Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Ms A Christou (Swale Borough Council), Mr Gibbens (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health), Mr C George (Thanet District Council) Ms L Hemsley (Thanet District Council), Mr G Missions (Sevenoaks District Council) and Cllr John Wilson (Maidstone Borough Council)

There were no declarations of interest.

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 10 October 2013 be approved as a correct record and signed by the chairman subject to the inclusion of an additional paragraph to minute 19 to say that the CIH Needs Analysis report be circulated to all members of the Supporting People in Kent Commissioning Body.

The chairman gave a brief update on the re-organisation of the top tiers of management at KCC, which would be effective from 1 April 2014.  He said all services within the Communities directorate would transfer to other directorates and the total number of directorates would reduce from four to three.  The Supporting People team, and therefore the SPCB, would transfer to the Families and Social Care directorate.  Mr Hill said he anticipated there would be a change of chairman following changes to cabinet portfolio responsibilities, which were not yet known. 

In response to a question, Mr Hill said there was no intention to change the way the SPCB operated.

(1)       Melanie Anthony (Commissioning and Development Manager) gave an update on the enhanced support being provided for homeless people through the Hostels Plus service.  This additional support was being funded until the end of March 2014 by the underspend arising from the cessation of the Floating Support in Lieu contracts, reported to SPCB on 10 October 2013.  The purpose of the Hostels Plus service was to support vulnerable rough sleepers to re-connect with their friends and families, be supported into tenancies and to access other support services. 

(2)       In response to questions, Ms Anthony said it was envisaged that individuals would stay in a hostel for no more than 5-7 days and there would be no more than 2 vulnerable homeless people in any hostel at the same time.  Hostels in Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells and Swale were participating in the scheme. 

(3)       Ms Anthony also said that there was a communication protocol in place that would ensure district and borough councils were aware of the scheme.

(1)       Diane Wright (Head of Commissioned Services) introduced the report, which provided a forecast of the outturn for the 2013-14 financial year.  She also referred to the savings of £2.4 million proposed for 2014-15 and said this would be discussed at the meeting of the County Council scheduled for 13 February 2014.

(2)       Agreed that:

(a)       the projected outturn of £23,471.2K, against the cash limit of £24,856K, be noted;

(b)       an underspend of -£1,385.3K be noted; and

(c)        a movement of -£58K, compared to the last meeting, be noted.

(1)       Melanie Anthony (Commissioning and Development Manager) introduced the report, which gave an overview of the second iteration of Commissioned Services commissioning intentions and plan for housing-related support over the next three years.  The report also provided the Commissioning Body with a means to debate and develop the intentions and to contribute to the planning for re-shaping provision in Kent as Commissioned Services embarked on a process of change as part of a wider programme of public sector reform. 

(2)       In response to questions, Ms Anthony said that:

·        work was already underway with district and borough councils, as well as other agencies, to meet the needs of ex-service personnel;

·        the draft procurement plan for domestic abuse services, set out in appendix 4 of the report, took into account the issues that had arisen in a previous procurement exercise;

·        efforts were continuing to find suitable premises for domestic abuse services in West Kent.

(3)       Concerns were raised about the difficulty of endorsing the commissioning plan without having seen the detailed evidence base provided in the CIH Needs analysis.

(4)       Agreed that the Commissioning Plan be endorsed, in principle, subject to receipt of the CIH Housing Needs Analysis report.

Post-meeting note

The CIH Needs Analysis report was circulated to all members of the SPCB on 29 January 2014.

(1)       Melanie Anthony (Commissioning and Development Manager) introduced the report, which summarised the findings of a review of the Home Improvement Agencies (HIA) tender and the tender evaluation process as well as the lessons learnt, which would inform future commissioning plans.

(2)       Agreed that the outcome of the evaluation report and the intention to ensure that future commissioning reflected the lessons learnt be noted.

(1)       Melanie Anthony (Commissioning and Development Manager) introduced the report, which highlighted aspects of performance within the Supporting People programme.  The key performance indicator which related to people maintaining or achieving independence had been achieved again for Quarter 1 of 2013/14.  Housing-related support services had been delivered to 9,733 vulnerable people within sheltered, supported and floating support services, a further 8,307 people had received community alarms and 944 households had used an HIA service.

(2)       In response to questions, Ms Anthony said support staff worked to enable service users to be as independent as possible and part of that was ensuring people knew how to access help before their need reached crisis point.

(3)       Agreed that the report be noted.

(1)       It was suggested that a report on the Better Care Fund and a progress report on the implementation of the commissioning plan be considered by the SPCB in due course.

(2)       Angela Slaven (Director of Service Improvement) provided an update on the support provided by the Floating Support team to residents affected by the recent flooding.