Cabinet Member: Cllr. W. Gareth Roberts
To
consider a report by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate.
10.15 a.m. – 11.15 a.m.
Minutes:
Submitted - a performance
evaluation report on the Social Services for the year 2014/15 by the Care and
Social Services Inspectorate.
(a) Members were guided through the contents of
the report by Mr Marc Roberts, CSSIW, stating the main areas where there had
been progress and the areas that need to improve within Gwynedd Social
Services. Attention was drawn to the
following:
·
progress made in
accordance with the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act
·
increased
alignment between the wider Council and departments
·
efforts to work
more cost effectively and efficiently and contributing to enabling the Council
to halve its financial shortfall with further efficiency savings to be achieved
over the next few years
·
good outcomes for
Looked After Children
·
changes in the
appointments of Cabinet Members who support Social Services and their new
responsibilities
·
changes in
practice and culture within the Adults Service
The report noted:
·
that the Council
gave support to a number of people in care homes
·
that it was
necessary to encourage improvements in the corporate safeguarding systems and
these are achieved in a timely manner
·
that the
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) were
challenging for the service and this was an area requiring attention.
·
that CSSIW
proposed to consult with mental health service users during the year
·
it was identified
that direct payments continued to be very low
·
the need to
support carers further was identified
·
in terms of
children and young people, it was noted that the performance was improving
annually with good educational achievements by looked after children
In terms of supporting Social
Services, the challenges faced by the Adults Service were identified as well as
the capacity and professional leadership in this field. The need to ensure that sufficient time was
given to new systems was identified.
(b) In response, the Corporate Director stated
that on the whole the report was positive and she was glad that Managers had
identified where improvements were required.
She added that there was a good relationship between the Health Board
and Social Services and the appointment of Ffion Johnstone as Locality Director
had certainly been of assistance to take steps forward. It was confirmed that it was proposed to
submit a work programme stemming from the recommendations of CSSIW to the
preparatory meeting of this Scrutiny Committee on 15 December and to ensure
that this interweaves with other action plans already in place.
Members were given an opportunity
to scrutinise the report and they highlighted the following points:
(i)
Concern was
expressed regarding the backlog in processing
Deprivation
of Liberty Safeguards Arrangements assessments.
In response, whilst accepting
the comment, it was explained that a bid for a temporary resource had been
submitted to try to reduce and deal with the backlog. It was further noted that only workers with a
specific qualification could deal with this work.
It
was emphasised that it was not the Council’s practice that had caused the
increase, but changes stemming from legal cases in other areas.
(ii)
In response to a query regarding processing complaints from individuals, Mr
Marc Roberts explained that CSSIW were interested in hearing about the
experiences of individuals and if a person submitted a complaint then naturally
the matter would be considered.
(iii) The report was welcomed and the Alltwen scheme procedures should have been implemented years
ago as it appeared that people were satisfied with the person centred service.
In the Member’s opinion more publicity should be given to the positive
issues.
(iv)
It was stated that Social Services had been through a difficult period as a
result of staffing changes etc., and staff commitment had to be appreciated
during a very serious and challenging period for every field. The opinion was that, as a monitoring
service, there was a real need for the CSSIW as a national institution to
ensure that concerns should be raised with the Government regarding the future
funding of Social Services. The importance of maintaining the service was noted
especially where there was a real need to invest more in areas such as mental
health.
(vi) It was asked if arrangements were in place to
withstand the cuts and how vulnerable was the service, especially in terms of
staff absence due to illness and additional work pressure on staff in
specialist work.
In response, Mr Marc Roberts
explained that in the past there was a high turnover of staff in terms of
social workers, however, from what he had seen recently the workforce in
Gwynedd was established and experienced.
It was recognised that the Management Team was under pressure and sought
to identify the main elements of risk in terms of pressure. Compared to other authorities it was noted
that Gwynedd Council was in a comparatively good position.
However, he was aware of the
Gwynedd Challenge process and the proposed cuts and evidently there might be
risks in terms of cuts that could have a detrimental impact on services.
(vii) It was asked if CSSIW considered the quality
of the service against the cuts?
In response, it was explained
that CSSIW looked at the outcomes to individuals together with considering
performance by comparing expenditure. It
was noted further that expenditure was a consideration but was not vital in
terms of the outcomes.
(vii) Concern was expressed that there were risk
associated with the cuts and it was asked if CSSIW were satisfied with the work
and procedures to deal with the risks?
In response, Mr Marc Roberts
noted that the savings achieved thus far appeared to be meaningful and took
advantage of the opportunities that had arisen.
However, it was stated that cuts to services was quite different from
what had already been achieved and there was no sign that this had been
undertaken in a meaningless way.
(x) It was noted that direct payments were a good
way to support and promote independence.
It was asked how a direct payments system could be implemented
effectively?
In response, the Corporate
Director explained her disappointment that the direct payments level was low
although the service had tried to promote this and it may be that families did
not wish to take responsibility. It was
trusted that the new arrangements would give stability to individuals and it
was hoped that this would improve.
The Head of the Adults,
Health and Well-being Department added that efforts needed to be made to ensure
correct support for families to manage money effectively and to procure care
services. It was trusted that more
families would take control for their own care arrangements via the direct
payments system and assurance was given that they would monitor expenditure,
based on a sample of families. The
importance of establishing a network to enable them to make effective use of
direct payments was noted.
(xi) Reference was made within the report to
scrutiny weaknesses and Mr Marc Roberts noted the following important areas for
those undertaking scrutiny.
The Corporate Director noted
that the Act would be in effect in April and it was obvious that a great deal
of work needed to be achieved and a code of practice was awaited for a great
deal of the work. A report would be
submitted to the Cabinet and it was promised that information would be shared
also with this Scrutiny Committee.
Resolved: (a) To
accept, note and thank the officer for the report.
(b) To request that the Corporate Director
submits the action plan to the next preparatory meeting of this Scrutiny
Committee on 15 December 2015.
Supporting documents: