Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 5.

The Chair drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

Councillor Onkar Saini and Councillor David Harding had sent their apologies to the Panel.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest, (as defined in Part 4.4 Appendix B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Councillor Michael Auton declared an other interest with regard to agenda item 10 (Adult Social Care Residential Services update for Community Resource Centres and Extra Care Services) as through his work with Community Catalysts he works with many people involved in Adult Social Care.

There were none.

The Panel confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record and they were duly signed by the Chair.

The Cabinet Member(s) will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions on the update provided.

Councillor Alison Born, Cabinet Member for Adult Services addressed the Panel and highlighted the following points from her update.

Fair Pay Agreement

The Fair pay agreement process in adult social care consultation was launched on 30th September and will close on the 16th of January 2026. The fair pay agreement is part of the government plan to Make Work Pay policy and is part of the intention is to build a national care service.

The ASC Negotiating Body will be established as a public body using powers provided by the Employment Rights Bill. It will bring together trade unions and people representing employers to negotiate on pay, terms and conditions and related matters.

In the consultation there is a recognition that achieving fair pay in ASC will come with a cost and £500m will be made available to manage the pressure for the sector.

Exactly what the fair pay agreement will cover will be determined by the ASC Negotiation Body which will be makeup of unions, providers, people by experience and the local authority commissioners.

Anyone may participate in this consultation. The Council plans to submit an official response. Commissioners are consulting with providers to include their perspectives, though many providers will also reply independently.

Better Care Fund Update

The Better Care Fund (BCF) is a national programme designed to integrate health, social care, and housing services, ensuring person-centred care and better outcomes for people and carers. It pools resources from the NHS and local authorities under Section 75 agreements, promoting collaboration to reduce hospital admissions, improve discharge processes, and support independence at home.

In B&NES, the BCF plays a vital role in supporting our local health and care priorities and underpins local strategies to improve health and wellbeing outcomes.

Delivery of work is overseen by the Health and Wellbeing Board, working with the Integrated Care Alliance and partners across health, social care, and the voluntary sector and we are in the middle of a 1-year plan.

Long COVID / Post-COVID syndrome

The most common symptoms of Long COVID include extreme tiredness (fatigue), shortness of breath, difficulties with concentration and memory, joint pain and aching muscles.

There's currently no cure for long COVID and the condition is still being researched. Multidisciplinary COVID services can offer treatments and resources that may help ease and support self-management of symptoms.

HCRG are commissioned during 2025-26 to provide a Long COVID Community Assessment and Rehabilitation Service for patients registered with GP surgeries in B&NES, Swindon or Wiltshire. This specialist service provides assessment, signposting and short-term rehabilitation for adult patients who are experiencing new and long-lasting symptoms of COVID infection, suspected COVID infection or following a virus, which are significantly impacting how they are able to function in day-to-day life.

Dedicated national funding for the service ends in March 2026 but patients with long covid will continue to be supported by community teams according to their needs.

Councillor Bharat Pankhania referred to the Fair Pay Agreement and stated that Care Workers do  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

The Panel will receive an update from the B&NES, Swindon & Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB) on current issues.

Laura Ambler, Executive Director of Place for Bath and North East Somerset, BSW ICB and Lucy Baker, Director of Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence, BSW ICB addressed the Panel and highlighted the following areas from within the update.

Feedback sought on local weight management services

Across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, a number of different services are available to support people living with obesity.

These services were designed at a time when rates of obesity were lower and before the introduction of new weight loss treatments, which have since grown in popularity.

In recent years, increasing numbers of patients have been referred to the specialist weight management services, which are provided by the region’s hospitals, including the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

In light of the growing waiting lists, a review is needed to ensure services continue to meet the needs of patients and reflect developments in treatments.

Feedback from this survey will be used to develop a proposal on what services should look like in the future, and will be submitted as part of a wider application for funding to support local obesity initiatives.

Update on winter vaccinations

The ICB has agreed ambitions with NHS England for each of the key winter vaccinations and specific cohorts within that for flu, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus.

These ambitions are set taking into account World Health Organisation guidance on herd-level immunity requirements, as well as national requirements for each individual programme.

These targets, and our local progress towards these, alongside any operational details are shared with the local authority health protection leads regularly on a weekly basis for operational purposes.

The ICB continues to encourage those people who are eligible for one or more winter vaccinations to come forward without delay.

As it stands, the three localities which make up the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire are all performing better than the national average in terms of uptake for the three main winter vaccinations.

Commissioning an all-age neuro-developmental pathway

The ICB has commissioned an all-age neuro-developmental pathway to provide a needs-based approach to support children, young people and adults with autistic and/or ADHD traits.

This new pathway forms part of the integrated community-based care procurement, with the implementation of the new pathway at the end of March 2026.

This needs-based model was co-created with people with lived and living experience from across BSW, as part of workshop events who co-developed a number of pillar principles.

As a pre-curser to this model HCRG Care Group has been working with the ICB and partners as part of a longer-term test and learn programme to transform the children and young people neuro-developmental pathway to move from a diagnostic approach to a needs-based model to improve outcomes and access.

Within the pathway, adult patients awaiting an autism assessment were transferred from AWP to HCRG as part of the ICBC mobilisation. All patients on a medication pathway have now been transferred to HCRG to ensure no gap in medication provision  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

This report outlines the service priorities for residential services and our commitment to continuous improvement of services to meet the needs of residents.  The report provides an update on bed utilisation, governance and assurance, staffing, health & safety and wellbeing, property and regulatory compliance.

The Assistant Director for Adult Regulated Services and Governance summarised the update on in-house residential and extra care services, highlighting occupancy, staffing, and quality assurance.

·  Cleeve Court is a two floor 45 bed residential care home located in Twerton, Bath for older people with dementia and Combe Lea is a two floor 30 bed residential care home located in Midsomer Norton for older people with a range of physical disabilities and dementia support.

·  Extra Care is provided across 5 service locations (Avondown House, St Johns Court, Hawthorns Court, Greenacres Court and The Orchard). Extra Care services offer housing designed for individuals who value both independence and access to support services.

·  The Stepdown service is delivered in partnership with Curo as a social housing landlord. There are six stepdown flats at two Extra Care sites (Hawthorn Court and St John’s Court). The Stepdown service provides short term (up to 12 weeks) accommodation with care to people who are at risk of hospital admission or who are medically fit to leave hospital but are not ready to return to independent living.

·  The Adult Regulated Services management team are highly knowledgeable and skilled with many years of experience working in older people’s residential services. They demonstrate commitment, compassion and focus on the delivery of good outcomes for residents. The management of Extra Care and Combe Lea care home has been stable for some time.

·  Residential Services has a permanent staffing establishment of 240 staff which equates to 43% of the total ASC workforce at B&NES. In addition to this, there are a total of 213 bank staff, including both dedicated bank staff (60) and permanent staff who also hold a bank contract (153). The bank function provides staff with the opportunity to take on additional shifts which support care continuity and reduces reliance on agency staff.

·  There are currently 23 vacancies across the residential services. Staffing vacancies are monitored and actioned with HR recruitment colleagues as well as reported to the Provider Services Quality and Performance meetings. This is managed through use of bank and agency staffing and where agency staff are required the service seeks continuity of agency staff.

·  Staff retention has improved across Residential Services with 16 leavers recorded from April-September 2025 compared to 23 staff leavers for the same period in 2024.

·  Staff are required to complete a suite of mandatory training requirements as part of their induction and ongoing professional training to enable safe, efficient, and effective services to be delivered to residents.

·  Current CQC ratings - The five Extra Care schemes remain rated as ‘good’ and the two Community Resource Centres are rated overall as ‘requires improvement’ but with good in key areas such as ‘caring’ and ‘responsive’.

·  An independent provider has been commissioned to undertake unannounced mock inspection visits to both CRC’s and each Extra Care service over the last year. A summary of the mock inspection feedback has been received by each service and included in the service’s continual CQC action plan.

·  B&NES  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

The Inclusive Communities Manager will deliver the enclosed presentation to the Panel.

The Inclusive Communities Manager addressed the Panel and said she was happy to receive questions relating to the presentation submitted within the agenda pack.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked about what sectors of work were regularly involved and what actions can be taken.

The Inclusive Communities Manager replied that care work, beauty / nail bars, hospitality, car washes, drug movement and sex work were the prominent areas identified. She described the Disrupt Panel process and the way in which it has the ability to bring a multi-party group together to discuss concerns.

She added that she would recommend the Panel reading a report from the Local Government Association (LGA) on this issue.

Councillor Hardman asked about the number of incidents locally.

The Inclusive Communities Manager replied that 42 cases were reported to Avon & Somerset Police in 2024 and that this equated to 96 potential victims.

Councillor Paul Crossley asked about prevalence of cases, annual reporting to the Panel, and support for victims.

The Inclusive Communities Manager outlined the multi-agency work that takes place, especially the support from the Salvation Army who are the national organisation assigned to rehabilitate and support individuals that have been enslaved.

She added that officers also work with areas within the local nighttime economy and with Public Protection.

Councillor Lesley Mansell asked about awareness training and potential to integrate that with safeguarding procedures.

The Inclusive Communities Manager confirmed training is available for members and staff.

Councillor Joanna Wright suggested a briefing should be held for all councillors.

Councillor Hardman, current Chair of Council, agreed to raise the issue at full Council.

Councillor Bharat Pankhania asked about the exploitation of sponsored workers.

The Inclusive Communities Manager confirmed such cases are textbook examples of modern slavery and said there were many barriers to disclosure of their situation.

Councillor Crossley asked about organ harvesting.

The Inclusive Communities Manager stated this typically occurs abroad, with victims enticed by false promises, e.g. payment, bond deleted.

The Chair said that she would encourage a further briefing to be given to all Councillors and asked for the mentioned LGA report to be circulated.

On behalf of the Panel, the Chair thanked the Inclusive Communities Manager for the presentation.

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel. Any suggestions for further items or amendments to the current programme will be logged and scheduled in consultation with the Panel’s Chair and supporting officers.

The Panel reviewed the workplan, noting items to be brought forward, including:

·  CQC Report - Unannounced onsite inspection of Cleeve Court

·  Long COVID

·  Neuro-developmental pathway

·  Modern Slavery

The Panel RESOLVED to note their current workplan and these proposals for future updates / reports.