Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Cereste. Councillor Walsh was in attendance as a substitute

Apologies were received from Councillors Khan and Shearman. Councillor Jamil was in attendance as nominated substitute for the Labour party.

Apologies were also received from Councillor Sandford.

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.

Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2013 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 Mary 2013 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

            Following Members concerns about comments made by a member of the public concerning the appointment of the Assistant Director - Children’s Services Safeguarding Families and Communities, the Chief Executive advised the Committee that the Council was seeking legal advice over what action should be taken over the comments made.

The Chief Executive introduced a report on the Senior Management arrangements to cover the appointments of the Director of Public Health and Director of Adult Social Care. 

          The Committee was requested to:

1.      Note the arrangements made to cover the role of the Director of Public Health pending recruitment to this role; and

2.      Appoint Jana Burton as Director of Adult Social Care pending recruitment to this role.

          The Chief Executive advised Members that the Director of Public Health (DPH) had resigned on 27 March 2013, which required the Council to put in place arrangements for the recruitment of a new DPH, which was also a statutory role.  Members were also advised that there were qualifications that were essential for the position of DPH, which had included being a member of the Faculty of Public Health and an accredited consultant in Public Health Medicine.  A temporary arrangement had been agreed with Public Health England in order for the requirements to be covered by Sue Mitchell and Dr Boika Rechel, pending recruitment to the role of Director of Public Health.

          Following the departure of Mr Terry Rich, Executive Director of Adult Social Care, the Chief Executive advised Members that a permanent appointment to the post would be delayed until after a restructure of the service had taken place, which would be in line with the outcome of the commissioning review. 

          Mrs Jana Burton explained her vision and shared her thoughts with Members on the challenges ahead for the review of the commissioning arrangements for Adult Social Care. In summary, comments included:

·     A recent consultation with carers and other partners had taken place about the eligibility criteria for Adult Social Care. Over the coming year the priority was to implement personalisation, building on the independence and abilities of adult service users; 

·     It was important to explore ways in which young adults should be more effectively supported within work, and how they would gain skills in daily living;

·     Early intervention and more community support for the elderly, would avoid the high levels of isolation they were currently experiencing;

·     One of the challenges within the commissioning budgets was to introduce preventative measures for service users in order to provide a level of support to prevent additional cost pressures at a later date;

·     There would be a focus on the provision of frontline roles within the forthcoming budget constraints. The challenge would be to match the standards and quality currently provided; 

·     A focus on stronger contracts and buying in health and social care services at the best value;

·     The back office staff function was to go through a transformation with the Council’s partners Serco.  The transformation would concentrate resources on the provision of frontline and universal services;

·     The launch of a new Care Services Directory (CSD) would enable adult health service users to tailor their care needs as appropriate and to provide feedback on the quality of adult health services received from contractors. The CSD would also provide the opportunity to review feedback from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.