Agenda and minutes

It was noted that following receipt of the temporary resignation of Councillor Professor Margetts, from the Panel, the Service Director – Legal and Business Operations acting under delegated powers, had appointed Councillor Savage to replace them for the purposes of this meeting. In addition, the apologies of Councillors Guest, and White were noted.

Due to the appointed Chair of the Panel not being in attendance, Mark Pirnie, the Scrutiny Manger moved that a Chair would be elected for the purposes of the meeting.

RESOLVED that Councillor W Payne would be Chair for the purposes of the meeting.

To elect the Vice Chair for the Municipal Year 2022/23.

RESOLVED that this item would be postponed to the next meeting due the absence of a significant number of Panel members.

Councillor Noon declared that he worked in Adult Social Care.

Councillor Bunday declared that he was a qualified and registered Social Worker and had worked in various roles in local authority social care and health services; he had worked as a specialist advisor with the Care Quality Commission and had worked as a consultant in an independent private mental health hospital.

The Panel noted the declaration of interest and considered that it did not present a conflict of interest in the items on the agenda.

RESOLVED that Councillor Bunday and Councillor Noon would be involved the discussion of the items on the agenda.

The Chair noted that in light of the current Covid Omicron variant surge the meeting would be held as a hybrid meeting. To be lawfully constituted it was held in the Civic Centre and open to the public but only elected members, along with key supporting officers, were in the room in order to keep everyone as safe as possible. Other officers and the public had been encouraged to join the meeting via Microsoft Teams and contribute that way.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 April 2022 and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

RESOLVED: that the minutes for the Panel meeting on 7 April 2022 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Panel noted that the Independent Chair of the Southampton Safeguarding Adults Board could not be in attendance at the meeting due to personal circumstances.

RESOLVED that the report of the Independent Chair of the Southampton Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB) which provided an update on the work of the SSAB during 2020/21 would be deferred to a future meeting of the Panel.

The Panel considered the report of the Executive Director of Wellbeing (Health and Adults) which requested that the Panel considered and scrutinised information on adult social care performance and the transformation road map.

·  Councillor Fielker, Cabinet Member for Health, Adults and Leisure and Vernon Nosal, Director of Operations for Adult Social Care were in attendance and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

The Panel discussed a number of points including:

·  The inclusion of improved governance and accountability arrangements in the transformation road map.

·  The Cabinet Members priorities included a focus on how the Disabled Facilities Grant was used to reduce the need for specialist or long-term care and the how the support on offer for unpaid carers can be improved.

·  The importance of direct payments to give people choice and ensuring that they provide the services people need and are effective at improving outcomes.

·  The impact of the pandemic on residents’ quality of life, including loneliness.

·  The workforce challenges of recruiting staff into frontline care posts and the turnover of senior managers in Adults Social Care.

RESOLVED that

1)  With recognition of the importance of personal choice, intelligent use would be made of resources and technology to ensure that social care would be provided efficiently, that unnecessary travel would be limited, and that continuity of care would be improved.

2)  That Adult Social Care performance would be considered by the Panel on a regular basis and that the performance data would be supported by appropriate context to enable effective comparisons to be made.

3)  That recommendation would be made that the Chief Officer Employment Panel appoints a permanent Executive Director for Wellbeing (DASS) that is willing to commit to the city as soon as possible.