Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 4th September, 2002
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Bath & North East Somerset Council |
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MEETING: |
Executive |
AGENDA |
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MEETING DATE: |
4th September 2002 |
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TITLE: |
Bath & North East Somerset Supporting People Shadow Strategy |
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WARD: |
All |
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AN OPEN PUBLIC ITEM |
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List of attachments to this report: Bath & North East Somerset Supporting People Shadow Strategy - DRAFT |
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1 THE ISSUE
1.1 As part of the delivery of the Supporting People programme, Bath & North East Somerset Council is required to produce a comprehensive Supporting People Shadow Strategy for submission to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) by 30th September 2002. This is attached in draft form as Appendix 1
2 RECOMMENDATION
2.1 Agree the Supporting People Shadow Strategy for submission to ODPM.
2.2 Authorise the Acting Strategic Housing Manager to make minor non-policy alterations to the Strategy, prior to its submission to ODPM, in consultation with the Executive Members for Community Safety, Housing & Consumer Services and Social Services.
Printed on recycled paper
3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
3.1 In April 2003 Supporting People will replace previous mechanisms for the planning and delivery of accommodation and support services. The programme will amalgamate into a single budget, to be administered by local authorities, funding currently distributed by:
The Housing Corporation - Supported Housing Management Grant (SHMG) Department of Local Government, Transport and the Regions* - Home Improvement Agency Grant
The Home Office - Probation Accommodation Grant (PAG)
Bath and North East Somerset Housing Benefit Department - Transitional Housing Benefit THB)
Large Scale Voluntary Transfer Registered Social Landlords - elements of the rent pool associated with the provision of sheltered housing
Local authorities will enter in to direct commissioning relationships with service providers for the distribution of this single allocation, which will be in the form of Supporting People grants. An administration grant has been made available to local authorities for the implementation of key milestones towards delivery of the programme.
4 BACKGROUND AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK
4.1 The Supporting People (SP) programme is the vehicle for delivering accommodation and support services to vulnerable people and represents a major to the current change in the administrative framework.
4.2 The aims of the Supporting People programme are:
· To promote independence and choice
· To create a range of flexible services
· To ensure the quality and value for money of services
· To be a tool for the delivery of other local plans and strategies
· To commission accommodation and support services in a strategic manner
4.3 The ODPM requires local authorities to produce a Supporting People shadow strategy to cover the first year of the programme, together with an annual plan detailing how additional resources, if made available, would be allocated.
The focus of the shadow strategy is to allow the delivery of existing services to continue without disruption, despite the implementation of new administrative arrangements. However, the strategy also aims to identify areas of unmet need, which will be addressed by future annual plans, and to highlight Bath & North East Somerset's approach to comprehensive service review.
4.4 The SP shadow strategy must be submitted to ODPM no later than 30th September 2002
5 THE SUPPORTING PEOPLE SHADOW STRATEGY
5.1 The SP Shadow Strategy is divided into sections, which set out:
· The Bath & North East Somerset Supporting People Vision
· The approach taken to planning and developing the Supporting People programme and Shadow Strategy
· The supply of supported and sheltered housing and support services
· Bath & North East Somerset's supply of supporting people services by service user group compared with ODPM's "supply profile". Briefly, to develop the supply profile, ODPM have made projections of need based on statistical information about Bath & North East Somerset (for example, demographics) and have then proposed a model profile of service supply by service user group to match these projections of need.
· Analysis of available information on the actual needs of Bath & North East Somerset by service user group
· Links between the Supporting People Strategy and other Strategies, Plans and programmes
· Issues relating to cross-authority needs and supply of services
· The process to be followed to review services and the way in which the programme of service reviews will be established
· Future service develop options
6 CONSULTATION
6.1 The development of the SP shadow strategy has been an inclusive process with contributions from partner agencies, service users and providers.
6.2 Service user and carer groups have been invited to consider issues for particular service areas. Consultation information from previous exercises has been collated by the SP Team through a schedule of visits to a range of service user/carer groups including the Bath & North East Somerset Disability Equality Forum and the Care Network. As a direct outcome of these visits, specific aims for each service user groups have been developed.
6.3 A range of planning groups have also been canvassed providing another mechanism for user and carer involvement. The strategies and plans of all these groups have been cross referenced with the SP shadow strategy.
6.4 The Supporting People programme attaches particular importance to the inclusion of groups that can be hard to consult, including rough sleepers, women fleeing domestic violence and black and minority ethnic communities. A shadow strategy open day held on 1st August 2002 offered a further opportunity, alongside postal consultation for this to happen.
The main planning groups for Supporting People are set out below:
· The Supporting People Forum
· The SP Decision Making Group
· Existing planning and strategy groups
· The Health Improvement Partnership Board
6.5 The Supporting People Forum in Bath & North East Somerset has mainly been populated by local providers. As a result, over the course of 2001/02, Forum events have been increasingly targeted at specific groups of providers and focussed on specific issues such as:
· Supporting People post 2003 (January 2001)
· Needs mapping (January 2001)
· Transitional Housing Benefit (January 2001)
· Communication and consultation (January 2001)
· Scheme reviews and service user involvement (May 2001)
· RSLs/Managing Agents contract arrangements (February and May 2002)
· SP3 mapping (March 2002)
· The SP shadow strategy (August 2002)
Providers have been regularly consulted on an individual basis by members of the SP Team. Ongoing advice and support has been given to providers throughout the programme.
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Contact person |
Sarah Shatwell, Supporting People Manager, tel: 01225 477138 |
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Background papers |
Supporting People: A new policy and funding framework for support services, DETR 1999 Supporting People: Policy into Practice, DTLR 2001 Supporting People Strategic Steer: The Government's priorities for the first year of the Supporting People programme, DTLR 2002 |