Decision details

Following consultation on the Your Care, Your Way community care and support draft Commissioning Intentions, approval is sought for the outline business case, market testing strategy and final service outcomes.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet:

1)  Noted the findings of the consultation document as set out in the report and approve progression to the next phase.

2)  Approved the financial planning process.

3)  Approved the market testing and contracting approach.

4)  Delegated, to officers, implementation of Phase 3, subject to the requirement to obtain approvals by the Joint Commissioning Committee and Governing Bodies in relation to the milestone decisions.

The approach to our consultation has ensured that we were able to gather sufficient quantitative data to evidence the level of stakeholder support for the proposals and understand their priorities for funding. It has also ensured that all identified stakeholder groups (particularly seldom heard groups) were given the opportunity to share their views and that they are fairly and proportionally represented in the final analysis of the data.  The consultation has also raised awareness amongst stakeholders of the challenges facing the care and health system in Bath and North East Somerset and how the CCG and the Council are taking action to address these.  The findings from this phase have also informed our strategy for continuing public involvement throughout the remaining phases as detailed in Section 3 of the OBC.

Both the Council and CCG are facing considerable financial challenges, since the national and local elections in May 2015 the Government has not provided any information on local government funding beyond 31 March 2016, although the Chancellor announced an Emergency Budget Statement on 8 July 2015. This will be followed by a Spending Review leading to the Financial Settlement for Local Government around Christmas 2015.  This means we cannot be certain about the funding available for our Community Services from 2016/17 onwards, although we can expect the financial challenge facing the public sector to continue throughout the period of the next parliament from 2016/17 to 2019/20.  The funding available indicates a gap for the People and Communities Directorate which equates to a 7% reduction to net budgets over a 4 year period. Savings will need to be achieved through delivery of the Strategic Review proposals to help fund the year on year pressures across health and care, including those arising from demographic change. 

The development of the preferred prime contractor model and regulated market testing strategy as set out Sections 7 and 8 of the OBC provide a sound commercial basis on which to assess the most capable providers and to mitigate risk as far as possible in relation to our legal and statutory obligations.

None other options considered.