Agenda and minutes

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 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 present in relation to the business to be 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 (1) in accordance with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the following item be admitted late to the agenda by virtue of the special circumstances and grounds for urgency detailed below:-

(2)  all items be considered with the press and public present.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2008 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2008, be taken as read and signed s a correct record.

(See Minute 87)

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, petitions or deputations were received at this meeting under the provisions of the Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rules 16, 14 and 15 respectively (Part 4E of the Constitution).

Information report of the Corporate Director for Adults and Housing.

An officer provided the Panel with an update on the key developments within the Supporting People (SP) programme since the last meeting of the Panel held in June 2008.

The matters arising from the panel meeting in June were responded to by the officer outside of the meeting and are covered in the report.  The main points were:

·                     the SP programme made a significant contribution to the outcomes in the Local Area Agreement (LAA). In particular, older persons were encouraged to live independently;

·                     some of the work conducted by the SP programme, such as, funding for a floating support service to reduce the number of young people misusing substances was not accounted for in existing Key Performance indicators (KPI’s);

·                     the West London Domestic Violence review is at the implementation stage.  It is planned to have a common approach to procurement of DV services across WL through a framework agreement which would improve efficiencies, quality and costs;

·                     according to the Housing Needs survey of 2008, the number of older persons currently living in owner occupied properties was 78.7%.  This figure includes older persons who lived with other family members;

·                     a large number of owner occupiers living in Harrow did not receive housing support services who could benefit from them;

·                     the services provided by Willow Housing and Notting Hill Housing Trust (Notting Hill) were fully utilised.  Clients receive an individual support package.  They may need to utilise a number of services that would provide long term support for their particular needs;

·                     Civis Consultants were finalising a report on the individual budget for the SP programme and self directed support for clients.  The report would assist the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) in deciding future policies for inclusion in the SP strategy;

·                     the SP vision statement had been revised to consider comments at the last Panel meeting in June;

·                     the cost benefit analysis showed that the overall net financial benefits (not including older persons support) to the individual and the community, compared to the current cost of the SP budget was approximately a 2:1 ration on average.  The alternative to SP provisions would cost more and fail to take into account incidental costs borne by the police, health and social care services as well as, non?financial benefits;

·                     findings of the cost benefit analysis would be included in the revised SP strategy to be presented at Cabinet on 23 October 2008.

The Chair commented that the results of the report, justified why the majority of SP provisions should continue after ring?fencing was removed in April 2009.  This would allow for greater flexibility in the Supporting People programme, as its services could become more integrated in the Adult and Social Care agenda.

There followed a number of updates from the report.

Members of the Panel were advised of the two key recommendations from the SP Strategy refresh 2008?11 that would be considered by Cabinet on 23 October 2008.  These were that:

1.                   Cabinet  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

To agree the date of the next meeting

RESOLVED:  That the date of the next meeting of the Panel would be held on Wednesday 14 January 2009 at 10.30 am.