MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY SERVICES PPRP TUESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2007 CONFERENCE ROOMS 1&2, JOHN MUIR HOUSE, HADDINGTON Committee Members Present: Councillor J McNeil (Convener) Councillor J Bell Councillor T Trotter (until item 8) Councillor L Broun-Lindsay Councillor J Caldwell Other Councillors Present: Mr J Gilles Mr K McLeod Council Officials Present: Dr S Ross, Director of Community Services Mr J Lamond, Head of Policy & Business Management Ms J Cochran, Head of Adult Social Care Mr A Forsyth, Head of Community Housing & Property Management Mr T Shearer, Head of Community Wellbeing Mr D Russell, Corporate Communications Manager (item 1 only) Ms J Allen, Public Relations Officer, Community Services (item 1 only) Mr A Strickland, Policy Officer Ms M Gentles, Occupational Therapy Team Leader Ms F Stratton, Older People's Strategy Implementation Manager Clerk: Ms S Birrell Visitors Present: There were no visitors present Apologies: Mr A McCrorie
Prior to the main business of the meeting, Cllr McNeil welcomed all members and visitors to the meeting, and outlined his concept for the order of business in the new monthly PPRPs, advising that each meeting would look in depth at the work of a particular service on a rotational basis between Community Wellbeing, Adult Social Care, and Community Housing & Property Management. 1. COMMUNITY SERVICES: NEW IMAGE FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS A report was submitted by the Director of Community Services to inform the PPRP of the scope and progress of the development of public relations work which had been undertaken in Community Services. Dr Ross introduced the item, summarising how the Public Relations project had commenced, and introduced Ms Allen, Public Relations Officer for Community Services. Ms Allen gave a detailed presentation on the work of Public Relations in Community Services, highlighting the broad range of leaflets produced by Community Services, the theory of unifying the work of the department by producing leaflets of similar design across all services, and how the design would work at strategic and business levels, in leaflets and in an office setting. For a full copy of this presentation, please contact the Clerk to this Committee. Mr Lamond welcomed the positive developments that had taken place and noted the importance of working in conjunction with corporate developments and the ongoing wider review of communications. Also of particular interest was the challenge posed in respect of social care services that overlapped existing departmental structures. Ms Cochran reported that there was an active joint communications group comprising staff from Adult Social Care and Children s Services who had been working on a Joint Communications Strategy and promoting a Social Work identity since the beginning of the year. The Community Services branding in no way conflicted with this. Cllr McNeil welcomed the work that had been carried out to date, and recommended that Mr Russell s Corporate Communications Team should take cognisance of this project in developing a corporate image for the whole Council. He asked about the funding for this scheme, Dr Ross explained that finance for Ms Allen s post had been secured from Mr Forsyth s budget, and further details on costing would be brought to a future meeting. In response to a further question from Cllr McNeil, Ms Allen confirmed that the first batch of leaflets had been produced outside East Lothian Council because of the requirement to have some information leaflets available for the Social Work inspection, but that future print runs would be in-house. The Committee agreed to note the work to date and consider any implications for wider corporate public relations strategies for the Council.
2. COMMUNITY SERVICES PPRP REMIT A report was submitted by the Acting Chief Executive to encourage discussion regarding how the Council could enhance the existing scrutiny of performance and decision taking currently undertaken by the four Policy & Performance Review Panels. Mr Lamond introduced the item and Mr Strickland spoke to the report in detail. In response to questions from Cllr McLeod, Mr Strickland clarified that recourse to a PPRP via an elected member should not be considered the first course of action for a complainant, but that if a situation was not resolved it could become a matter for a PPRP. Cllr McNeil commented that if partner organisations were invited to attend the meeting the item of interest should be put near the beginning of the agenda so that the representative was not obliged to remain for the full business of the meeting. Cllr Broun-Lindsay noted his support for focussing on each Business Group in turn in the monthly PPRPs and added that if the Panels were keen to maximise Community Engagement some or all of their meetings should be held in the evenings. Mr Lamond agreed, and informed the Panel that the Council meetings scheduled for the evenings in 2007/08 could be viewed as a pilot scheme. Cllr Broun-Lindsay and Cllr McNeil agreed that should the public be invited to put items forward for PPRP agendas that the Chair would need to be aware of single issue individuals who could attempt to monopolise meetings. The Panel agreed that all Members should meet to discuss the outcome of the debate at each Panel with a view to developing a detailed set of proposals which would be agreed by Council. 3. PERFORMANCE BALANCED SCORECARDS A report was submitted by the Acting Chief Executive to provide the Panel with information on the performance of the business groups within the Community Services Department for Quarter 1, April-June 2007. Cllr McNeil clarified that scorecards would continue to be brought to the Panel on a quarterly basis, unless a specific performance indicator was giving cause for concern. He asked members to take time to look at the scorecards before each meeting and raise questions as appropriate, rather than inviting each Head of Service to speak to all scorecards in detail. Community Housing & Property Management In response to a query from Cllr McNeil, Mr Forsyth stated that although the sickness absence indicator in Community Housing & Property Maintenance was showing red, it was hoped that adherence to the Sickness Absence Policy would improve these figures in the near future, and added that the change from bonus to salary scheme had not impacted on Sickness Absence as unfavourably as had been expected. Cllr McNeil reminded the Panel that in smaller teams one sickness absence could skew the results for the scorecard.
Adult Social Care Ms Cochran emphasised that several of the indicators related to demand for services rather than performance. The current scorecard represented challenging targets set by the service to respond effectively to demands. She mentioned that the volume of information gathered relating to the service included over 900 pieces of information that were provided to a range of external bodies. The National Outcome Focussed Performance Framework which would be introduced would provide a better focus for evaluating performance. Work in East Lothian had been undertaken to consolidate all the performance information gathered for health and social care services, in preparation for the refinement of a joint local outcome focussed performance framework. Ms Cochran suggested this work could be considered at the PPRP to focus on Adult Social Care. Culture and Community Development Mr Shearer confirmed that the red indicator in relation to computer use had been due to down time of computers in Haddington library. In response to a question from Cllr McNeil, he confirmed that the drop in attendance at the Brunton Theatre was not a cause for concern over the summer season. Mr Lamond advised that online ticketing would be made available for the Brunton Theatre in the near future. Cllr Bell asked if the scorecards could be produced in a clearer format. Mr Lamond agreed that the typeface should be made larger, and added that the new Aspireview software would be utilised for all scorecards from 2008/09, which should improve their overall accessibility. The Panel agreed to note the scorecards. 4. UPDATE ON PROGRESSION OF FACTORING SCHEME FOR COUNCIL TENANTS AND OWNERS The Head of Community Housing & Property Management, Mr Forsyth, reported that the necessary staff resources to develop this scheme were currently not available. He reported that the Community Housing & Property Maintenance team were keen to introduce a scheme for Council House purchasers, allowing owners to pay a fixed fee for maintenance of their property for a number of years, but again this was subject to staff resources. 5. NEW HOUSING ALLOCATION POLICY (JUNE 2007) The Head of Community Housing & Property Management, Mr Forsyth, reported that the policy had been live since 2 July 2007. All staff were fully trained on the NIMBUS system which administered the processes of the policy, and initial high call volumes to the helpline set up for prospective tenants had decreased significantly. All allocations were fully monitored and a Frequently Asked Questions area had been added to the relevant webspace on the East Lothian Council Website.
6. HOMELESSNESS POLICY: UPDATE ON COMPLIANCE WITH LEGISLATION The Head of Community Housing & Property Management, Mr Forsyth, explained that one of the main drivers of the new Allocations Policy had been to maintain the service to those in priority need. The Council had been largely compliant with the Homelessness Legislation over the summer months but some short periods of non-compliance had arisen as a result of the implementation of the new Allocations Policy. He reported that in addition to the weekly Homelessness monitoring meeting a quarterly homeless review was produced to ensure continued focus on compliance. A Communities Scotland inspection of the service was expected in September/October 2007, the previous inspection had resulted in a D grade for the service, which had previously suffered severe problems with staff resources and an increasing number of homelessness presentations. In relation to Homelessness compliance, which limited the time that pregnant women or families could remain in Bed & Breakfast accommodation to no more than fourteen days, Mr Forsyth indicated that weekly compliance had been maintained since November 2006. The new Voids policy had improved turn around time, but the change locks on a Monday in a Void property still impacted negatively on turn around time for Voids. Mr Forsyth spoke to the Homelessness Quarterly Review in detail, and agreed to circulate this information to members after the meeting. In response to a question from Cllr McNeil, Mr Forsyth responded that it was legal to charge applicants for Bed & Breakfast if they were not in receipt of Housing Benefit. Cllr McLeod praised Mandy Smith and Liz MacLean of the Community Housing & Property Management Division who had offered excellent assistance to a recent query. It was confirmed that Dr Ross would write to the individuals in question passing on these comments. 7. HRA BUDGET UPDATE The Head of Community Housing & Property Management, Mr Forsyth, reported that during a recent meeting with Cllr Currie he had been asked to increase the number of kitchen and bathroom replacements, and that a new Housing Capital Investment Plan for 2007/08 would be brought to Council or Cabinet in the near future. Cllr McNeil asked how extra finance would be allocated, Mr Forsyth responded that there could be availability from slippage in the new build housing programme budget.
8. REFERRALS TO OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY The Occupational Therapy Team Leader, Marie Gentles, gave a detailed presentation on the work of the Occupational Therapy service and the current review which had been undertaken with the support of the Scottish Executive Joint Improvement Team. Her presentation highlighted drivers for change, legislation, complexity of paediatric cases, maintainable equipment, referrals, presenting conditions and reasons for those referrals, and standards for quality. She also spoke about the opportunities available to the service, how to respond to increased demand, and what action would be taken in the near future. Ms Cochran spoke to the presentation, informing the Panel that she would be looking in detail at the suggestions for future actions, such as job re-design and budgetary balances, particularly as regards the balance between assessment and care management and resources invested in the provision of service. The Panel discussed the work of the discharge response team, and the joint Health and Social Work team who ensured that rehabilitation continued after hospital discharge. Sederunt: Alan Forsyth left the meeting. Cllr Gillies praised the work of the discharge response team. Cllr Bell asked about utilising simple self assessments, Ms Gentles responded that the model in use by City of Edinburgh and Midlothian Councils was available and could save assessment time in some cases, although it would be important to accurately assess risk in these cases. The Panel discussed the provision of small aids, Ms Cochran commented that many of these aids were available to purchase privately. The Panel agreed to note the presentation. 9. UPDATE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A JOINT OLDER PEOPLE S STRATEGY FOR EAST LOTHIAN It was agreed that this presentation should be taken to the November meeting of the Panel. 10. DISSEMINATION LEVEL OF MINUTES AND REPORTS It was agreed that all reports and the minute for this meeting could be disseminated publicly, excepting the PowerPoint presentation at item 8, and a report which would be circulated relating to the Homelessness Quarterly Review at item 5.