[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting. The Scrutiny Officer will then read out a list of those invited to the meeting to confirm who is in attendance.]

Cllr Val Evans, Chair, welcomed everyone to the virtual meeting and advised it was being live streamed to the press and public. A recording of the meeting would be available for viewing on the Council’s website at a future date.

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

Cllr Evans explained the protocol to be followed during the meeting for asking questions and reminded everyone that microphones should be muted and cameras off, unless they have been invited to speak. Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, confirmed the list of people in attendance.

Apologies were received from the following member of the panel:

Cllr Lynne Moran

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

[Hannah Pawley,Community Safety Manager, and Keisha Harper,Domestic Violence Specialist,to present report]

Hannah Pawley, Community Safety Manager, and Keisha Harper, Domestic Abuse Specialist, gave a joint presentation on the work being done and planned to prepare for the implementation of the Domestic Abuse Bill.

The Domestic Abuse Specialist briefly outlined the progress of the Bill and the background to an announcement by the then Prime Minister of plans to transform the way the Government thinks about and tackles domestic abuse.

The Bill is currently going through Parliament. The Bill is having third reading in the House of Lords to consider amendments during the committee stage. The Bill is due to be implemented in April 2021.

The Domestic Abuse Specialist outlined the four main objectives of the Bill relating to domestic abuse. The Domestic Abuse Bill has seven key parts. For example, the Bill will create the statutory definition of domestic abuse. This would involve changes such as lowering the age from 18 to 16 years to ensure that children are included as victims or witnessing seeing or experiencing domestic abuse and recognising that domestic abuse is not just physical but also includes the idea of coercive control, and different forms of abuse  such as psychological and economic. The Bill will introduce the post of Domestic Abuse Commissioner who will be responsible for overseeing and leading national public policy on tackling domestic abuse.

The Community Safety Manager outlined the new duties that the Bill will place on local authorities. The Bill will place additional duties on local authorities in responding to domestic abuse. Local authorities will have to identify or establish a local partnership board that will be responsible for overseeing the response to domestic abuse and the implementation of the Bill. The local authority will have to provide support and safe accommodation in the City for victims of domestic abuse and their children. The local authority will also be required to commission a robust needs assessment and report back annually to Government on progress.

The Community Safety Manager gave further details of the statutory duty for the local authority to provide safe accommodation and specifically to support all victims of domestic abuse and their children. The duty will include things like the provision of refugees and specialist rescue support, both commissioned and non-commissioned accommodation.

The Community Safety Manager commented on the support for people with protected characteristics or complex needs, in terms of the provision of face to face services and translators.

The Bill will introduce a Capacity Building Fund which is intended to help authorities meet their new responsibilities. Each tier one authority will receive £50,000 from a national budget of £6 million to prepare and conduct a needs assessment.

The expected outcome of this work will be increased engagement with key partners which will help facilitate expertise and information sharing about current local provision both commissioned and non-commissioned.

The Community Safety Manager commented on the expected outcomes of the fund.

The Community Safety Manager commented on the proposed next steps for implementing the Bill.

The panel thanked the Community Safety  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Courtney Abbott, Quality and Improvement Advanced Practitioner for Children and Adults, to present report]

Jennifer Rogers, Interim Safeguarding Manager (Adults)and Courtney Abbott, Quality and Improvement Advanced Practitioner for Children and Adults, jointly presented the report to the panel.

Jenny Rogers, Interim Principal Social Worker, gave a brief introduction to the requirement for local authorities to publish Adult Social Care Local Account. The panel were invited to give comment and feedback on the 2019-2020 Adult Social Care Local Account prior to it being presented to Cabinet on 8 February 2021 for approval.

The purpose of publishing the Local Account is to provide the public with information on the performance of Adult Social Care service and activity against performance targets.

The report details the progress made against the priorities set in the previous year and includes a mix of both qualitative and quantitative information. The document also includes examples of real-life stories where there has been an impact.

The Interim Principal Social Worker commented on the importance of celebrating in the document the achievements of the service but also highlighting the challenges and where improvements are needed. The Local Account is part of the self-assessment process and important to make sure that it is easy to read and accessible. It is considered a really good practice for councils to include information about the financial situation and how resources have been used. The inclusion of financial information is not mandatory. The Local Account is normally published in November or December but to the impact of Covid-19 there has been a delay. The Interim Principal Social Worker invited panel to comment on the draft document.

The document has been shared with local groups who were invited to give us feedback on what could be done to make it work better for the public

Courtney Abbott, Advanced Practitioner for Quality and Improvement, commented that the Local Account looks at the strengths of the service and what has been done well against challenges faced during the year. The Advanced Practioner, commented that the service has made good progress towards meeting the key priorities during the year. A key highlight in the document is that year-on-year adult social care of received fewer complaints when compared to the previous year.

The Advanced Practioner added that the service replied to most complaints received within the required time scales and there is a focus on resolving complaints as quickly as possible. The Advanced Practioner gave further details about the progress in meeting the target to register 3000 new people on Telecare which helps support people to remain independent in their own home for as long as possible.

The service is supporting 1372 people and is on target for meeting that goal of 3,000 new people using Telecare.

The Advanced Practioner commented on the support given to people who have been discharged from the hospital and highlighted the increase in the number of people still in their home 91 days later when compared to the previous year.

The service is helping people to remain more independently in their homes and out of hospital unnecessarily. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

[Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present report]

The Scrutiny Officer advised the panel that the draft programme has not yet been finalised. An extra meeting has been arranged for 8 March 2020 to consider a report on care fees charges.  A revised work programme will be sent to panel members when details have been confirmed.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the progress of the draft work programme.