Eitem Agenda

This report enables the Committee to be informed of the progress being made on the preparations to ensure the Council’s readiness to implement the Act.

(a)        Councilor Sue Lent (Cabinet Member, Early Years, Children & Families and Deputy Leader) will be in attendance and may wish to make a statement;

(b)        Tony Young (Director of Children’s Service), Irfan Alam (Interim Assistant Director) and Nichola Poole (Regional Lead - Sustainable Social Services) will introduce the report and be available to answer questions;

            (c)        Questions from Committee Members

The Chairperson welcomed Sue Lent (Cabinet Member, Early Years, Children & Families and Deputy Leader), Tony Young (Director of Children’s Services) and Nichola Poole (Regional Lead – Sustainable Social Services).

This report provided an update on the progress being made to prepare for the implementation of the Act in April 2016.

The Director presented the report.  The Committee was advised that until recently there was a lack of detail on the Act and this has caused difficulty in assessing its implications.  The Act is massive in scope and aspiration.  The Welsh Government (WG) requested that local authorities assess their readiness for the implementation of the Act using use a self-assessment tool kit and completing the assessment in this way has helped staff to delve into the detail of the Act.  The Act seeks to transform the ‘ownership’ of social care, so that social services departments are no longer solely responsible for providing services.  The local authority’s partners and the wider community need to embrace what this means.  The introduction of the Act is likely to raise a lot of expectations from the public.

Nichola Poole gave a presentation following which the Chairperson invited questions from the Committee.

The Committee was concerned that the self-assessment document indicated that in some areas, such as the duty to assess needs for care and support, there was insufficient evidence to say whether or not the Council was ready for implementation.  The Committee was advised that it should be borne in mind the self-assessment was a regional submission, including responses from the Council, the Vale of Glamorgan local authority, the Cardiff & Vale University Health Board Health and the Third Sector.  When the self-assessment was being prepared not all the guidance and requirements were available and so this made it difficult to assess what would be required to be able to say that there was sufficient or good evidence of readiness.  Where it is felt that services may need to be strengthened in order to better meet the requirements this will be built into the Action Plan for Implementation.  WG would prefer the Council to press ahead with its preparations to implement the Act, rather than re-doing the self-assessment.

The Committee asked when it could expect to see the outcomes of implementation and was advised that there tends to be a significant delay between the introduction of new measures and the outcomes that arise from them.

The Committee enquired about attendance at meetings, such as those of the Integrated Health and Social Care Partnership Governance Board, by the relevant groups and suggested that one of the challenges is to allow more understanding between clinical workers and social workers, which is key to the integration of Social Care and Health.  Each side has to understand the priorities of the other.  The speed with which the Act is being implemented is of some concern.  The Committee was advised that there has been dialogue between partners on creating a new, integrated model.  There is now a big emphasis on integration and prevention.  It will be important to remove the barriers that currently prevent people from working together.  The Council has been given a list of areas of care and need on which it must integrate.  Regarding attendance at meetings, the Director advised the Committee that he has no particular fears about non-attendance.  The Group will have to publish an annual report and it will be made public.   

The Committee noted that the Draft Action Plan for Implementation refers to the creation of a single point of access and asked whether the intention is that this would be used by someone who has housing needs.  The Committee was advised that the Council is already doing much to integrate services, including managing its accommodation to support children and families.  By having a single point of access contacts can be fast-tracked to the right directorate.

The Committee noted that there is no mention of scrutiny in the self-assessment tool kit.  The Committee was advised that in 2016 the focus will be very much on the implementation of the Act and that there will be plenty of opportunities for the Committee to scrutinise that.  It is thought that the local authority is already doing many of the things required by the Act.  There is a need for the local authority to be more imaginative about the ways it works with communities and with the other organisations that are already doing good work.

The Chairperson thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for attending the meeting, for their presentation and for answering questions from Members.

AGREED: That the Chairperson on behalf of the Committee writes to the Cabinet Member highlighting the issues raised during the Way Forward discussion.