Agenda item

The Director of Social Services presented his annual report

He informed the Council  about the significant impact of the Social Services and Wellbeing Act 2014 and the need for partners to work together and to focus upon delaying and preventing the need for care and/or support to stop people’s needs from escalating. Local authorities must promote co-operation across its services and with, relevant partners and must empower people to seek, innovative solutions and ensure that people have greater voice and control over the care and/or support they receive.

The Director mentioned the requirement for Local Authorities and Health Boards to establish a Regional Partnership Board that will aim to improve outcomes and well-being of people, as well as improving the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. 

In response to the Act, action was being taken to integrate population assessments from the Future Generations and Social Services and Wellbeing Act and Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act; provide information, advice and assistance; enhance preventative services and early intervention; and to develop the workforce further

The Director informed Members that performance during 2015/16 was mixed with notable improvements for Adult Services but for Children’s Services the year on year trajectory of improvement has dropped and we only achieved target performance on 60% of indicators. Targets were set at or above the last recorded Wales performance and compared to the previous year 2014/15 Children’s Services dropped from 85% better than Wales average to 60% and compared to our benchmark group from 77% in 2014/15 to 70% in 2015/16.

Performance outcomes for children in care and young offenders had not hit target for educational outcomes and for those in appropriate education, training or employment when they leave school or leave care. As a result Education colleagues had agreed to provide joint leadership in these areas in order to see improved performance.

The Director stated that some measures are counter – intuitive and ironically we can get a “red” for what is essentially ‘good news’. An example being when children in care are placed in a foster home and so move school.

Adult services had improved significantly and the misreporting by the Health Board of some statistics made a real impact which means we would have been able to report even better performance if they had reported more accurately. Delayed Transfer of Care issues had improved significantly.

Members were informed that despite the disappointment in performance in relation to some indicators, there was a much better story to tell in relation to inspection reports of the quality of services which show good performance across the board with particularly good performance in relation to services that were seen as poor in 2014/15 in particular the Youth Offending Service and the Adult Residential Services.

He stated the challenges of significant budget reductions at a time of increasing need had been faced  The City’s population continues to grow quickly and indicators for deprivation in Newport show some of the highest rates of vulnerable children and adults in Wales. It was becoming harder to manage within budgets

The Director described improvements in safeguarding and reports a reduction in the number of children on the Register He referred to toll out of training; an increase in referrals to the Adult protection Service brought about by better reporting; the establishment leadership and a review of policies and procedures in relation to sexual exploitation of children

The Director went on to describe how we listen and respond to people receiving services, referring to consultation and participation groups; individual surveys of users; complaints monitoring and reviews where outcomes were most important.

Members were informed of the benefits of the thriving Carers’ Forum and the Director referred to the updated Newport Carers’ Handbook.

As to staff, the Director stated that the workforce indicates that they are settled and positive about their experience at work with a clear sense of purpose. He stated that more is being done to engage citizens in the design and delivery of our services and we have designed our ‘stay well’ plans for older people based on feedback from users of the service.

In conclusion the Director stated:

• 2015/16 has been a year where we have focussed upon strengthening the quality of our services and preparation for the Social Services and Wellbeing Act 2014.

• We have done less well on our performance indicators but all the evidence indicates a big step forward in service quality as seen by inspectors and independent reviewers.

• We have managed a real terms reduction of between 15 and 20% in our base budgets from 2013/14 and signs of strain are showing in some overspending for the year 2015/16

• We have set out a vision to develop more integrated services and shared assets with the Health Board as we roll out the Older Persons Prevention Pathway, create integrated teams based on the three Neighbourhood Care Networks (NCNs).

• In 2016/17 will see closer links particularly in NCNs with adult community and primary care health services, team around the school clusters, community hubs for anti-poverty services and libraries and community centres

The Leader of the Council referred to the need for some performance measures to be addressed whilst recognising the quality of the service and the counter – intuitive nature of some measures. The Leader welcomed the improvements and mentioned in particular the Delayed Transfer of Care and the Youth Justice Board. The Leader referred to the budget pressures and the need for budget – makers to take account of the changes in demographics and the requirements of the Act.  Increasing demands were being faced as resources were diminishing

Councillor Fouweather welcomed the theme of bringing services to the communities and focussing on needs. He welcomed the comments of the Scrutiny Community. It was important to maintain progress on Delayed Transfer of care and imrpovements in Youth Justice needed to be maintained

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Services and Housing and other members were concerned about the impact of the demographic changes which were happening now and the decreasing budgets that presented a real challenge. The cabinet member considered the report should cover the compliments received as well as the complaints.

Resolved

To receive the Director of Social Services Annual Report