Agenda and minutes

Resolved to appoint Councillor Jay Hayes as Vice-Chair for the municipal year 2024-25.

Councillor Jenkins  -  personal

None.

Last meeting held on 12 March 2024 (for confirmation)

The Committee agreed the minutes of the last meeting held on 12 March 2024 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Joint report of Corporate Director for People and Director of Public Health

Councillor Kotsonis, Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health, introduced the report.

Tammy Coles, Public Health Principal, presented the report and stated the following:

a)  in May 2021, the Council was invited to apply for funding through the (RSDTAG) for services to be delivered in 2021/22 and 2022/23. The purpose of the funding was identified as to;

·  support people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing rough sleeping to access and engage in drug and alcohol treatment;

·  ensure that the engagement that people have had with drug and alcohol treatment services whilst rough sleeping or in emergency accommodation is maintained as they move into longer terms accommodation;

·  build resilience and capacity in local drug and alcohol treatment systems to continue to meet the needs of this population in future years;

b)  the Council’s application was approved by Public Health England in October 2021, and the receipt and spend of the allocation (total value of £1,016,044 to 31 March 2023) was approved by Commissioning and Procurement Executive Committee in December 2021;

c)  following this, a contract variation to Nottingham Recovery Network for the provision of Substance Use Treatment and Recovery services was issued. The programme has commenced and is live and operational;

d)  in April 2022, it was confirmed that RSDATG would be extended until the end of March 2025 (subject to treasury approval) and the Council were invited to undertake a review of the current RSDATG staffing model and associated project costs and submit a revised proposal for a period of 21 months (1 July 2022 to 31 March 2024);

e)  in July 2022, the Council received notification of its funding allocation for RSDATG for 2022/23 and 2023/24 as follows:

·  2022/23 allocation £980,356;

·  2023/24 allocation £948,674;

f)  the 2022/23 allocation included funding previously awarded and covered by  spend approval for up to £1,016,044 (CPEC, 14 Dec 2021) and spend approval for the 2023/24 allocation was obtained via this Committee on 13 September 2022;

g)  in June 2023, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) informed us of an indicative allocation of £1,035,966 for 2024/25, subject to ministerial sign off, and on 27 March 2024, OHID confirmed Nottingham City’s RSDATG budget for 2024/25 as £1,035,965.

Resolved to approve

(1)  receipt of funding up to a total of an additional £1,035,965 from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities for the delivery of a range of additional drug and alcohol treatment activity for people sleeping rough (and those at risk) to 31 March 2025;

(2)  spend of;

(a)  £32,854.50 to increase substance use commissioning staffing resource in line with grant conditions:

(b)  £1,003,110.50 from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 for the provision of Substance Use Treatment services via a contract variation to the Nottingham Recovery Network contract for the provision of Substance Use Treatment services (in accordance with Article 18.110 of the Contract Procedure Rules).

Reasons for recommendations

a)  the report sought approval to receive a revised allocation of the ringfenced Rough Sleeper Drug and Alcohol Grant (RSDTAG) for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Report of Corporate Director for People

Councillor Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, presented the report and stated the following:

a)  the Council has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient accommodation for its looked-after children and young people, which meets their needs in its authority area (section 22G of the Children Act 1989 ‘the sufficiency duty’), balanced against budget commitments and pressures for the Council;

b)  to support this duty, the Council commissions children’s care placements (including residential care homes and foster care) from external agencies through several mechanisms. This includes collaborative framework agreements such as the D2N2 Children in Care Framework (D2N2 CiC Framework) and the East Midlands Regional Framework, block contracting and spot purchasing arrangements;

c)  price reviews for these externally commissioned placements are undertaken annually in line with contract terms and conditions. Due to the current unprecedented economic climate, the annual inflationary increase is expected to exceed that ordinarily applied and is subject to council discretion;

d)  decisions for price increases are based on a range of factors, such as the current market position, cost of living indices and Office of National Statistics data. Specifically, consideration has been given to the National Living Wage and other pressures, such as cost of living, pensions, profit margins and voids. This proposal also considers the MTFP (Medium Term Financial Plan) position and other financial pressures;

e)  under the D2N2 CiC Framework, weekly prices will increase annually, at the discretion of D2N2 by 1.5% or CPI, whichever is the lower. Should CPI rise above 3%, the Contracting Authorities will review the annual increase. The current CPI is 4.2% as of 17 January 2024;

f)  in the Autumn Statement, issued on 22 November, it was confirmed that National Living Wage would increase by 9.77% to £11.44 and that this new rate would also apply to 20 to 23-year-olds (over 11% increase). Energy prices also rose in January 2024 following an increase to the energy price cap;

g)  this proposal is put forwards against a backdrop of increased demands on children's social care, policy change, difficulty in attracting workers into the care sector, due to competition from other sectors, and lack of capacity within the children’s placement market;

h)  nationally, the children’s placement market is functioning inefficiently. A market study (undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority in 2021/22) reported significant problems in how the placements market functions and made several policy reform recommendations to the Government. Concerns included a lack of placements (of the right kind in the right place) high-profit levels, pricing, and debt within the market’s most significant private providers;

i)  an increase in fee-rates for placement takes effect from April 2024 on the D2N2 CiC framework. Where frameworks are pan-local authority, the Council will engage with those local authorities as required. The D2N2 CiC framework is joint with Derby City, Derbyshire County and Nottinghamshire County Council;

j)  the framework is the primary mechanism for commissioning new placements for children in residential and foster care, with 92% of new fostering placements and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To agree to meet at 9.30am at Loxley House, Station Street, NG2 3NG, on the following Tuesdays during the 2024/25 municipal year:

2024  2025

11 June  14 January

9 July  11 February

10 September  11 March

15 October  15 April

12 November

10 December

The Committee agreed to meet at Loxley House, Station Street, NG2 3NG, at 9.30am on the following Tuesdays during the 2024-25 municipal year:

2024    2025

11 June    14 January

09 July    11 February

10 September  11 March

15 October  15 April

12 November

10 December

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information

The Committee agreed to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Committee noted the exempt appendix to item 6 (minute 6 above).