Agenda and minutes

County Councillor S. Howarth was noted as Chair.

The appointment of a Vice-Chair was deferred until the next meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

No members of the public were present.

The minutes of the Special Meeting held on the 4^th April 2017 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11^th April 2017 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Context:

The purpose of the report is to update the Single Cabinet Member on the completion of the Social Housing Grant programme for 2016/2017 and seek approval for the new

SHG Programme for 2017/2020 and Reserve Scheme List.

It is recognised in Monmouthshire that house prices have risen to a level beyond that

which is affordable to many local people. The average house price is currently £276,000 (Wales comparison £177,200) and the lower quartile house price to income

ratio is 9:1. The number of applicants on the Common Housing Register is currently

3048. Therefore, the provision of affordable housing is one of the Council’s priorities,

both in urban and rural areas (Source of data: Hometrack 23 May 2017).

Key Issues:

Social Housing Grant Programme 2016/2017:

1. The Social Housing Grant allocation for Monmouthshire for 2016/2017 was:

Main SHG Programme          £1,144,759

Housing & Communities submitted a bid to the Welsh Government for additional end of year slippage and were successful in obtaining a further:

Additional Funding £2,062,469

The final figure drawn down from the Welsh Government was £3,207,228.

2. Melin Homes successfully completed a mortgage rescue using £98,000 of Monmouthshire’s Recycled Social Housing Grant (RCG). This prevented a family from becoming homeless.

3. This is an excellent performance with Monmouthshire successfully spending 100% of its grant allocation plus £2,062,469 of additional funding. In 2016/17 new affordable homes completions totalled 87. A further 63 units from the Social Housing Grant Programme are currently under construction.

4. Affordable Housing completions were as follows:

            West End School, Caldicot 17

            Westgate, Llanfoist (S106 Site) 13

            Cae Meldon, Gilwern (S106 Site – BBNP) 18

            Cae Mawr Grove (adapted bungalow) 1

            Mynyddbach 2

            Green Lane, Caldicot 4

            Trellech School (60/40 Site) 9

            Dixton Road Clinic, Monmouth (S106 site) 4

            Rogiet School 19

Social Housing grant Programme 2017 – 2020

5. The Welsh Government has made additional funding available to help reach their target of 20,000 new affordable homes over the term of this administration. The allocations for Monmouthshire are:

            2017/2018 Social Housing Grant £3,342,894

            Housing Finance Grant £1,810,055

            Total £5,152,949

            2018/2019 Social Housing Grant £4,369,317

            Housing Finance Grant £1,037,615

            Total £5,406,932

            2019/2020 Social Housing Grant £1,250,044

            Housing Finance Grant £ 716,213

            Total £1,966,257

6. Working closely with RSL partners Monmouthshire County Council has been able to build up a healthy reserve schemes list and should be in a position to fully spend this allocation.

Members Scrutiny:

The Social Housing Grant Programme Manager introduced the report and following consideration, Members made the following observations:

A Member asked if any account is taken of the affordability of land in different areas and if so, is more funding required in some locations than others (e.g. in different local authority areas) in terms of the Social Housing Grant and the Housing Finance Grant.  It was explained that the available grants are calculated according to Welsh Government Acceptable Costs Guidance and each area of each county is placed on a different band based on market values; there are three bands in Monmouthshire. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Context:

The purpose of this report is to provide Members with information on the revenue outturn position of the Authority at the end of reporting period 4 which represents the financial outturn position for the 2016/17 financial year.

Recommendations Proposed To Cabinet:

·         That Members consider a net revenue outturn unspend of £884,000, an improvement of £805,000 on quarter 3 outturn predictions.

·         Members consider a capital outturn spend of £40.03m against a revised budget of £40.98million, after proposed slippage of £17.5 million, resulting in a net underspend of £951k.

·         Consider and approve the £17.5m capital slippage recommended (detailed in appendix 2), paying attention to those schemes described in para 3.3.6 where slippage has been requested by the service manager but is not being recommended to slip (£198k).

·         Considers the use of reserves proposed in para 3.4.1,

·         Supports the apportionment of general underspend in supplementing reserve levels as described in para 3.4.3 below, i.e.:

Priority Investment Fund £570k

            Redundancy & Pension Reserve £114k

            IT Transformation Reserve £100k

            Capital Receipts Generation Reserve £100k

            Total £884k

·         Members note that the low level of earmarked reserves will severely reduce the flexibility the Council has in meeting the challenges of scare resources going forward.

·         Members note the significant reduction in the overall school balance at the end of 2016/17 and supports the continuing work with schools to ensure that the Council’s Fairer Funding scheme requirements are met and that the overall schools balance remains positive in 2017/18.

Member Scrutiny:

The Committee was reminded that there were requests to Cabinet for funds for extra support for teams last year and it was questioned if that amount was included and if so, how it balanced out against mandates in this financial year; was the figure added to last year’s outturn.  In response, it was explained that there were pressures on the authority from Welsh Government e.g. the government’s new manifesto is seeking to increase the capital threshold for persons having long term residential placements to £50,000 (previously set at £24,000) over the next 3-4 years.  This financial year the capital threshold is increased to £30,000.  An extra grant has been received which starts in 2017/18 therefore there is no retrospective funding.

A Member queried the reason why there were more people in residential care.  It was responded that there has been a pressure in the south of the county where some people who were previously self-funding have run out of money and have dropped below the threshold (£24,000 in 2016/17).  There is then a statutory duty to consider them for funding. It was explained that there is a rigorous financial assessment form to try and identify if there has been any deprivation of capital.  If there is any property a legal charge is attached to the dwelling which then has to be sold to fund their care.

It was further queried, if this remains the trend, how residential care can be sustained.  It was explained that there is sufficient provision within the county including in house provision at Severn  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Context:

To provide Adults Select Committee with the Annual Report of the Statutory Director

of Social Services for consideration and comment.  It was explained that regrettably the report had been omitted from the agenda but it was agreed by Members that that they would listen and make comments.

Key Issues

1. This is the Annual Report of the Statutory Director of Social Services, andreflects on the financial year of 2016/17. The report is intended to reflect onprogress in delivering the priorities set out in last year’s annual report,performance for that year, and, maps out the key areas for development andimprovement in 2016/17. It enables the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) to test out whether our assessment of progress and development is consistent with the range of evidence gathered and presented to them as well as their direct experience through site visits, regulatory activity and themed inspections. The format of the report has changed is now in a nationally developed template which aligns to the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act (2014). Each Director in Wales must report on

performance and risk and set out plans for improvement in relation to:

·         Summary of performance;

·         How people are shaping our services;

·         Promoting and improving the wellbeing of those we help;

·         Working with people and partners to protect and promote people’s physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing;

·         Encouraging and supporting people to learn, develop and participate in society;

·         Supporting people to safely develop and maintain health domestic, family and personal relationships;

·         Taking steps to protect and safeguard people from abuse, neglect or harm;

·         How we do what we do;

·         Our partnership working, political and corporate leadership, governance and accountability;

·         Our priorities for improvement.

2. The annual report provides an opportunity to reflect on what we are doing to make a difference to the lives of the most vulnerable citizens of Monmouthshire, what we do well, and where we need to do even better. The report explains the context in which we are working and how we will continue to improve and modernise. It highlights some excellent, leading edge, practice, workforce development, service provision and commissioning. The remodelling of care at home through the roll out of the Monmouthshire Care at Home is just one example of where this is the case. It shows progress from the improvement objectives set last year – the Children’s Services Improvement Programme is on track overall to deliver excellence in children’s services in the 3 year timescale of the programme. There has been particular progress in how we manage contacts with and referrals to the service, and stabilising and supporting our workforce.

3. There are also areas where risk and challenge is highlighted. People in Monmouthshire who need care and support in the community are not always receiving it from the right services as quickly as they need to, with some delays in hospital settings but more in the community. Securing sufficient quality of working with the care sector to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Context:

To inform Members of the introduction of the new Corporate Safeguarding Policy

Recommendations:

It is recommended that Members agree and adopt the Corporate Safeguarding Policy.

Key Issues

Safeguarding children and adults at risk has the very highest priority in the Council.

• Safeguarding, under the Social Services and Wellbeing Act (Wales) 2014, is recognised as everybody’s responsibility and considerable progress has been made over the last 5 years to systematically embed safeguarding culture, knowledge and practice.
• All staff, paid and unpaid, and Councillors share a responsibility both corporately and individually to ensure that children and adults at risk are treated with respect and protected from harm.
• Whilst the Council does have an existing safeguarding policy in place it is heavily focussed towards educational settings and other child and family services.

            Safeguarding is therefore firmly embedded in some Directorates and         service areas however there are varying levels of understanding as to          expectations in other parts of the organisation.

• This policy will be a mechanism to evaluate understanding, systems and training throughout the Council and ensures that safeguarding is firmly placed as core to the business of the council.

Member Scrutiny:

A Member commented that this was a hugely comprehensive report with high aspirations and questioned the membership of the Whole Authority Safeguarding Co-ordinating Group.  It was confirmed that the group is chaired by the Chief Officer, Social Care, Health and Housing.  The membership comprises Chief Officers or Heads of Service from each directorate plus representation from the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit.  It was explained that the aim of the group is to provide a comprehensive approach and effective governance.  It was confirmed that there is no member involvement in the Group but this could be considered.  The Chief Officer questioned if scrutiny through Select Committees provided enough assurance alongside reports to Cabinet and Council or if it was felt necessary to have member involvement in the Group which has a more operational role.

A Member agree that all councillors should be trained to Level 1 Safeguarding and queried how quickly training will be provided and asked how to ensure all members complete the training. It was confirmed that there is a session on 10^th July session at 2pm and that those who don’t attend will be identified to attend another session.

A Member asked how the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit will be monitoring the effectiveness of scrutiny and it was explained that representatives will attend Select Committee meetings, to present both their own reports but also to observe and monitor other items of business.  Members were reminded that all committee reports should contain a section to identify and address “Safeguarding Implications”.  The inclusion and quality of these statements will be sampled across all committees by the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit to scrutinise safeguarding arrangements.

The level and availability of training for volunteers was queried.  It was responded that support and training for volunteers is provided in a proportionate and convenient format.  It was explained that a new  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Stroke Services: It was agreed to consider the inclusion of further scrutiny of Stroke Services in the forward work plan.  It was proposed that the forward work plan should be considered in more detail at the next meeting.

Ambulance Service:  An update was provided that there is a defibrillator in Usk County Hall in Reception. 

Usk Prison: It was suggested that the dialogue with Usk Prison continues.  It was proposed to revisit this topic in 18 months’ time to consider progress in relation to the Social Services and Wellbeing Act.

Community Health Council:   It was agreed to maintain contribution from the Community Health Council by issuing an invitation when the next scrutiny with the Health Board takes place.

Supporting People:  It was agreed to add this item to the work programme.

The Adult Select Committee Work Programme will be discussed at the next meeting at which time, co-option of members will be under consideration to ensure representation from across the county.  In preparation, Members were invited to consider representation from possible organisations or suitable individuals for co-option noting that witnesses for specific topics can also be invited to meetings to enrich the discussion.

It was explained that Officers have been asked to populate the work programme with all strategies and decisions for at least the next six months for publication and also to assist in planning pre-decision scrutiny. 

Members’ attention was also drawn to matters for single member decision.

The Chair explained about the planner which is updated on a Friday and encouraged members to be aware of changes.

A Member asked if there was any scope to ask for reports on specific subjects and it was explained that this is for committee to decide adding that the Policy and Performance Manager will come to next meeting to help identify and prioritise areas for scrutiny, and to organise the Adult Select Committee’s workload.  Members were requested to think about the topics for possible scrutiny e.g. Mental Health.

The date and time of the next meeting was confirmed as Tuesday 25^th July 2017 at 10.00am.  It was agreed that meetings would continue to be held on Tuesdays at 10.00am.