Agenda item

A report by the Director of Law and Assurance, setting out the finance and performance position as at the end of December 2021.

The Committee is asked to examine the data and supporting commentary for the performance and resources report and make any recommendations for action to the relevant Cabinet Member.

40.1     The Committee scrutinised a report by the Director of Law and Assurance (copy appended to the signed minutes).

40.2     Summary of responses to committee members’ questions and comments: -

·         The full report on local activity around Stoptober will be shared with the Committee

·         The Government has set a target of smokers being 5% or less of the population by 2030 – it is currently about 12%

·         Health inequalities are exacerbated by smoking

·         The Council will promote non-smoking day on 9 March

·         Recruitment of social workers and occupational therapists was a challenge with vacancy rates around 15% and 12% respectively

·         The coming year’s budget includes £2m to match social worker pay with other local authorities – this will be reflected in recruitment campaigns

·         There have been a lot of care assessments of increasing need lately, but the number of people in residential care was expected to go down against the Council’s three year target

·         The Cabinet Member for Public Health & Wellbeing was willing to consider the addition or amendment of key performance indicators to include one about people’s activity

·         The Cabinet Member for Public Health & Wellbeing would consider the best way for members of the Committee and the Health and Wellbeing Board to work together to address performance measures in health and wellbeing

·         Sustainability in the care market is a local and national issue

·         It is difficult to meet the needs within resources of the growing number of older people and those with disabilities and mental health issues

·         The Council is developing a market sustainability plan with providers regarding recruitment and retention, including overseas recruitment, and to develop community-based services and dementia nursing care

·         The Council had agreed to invest significantly in services next year to meet challenges

·         The Council was a low performer in learning disability employment before Covid and will still be below average even if it meets its target – proposals to address this will be a focus of the Adults Strategy and can be scrutinised at a future date

·         The Department of Health and Social Care requires care packages to be reviewed each year if performance on learning disability performance is to be counted

·         Although the Council has invested in reablement, this service has been affected by recruitment difficulties and large numbers of people discharged from hospital needing care – it was hoped that this would improve in the near future

·         The average gross weekly cost of older people’s care since April 2018 has increased despite the number of people being cared for at home going up, and the number in residential care going down – this is due to more expensive care package costs

40.3     Resolved – that the Committee asks: -

             i.        For the full report on the results of the smoking cessation programme to be shared with the Committee when available, and for the Business Planning Group to consider if any aspects of this is required for future scrutiny

            ii.        The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing and the Business Planning Group to consider if a wider discussion on public health performance is required through wider determinate data, possibly in conjunction with the Health and Wellbeing Board

           iii.        The Business Planning Group to consider if performance supporting adults with learning disabilities in work should be scrutinised further, this could be as part of the broader work already planned for 2023/24.

          iv.        To receive a breakdown in costs of residential and non-residential care and data on workforce vacancies