Agenda item

Councillor Alison Born, Cabinet Member for Adult Services introduced the report to the Panel. She explained that the CQC published their report for B&NES on 30th January 2025, assigning a rating of Requires Improvement.

She said that prior to the final report being published a factual accuracy and completeness review was undertaken by the ASC Leadership Team on the draft CQC report.

She said that 75 points of factual accuracy and 69 completeness points were submitted to CQC on 27th November 2024. She informed the Panel that for factual accuracy 56 points were accepted/partially accepted and for completeness points 20 were accepted/partially accepted. The rating for B&NES remained unchanged even though CQC accepted the majority of the changes.

She stated that she was pleased that the CQC had recognised that B&NES has kind, dedicated and passionate staff.

The Director of Adult Social Care addressed the Panel and said that an Improvement Plan was now in place and that due to the Requires Improvement rating B&NES has been assigned a Care and Health Improvement Advisor (CHIA) from Partners in Care (Southwest Region) who partner with the Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.

She said that it is recognised that waiting lists are too high and they expect resources to be put in place to alleviate this.

She added that it was likely that the CQC would seek a follow up review in 2026.

She stated that she was adamant that B&NES has great staff and said that they had received compliments from Community Partners.

Councillor Liz Hardman thanked both the Cabinet Member and the Director of Adult Social Care for their assurances. She asked what work was being done to address the waiting lists for Occupational Therapy.

The Director of Adult Social Care replied that within one of the new care homes they had a designated space where people could come and see what equipment is now potentially available to them.

Councillor Hardman said it was good to hear that an Improvement Board is in place and that a list of priorities has been set. She asked if there was a timescale to report on any progress made.

The Director of Adult Social Care replied that they have to submit the Improvement Plan by 30^th April and that a further timeline will be provided in the next report to the Panel.

Kevin Burnett asked if B&NES was the only Local Authority to have issues with the new methodology of the inspection process and if any further review of the process was planned.

The Director of Adult Social Care replied that the process was now complete as they have been informed that they have no grounds for a review.

She confirmed that the Cabinet Member had written to Sir Julian Hartley, CQC Chief Executive on three separate occasions but no response had been received to date.

The Cabinet Member added that she felt that other Councils have had a similar experience regarding recent inspections and believed that the CQC were adapting them in some way.

Kevin Burnett asked if any resource implications had been identified following the inspection.

The Director of Adult Social Care replied that additional resources would be allocated towards Occupational Therapy and Adult Social Care Assessments.

She commended her robust management team and the fantastic Social Work staff.

Councillor Lesley Mansell commented on the importance of collecting data of the seldom heard members of our community and the need to support those residents with particular religions / beliefs. She added that was pleased to read that the Director of Adult Social Care represented the local authority in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) community group.

The Director of Adult Social Care replied that she was aware of the work to do regarding equality and inclusion. She added that she was proud of her role to champion LGBTQ+ for both service users and staff.

The Panel RESOLVED to:

i)  Acknowledge the CQC Local Authority Assessment report published with a rating of Requires Improvement.

ii)  Agree that an update report on the progress against the ASC Improvement Plan is submitted to Panel in September 2025.