Agenda and minutes

Councillor David Mellen – annual leave

None.

Last meeting held on 12 March 2014 (for confirmation)

The Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 12 March as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Voluntary Sector colleagues to report

Dave Robinson provided an update for the Sub-committee on the success of the Look After Each Other launch event at the Indian Community Centre, an event for stakeholders on Welfare reform hosted by NCVS which is currently in the planning stage, and meetings for the Stronger Together Forum.

Report of Strategic Director for Early Intervention

Steve Oakley, Head of Quality and Efficiency, presented a Work Programme for the Sub-Committee for the period June to October 2014.

RESOLVED to note the provisional agenda items shown below:

11 June 2014:  Financial Vulnerability Advice and Assistance Progress Update

  Health Improvement Strategic Commissioning Review

  Crime and Drugs Partnership Commissioning Plan

  Crime and Drugs Partnership Public Health Allocation 2014/15

  Allocation of Police and Crime Commissioner’s Grant 2014/15 

16 July 2014:  Voluntary Sector Infrastructure Contract Progress Update

  Youth Provision Progress Update

  Child Development Strategic Commissioning Review

  Early Intervention Directorate Integrated Procurement Plan

10 September 2014:  Children In Care Contracts Commissioning

  Financial Vulnerability Advice and Assistance Commissioning Intentions

  Residential Care Commissioning and Contracting Arrangements

  Residential Care Contracting Proposals

15 October 2014:  Voluntary Sector Infrastructure Contract Commissioning Intentions

Report of Strategic Director for Early Intervention

Steve Oakley, Head of Quality and Efficiency, introduced a report of the Strategic Director for Early Intervention. The report seeks approval to move from the current pricing structure, backdated to 1 April 2014. A 1% inflationary uplift is proposed for the 2014/15 financial year on rates up to £650 per week. Extensive consultation was undertaken with service providers and responses were made available to the Sub-committee.

The Sub-committee noted that this was a significant piece of work which had been done thoroughly.

RESOLVED to

(a)  approve rates set out below to be paid for residential and nursing care services in the City from 2014/15 onwards, to be implemented from 1 April 2014;

(b)  note the process that has been undertaken to develop the proposals for the pricing of residential care in the City, including consultation with service providers, in order to ensure the Council has due regard to the actual costs of care, in accordance with its legal obligations;

(c)  approve the allocation of a 1% inflationary increase on the rates for residential and nursing care services for the year 2014/15 for all packages below £650.00 per week, to be implemented from 1 April 2014;

(d)  approve the expenditure of the additional funding required to cover the cost of implementing the proposed rates for residential care as detailed in exempt appendix E;

(e)  delegate approval of appropriate contractual indices for annual inflationary increases associated with Adults Social Care to the Strategic Director of Early Intervention;

(f)  approve the inclusion of the indices agreed in the Council’s 2015/16+ budget setting process;

(g)  note that negotiations are underway with NHS Nottingham City about the potential to undertake a joint accreditation process for providers of residential and nursing care services in the City and for a joint contract to be issued to providers approved through this process. A further report will be presented to the Sub-committee with recommendations for these arrangements and the proposed commissioning model and service requirements.

Reasons for Decision

(1)  The proposals are based on the principle of moving towards the proposed minimum ‘core’ price over a planned period and financial modelling undertaken on the options to achieve this.

(2)  The proposals move to a single rate of fees for all residential care services for older people, removing the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

Report of Strategic Director for Early Intervention

Laura Shepherd, Commissioning Manager, introduced a report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults. The report analysed the differences between the cost and quality of potential adopter assessments when provided externally and in-house, and looked to amend how the service will be paid for in future. Extensive consultation has taken place with both approved and non-approved foster carers and adoptive parents on the assessment process to see if it supported their needs. Nottingham City Council is in a good position to go out to tender for this service, and the service provided will be better performance managed on a pay-by-results basis. A recruitment drive is currently taking place which is already showing promising results. The recruitment process takes up to six months, and the recruitment drive started in November 2013, so specific details on the outcomes are not available yet. This recruitment drive will help to achieve the stated aim of moving seven children from external fostering to internal fostering, delivering a £184,000 cost saving.

The Sub-committee raised concerns regarding the pay-by-results method, but were reassured that ‘results’ in this instance refers to the quality of the assessments conducted, and not to the outcome of the assessments of potential foster carers and adoptive parents. The recruitment, pre-screening, and final decisions will still be made by Nottingham City Council, based on the assessments provided.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  commission a service to deliver adoption and fostering assessments, including connected persons and special guardianship, to replace the outgoing provision;

(2)  proceed with procurement to establish a framework contract for Adoption and Fostering Assessment service for a period of three years at a value of approximately £1,200,000 to take effect from 1 August 2014;

(3)  approve spend against the contract for three years up to a total value of £1,200,000;

(4)  grant dispensation from Contract Procedure rule 5.1.2 under Financial Regulation 3.29 to extend the current contract with Social Work Choices for six months from 1 August 2014 to 31 January 2015 in order to complete all assessments commenced prior to August 2014, subject to consultation on this recommendation with Councillor Chapman;

(5)  delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Early Intervention to sign both the new contracts and the contract extension for the current service.

Reasons for Decision

(1)  The current contract for the provision of assessments is due to end in August 2014. As a result of a value for money/commissioning review presented to the Corporate Parenting Board, it was concluded that a framework agreement needs to be put in place to replace the outgoing provision. A competitive tendering process is now required.

(2)  The extension of the existing contract and dispensation from financial regulations are required to ensure that all assessments are fully completed by the current provider.

Other Options Considered

The other options considered are exempt from publication, and are included in the exempt appendix to the report.

RESOLVED to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining agenda items in accordance with Section 1004(A) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regards to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of Strategic Director for Early Intervention

As minute 94, above.

Report of Strategic Director for Early Intervention

As minute 95, above.