Minutes of Supporting People Core Strategy Group

29 January 2008

Present

Apologies

1.  Apologies

2.  Minutes of the Last Meeting

PC advised that on Page 4 her comment on "the one objective of the strategy" should state "One objective of the strategy" as there is more than one.
 
The remain minutes from 6 September 2007 were agreed to be an accurate record of the meeting.

3. Matters Arising

• Sally Hobbs - role within Supporting People (SP)

Sally is now the Accountable Officer for SP, replacing Mike Simpson.  This means that Sally will also be responsible for allocations.  A new Lead Officer will be recruited on an interim basis from an agency due to upcoming SP restructure.

• Steady State Contracts (SSC's)

The Treasurer and Cheif Executive have approved the introduction of SSC's.  The services to be issued with SSC's have been based on a risk management approach using the review 5 year timetable.  Those services whose reviews are to be conducted within the first two years (those considered to be of a higher risk) will not have a SSC issued until after they have had a review and any risk issues have been addressed through the review process.  The remainder of the services will have a SSC issued by approximately the end of April/May.  The contracts will have varying end dates to stagger the work of re-tendering when the contract ends and risk of causing any market instability.

• Regional Supported Housing Strategy

A needs analysis has just been commissioned for across the North West which will produce a needs and supply map and will help inform the strategy.  The report is based on 'Build for London' which analysed all the needs per client group, mapped the supply and took estimates on the population as a whole.  The study across the North West will take into account the role of Manchester and Liverpool as key cities.  SH will look into inviting Gill Leng who is a consultant working on the project to conduct a presentation to the Commissioning Group and Core Strategy Group as to how they are going about the study.  SH will confirm the timescale for the study.

• Individual Budgets

KH has spoken with Oldham SP team who have been part of IB pilots, like Manchester.  They have aligned their budgets with Adult Social Care in ot one pot.  They do have a quality control element still in place where QAF's are submitted.

Coventry SP team are holding a workshop in February for all pilot SP teams and members of Manchester SP team will be attending to get an update on the progress of IB's.  PC raised the issue regarding the risk of financial abuse through the issuing of IB's as something that must be monitored.

CC asked whether the pilot group have looked at the impacts across the client groups?  In general it is the aim for IB's to be rolled out across all SP services but further update is needed as to if drug and alcohol services and mental health, for instance, had been looked at.  CC expressed her concerns over how it will affect problematic drug users, homeless people and people with mental health problems.  KH assured that IB's are risk assessed before they are given.

4.  Manchester's Response to Funding Allocation

SH advised that Manchester have contributed to the consultation.  She also advised on the success of the review approach eg in 2005 the projected gap in funding was £11 million by 2010 but by managing the fund the projected deficit will be around £2 million and SP have never closed a service due to funding shortages.  SH acknowledged the concerns of providers who may not be able to make further efficiency savings, year on year.

Manchester's response to the funding announcement was that the figures used were base on incorrect assumptions but as there is no ringfence, the funding cuts will affect all services.  PC commented that instead of comparing Manchester to other core cities, Manchester should be compare to London as is it is the most similar to Manchester.  SH added that although Manchester has greatly improved, it still has many high deprivation indices.  CLG have redistributed the fund between the local authorities.  In total Manchester SP looks to reduce by 25% from 2003 to 2010 through the use of the current distribution formula.  The SP administration grant has also been reduced.  Manchester is in regular discussion with government, however, over it's overall programmes and funding plans and have taken these issues into consideration.

5.  Finance and New Services Update

• Inflation

For 2008/09 SP will be recommending to the Commission Group an inflationary uplift to providers of 2%.  This will help the providers as a contribution towards their increasing costs but would also help providers achieve efficiency savings as required by SP.  Currently SP have generated a healthy surplus over the past year and this has been agreed by CLG to be carried forward into 2008/09.  Any surplus generated in 2008/09 had not been confirmed by CLG that it can be carried forward into subsequent years.  If inflation were not awarded the fund would still reach deficit by 2011/12 and a further review of this position is planned.

The group agreed that the recommended 2% uplift seemed the most sensible option but it was important for providers to look at cost efficiencies which they can make in the meantime.  Social Care uplift has not yet been announced and Joint Mental Health are not looking to confirmed until March.  CC stated that DAST are not looking to award an inflationary uplift this year.  All of their services have had a 3% uplift over the past 3 years and so think that SP's uplift of 2% is reasonable given the 0% of last year.

6.  Extensions to Existing Pilots

The recommendations to the existing pilots values at approximately £1.7 million and will be funded from the surplus generated in the past year.  It will be recommended that all pilots will extended for one year.

7.  Review Update

The review recommendations will be going to the Commissioning Group for approval on 6 February.  From the reviews undertaken it was found that many of the services which were considered to be of a higher risk, have improved and so have agreed efficiency savings and have reconfigured some of the services.

Some specific review outcomes where then discussed (confidential item).

8.  5 Year Strategy Update

SP are awaiting responses from some lead commissioners in order to update the 5 year strategy in order to build in with LAA priorities.  the group commented that it is difficult to imagine how IB's may affect this and so it is difficult to comment.  SH requested all commissioners with outstanding responses to forward these to the SP Team as soon as possible.

9.  Hostel Closure

SH quickly updated the group on the recent closure of an accommodation base service for poor quality and service.  The outcomes for service users are better through the solutions found and the process was very successfully managed through excellent joint support from partners, for which SH thanked all concerned.

10.  MOPPS (Move on Plans Protocols)

This project has been jointly commissioned with Homelessness and will look to be launched at the Provider Forum which is due to take place in May.  A consultant has been commissioned to undertake the work and will look at short term accommodation providers to find out what they currently are doing to prepare people to move on, how they assess if they are ready to move on, etc and the look to see what they can be doing and look to create an action plan.

11.  Peer Assessing Programme

This initiative will see service users attending reviews with review assessors.  A pilot scheme was undertaken in 2006 involving members of the Core User Group (CUG).  The issues arising from the pilot was that there was not a committed member of staff to help develop this programme of assessments.  SH and KH outlined a proposal for joint funding with a number of benefits to commissioners, members and service users which are detailed in a report.  The proposal is for a part time worker to work with service users.  The post would be on a Scale 6 and so in order to fund this role a £2,000 contribution from each commissioner was suggested per year for the next 2 years.  The commissioners expressed some interest in the proposal as it would demonstrate the benefits of joint working and requested a formal proposal including budget.

12.  Any Other Business

The dates of the next Core Strategy Group will be looked at as to extend the amount of time between the Core Strategy Group and the Commissioning Group meetings in order to prepare comments fully before the Commission Group meeting.

The representation of the Commissioning Group was discussed following some role changes of members.  Craig Harris will discuss attendance with Chris O'Gorman as to who is most appropriate to attend as Craig specifically deals mental health.

The representation of the Core Strategy Group was also discussed, again due to role changes of members, as it is important to reflect the whole range of services and the changes which have been made in Manchester over the past years.  The representation of Drug and Alcohol services was discussed as both Cara Ciliento and Annie Murray have a role within this field and so this may need to be discussed in the meantime.  A new Assistant Director of commissioning is due to starting in February in Adult Social Care and PC will advise who this will be as to get an attendee form commissioning along with joint commissioning.  Provider representation at Core Strategy Group has also been approved and elections are underway for representatives.  A suggestion was also make to look  at inviting chairs of the LAA and possibly someone from Regeneration.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

It was agreed that if members were not available to meet earlier, the meeting arranged for Tuesday 29 April would go ahead as planned.  10.30am - 12.30pm, Room 2014, Town Hall Extension.

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