Agenda and minutes

Agreed as an accurate record.

To confirm the items of business marked Part I will be considered in public and that items marked Part II will be considered in private.

It was agreed that all items of business would be considered in public.

The Principal Accountant for Finance and  Administration attended the meeting and informed Members that the report set out the main financial issues which faced the Group’s services and the work being undertaken to respond to them.

Members were informed that the budget report to Council in February 2014 had identified the savings requirements for 2015/16 of £20.3m and the Committee was informed that work was underway to refresh this figure. The finance settlement for the Council would be announced towards the end of the year.

The Committee was informed that the Group was given a savings target for 2014/15 of £1.5m and had already delivered £1.4m of these.

Members asked what was the percentage of savings made in relation to the overall Council savings and to overall costs.

Subsequent to the meeting, Members were informed that Administration & Finance savings equated to 12% of the Council's overall savings and that the savings for the Group equated to 6.74% of the net budget for the Group.

In relation to the impact of the Better Care Fund (BCF), Members asked how the Council's funding of £17,991k was calculated. Subsequent to the meeting, Members were provided with background to the BCF.

The Disabled Facilities Capital and Social Care Capital figures were currently received directly by LBH. Section 256 of the National Health Act allowed Primary Care Trusts and their successor Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) to enter into arrangements with local authorities, for local authorities to carry out social care activities with health benefits. This is what the Section 256 funding listed above related to.

The further NHS funding transfer included funding for carers and intermediate care/ Rapid Response, currently received by the CCG.

The total BCF funding was not new money into the local economy; it was either committed to existing ongoing spend within LBH or the CCG; or, alternatively it was expected to be released from commissioning for hospital services.

The BCF was also linked to new duties that come into being from April 2015 as a result of the Care Act, resulting from new entitlements for carers and the introduction of a national minimum eligibility threshold as well as better information and advice, advocacy, safeguarding and other measures in the Care Act.  

Members asked about emerging pressures within the Group and were informed that there were two key areas which required closely monitoring. There was the management of the vacancy factor given the significant staffing budgets and the number of restructures that were at various stages across the Group. The second key area related to the ongoing achievement of income targets, particularly those that had been increased for 2014/15 through the MTFF process.

A general point was made regarding whether the savings targets had been challenging and subsequent to the meeting, it was reported that the Group was continuously seeking to identify efficiencies and savings and these were put in place as quickly as possible. This strategy had assisted in an early delivery of savings for 2014/15, some of which had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The Council's Head of Performance and Improvement attended the meeting and provided the Committee with a presentation on the Corporate Complaints Procedure.

Members were also provided with a scoping report for the review which provided details of the objectives of the review and background analysis.

Members were informed that there were four complaints procedures which operated within this Council.

• Complaints made by children or on their behalf were governed by theChildren Act 1989, Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006 (Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 1738).
• Adults’ services complaints were managed in line with the ‘The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009’.
• All other complaints were dealt with under the Corporate Complaints Procedure.
• All complaints received by the Council regarding its public health functions were handled in accordance with The NHS Bodies and Local Authorities (Partnership Arrangement Care Trusts, Public Health and Local Healthwatch) Regulations 2012.

The Committee was informed that the first three complaint procedures were set by statute and the Council was required to follow legislation with little scope for doing otherwise.

The Corporate Complaints procedure which was the subject of the review was different because it was agreed locally. Members were informed that this procedure currently operated under the following stages:

• Informal Complaints (Service requests)

At this stage, officers tried to resolve enquiries and concerns as quickly as possible by discussing the problem with the complainant.

• Stage 1 – Response from the Head of Service or Deputy Director

Officers acknowledged Stage 1 complaints within 3 working days of receipt of the complaint and the deadline was for complainants to receive a full response within 10 working days.

• Stage 2 – Response from the relevant Director

If a complainant was dissatisfied with the response, he/she could ask for their complaint to be reviewed at Stage 2 stating the reason for their dissatisfaction with the response. 

Officers acknowledged Stage 2 complaints within 3 working days of receipt of the complaint and the deadline was for complainants to receive a full response within 10 working days.

• Stage 3 – response from the Chief Executive of the Council

If a complainant was dissatisfied with the response, he/she could ask for their complaint to be reviewed at Stage 3 by the Chief Executive. The complainant had to state the reason why they were dissatisfied with the response given at Stage 2.

The Chief Executive acknowledged Stage 3 complaints within 3 working days of receipt of the complaint and the deadline was for complainants to receive a full response within 15 working days.

• Stage 4 - Designated Person for the Council (for housing complaints only)

If the complaint was about a tenancy, leasehold or other housing management issue, this could be referred to a 'Designated Person'. If a complaint was still not resolved, the complainant was advised to take their complaint to the Housing Ombudsman for Housing complaints with all other complaints being directed to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO).

Members were informed that the Council service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Noted. It was agreed that a single meeting review take place at the October meeting on Members Enquiries.

Noted.