross, of which £109.143m related to the Council’s base budget contribution to the total running costs of WCF; £23.319m related to other funding and £2.459m related to non-County Council sales, fees and charges.

·         Over half of the WCF budget was the ‘demand led’ placements and home to school transport budgets. There was a risk that the placements budget for 2022-23 could exceed £2-3m and that this was being mitigated by a £1.9m risk reserve. This would be closely monitored, with prompt action taken as required.

·         The Panel was informed of an additional allocation of £7.1m to the High Needs Block in 2022-23 which was Worcestershire’s share of the national £780m announced in October 2021. A further £325m was announced in the settlement to support High Needs placement and top-up pressures being experienced by all local authorities.

·         The Director of Resources (WCF) explained that the above would help to support some of the ongoing cost pressures in the High Needs Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), however, it would not eliminate the deficit of around £16m which would need to be carried forward to 2022-23. The Panel was informed of the key risk associated with the expectations of the Government when the statutory instrument came to an end, which would be the position for the 2023-24 financial year. The Director assured the Panel that the Council continued to actively lobby on this matter. The Panel supported this approach and would await a further update.

·         It was clarified that £1.3m had been included in the 2022-23 WCF Budget for pay inflation. The Panel was informed that the 2021-22 pay award had not yet been settled, but the Director of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 510.

511.

Update on the Assessment Pathway for Children and Young People who may have Autism pdf icon PDF 164 KB

(indicative timing: 10.45-11.15am)

Minutes:

In attendance for this item:

 

Sally-Anne Osborne - Associate Director for Children, Young People and Families and Specialist Primary Care, HWHCT.

Susanne Friess - Consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability, HWHCT.

Jenny Dalloway – Lead for Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Children, HWCCG.

Sarah Wilkins – Director of Education, Early Years and Children with Disabilities, WCF

Tina Partridge – Group Manager, SEND Support Services, WCF.

 

The Panel received a report which provided an update on the Umbrella assessment and diagnostic pathway for children and young people who were or might be on the autistic spectrum. The Panel was reminded that the pathway provided a multidisciplinary assessment which included agreed referral criteria, triage, and multi-professional planning. Following this a diagnostic discussion took place and the decision made was detailed in a final report which was shared with the CYP and family.

 

The Panel was informed that the Service aspired to have a maximum waiting time of 6 months, and there had been significant challenges with meeting this timeframe over recent years.  Following a review in February 2021, a commissioner led task and finish group had been set up to support the services contributing to the Umbrella Pathway to establish ways to have a sustainable improvement. The CCG had then provided additional funding to help bring in extra capacity to assess and diagnose the CYP who had been referred prior to 1 April 2021 and were still awaiting diagnosis. The Associate Director was pleased to be able to report that as a result of this the backlog of cases had now largely been cleared, with only 21 children now remaining on the waiting list from within the identified cohorts of CYP.

 

The Consultant explained that it was acknowledged that as changes to the pathway were required, the overarching emphasis was that autism had to be everyone’s business with professionals needing to work closely together. To work towards change, in conjunction with partners, a systematic review of every step of the assessment process had been carried out to establish what streamlining could take place and what improvements could be implemented. In terms of referrals, it was important to gather vital information from all those who know the child best so that the relevant information was presented in a timely way to those who carried out the assessment process. Two specialists would then carry out the assessment using standardised tools to establish whether a diagnosis could be made. The Consultant explained that as the quality of the assessments had been improved, and with surety of diagnoses there has been less need for further assessments to be arranged, hence speeding up the process. There were plans for the future to invite other professionals to carry out checks on a child’s mental health history working to the same thresholds, which should work well. Long term plans were to develop a one-stop assessment service. 

 

Members asked a range of questions which were responded to as follows:

 

·         The Associate Director advised that waiting times were currently averaging 8 months, although  ...  view the full minutes text for item 511.

512.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 228 KB

(indicative timing: 12:10-12.20pm)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel were invited to review its current Work Programme. There were no alterations made.