Agenda and minutes

Councillor Tim Snaden was re-elected as Vice-Chairperson in his absence.

*change to agenda order agreed by Chair*

[Agenda item 2, Public discussion, taken after item 6, Finance Update]

A Member must declare any disclosable pecuniary interest where it relates to any matter being considered at the meeting. A declaration of a disclosable pecuniary interest should indicate the interest and the agenda item to which it relates. A Member is not permitted to participate in this agenda item by law and should immediately leave the meeting before the start of any debate.

If the Member leaves the Chamber in respect of a declaration, he or she should ensure that the Chairperson is aware of this before he or she leaves to enable their exit from the meeting to be recorded in the minutes in accordance with Standing Order 37.

None.

Minutes of the ASH Panel meeting of 21 March 2024, to approve as a correct record.

Minutes of the Panel meeting held on 21 March 2024 – to approve as a correct record.

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting of 21 March 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Finance Business Partner (Adults).

The Finance Business Partner (Adults) presented the report which summarised the current forecast spend against the budget for 2024/2025 for Adult Services, and highlighted key variances, movements, and contextual information. The forecast was based on figures at the end of month 5 (August 2024).

The current overall forecast year end position for Adult Social Services was £5.328m net adverse variance (6.0% of the net budget). This forecast was after mitigations of £3.255m, without these the overspend had been forecast to be £8.583m.

The forecast relied on assumptions about factors such as short-term placements, increased demand, children transitioning to adulthood, client contributions and MTFP savings to materialise. There remained a degree of uncertainty with forecasts with several key risks and opportunities that were likely to materialise during the rest of the financial year, which would impact on the final position.

Members discussed:

·       That although the figures were from August 2024, the forecast overspend had not changed significantly.

·       That an example of supported living was a group home with people being supported in their own tenancy, while supported accommodation was also known as ‘shared lives’ whereby a family or individual would accommodate an adult with low level needs.

·       That the ‘Maximise Independence’ section of the report gave a forecasted spend of £2.2m, (against the budget of £1.5m) was partly due to the costs involved with hospital discharge and re-enablement challenges and was a planned increase in expenditure.

·       That one to one and high-cost packages were regularly reviewed to ensure that people’s needs were being met, but that the backlog of these had now been cleared. Technology Enable Care (TEC) was being promoted as it saved costs while maximising independence and wellbeing.

·       The difficulty with trying to reduce the demand for care while managing an aging population and increased numbers of children transitioning to adult services.

·       The impacts that the increases in National Insurance employer contributions and an increase in minimum wage would have on provider costs in the following financial year.

·       Care Packages were only agreed if the adult met the national eligibility against the Care Act and that we had a statutory duty of care to provide people with the support required.

·       The ongoing issue that demand was increasing but funding had not, and that the NHS was underfunded also.

The Director of Adult Social Services suggested a working group for Members in January 2025 to look at the challenges facing the team for the demand for care and initiatives implemented.

Concluded: that the report be received and the Panel’s feedback provided in the form of the minutes.

Alan Rice (Weston Housing AcTion) spoke to the Panel about his concerns for rough sleepers in Weston and that, in his opinion, housing should be provided even if there were underlying issues such as mental health or addiction.  This “Housing First” approach had been used in Helsinki in Finland and between 2002-2022 had reduced its long-term homelessness by 68%.

In his address, he also asked whether officers following up on reports of anti-social behaviour liaised with the officers working with rough sleepers. He urged officers updating the rough sleepers policy to look at the principles of Housing First when doing so.

Report of the Quality Assurance Programme Manager.

The Quality Assurance Programme Manager presented the report to the Panel.  It informed Members about the Care Quality Commission (CQC) process of assurance of Local Authorities and outlined North Somerset Council’s position with the preparation and arrangements for the CQC assurance site visit to North Somerset which was due the week commencing 2 December 2024.

The Health and Care Act (2022) empowered the CQC to assess how well local authorities met their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act (2014) using their assessment framework.  CQC published guidance on local authorities’ assessments and each local authority would be assessed against the nine quality statements outlined in the report.

North Somerset had commenced the assurance process on 24th June 2024.

The Director of Adult Social Services was due to meet with the CQC on 11 December to receive initial feedback, but it would be several months until the official report and rating would be provided.

Members were advised that although a positive rating was expected, if the CQC rated North Somerset Council as ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ then the LGA would provide support to improve the rating but that no additional funding would be offered.  It was also emphasised that the CQQ were only concerned about how well the Council was meeting statutory duties under the Care Act and that discussions around financial constraints would not be of relevance.

Concluded: that the report be received and the Panel’s feedback provided in the form of the minutes.

Report of the Principal Business Intelligence Lead.

The report, authored by the Principal Business Intelligence Lead, was taken as read, with clarifications offered by the Assistant Director, Commissioning, Partnerships and Housing, as well as the Head of Housing

In discussion, Members queried the number of rough sleepers being higher than the target. Members were advised that there had been a huge increase in the number of rough sleepers at a national level. The Housing team worked with other agencies including an outreach programme and the antisocial behaviour team to engage two times per week with rough sleepers.

It was thought that the increase in numbers was partly due to some people travelling through the area but that the team’s powers were limited to refer them back to the area they originated from.

That the same date annually was set across all local authorities to count the number of rough sleepers in their area. The figure of 13 quoted in the report was an average of the twice-weekly rough sleepers count.

Concluded: that the report be received and the Panel’s feedback provided in the form of the minutes.

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The Panel adjourned for a short break at 11:17 a.m.

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The Panel reconvened at 11:22 a.m.

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Report of the Head of Housing.

The Head of Housing presented the report giving details regarding areas of work in the Housing Strategy action plan 2022-2027 that were subject to change, completion and those that would be discontinued.

North Somerset Council was in the top 10 of local authorities nationally for the number of social rented properties delivered in 2023/2024.

Members discussed:

·       The positive news that funding had been secured which would provide a large dwelling as temporary accommodation.

·       The importance of providing temporary accommodation to victims of domestic abuse.

·       The reliance on public sector landlords in the rental market, and the engagement events with landlords to prevent withdrawals from the housing market in the context of proposed legislation.

·       That in the past 12 months, there had been three Long-Term placements when a Child Looked After turned 18 transitioned into adult care..

·       The lack of accommodation in rural areas but that there was exploration of smaller sites to make best use of land for development.

·       The ambition that funding could be achieved to help support the Warmth Delivery Plan.

·       Whether an all Councillor working group to develop the Council’s strategy could be scheduled.

·       It would be helpful to receive comparison data for other years against the 231 affordable homes that were delivered for 2023/2024.

Concluded: that the report be received and the Panel’s feedback provided in the form of the minutes.

Report of the Chief Operating Officer, Alliance Homes.

The Chief Operating Officer from Alliance Homes presented his report which detailed matters that affected housing services and maintenance across the Alliance Homes portfolio.

The report included information regarding repairs, complaints, planned investment, new homes and customer satisfaction.

Members discussed:

·       That although Alliance Homes had eight board members, none were currently North Somerset Councillors; officers would investigate the possibility of there being Councillor involvement in the Registered Provider Liaison meetings.

·       Although impressive progress had been made to reduce the backlog from 8000 to 4000 in the last six months, more work needed to be done to tackle the waiting lists for repairs.

·       The closure of Tamar Court was mainly due to the concern it was unsafe to continue operating due to staffing pressures; it was also a legacy business as Alliance was focussing on the core business. The Assistant Director, Commissioning, Partnerships and Housing also pointed out that this was also partly a result of consumer change in the dementia day care space and that the closure had been jointly managed well.

·       The difference between social and affordable rent (social rent was set by a complex formula provided by the Government, whereas affordable rent was 20% less than average market rate).

·       That it was easier for Alliance to work with Councillors when there was a critical mass of Alliance properties in their wards, especially when the quality of the environment around a neighbourhood was concerned; this was more difficult in areas where there was a range of landlords.

Concluded: that the report be received and the Panel’s feedback provided in the form of the minutes.

Report of the Policy and Scrutiny Senior Officer.

The Policy and Scrutiny Senior Officer discussed the Panel’s work plan and invited discussion with Members for additional items to add to it, as well as picking up any actions from the meeting.

The Chairperson requested that Members who had expressed an interest in participating in the working group to formulate findings and recommendations from the Housing Inquiry Day held on 17 October contact him.