Cabinet Meeting on Wednesday 17 th October Alcohol Partnership request to create pooled funding arrangements

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1 Cabinet Meeting on Wednesday 17 th October 2012 Alcohol Partnership request to create pooled funding arrangements Report Summary from Robert Marshall, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Community Safety Robert Marshall said: Tackling the impact of alcohol misuse on individuals, families and their communities has been a major priority of the county council and public sector partners for the last three years. There has been a lot of effective work across Staffordshire, but we are not complacent about this very serious issue. Today s decision to pool budgets is a logical next step and will increase the impact we can have in relation to prevention and early intervention. The new arrangement will build on the successes to date and deliver better value for money for Staffordshire taxpayers". 1. Following discussion at the June Health and Wellbeing Board, partners in Staffordshire have agreed to create a pooled budget arrangement for the purposes of commissioning, prevention and early intervention services to tackle the wider impact of substance misuse and alcohol in particular. The Alcohol and Drugs Executive Partnership Board, jointly chaired by Dr. Aliko Ahmed, Director for Public Health and Mike Cunningham, Chief Constable will oversee the spend in accordance with the strategic priorities for Staffordshire. 2. Cabinet approval is sought for the creation of a pooled budget where partner funding contributions are brought together in one place for the purpose of commissioning substance misuse (drug and alcohol) services. The County Council would assume the role of host organisation of the funding with the Alcohol and Drugs Executive Partnership Board acting as the Accountable Body overseeing and approving spend. 3. The new funding stream, to be created with the support of the Joint Finance Unit, will be subject to the County Council s Standing Orders and Financial Regulations. 4. The funding will be ring fenced for the purposes of commissioning early intervention and prevention services to combat the impact of substance misuse (and alcohol in particular) in order to address one of the key safety and health priorities for Staffordshire. The commissioned services will: support troubled families, particularly where the person misusing drugs and/or alcohol has responsibility for children or young people; provide an alternative to a fine and/or a custodial sentence where the offender is diverted into treatment rather than punishment and; form part of the suite of services built around the Integrated Offender Management (IOM) initiative that is helping to reduce reoffending in Staffordshire.

2 Recommendation I recommend: 1. Cabinet approve the creation of a pooled funding stream where Staffordshire County Council assumes the role of host organisation for the funding. 2. Cabinet agree to ring fence the partner contributions to the pooled funding stream for the purpose of commissioning substance misuse (drug and alcohol) prevention and early intervention services. 3. Cabinet agree to the Alcohol and Drugs Executive Partnership Board acting as the Accountable Body overseeing and approving spend. 2

3 Local Members Interest N/A Cabinet Wednesday 17 October 2012 Alcohol Partnership request to create pooled funding arrangements Recommendations of the Cabinet Member for Public Health and Community Safety 1. Cabinet approve the creation of a pooled funding stream where Staffordshire County Council assumes the role of host organisation for the funding. 2. Cabinet agree to ring fence the partner contributions to the pooled funding stream for the purpose of commissioning substance misuse (drug and alcohol) prevention and early intervention services. 3. Cabinet agree to the Alcohol and Drugs Executive Partnership Board acting as the Accountable Body overseeing and approving spend. Report of Deputy Chief Executive and Director for People and the Director of Public Health 1. A marked step change has been achieved in Staffordshire s approach to tackling the problems of substance misuse particularly those problems that affect individuals, families and the wider community linked to the misuse of alcohol. At the June Health and Wellbeing Board, extensive discussion took place and subsequent collaboration between key safety and health partners has resulted in agreement to pool funding contributions for the purposes of commissioning services with a focus on prevention and early intervention. The agreed levels of contribution are as follows: 200,000 from Public Health. 100,000 from Staffordshire Police. 30,000 from the Safer Stronger Executive Board. 51,000 from the Prisons budget held by the County Council (awaiting approval via the Prisons governance structure and the Alcohol and Drugs Strategic Partnership). 2. The County Council will act as the host organisation for the funding, with the Alcohol and Drug Executive Board chaired jointly by the Chief Constable for Staffordshire and the Director for Public Health overseeing and approving spend. 3. The Joint Finance Unit will provide accounting, scrutiny and reporting support and be instrumental in the creation of the pooled budget arrangements. 4. To provide assurance to partners, it is proposed to ring fence the pooled budget for the purposes of commissioning drug and/or alcohol prevention and early intervention 3

4 services. This will enable some key priorities to be addressed and have a positive impact on initiatives such as Troubled Families, Hidden Harm and Integrated Offender Management. Reasons for Recommendations 5. Cabinet support for the recommendations will give partners confidence that the matter has received the appropriate level of consideration, assurance that due process will be followed and that consideration will be given to the way in which the pooled funding contributions will be put to best use. Background 6. Historically there has been little funding provision set aside for the purposes of getting upstream in relation to preventing the escalation of drug and alcohol misuse. The focus of attention has been on commissioning treatment services that deal with people whose drug and alcohol use has reached significant or dangerous levels. Similarly, there has been a legacy of fragmented funding arrangements that have not always produced the best outcomes for service users or represented best value for commissioners. 7. However, partners have remained committed to finding a mutually agreed resolution that has resulted in the proposal contained in this paper. Further improvements should follow when alcohol and drugs budgets become part of the local authority finance arrangements from April 2013 with the Director of Public Health being held accountable for its spend. 8. If agreed, the arrangement will take immediate effect i.e. during the financial year and the County Council Joint Finance Unit will make arrangements to initiate the funding transfers from Partners. 9. Effecting cultural and systemic change in relation to substance misuse is a pan- Staffordshire safety and health priority and the creation of a pooled budget will help establish a framework for a joint and collaborative approach to reverse the negative impact of substance misuse in our communities. 10. Other options considered in this process were to continue to explore opportunities for co-commissioning or to continue in the same vein as previously i.e. to commission short-term solutions with little chance of sustainability irrespective of success. Creating a pooled budget arrangement will enable an evidence based approach to commissioning for outcomes that will form the basis of changing the investment and service delivery models for this service area in future. It also means that commissioning for positive lifestyle change can begin immediately. 4

5 Appendix Impact Assessment 11. As this report is requesting permission to create a change in process only around pooled budget arrangements, a full impact assessment has not been undertaken, however, impact assessments are planned ahead of the commencement of any commissioning activity or change to the service delivery model. Equalities implications: None Risk implications: There are no significant risk implications at this stage. The spend of the money would be subject to a separate set of arrangements if agreement is given to pool the funding. Legal implications: As for Risk, there are no significant Legal implications at this stage. Author: P. Merrick Author s Name: Pat Merrick Telephone No: (01785) Room No: 3 rd Floor Wedgwood Building Background Documents Staffordshire Alcohol and Drugs Strategy Terms of Reference and Memorandum of Understanding for the Alcohol and Drugs Executive Partnership Board. 5