Agenda and minutes

To note the appointment at the meeting of Cabinet on 15 May 2008 of Councillor Eric Silver as Chairman of the Supporting Panel Advisory Panel for the Municipal Year 2008/09

RESOLVED: To note the appointment at the meeting of Cabinet on 15 May 2008 of Councillor Eric Silver as Chairman of the Supporting People Advisory Panel for the Municipal Year 2008/09.

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED: To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

To appoint a Vice Chairman for the Supporting People Advisory Panel for the Municipal Year 2008/09

RESOLVED:  To appoint Councillor David Gawn as Vice-Chairman of the Supporting People Advisory Panel for the 2008/09 Municipal Year.

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interests made by Members in relation to the business transacted at this meeting.

To consider whether any of the items listed on the agenda should be considered with the press and public excluded on the grounds that it is thought likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that there would be disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence or of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

RESOLVED:  That all items be considered with the press and public present.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2008 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED: That the Chairman be given the authority to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2008, as a correct record of that meeting, once printed in the Council Bound Volume.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents or organisations under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received at this meeting under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 14 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received at this meeting under the provisions of the Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 14 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at this meeting under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

Information report of the Corporate Director for Adults and Housing.

The Panel received a report from an officer for Adults and Housing, updating Members on key developments within the Supporting People programme since the last meeting of the panel in March 2008, along with discussion items.

The officer provided a briefing on the Supporting People programme for the benefit of new panel Members.  New Members of the Panel were invited to visit Supporting People schemes in order to gain an understanding of the programme.  The importance of the alignment of the Supporting People programme to the Local Area Agreement (LAA) outcomes was also discussed.

Developments on matters raised at the previous meeting, as set out in the report were outlined.  These included the input that Age Concern could potentially provide some assistance with the loft clearance scheme provided to older people.  A Member commented that more options were needed to enable people to reach a workable solution to resolving this issue.

Decisions made at the Commissioning Body (CB) meeting held on 6 May 2008 and its contribution to the allocation of funding and resources to the Supporting People programme were reported on.  Key points arising from this discussion included:

·                     That inflationary contract lift ups would not generally be offered.

·                     That a leaving care system had been reconfigured to accommodate single homeless persons.

·                     That the CB would commission three additional supported housing units at the Harrow YMCA Roxeth Gate to meet the demand for accommodation from single homeless service users.

·                     The principle agreement to the development of a floating support service for the West London (WL) Domestic Violence programme in addition to other recommendations of the West London Domestic Violence review.

A Member expressed concerns over the governance, cost, service and target implications borne by Harrow as a consequence of the recommendations of the West London Domestic Violence review recommendations.

Members were advised that whilst signing up to the principles and recommendations of the review, the decision regarding committing to funding would still be made locally through the governance of the Commissioning Body.

The officer detailed the progress of developing a refreshed Supporting People strategy in terms of the emerging themes from its development, which included:

·                     That the Supporting People strategy should be updated taking into account the opportunities presented by the LAA, the widening of preventative services and the creation of a business plan for Supporting People (SP) funding.

·                     The particular focus on the equity share sheltered housing being made available as an option to older people moving into sheltered accommodation.

·                     The development of measures to focus on socially excluded groups such as the Somalian community.

·                     The long term needs of mental health and learning disability service users.

·                     The development of:

(i)                   an in – house or external brokerage service for housing related support.

(ii)                 A provider led move on panel to assist in the inclusion of the private sector in the housing assessment process as alternative housing options.

(iii)                the agreement of short and long term contracts for floating support in terms of budget funding and independent living  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

To agree the date of the next meeting

RESOLVED:  That Democratic Services liaise with Members for a date in September 2008.