Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 and 3, Trafford Town Hall, Talbot Road, Stretford, M32 0TH

Contact: Alexander Murray  Governance Officer

Items
No. Item

32.

ATTENDANCES

To note attendances, including Officers, and any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

The Chair introduced the meeting and noted that he was taking over the role of Chair of the Committee from Councillor Dr Barclay who had stepped down. The Chair asked that a letter be drafted thanking Dr Barclay for her work in leading the Committee.

 

33.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To receive and, if so determined, to agree as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2021.

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on the 17th November 2021. With reference to Item 29, Health Scrutiny Work Programme 2021/22, the Committee agreed that the topics outlined for review related to Item 28, Update on the Council’s Poverty Strategy and the Work of Trafford’s Poverty Action Group, rather than topics to be considered by the Committee.

 

RESOLVED: That subject to the amendment above, the minutes be agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

 

34.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members to give notice of any interest and the nature of that interest relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the adopted Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

Councillor Lloyd declared an interest in relation to her position as a trustee of the Trafford Domestic Abuse Services.

 

Councillor Taylor declared an interest in relation to her employment with the NHS.

 

35.

ADULT SOCIAL CARE UPDATE

To receive an update from the Executive Member for Adult Services.

35a

GENERAL UPDATE

Minutes:

The Committee received an update from the Corporate Director of Adult Services on Trafford Council’s Adult Social care position. The Committee were informed that the position within Trafford over the past 8 weeks had been the worst during the Pandemic so far. An Urgent Measures Decision Framework around allocation of resources had been introduced due to the demand on the adult social care sector from Covid-19. The framework had not been utilised and an update on whether the framework would be closed would be brought to the next meeting. It was recommended that if another wave of Covid-19 were to happen then the framework would become active again.

 

The Corporate Director of Adult Services discussed some key points that highlighted the progress made and the current position of the Council. In the second week of January, 70% of care homes had been closed to admissions compared with only 28% at the time of the meeting. In the RAG rating, which was sent to Greater Manchester on a weekly basis, Commissioned Provision was rated as Red, however it was highlighted that Trafford’s position was better than it had been. In-house services and social work services were now rated Amber. However, there was the possibility that more resources would be needed to deal with the increase in referrals.

 

Members asked about the social work service being rated amber and whether Trafford was looking to recruit more social workers to combat the issues. The Corporate Director of Adult Services stated that the workforce was already depleted and would likely be further affected by vaccination mandates for staff. The Committee was informed that the current agency provision was not adequate to meet the demand so a review would be undertaken to assess other options to recruit staff.

 

RESOLVED:

1. That the update be noted.

2. That an update on the Urgent Measures Decision Framework be provided to the Committee at the next meeting.

 

35b

WELFARE AND BENEFITS ADVICE pdf icon PDF 365 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received an update from the Director of Adult Services on the Information and Advice services which provided welfare and benefits advice. The Interim Strategic Lead was in attendance to answer questions from the Committee. Members found the overview of the commissioned providers and in house services very helpful and requested that it be added to the induction pack for new Councillors.

 

Members sought and received clarification on matters concerning the adequacy and capacity of current debt advice services, the levels of referrals, and the appointment of a trainee debt specialist.

The Chair noted that the services were due to come to an end shortly and asked what the position of those contracts was. The Director of Adults Services confirmed that the contracts had been agreed to be extended.

 

RESOLVED:

1)    That the content of the report be noted.

2)    That the overview of commissioned providers be added to the new Councillor induction pack.

 

36.

COUNCIL'S ROLE AS A GATEWAY TO SECURING HOUSING FOR RESIDENTS INCLUDING HOMELESS RESIDENTS

To consider a report from the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report from the Director of Growth and Regulatory Services on the Council’s role as a gateway to securing housing for residents including homeless residents. The report focused on the support Trafford had in place for affordable housing and the process for allocating the stock held by the Council’s partners. It was outlined that housing in Trafford came with significantly higher costs compared with the rest of Greater Manchester with house prices and rental prices often exceeding allowances.

 

The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services outlined how the allocation system operated on 5 bands based on an individual’s circumstances, with the higher bands giving more chance of gaining housing. It was noted that Trafford Council was dependent on their partners as the Council no longer held any housing stock. Affordable housing was also provided through third parties such as Trafford Housing Trust and Irwell Valley.

 

The main issues identified within the report related to properties being too small to accommodate families, prevention of homelessness, and the number of people currently on the waiting list.

 

Members noted that the report was useful in highlighting the issues Trafford faced with housing. Members sought and received clarification on matters concerning the number of people on the waiting list for housing compared with how many on that list were allocated housing, how the allocation policy worked, how often the waiting list was refreshed, and the relationship Trafford Council had with the housing providers.

 

RESOLVED: That the content of the report be noted.

 

37.

INTEGRATED CARE SYSTEM LOCALITY PROGRAMME UPDATE

To consider the attached report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Acting Joint Accountable Officers for Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on progress made in advance of the establishment of the Greater Manchester Integrated Care System (GM ICS) in April 2022.

 

The Acting Joint Accountable Officer and the Health and Social Care Programme Director were in attendance to present the content of the report and answer the questions of the Committee.

 

Officers informed the Committee that the establishment of the Integrated Care Systems had been delayed nationally by 12 weeks. This meant that the Integrated Care Board (ICB) would be established on 1st July instead of 1st April 2022. It was noted that the risk of the delay meant more staff would be lost due to the level of uncertainty. Notice had been given to the CCG Board members as the Board was to be disestablished in April, the officers who were supporting the CCG Board would be offered employment elsewhere within the NHS but were at risk of redundancy.

 

To fulfil statutory duties between April and June, a smaller Governing body was to be put in place. As outlined in the report, the shadow arrangements would be in place and run in parallel with the ICB to enable the board to operate effectively from July 2022.

 

The Health and Social Care Programme Director highlighted the key points from the report. The One System Locality Board had agreed a terms of reference, which was to be formalised in March to enable the establishment of relationships with provider organisations.

 

Members raised concerns around how likely further delays were but officers assured the Committee it was unlikely there would be any further delay. Concern was also raised regarding how the Public Health Team would be consulted as part of the process. In response the Acting Joint Accountable Officer outlined how the Public Health Team would feed into the ICB. However, it was noted that the Public Health Team would not report directly to the ICB.

 

Members sought and received clarification on matters concerning how the changes would be communicated. The Health and Social Care Programme Director noted that some bitesize sessions had been held but would consider holding more in the future. There was a social media platform being utilised and that would continue to be used throughout the process. It was noted that messaging should be the same across the whole of Greater Manchester and there was a need to ensure that messages were in an accessible format.

 

RESOLVED: That the content of the report be noted.

 

38.

COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 316 KB

To discuss the Committee work programme and suggest items for future meetings.

Minutes:

The Committee suggested the following topics for review:

·       Access to GP’s

·       Risk of GP’s failing

·       Delays in secondary care

·       Health inequalities in relation to Diabetes

 

RESOLVED: That the suggested topics be noted and added to the work programme.