Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting.]

Cllr Val Evans, Chair, welcomed everyone to the 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.

No apologies received.

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record]

The panel members voted and approved the minutes of the meeting held on 19 October 2021 as being a correct record.

[Becky Wilkinson, Deputy Director Adult Services, to present report]

Emma Bennett, Executive Director of Families, gave a verbal update on the changes to the Government’s mandatory vaccine policy for social care workers. The Executive Director of Families advised the panel that the Government has stated that there will be a consultation on the mandatory vaccinations policy for the extended group of NHS staff and the wider health and social care. As a result, the mandatory vaccination programme which required health and social care staff who either worked in a CQC registered home or would be visiting to be vaccinated has stopped. 

The Executive Director of Families advised the panel that employees covered by either the previous legislation or likely to be by any future legislation have been contacted to advise them that the Council is awaiting the outcome of the consultation. 

The Executive Director of Families suggested that a further update on the mandatory vaccination policy is presented to a future meeting of the panel at the end of the consultation period.

The panel thanked the presenter for the update.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to receive a further update on the mandatory vaccinations policy at a future meeting.

[Sandra Ashton-Jones, Head of Adult Service - Mental Health, and Rachel King, Head of Childrens Service - Specialist Support,to present report]

The Chair invited Sandra Ashton-Jones, Head of Adult Service - Mental Health and Rachel King, Head of Children’s Service to present the report.

The Head of Adult Service advised the panel that the presentation would give an update on the support offered to young people and adults in Wolverhampton who are either at risk of exploitation or who are being exploited and covers individuals or large groups of people.  The Head of Adult Service outlined the different forms and situations where exploitation can occur, for example, modern slavery and human trafficking, sexual and criminal exploitation. The term ‘exploitation’ is defined as a form abuse where someone is forced or coerced into doing things for the benefit of others.

The Head of Children’s Service commented on the partnership response to the issue of exploitation and specific actions taken from October 2019 to February 2021. The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel that nationally there had been a focus on familial abuse where harm happens outside the home. In the past the focus of the service was on abuse taking place within families.

The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel that a review in October 2019 looked at how partners were working together to address all forms of exploitation. This review led to the introduction of the Partnership Exploitation and Missing Hub, which went live in February 2021.  The Hub brings together professionals from services that have contact with children and adults either at risk or being exploited to able to share real live time information. 

The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel that the service provides for the consistent and systematic sharing of relevant and timely information across the whole age range to better understand the issue of risk and threat in the city. The introduction of the Hub has enabled co-ordinated support packages to be offered to address all forms of exploitation through different interventions and for that activity to be disrupted. The Head of Children’s Service commented on the links between adults and children’s service and highlighted the importance of the additional police resource in supporting the work of the Hub. The Hub also has strong links with colleagues in health and voluntary sectors.

The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel that there is a daily morning briefing meeting chaired by the Exploitation Hub Manager with colleagues from the wider partnership. The aim of the briefing is to review all overnight missing episodes of all young people and vulnerable adults and to consider any significant incidents from the police that require some level of response and coordination.

The Head of Children’s Service briefed the panel about the work of the Power2 team and outlined the impact and benefits of the initiative. The Head of Children’s Services gave details from three case studies and commented on how the intervention from the service has led to a reduction in the risk of exploitation or in criminal activity and an increase in levels of re engagement in education,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Alicia Wood, Lead Commissioner - Specialist and Targeted, to present report- the main report to follow]

Emma Bennett, Executive Director of Families, introduced the report and advised the panel that it was being presented for pre-decision scrutiny before it is presented to Cabinet Resources for consideration and approval of the proposed fee increase.  

The Executive Director of Families advised the panel that the Council has a duty to ensure that the care needs of residents in Wolverhampton are met. This work includes reviewing the sufficiency of externally commissioned care fees and if the current fees enable provision of care and for the Council to purchase them and inform an annual review of fees. The annual fee review covers adults externally commissioned care and support service areas and direct payment cost rates. 

The Executive Director of Families outlined the scope of the fee review proposals.

The Executive Director of Families advised the panel that the overall increase of £4.1 million in fees will be met from the growth in Adult Services which will include the funds for the proposed fee review. 

The Executive Director of Families commented on the implications of major reform of social care and the proposed introduction of a fair cost of care policy. The plans will require the Council to draft several policies by the end of September 2022 as part of the reforms, for example, a market sustainability plan for external care provision and a fair cost of care tool to demonstrate how self-funders costs are aligned to the fees funded by the Council.

The Executive Director of Families briefed the panel about the national picture of the demand for social of care provision in Wolverhampton and commented on the increase in demand for social care, particularly during the pandemic.  The Executive Director of Families commented that the service has engaged with providers to get their feedback about the proposed fees and highlighted other factors which have also been considered, for example, the national shortage of care staff as well as retention issues and the continued impact of Covid 19.

The Executive Director of Families advised the panel that in response to the national challenges in the home care and domiciliary care sectors and the concerns of providers, care fee rates were increased mid-year in 2021 to maintain sufficiency. The Executive Director advised the panel that a new rate for Direct Payment Self Employed will be introduced in recognition that there are direct payments Personal Assistants who are self-employed and with different costs to those employed and to the encourage the growth of the sector. A fee proposal includes a recommendation for the rate for people who are self-employed. 

The Executive Director of Families commented on the benefits of the change and gave a summary of the recommendations that Cabinet Resources Panel will be asked to approve.

The panel were invited to scrutinise the proposals.

The Chair thanked the presenter for the report.

The panel welcomed the proposal to introduce direct payments for the self-employed and supported the principal of the initiative.

The panel expressed concern about the situation where people would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

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

The Chair invited Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present the report.

The Scrutiny Officer advised the panel about the details of the next agenda for the final panel meeting on 16 March 2022. The panel were invited to comment on the agenda and suggest topics or issues that they would like the reports to cover.

The panel asked for an update on the previous discussion from the police representative and the community safety team on planned work and suggested it would be helpful to get an update on progress. The Scrutiny Officer agreed to follow up the enquiry and update panel members.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report.

Resolved:

1.    The panel agreed to note the report.

2.    The Scrutiny Officer to update the panel on progress following the previous discussion on crime and community safety issues.