Agenda and minutes

(A)       The Convener announced that Mr. Dave Tumelty, former Head of Health and Care, Neighbourhood Services (North) Area, had died a few days ago after a short illness.   The Convener and Councillors Crockett, Donnelly and Leslie paid tribute to Mr. Tumelty and offered their condolences to Mr. Tumelty’s family.   The funeral was to be held on Wednesday, 9 June at 2.00pm at the Aberdeen Crematorium.  

(B)       The Convener advised that he had attended the recent National Community Service Awards in Glasgow, whereat the Council received second place for the Torry Tidy Project and third place for Powis Community Centre.   He intimated that both were great achievements for staff, volunteers and for those serving community service orders. He concluded by indicating that both groups would receive their awards at the Council meeting on 30 June, 2010.  

            (C)       The Convener commended those involved with organising and participating in the Association of Directors of Social Work 2010 Annual Conference.  He explained that a report providing a summary of the event had been included within the Information Bulletin for the Committee meeting today.

Prior to considering the matters before the Committee, members were requested to resolve that any exempt business on the agenda be considered with the press and public excluded.

Councillor Young moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Laing:-

“That the Committee consider item 6.2 (Integrated Drug Service, Timmer Market - Capital Contribution) on the agenda with the press and public in attendance.”

On a division, there voted:-  for the procedural motion (5) – Councillors Allan, Crockett, Donnelly, Laing and Young;  against the procedural motion (10) – the Convener;  Vice-Convener;  and Councillors Fletcher, McDonald, Penny, Robertson, Jennifer Stewart, Kevin Stewart, Wendy Stuart and Kirsty West.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to reject the procedural motion;  and

(ii)        in terms of Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the class described in the following paragraphs of Schedule 7(A) to the Act:-  Article 14, 16, 17 and 18 (paragraph 1);  Article 15 (paragraphs 6 and 9);  Articles 19 (paragraphs 3, 5 and 7);  and Article 20 (paragraph 6).

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of
22 April, 2010.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute.

The Committee had before it the minute of meeting of the Children’s Services Sub-Committee of 13 May, 2010.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to ratify the decision at Article 2(B), resolution (iii), that a senior officer from the Social Care and Wellbeing Service be represented at meetings of the Homelessness Strategy Working Group;  and

(ii)        to otherwise note the minute.

With reference to Article 10 of the minute of its meeting of 25 February, 2010, the Committee had before it, by way of remit from the Finance and Resources Committee of 11 May, 2010, a report by the Director of Corporate Governance, which provided information on the budgetary savings comprising details of organisations affected by cessation of funding and the organisations affected by the mainstreaming of funding.  

The Finance and Resources Committee had resolved:-

(i)         to note the cessation of grants as detailed in recommendation (a);

(ii)        to note the mainstreaming of grants as detailed in recommendation (b);

(iii)       to note that the ACVO (Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations) grant had been approved at the last meeting of this Committee;  and

(iv)       to refer recommendation (d) to approve the continuation of £3,000 funding to Age Concern (Local) by moving to mainstream services and recommendation (e) to agree the final savings figure of £94,196 which would be realised with effect from 1 April, 2010, to the Social Care and Wellbeing Committee, for their consideration. 

The Committee was advised by the Clerk that, in order to approve the continuation of funding to Age Concern (Local), it would need to suspend Standing Order 22(2) as it was revoking a decision made by this Committee within the last six months.

The Committee resolved:-

to suspend Standing Order 22(2) and approve recommendations (d) and (e) as detailed above.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which sought approval for the draft Social Care and Wellbeing Service Business Plan 2010-2013.

The report explained that the Service Business Plan identified the key strategic priorities and the factors which influenced service needs, development and delivery.   Section 8 of the Business Plan, attached as an appendix to the report, expanded on the five priorities, which were shifting the balance of care, managing the workforce, the personalisation of services, implementing the Joint Commissioning Strategy and improving the use of resources.  

The report advised that a revised Service Business Plan would be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee which would contain a more clearly defined action plan to include outcomes, key performance indicators, key milestones, budget implications and target dates.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       approve the draft Service Business Plan for 2010-2013;  and

(b)       note that a final Service Business Plan will be presented to Committee on 9^th September 2010.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note the draft Service Business Plan for 2010-2013;

(ii)        to note that the final Service Business Plan would be presented to Committee on 9^th September, 2010; 

(iii)       to request officers to submit a report to Committee detailing how the personalisation of services would operate;  and

(iv)       to request officers to consider giving advocacy greater prominence in future versions of the Service Business Plan.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which intended to link the agendas of developing a greater personalised approach to the delivery of social work and social care services as described in the Social Care and Wellbeing Commissioning Strategy and the recruitment and retention of social work and social care staff.

The report advised that in 2009, 7% of Social Workers and 4% of Senior Social Workers had left the service, therefore newly qualified Social Workers were recruited to fill the majority of the vacancies, however, there was a much smaller pool of applicants for Senior and Specialist Social Worker posts.

The report indicated that Social Workers and Senior Social Workers in Aberdeen City Council were currently paid a starting salary of £29,264 and £38,307 respectively, compared to £31,021 and £34,426 in Aberdeenshire Council respectively.

The report continued by providing information regarding recruitment and retention and by outlining the radical changes since the introduction of the Community Care Act which required the delivery of social care services to be more personalised, by placing a greater emphasis on individual need and on personal preference of individuals who used the services. The report advised that to support these changes, a programme of support for employees on the new approaches to Assessment, Planning and Reflective Practice was to be introduced.   The report had attached as an appendix, the approaches and content of the programme, which had been designed to be relevant for all levels of practitioner across all care groups and responded to the vision set out in shifting the balance of care (Scottish Government 2008), with relevance to health, housing and social work.

The report recommended:-

(a)       that the Committee note the information on recruitment and retention of Social Workers and social work salaries;  and

(b)       that the Committee approve the approach outlined in the report to support staff development.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to instruct the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing to provide all members of the Committee with detail on the use of exit interviews within the service;  and

(ii)        to otherwise approve the recommendations contained within the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which sought agreement to submit a suite of regular performance information to this Committee and the Adults and Children’s Services Sub-Committees.

The report advised that work had commenced within the service to define the data to be collected, to establish baseline information and to set performance targets where appropriate.  The service was currently looking at defining lower level indicators, which would be used for managing the performance of the service, however these would not be reported to the Committee, although they would be used to highlight areas of pressure, demand and any performance issues to the Committee as required.

The report contained a diagram which outlined the performance management framework for the service, and linked all elements of performance from individual development plans through to the outcomes contained within the Single Outcome Agreement.  The report appended the proposed indicator suite which would be subject to review as the service continued to develop their key documents.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       approve the indicators attached at Appendix 1;

(b)       note the reporting frequency of each indicator;

(c)        note that the indicator suite will be subject to continual review to ensure that the information provided to elected members is appropriate and timely; and

(d)       note that work is ongoing within the Social Care and Wellbeing Service to develop a performance management framework for the service.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to request the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee to take an overview on statutory performance indicators with a view to potentially contacting the Scottish Government to request that statutory performance indicators be amended to reflect outcomes rather than inputs; and

(ii)        to otherwise approve the recommendations contained within the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which provided information relating to the Social Care and Wellbeing Risk Register.

The report advised that the Risk Register had been co-ordinated over the past four months by a dedicated resource and that consultation had been undertaken with relevant staff and assigned lead officers.

The report advised that the Risk Register combined all three services within the Directorate (Children’s, Adults and Older People and Rehabilitation) and had identified a total of 20 risks which were being recorded and reported through Covalent, the Council’s performance management system.  The report indicated that the Risk Register would be submitted to this Committee every second cycle to provide a review and update. 

The report outlined the review process and appended the Risk Register for the service.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       note the progress to date in relation to the formation of the Service Risk Register;

(b)       agree that the Social Care and Wellbeing Risk Register is a fair statement of the significant risks within the service, a copy of which is attached as an appendix to the report;

(c)        agree the reporting and review periods; and

(d)       instruct the Director to take as much remedial action as necessary to mitigate the identified risks.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations contained within the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which outlined the proposed Kinship Care Strategy for the Council.

The report advised that the annual staffing costs to establish a Kinship Team to ensure a quality of service delivery that meets legislative and National Care Standards would be £189,764.  The report indicated that the Scottish Government, as part of the Concordat had allocated additional and recurring monies in the grant settlement to local authorities which amounted to £12million over a three year period to help deliver on these expectations.  The report explained that the monies from the Scottish Government would however not be enough to cover the costs of increasing the allowance to Kinship Carers where the anticipated costs exceeded £900,000 based on current figures.

The report explained that the need to develop a Kinship Carers Strategy was agreed by the Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2009, which came from recognition of the commitment contained within the Concordat to pay Kinship Carers an equivalent allowance to those paid to Foster Carers.  The report advised that it had been recognised that the payment of an allowance was insufficient and that a Kinship Care Strategy should be developed to set out systems for assessment and approval and support of Kinship Carers to care for extended family members as an alternative to other care settings.

The report proposed that a Kinship Team be established comprising of 1 FTE Team Manager, 3 qualified Social Workers, 3 Family Resource Workers and 1.5 FTE Administrative Assistants which would implement statutory duties, undertake all new assessments of Kinship Carers in accordance with the statutory requirements, reassess all existing relative carers in accordance with new regulations and National Care Standards and provide support to Kinship Carers both on an individual basis and by developing and building community networks for Kinship Carers.  The report emphasised that the development of the service would enable the Council to support children to remain within their families and communities, which had shown that the outcomes for those children were better than those living in other care settings.

The report further proposed that a Kinship Care Panel be established to consider the assessments of prospective Kinship Carers and make recommendations to a senior manager in the Social Care and Wellbeing service which would allow for a robust and independent approval process.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee agree-

(a)       to the establishment of a Kinship Team to assess and review Kinship Carers, provide continuing support and guidance in accordance with the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and National Care Standards and agree the new staffing implications as outlined in paragraph 6.2.4; and

(b)       that a Kinship Panel be established to consider the approval of Kinship Carers.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the recommendations contained in the report in principle;

(ii)        to request officers to submit a report to the next meeting of this Committee providing detailed information on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Councillor Fletcher declared an interest in the following item of business by virtue of his membership of Shelter.   He did not feel it necessary to leave the meeting during consideration thereof.  

ACCOMMODATION SUPPORT FOR OFFENDERS – SCW/10/062

1.      The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which advised Members of the current issues in respect of the Council’s provision of supported accommodation for offenders,  and outlined the proposal for a new means of delivering accommodation support by a community based service which would be developed in line with best practice and best value.  

The report (a) advised that the Council’s Criminal Justice Social Work budget for supported accommodation services for offenders was £318,422; (b) indicated that the present levels were insufficient to continue to maintain the service as it was currently delivered; (c) explained that the existing service does not provide best value as they accommodate only a proportion of those people referred and do not routinely meet the needs of the highest risk and most vulnerable offenders who require supported accommodation services; and (d) stated that as a result, a new service model to support the accommodation needs of offenders required to be developed. 

The report explained that a Criminal Justice Accommodation Review Group had been established which comprised representatives from HMP Aberdeen, Housing, SACRO, St. Fitticks House and Shelter.  The report indicated that the Review Group had examined options in relation to alternative models, a summary of which was attached at Appendix 1 to the report.   The report advised that based on the findings of the Review Group, it was proposed that St. Fitticks House be closed and the current Sacro Supported Accommodation Service be discontinued.   The report further proposed that an in-house community based Criminal Justice Support Accommodation Team be developed which would comprise a Team Leader and approximately 4 Support Workers who would support offenders to access and maintain mainstream accommodation.  The report outlined the benefits of the Team, which included the provision of a service to a greater number of offenders, to enable Criminal Justice Social Work Services to target their resources more effectively in line with risk and need and to improve community safety, to improve the social inclusion of offenders and ex-offenders, to enhance the delivery of community pay back orders and deliver on the Council’s preventing homelessness agenda.

The report stated that the closure of St. Fittick’s House and the discontinuation of the SACRO supported accommodation, meant that offenders would now require to access mainstream housing services earlier which may have implications for the Housing Service.   The report anticipated that the major impact would be on the Homelessness Service as offenders would be accessing the service earlier than before. 

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)       approve the recommendation to close St. Fitticks House and to discontinue the SACRO Service within the financial year 2010/2011; 

(b)       approve the phased development of a community based service in the financial year 2010/11  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The Committee had before it a statement of committee business prepared by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, which also contained the business statements for the Children’s Services and Adult Services Sub-Committees for information.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         in relation to the business statement for this Committee, to retain item 3 (Learning Disability Day Services Redesign) until the matter had been reported back to the Adult Services Sub-Committee; 

(ii)        in relation to the Children’s Services Sub-Committee business statement, to request that item 1 (New Residential Children’s Unit) be reported to this Committee as well as the Children’s Services Sub-Committee;  and

(iii)       to otherwise note the statements.

The Committee had before it a motions list prepared by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the motions list.

In accordance with the decision recorded under Article 2 of this minute, the following items were considered with the press and public excluded.

With reference to Article 51 of the minute of meeting of the Resources Management Committee of 16^th June 2009, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which sought approval to extend the temporary alternative arrangements for the Out of Hours (OOHs) Social Work Team and the OOHs Relief Social Work Pool in respect of non-standard and standby payments for up to a further period of twelve months.

The report also sought approval for additional temporary arrangements in order to attract daytime social work staff and particularly Mental Health Officers to work the evening/night time standby shift from 16.30 to 08.30.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee approve -

(a)              the temporary implementation of a composite allowance to be paid in lieu of the Non-Standard Working Week Allowance, which took effect from 1^st May 2009, to the OOHs Social Work Team as detailed in the report;

(b)              the rate of £25.88 to be paid to the OOHs Social Work Relief Pool for standby arrangements on a temporary basis in lieu of the new Equal Pay and Modernisation standby rates which took effect from 1^st May 2009. In addition, Social Work relief staff including Mental Health Officers (MHOs) on standby for the evening/night time shift, presently 16 hours, from 16.30 to 08.30 are paid the standby rate of £51.76 as it is a double shift. Staff working standby on day time shift at weekends from 08.30 to 16.30 are paid £25.88;

(c)               Social Workers and MHOs providing a standby service to the OOHs service in addition to their standby payment of £25.88 per shift and £51.76 for a double standby shift if called out are paid an hourly rate of G13 and G14 (point 1) respectively; and

(d)              that these arrangements be on a temporary basis, anticipated to be no longer than twelve months.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

MATTER OF URGENCY

The Convener intimated that he had directed in terms of Section 50(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, that the following item be considered as a matter of urgency as specific matters needed to be resolved prior to the Council’s summer recess period.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which provided members with an update in relation to the development of the building which would accommodate the Integrated Drug Service and made recommendations on the mechanism by which the Council’s previously agreed contribution to the project would be made.

The report advised that the Council’s former Community Services Committee, of 13^th September 2005, had agreed to contribute £650,000 towards the build cost of the Integrated Drug Service. After some delay, the construction was currently on site, on budget and scheduled for completion in February 2011. The report anticipated that the Council would now make its contribution of £650,000 (inclusive), with no revenue finance required.

The report appended the joint proposal by NHS Grampian and Aberdeen City Council for the Integrated Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre, which provided the business case for the project, and proposed that the following staff structure would be in place:-

• Aberdeen City Council - Social Care and Wellbeing
• NHS Grampian
• Voluntary sector
• Administrative support

In respect of property and legal issues, the report explained that a number of options had been examined in an attempt to identify the most appropriate way for the Council to convey its previously allocated funding. Consequently it was proposed that the Council take a share of the title in the building on completion of the contract. The report noted that an operating agreement would also require to be put in place between the owners of the building and all of its occupants to ensure that there was no liability on the Council for future maintenance or revenue costs.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)               note the current position in relation to the construction contract and completion;

(b)               authorise the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Head of Asset Management and Operations to conclude agreements with NHS Grampian that upon practical completion the Council own a percentage of the title based on a contribution of £650,000 against the overall final project cost - this agreement would include terms appropriate to protect the Council’s interest and was on the assumption that the Council would have no obligation to meet future revenue costs for the facility including repairs and maintenance; and

(c)               refer the report to the Finance and Resources Committee of 17^th June 2010 if the recommendations were approved.

The Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee advised that he was happy to accept the report onto the agenda for the meeting of 17^th June 2010, which was required to consider the legal implications in drawing up a formal agreement with NHS Grampian. In this connection, the Committee received an oral update by the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

The Committee had before it a business case by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which sought approval for the redesign of the existing post of Risk Management Co-ordinator in Criminal Justice Social Work.

The business case explained that the role of Risk Management Co-ordinator had been created in 2007 and had evolved considerably over the past three years in response to new legislation, recommendations from the Social Work Inspection Agency and the development of the Criminal Justice service. The post had taken on additional responsibilities which required a wider range of skills and experience than had originally been envisaged and which were not reflected in the original job description.

A new job description had been drawn up to reflect the additional responsibilities and the post had been evaluated by Human Resources and Organisational Development at salary grade G16, which was an increase from G14. The total maximum cost of the regrading in 2010/11 was £15,058; however it was proposed that the regrading be backdated to 1^st November 2009, which would cost an additional £3,791. The business case stated that all costs would be met from Section 27 funding.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the redesign of the Risk Management Co-ordinator post.

The Committee had before it a business case by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which sought approval for the redesign of the existing vacant post of WPO/Clerical Assistant within Aberdeen City Council’s section of the NESCPC team.

The business case explained that administrative tasks within the NESCPC team had been redistributed and it was therefore proposed that the WPO/Clerical Assistant post be more generic resulting in a lower level of responsibility in discharging duties. The post had been evaluated by Human Resources and Organisational Development at salary grade G7, which was a decrease from G8. The maximum saving in a full year as a result of the regrading would be £1,893.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the redesign of the WPO/Clerical Assistant post.

The Committee had before it a business case by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which sought approval for the redesign of the existing post of Administration Assistant within Aberdeen City Council’s section of the NESCPC team.

The business case explained that a number of new tasks had been introduced to the post, which included the provision of additional and new information to a variety of different stakeholders; managing the NESCPC budget; and management and development of the redesigned NESCPC website. The post had been evaluated by Human Resources and Organisational Development at salary grade G12, which was an increase from G10. The total maximum cost of the regrading in a full year would be £8,662, the cost of which would be met from existing funds as a result of the redesign of the NESCPC administrative support team.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the redesign of the Administration Assistant post.

The Committee had before it the minute of meeting of the Social Work Complaints Review Committee of 4^th May 2010 and a foreword by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which set out the actions to be taken to respond to the recommendations of the Complaints Review Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)                 to accept the recommendations; and

(ii)               to otherwise note the Director’s comments in the foreword.

With reference to Article 25 of the minute of meeting of the Housing and Environment Committee of 25^th May 2010, the Committee had before it, by way of remit, a report by the Director of Housing and Environment which provided options for the development of 49 Beattie Avenue as a property for care in the community.

The report outlined possible examples for the future use of the property as follows:-

(1)              Elmwood Hospital Resettlement Project - revenue funding had been identified within the 2010/11 budget to provide support services to a number of service users with learning disabilities who currently lived in Elmwood Unit, Royal Cornhill Hospital, and a number of whom were designated as delayed discharge and were unable to leave hospital as appropriate accommodation could not be found.

(2)              Transitions Project - the project would provide accommodation, with support for young people moving on to adult services. Revenue funding for support services should be available in 2010/11.

(3)              Reprovisioning of Care Home - Granton Place was currently registered as a care home facility providing accommodation for people with learning disabilities, however, the property was no longer fit for purpose and was in need of urgent re-provisioning. Revenue funding would transfer from the existing service, with service users moving to individualised budgets.

Appended to the report were details of the costs in relation to the two options for the development of the property (option 1 - to convert to four flats, option 2 - to convert to six flats), and a table detailing a ten-year life cycle costing model for both options.

The report recommended:-

that the Housing and Environment Committee -

(a)              approve option 1 (to convert 49 Beattie Avenue (Ashgrove House) into four flats) and instruct the Director of Housing and Environment to make provision in the Housing Capital Programme 2010/11 to develop 49 Beattie Avenue as detailed within the report; and

(b)              instruct the Director of Housing and Environment to work in partnership with the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing to develop the most suitable care in the community option; explore all funding options available to undertake this project; and report back after the summer recess with recommendations in this regard.

The Housing and Environment Committee had resolved:-

(i)                 to not approve either option at this stage;

(ii)               to instruct the Director of Housing and Environment to liaise with the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing regarding options for the funding of this project, and the input of the Social Care and Wellbeing Service in this regard, and to report back on the outcome of these discussions after the summer recess;

(iii)             to instruct, that if the Social Care and Wellbeing Service were not in a position to contribute significantly to this project, that a report be submitted after the summer recess detailing costed options in relation to converting 49 Beattie Avenue into mainstream housing; and

(iv)             to refer this report to the Social Care and Wellbeing Committee for consideration.

The Committee resolved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.