Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed Members to the meeting of the Board, and congratulated those who had been re-elected in the May local government elections.

There were no declarations of interest.

Simon Williams, Director of Adult Social Care – LGA Care and Health Improvement Programme, will give a confidential update on current provider market issues to the Board.

The Chair welcomed Simon Williams, Director of Adult Social Care – LGA Care and Health Improvement Programme.

Simon gave a confidential update on current provider market issues to the Board.

A supplementary paper on Transforming Care will be circulated to members of the Board.

Simon Williams, Director of Adult Social Care – LGA Care and Health

Improvement Programme, introduced the report to the Board providing an update on the Transforming Care programme. Simon explained the 3 Transforming Care programme aims to improve services and support for children, young people and adults with a learning disability and/or autism who display behaviour that challenges, including those with a mental health condition. In particular he raised there were close two and a half thousand with a learning disability and/or autism in a hospital setting, who would need further care and support to be able to move out of a hospital setting.

In the discussion that followed, the following points were raised by the Board;

·         A concern was raised as to the lack of suitable housing to move people away from the hospital setting.

·         A view was expressed that communities need greater capacity to support these individuals, which Simon Williams agreed was an issue for wider society.

·         A view was expressed that the sector would need to be mindful that in some cases there are objections to community care from the family of those needing care as well as local communities, and that we would need to understand and recognise their concerns.

·         Simon Williams explained to the board that on supported housing the sector needed to consider how we create ordinary living conditions within some economy of scale.

·         Simon Williams also raised that the sector needed to be mindful of the risk of hospital closures.

·         A Board member raised that in their local area they found they were having issues with retaining high quality staff to provide care in supported housing schemes.

·         A concern was raised that ensuring rural areas had sufficient access to these services would continue to be a challenge for the sector.

Decision

Members of the Community Wellbeing Board noted and gave comments on the

update on the Transforming Care programme.

Action

Officers to continue to support this programme activity and support close working.

Laura Caton, Senior Adviser, introduced the report for discussion with Board members. Laura explained on 6 April the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England launched a consultation on extending legal rights to have personal health budgets and integrated personal budgets. Laura also explained that the LGA had extended an invitation to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) to feed their views into our response. The report summarised the consultation questions and asked for comments upon emerging key messages. Laura explained that the LGA are very supportive of the principles that underpin the proposals but that in their view to improve outcomes for the public a more diverse market was required. Laura advised the Community Wellbeing Board that DHSC has said the consultation will be taken forward in the social care green paper.

In the discussion that followed, the following points were raised;

·         A view was expressed that behavioural change in the health sector would be crucial.

·         A concern was raised that further responsibilities were being shifted to local authorities without the funding.

·         A view was expressed that the issues with sleep-in’s would need to be addressed and that the LGA should continue to push for a resolution.

·         It was highlighted that many elderly people did not want the complexity of employing someone to care for them.

·         It was raised that all local authorities come from very different starting positions in adopting integrated personal budgets.

·         A view was expressed that being more distinctive between direct payments and personal budgets would be beneficial.

·         Concerns were raised around the pace of extending legal rights to have personal health budgets and integrated personal budgets.

·         Board members emphasised the importance of a commitment to person centred delivery.

·         A view was expressed we needed to continue to be mindful of an individual’s  transition from children’s social care to adult social care when responding to the consultation.

·         Board members emphasised the importance of continuing to learn from pilots and building upon local government’s extensive experience of personal budgets in social care.

Decision

The Community Wellbeing Board provided comments on the emerging key messages in the report and agreed that officers submit a draft consultation response to Lead Members for clearance by 8 June.

Actions

Officers to draft a consultation response that reflects steers from the Community Wellbeing Board, the Children & Young People Board, ADASS, ADCS and any further feedback from councils.

Officers to submit a draft consultation response for clearance with Lead Members by 8 June 2018.

Cllr Meldrum introduced the report summarising recent changes to the governance structures that oversee the implementation of the strategy and key points from the accountability meeting. Cllr Meldrum explained she represented the LGA at the Government’s annual Autism Strategy accountability meeting on 26 March 2018. She also informed the Board that the LGA were being asked to be involved in the annual evaluation of the Autism Self-Assessment Framework. Laura Caton, Senior Adviser, raised that this item was strongly connection to the LGA’s Transforming Care programme.

In the discussion that followed, the Board raised the following points;

·         A view was expressed that local government should have a strong role in sharing knowledge and learning to help inform the autism strategy.

·         A view was expressed that the Third Sector would have a great deal of knowledge to feed into this work.

·         The Board was asked to get in touch by email if there were any further examples of good practice from local areas.

Recommendation

The Board noted the feedback from the annual Autism Strategy accountability meeting and gave comments to shape the LGA’s ongoing engagement.

Action

Officers to incorporate the Boards comments into the LGA’s ongoing engagement.

LGA will continue to represent councils’ interests at the Autism Strategy Board and Task and Finish Groups and will work with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services to influence next year’s refresh of the strategy, drawing upon the latest self-assessment.

Mark Norris, Principal Policy Adviser, introduced the report setting out the Board’s headline policy positions across its range of activity areas. Mark raised that the LGA’s perspective on the NHS 70^th anniversary will be critical. He also informed Members there was no indication as to the date the adult social care green paper would be published.

In the discussion that followed, the following points were raised;

·         Concerns were raised around the child obesity plan, and Board members emphasised the role local authorities should play in improving public health.

·         Views were expressed that the Board needed to continue to assess where Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships had worked well and where there were concerns.

Decision

The Board discussed and developed the range of policy positions set out within the report.

Actions

Officers to further refine the Board’s policy positions in light of Members’ comments.

Cllr Graham Gibbens gave an update on the roundtable discussion on 18 April to provide an update on the government’s plans to tackle loneliness and to seek

suggestions on the vision and priorities for the national strategy on loneliness which he had attended on behalf of the Board. Cllr Gibbens informed the Board that concerns such as loneliness in university towns, undergraduate suicides and access to services were raised. Cllr Gibbens also explained that the Minister aimed to prevent long term loneliness by embedding impacts at a local level and building a national conversation on loneliness.

Cllr Rachel Eden gave an update on the roundtable regarding policing and mental health, hosted by Louise Haigh MP. Cllr Eden highlighted that it had proved a valuable meeting and that colleagues attending from across the sector had an awareness of concerns that people were at risk of falling between gaps of different services. Cllr Eden also emphasised that it would be valuable to continue to engage with this group.

Paul Ogden, Senior Adviser, updated Board members on John Ashton’s work regarding children of alcoholic parents. He highlighted that Public Health England were producing some analysis around this, and that the LGA would be keenly interested in what comes out of this analysis. Paul also raised there were opportunities to share learning across the sector on this issue.

Decision

Members of the Community Wellbeing Board noted the updates contained in the report.

Action

Updates on loneliness and children of alcohol dependent children to return to the Community Wellbeing Board in future.

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a correct record.