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 the attendance of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:

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 the following interests were declared:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2008 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2008, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

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 Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 16, 14 and 15 respectively (Part 4E of the Constitution).

Information report of the Corporate Director of 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 on 24 September 2008.

In response to a number of queries raised by Members, the Panel were advised that:

·                     The meeting of West London Domestic Violence Project Board on Wednesday 14 January 2009 would finalise details of the framework agreement to procure Domestic Violence (DV) services  across West London;

·                     Results of the Individual Budgets Evaluation Network (IBSEN) report on the provision of individual budgets in social care revealed that, some service users may view it as an additional burden as they may not receive adequate support how to manage the budget allocated to them;

·                     An extract from the Housing Needs Survey conducted in 2006 provided a breakdown of the ethnicity and household type of 82,500 households in Harrow.  Results of the survey showed that, white households were more likely to be occupied by older people than black and minority ethnic households;

·                     Characteristics of service users who received family care would be explored and provided by the SP team to Members of the Panel.

The officer reported on key developments within the SP programme which included that:

·                     The Government decision to allocate a de-ringfenced named grant for the SP programme in 2009/10.  Funding for the programme in 2010/11 would also be paid as part of an Area Based Grant.  The officer reported that any unallocated funding in 2008/09 would be carried forward to the next financial year but would remain subject to 2008/09 grant conditions.  He added that a transition package to support service providers and officers in the delivery of the SP programme would be finalised by the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Department in the forthcoming months;

·                     The 2008?11 SP strategy agreed by Cabinet on 23 October 2008 would remain unchanged by the Government decision on the delivery of the SP programme;

·                     The Audit Commission report for CLG would identify areas where certain action may be required.  Key considerations included recognising the value and cost effectiveness of continued funding for preventative services to protect vulnerable groups, support the social care agenda and reduce the costs borne by related services;

·                     Cabinet had approved the Supporting People strategy discussed at the previous Panel meeting in September 2008;

·                     Cabinet had agreed that the Divisional Director of Commissioning and Partnerships Children’s and Adults could have the delegated authority to approve call offs from the West London Framework to provide generic floating support if some service users had received inadequate support from service providers.  The officer added that the strategy had provided for generic floating support services to be offered alongside other services, so that the needs of particular service users who fell outside the existing eligibility criteria such as, the physically disabled and the mentally ill were met;

·                     Future SP contracts would be drafted in consideration of European Union procurement rules to meet the commissioning needs of Harrow Council for 2008?11.  Whilst outlining the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96.

To be agreed.

RESOLVED:  That the date of the next meeting of the Panel would be held on Wednesday 22 April 2009, subject to consultation with the Chairman and the Portfolio Holder for Adults and Housing.