Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Communities which provided Members with an overview of the Governments ‘Caring for our Future: Shared ambitions for care and support’ document.

The Board was advised that on 15 September 2011, the Government launched ‘Caring for our Future: Shared ambitions for care and support’ which was an engagement with people who used care and support services, carers, local councils, care providers, and the voluntary sector regarding the priorities for improving care and support.

The Board was further advised that Caring for our Future was an opportunity to bring together the recommendations from The Law Commission, The Commission on the Funding of Care and Support and The Government's Vision for Adult Social Care. 

It was reported that the recommendations from these Commissions would be used as a basis for exploring what the priorities for reform should be and the Board were invited to comment on the consultation to inform these future discussions.  In addition, it was reported that the Government had identified six areas where they believed there was the biggest potential to make improvements to the care and support system and which were highlighted in the report.

As part of Caring for our Future, the Government also wanted to hear people’s views on the recommendations made by the Commission on Funding of Care and Support and how these proposals should be assessed, including in relation to other potential priorities for improvement. The Commission’s recommendations presented a range of options, including the level of a cap and the contribution that people made to living costs in residential care, which could help to manage the system and its costs.

Furthermore, it was reported that as this was such an important issue for the Local Authority and its partners, in relation to the future provision of Adult Social Care, Halton wished to submit a local response to the consultation exercise and as such Halton Council Social Care Divisional Managers, Commissioners, Workforce Development staff, Key Health Stakeholders (5 Borough Partnership, Hospitals, PCT and Public Health), Domiciliary Care and Residential Care providers and Registered Housing Providers had been invited to comment on the consultation questions.

In addition, it was reported that opportunities had also been taken to raise the consultation with partners during events/meetings that were already scheduled e.g. the Health Partnership Board which had been held on 13^th October 2011.

A full list of consultation questions were set out in Appendix 1 to the report.  Further more, the Board was advised that a report on the response would be presented to the Executive Board at its 1 December 2011 meeting.  

The Board noted the financial implications and the potential challenges the Council faced as a result of the White Paper which would be published in Spring 2012 and which was set out in paragraphs 5.1 – 5.4 of the report.  In addition concern was raised regarding the extension of contracts in light of the potential changes.  It was reported that contracts  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34