Agenda item

Mr K G Lynes, Cabinet Member for Adult Services; and Mr O Mills, Managing Director, Adult Services, will attend the meeting at 10.30 am to answer Members’ questions on this item.

(1)       Mr K G Lynes, Cabinet Member for Adult Services; Mr O Mills, Managing Director, Adult Services; and Mr N Sherlock, Performance Manager, Adult Services Directorate, attended the meeting to answer Members’ questions on this item.

(2)       In an introductory statement, Mr Mills asked the Committee not to lose sight of Adult Services’ achievement in achieving a three star rating (the maximum possible).  KCC was one of only four authorities which had achieved a three star rating for adult services for five years running.

(3)       Mr Mills went on to describe the process by which CSCI carried out its annual performance assessment of Adult Services.  He explained that Part 2 of the Performance Assessment was essentially a working paper for CSCI.  It contained personal references and was written in a very informal way.  With hindsight, he questioned whether it should have appeared in the public domain.  He had included it in the report to Cabinet only because CSCI had already published it on its website.

(4)       Members’ questions covered the following issues:-

Data Shown as “Missing” in Part 2 of the CSCI Assessment

(5)       In answer to a question from Dr Eddy, Mr Mills explained that the County Council had provided all the information which CSCI had requested.  However, as an excellent authority, KCC was exempted from providing certain information.  Unfortunately, the CSCI assessment document was a generic template which was completed automatically.  As a result, if data was not supplied by any council, even though it was not required to be supplied, it was shown as “missing” in Part 2 of the assessment.

(6)       Mr Mills said that, as a matter of good practice, Adult Services had provided CSCI with an Information Pack containing all relevant information.  (Copies of the Information Pack were circulated at the meeting and can be inspected on request).

Support for Swindon Borough Council

(7)       In answer to a question from Mr Lake, Mr Mills explained that KCC had a three-year partnership with Swindon designed to move that Council up from zero stars to two stars in both Adult Services and Children’s Social Services.  Swindon had achieved one star in the first two years.  2005/06 was the final year but the results would not be known until November.  All KCC’s costs for the Swindon partnership were met by Government.

Direct Payments

(8)       In answer to a question from Mr Lake, Mr Mills said that the number of clients on direct payments had trebled since the end of 2004/05 to 1,200.  The target was 1,400 by 31 March 2007.  This demonstrated that the change to direct payments was permanent and sustainable.

(9)       Mr Lynes said that direct payments had attracted a number of new clients because of the choice which the new system offered.  This had created some budgetary pressures.  There were also challenges around the distinction between social care and medical care when clients used direct payments.

Discharges from Hospital

(10)     In answer to questions from Mr Lake and Mr Daley, Mr Mills said that KCC was responsible for only 10-11% of delayed discharges from hospital at present.  Nevertheless, as CSCI had identified, the reduction in beds in acute hospitals and local (convalescent) hospitals was likely to lead to patients being discharged from hospital at an earlier stage, thus requiring a higher level of input from Adult Services.  The Government’s intention was that, as this happened, the savings made by the NHS would be transferred to intermediate care provided by councils and GPs.  Mr Lynes said that, although there was good partnership working between the NHS in Kent and Adult Services, he was concerned at the risk that the NHS would retain its savings in order to cut costs, leaving councils with an additional burden.

Care Staff

(11)     In answer to a question from Mrs Newell, Mr Mills said that Adult Services had just entered into a contract with South Kent College for the training of carers and care staff and this should help bring about the required improvement in training for independent sector care staff.

(12)     A new national recruitment campaign for care staff had just begun and Adult Services was working with the independent sector to try to make social care work a more attractive career.

(13)     RESOLVED that:-

(a)       Mr Lynes, Mr Mills and Mr Sherlock be thanked for attending the meeting and answering Members’ questions;

(b)       the Committee place on record its thanks to staff of the Adult Services Directorate for their hard work and dedication which had helped secure for the County Council a three star rating for adult social care for the fifth year running;

(c)        the Managing Director, Adult Services be asked to pursue with CSCI the Committee’s concerns about publication of Part 2 of the Record of Performance assessment, as follows:-

(i)         while the document was useful for Members and officers, the personal references and conversational tone made it inappropriate for wider publication;

(ii)        use of the word “missing” in relation to the provision of information by KCC Adult Services was misleading and gave readers the incorrect impression that Adult Services was failing to meet CSCI’s requirements for the provision of information;

(iii)       in view of this CSCI be asked to remove Part 2 of the Record of Performance Assessment from its website forthwith.