Agenda and minutes

Weather Conditions

The Committee heard the Convener make reference to the recent severe weather conditions and wished to convey thanks to staff for their efforts to attend work during this spell.  He also advised that individuals serving Community Service Orders had been involved in clearing snow from roads and pavements in crucial areas around the city, explaining that he had received positive public feedback in terms of their polite and cheerful attitude whilst undertaking the work.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to concur with the remarks of the Convener;  and

(ii)        to note that details of the work referred to above, undertaken by those serving Community Service Orders could be obtained from officers.

The Committee received a presentation by Mary Drever, Project Leader, VSA in relation to Young Carers Services.

Mary Drever (a) provided background information in relation to the Young Carers Project and support services advising that they have directly supported young carers for ten years, initially from an office located on Belmont Street and more recently from premises at Castle Street, Aberdeen;  (b) explained that the services provided by the project had been designed and developed by the young carers themselves, which meets their needs;  (c) indicated that the youngest ever carer identified by the project was four years old, however at present the youngest was seven years old;  (d) referred to the 2001 census which revealed that the number of young carers in the city totalled 2,242 although recent research undertaken by the University of Aberdeen highlighted an additional 500 young carers with the Alcohol and Drugs Action Team identifying the possibility of a further 1,000;  (e) outlined the definition of a young carer and provided positive information in terms of working in partnership with the Community Development Service and attending briefing sessions with the Council’s Chief Executive;  (f) outlined the work undertaken by the project for approximately 80 young carers including the provision of education support, one to one emotional support, anger management, respite breaks and sport initiatives;  (g) thanked the Chief Executive and Councillor Cormack for their support and congratulated Councillor Leslie in terms of his appointment as the first VSA Young Carers Champion.

The Committee heard an audio recording of a young carer known as Liam, who lives in Elgin and provides personal care for his mother.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to thank Mary Drever for her insightful presentation;  and

(ii)        to request officers to upload the audio recording on the Council’s website.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of
1^st December, 2009.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute.

With reference to Article 5 of the previous minute of 1^st December 2009, the Committee had before it a joint report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing and the City Chamberlain which provided information and progress on three projects, namely, Rosewell House, the Integrated Drugs Service at the Timmer Market site and the new Children’s Residential Unit. 

The report (a) explained that the projects were included within the Non-Housing Capital Programme, previously approved by Council and aligned to Social Care and Wellbeing Services; (b) advised that monies required to fund the capital programme were achieved through external borrowing, capital receipts and grant income; (c) explained that the General Fund had adequate resources available to finance the capital spend in 2009/10; (d) explained that the overall cost of capital was calculated on a Council wide basis and the impact on the Council would be included within the summary report to the Finance and Resources Committee; (e) stated that it was important that approved projects were managed and monitored  in a robust way to ensure there was accuracy in relation to expenditure projections, thereby enabling the Council to calculate and evaluate the overall need for and cost of borrowing; and (f) outlined previous spend, expenditure as at 31^st October, 2009 and the forecast out-turn for the three projects.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

consider and note the content of the report in relation to the projects.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the recommendation; and

(ii)        that officers provide a detailed response to Councillor Cormack in terms of the expenditure on additional equipment at Rosewell House.

With reference to Article 6 of the minute of the previous of 1^st December, 2009, the Committee had before it a joint report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing and the City Chamberlain, which provided information on the current year’s revenue budget performance for Social Care and Wellbeing Services and outlined areas of risk and management action.

The report (a) advised that the total Social Care and Wellbeing budget amounted to approximately £111m net expenditure; (b) indicated that based upon present forecasts, it was anticipated that the financial performance of the service would result in an adverse movement on Council finances overall; (c) explained that this position would be reflected in the overall financial monitoring for the Council when it is reported to Finance and Resources Committee at the end of this committee cycle; (d) advised that there were significant pressures on the Adults Community Care budgets, with care commitments currently £4.7m above budget; (e) stated that this position reflected additional pressures on needs led services; (f) explained that further management action was required to bring the commitment level back in line with budget; (g) indicated that actions being taken included vacancy management to achieve savings on staff costs; savings on costs from purchased day care by greater use of in-house day care for older people, increased income through rigorous application of the charging policy and savings on care packages as they are reviewed; (h) advised that there were also significant pressures on the Children’s Residential School and external fostering budgets with a 26% increase in referrals to Children’s Services over the past twelve months, together with a 34% increase in children on the Child Protection Register; (i) indicated that the total number of children in foster care had increased by 17% over the same period; (j) stated that commitments for external residential and fostering services were currently £2.4m above budget; (k) outlined savings achieved to date, together with proposed management actions to achieve full year savings target; (l) explained that in overall terms, the position reflected current spend above budget of £5m and a projected forecast overspend of £5.2m for the year; (m) advised that there had been an improvement in projection of £1.3m since the report to the Committee in October; (n) indicated that management actions had been instigated with a view to reducing the forecast overspend (these were detailed within the report at paragraph 6.7) and as such, it was anticipated that the impact of these actions would be to reduce the overspend by £3.1m; and (o) had attached as appendices, the overall budget for the service and detailed analysis in respect of services managed by the Service Director and the three Heads of Service.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)       consider and note the report and the information on management action and risks contained therein; and

(b)       instruct that officers continue to review budget performance and report on service strategies to ensure a balance budget.

The Convener, seconded by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

With reference to Article 8 of the minute of meeting of 3^rd September, 2009, the Committee had before it a report on the progress of developing a Performance Management Framework for Social Care and Wellbeing using the scorecard method, which was previously described and recommended in a report to the Continuous Improvement Committee in April 2009.

The report (a) advised that the proposal to use a scorecard approach enabled the reporting of the following five key themes for Social Care and Wellbeing:-

• balance of care;
• managing the workforce;
• personalisation / participation;
• resources;
• strategic commissioning;

(b) indicated that reporting performance in the above areas would demonstrate how Social Care and Wellbeing capacity, resources, and people were managed to deliver service priorities;  (c) explained that the scorecard method demonstrated linkages to the Single Outcome Agreement, Aberdeen City Council’s Interim Business Plan 2009-12, Statutory Performance Indicators and the National Outcome Measures for Community Care;  and (d) appended the Social Care and Wellbeing Scorecard which outlined the value, progress and status for each measure of the five key themes.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the performance data reported in the appendix.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the recommendation; 

(ii)        that a report in terms of the health and safety matrix be submitted to the Committee;

(iii)       that a report outlining the reasons why there was a low percentage figure for eligible staff appraisal in the current year be submitted to the Committee;

(iv)       to note that an amended suite of Statutory Performance Indicators would be submitted to the Committee;  and

(v)        to convey thanks to staff for the work undertaken to maintain the low delayed discharge figures.

With reference to Article 9 of the minute of the meeting of 3^rd September 2009, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which outlined progress to date and sought agreement for the continued implementation of the Children’s Services redesign as agreed at previous Committees in March, May and September 2009.

The report (a) advised that Social Care and Wellbeing, Children's Services were organised into the following themes:-

·     reception and protection;

·     family and community support;

·     children in need;

·     alternative family care;

·     young people's care and accommodation;

(b) indicated that the structure was adjusted to ensure that each service theme was led by a Service Manager responsible for operational management, quality assurance, strategic planning and development, and partnership working and integration;  (c) explained that it had been previously agreed to establish a Contact Centre and following an options appraisal undertaken by officers, it was being recommended that this service be located in the existing Quarry Family Centre based in Northfield;  (d) revealed that families currently receiving a service at the centre would not be disadvantaged by the realignment of services, as they would be offered a service at an alternative centre and supported in this regard;  (e) stated that significant engagement with trade unions and staff in terms of the proposals had been undertaken throughout 2009 with the majority of staff keen for full implementation of the redesign without delay;  (f) proposed that posts of Team Managers (22 posts) and Practice Improvement Officers (6 posts) be created by redesignating and refocusing existing posts of Senior Social Workers and Team Leaders (all G15 posts);  (g) provided information in relation to the matching of staff into the new structure;  and (h) appended the new structure diagram.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       note the progress to date;

(b)       agree the continued implementation of the structure set out in the appendix;

(c)        agree the staff arrangements set out in paragraph 3.2 (referred to at (f) above);  and

(d)       agree the use of the family centre based at the Quarry Centre as the new Contact Service.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)        to convey thanks to the Director and Interim Head of Children’s Services for the work undertaken to improve Children’s Services.

The Committee had before it a business case by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing, which sought approval to establish two fixed term Task Supervisor posts within the Community Service Team, Criminal Justice Social Work.

The report (a) made reference to the Government’s aim, set out in “Protecting Scotland’s Communities” to lay a sound foundation for the future, building a robust model of community sentences commanding public confidence, and beginning a planned expansion of provision;  (b) advised that in order to contribute effectively to this agenda, it would be essential that community service in Aberdeen had sufficient capacity to meet increasing demand for community based sentences;  (c) revealed that the Scottish Government had allocated additional funding of £53,500 in this financial year to increase capacity in community service;  (d) explained that this funding would be continued through the Section 27 grant for Central Government for next year with a further uplift anticipated;  (e) highlighted the pressures experienced by community service in terms of capacity to meet expectations of the Courts, particularly the issue relating to evening and weekend working to accommodate offenders who were in paid employment;  (f) advised that the creation of these two posts would help to enable the service to meet current and future demands; (g) indicated that the impact on the current year revenue/capital budget would be £7,060 (minimum salary) to £8,067 (maximum salary) based on the appointments being made by February 2010, and £56,480 (minimum salary) to £64,536 (maximum salary) in a full financial year;  and (h) explained that the minimum and maximum salary costs included agreed allowances and 26.1% on costs (National Insurance and Employer’s Pension contributions).

The report recommended:-

that the Committee agree to the creation of two fixed term posts of Community Service Task Supervisors.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation on the basis that efforts would be made to fill the posts internally.

The Committee had before it for consideration, details of a conference entitled “Child Protection Summit” to be held in Edinburgh on 18^th February, 2010 at a cost of £158.70 per person including conference fees and travel.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         that approval be given for 2 Administration members (the Vice-Convener and Councillor Kirsty West) and 1 Opposition member (Councillor Allan) to attend the Child Protection Summit; 

(ii)        to note that a report on the conference would be submitted to the Children’s Services Sub-Committee for information.

The Committee had before it for consideration, a Statement of Committee Business prepared by the Head of Democratic Services, which also contained the Business Statements for the Children’s Services and Adult Services Sub Committees for information.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note that in terms of item 7 (Social Work Complaints Review Committee - Extension of Membership), officers would again write to the Scottish Government to seek clarification of the reasons why Complaint Review Committee Chairpersons should not be a member of the political party forming the ruling group on the Council as opposed to any member of a political party, or an officer of any local authority during the year prior to their appointment; 

(ii)        that officers circulate to all members of the Committee the initial response received from the Scottish Government in terms of the Social Work Complaints Review Committee queries referred to at (i) above;

(iii)       to note that in terms of item 2 (Advocacy Services), that the Director was to meet the Chief Executive of NHS Grampian this week and the Chairperson of NHS Grampian Board in due course;

(iv)       to remove item 5 (Young Carers Presentation) and item 6 (Services Savings - Progress 2009/10), referred to at Articles 2 and 5 of this minute respectively; and

(iv)       to note the dates on which a number of reports were expected and updates received by officers to date.

The Committee had before it for consideration, a motions list prepared by the Head of Democratic Services.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the motions list.

- COUNCILLOR JAMES KIDDIE, Convener.