Meeting documents

A7 Following the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) inspection of Children & Families Service earlier this year, a very positive draft report has been received. The overall judgement by CSCI shows that Bath & North East Somerset are serving most children well with promising capacity for improvement. CSCI will present their final report to Council Executive on 29^th June 2005.

A7 The Carrswood Day Care service was successfully transferred to its new temporary location, at Tyndale, Bathford, pending the construction of the new Day Centre which is due for completion in 2006

A7 After initial delays, due to technical problems, 50% of the CareFirst Finance Module had 93gone live94 by the end of May. It is expected that 100% will be live and fully functional by the middle of June. The benefits of the new system will include greater consistency of financial systems across all services and easy access to financial information for managers and operational staff. In addition there will be a more joined up approach to performance and budget information and the quality of recording and reporting is expected to improve.

A7 The 93Back Office Review94 has achieved a saving of 6 F.T.E posts in phase one. This is now called the Service Efficiency and Effectiveness Review (SEER) to reflect a wider remit as the project is reviewing more areas to identify further efficiencies.

A7 A conference on the Children Act 2004, held at Fry's on 20 April, was very well attended by a wide range of agencies.

A7 Services to People with Learning Difficulties are now in a formal Joint Management arrangement (PCT and Social Services) led by the Local Authority.

A7 Initial discussions have been held with the Chief Executive on the establishment of the Learning Difficulties Partnership Board.

A7 The foster care recruitment strategy has been launched and the review of future allowances has been completed.

A7 Agreement has been reached for the pooling of budgets for jointly funded residential placements between Education, Health and Children's Services.

A7 Following discussions with Independent Service Providers of residential and nursing care, fee levels for 2005/06 have been set and agreed.

A7 As expected and highlighted in the last report, a number of performance targets were not achieved for the year end 2004/05. This was due to a variety of reasons which include the impact of new eligibility criteria; the implementation of CareFirst (the new client record system); and over optimistic target setting.

A7 Despite efforts to contain and reduce it, the overspend in Adult Care Services remained at the level predicted earlier in the financial year.

A7 The long awaited Green Paper for Adult Care 93Independence, Well Being and Choice94 has now been published. The recommendations within the paper set challenging long-term objects for Adult Care services. Initial presentations have been made to the Executive Member and Health & Social Services Overview & Scrutiny Panel. Feedback on the green paper proposals is due to be with the Department of Health by the end of July 2005.

A7 The response and action plan to address the recommendations and findings of the CSCI inspection of Children and Families Services will provide the opportunity to improve services further.

A7 A bid for funding under the Partnerships for Older People Grant has been despatched. This has the potential to attract A30.5million that could be used for innovative projects such as addressing low level preventative services and schemes to avoid hospital admissions.

A7 Research into the necessary 93skills mix94 required in both Adults and Children and Families social care, has identified areas for change that are now being implemented.

A7 Implementation of the new skill mix could result in unanticipated performance issues.

A7 There is an ever-present threat of potential high cost placements for some looked after children with complex needs, which would impact upon the overall budget position. This is in a context of difficulty in the recruitment of staff and foster carers in a very competitive market.

A7 Some homes are requesting fees for nursing care within the independent sector in excess of the fee levels that have been set.

Summary of Performance