The report is to follow (and is now published).

The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director Adult Social Services, which sought to provide an assurance update on progress made in responding to issues arising from Internal Audit reports of Adults Social Care and the planned actions to address areas of risk.

Many of the planned actions agreed in response to audit work were being delivered through the Adults Social Care Improvement Programme. This Programme  incorporated findings and areas for improvement identified through audit work as well as a range of other sources including management review, partner engagement and staff feedback.  This included the following areas:-

·                Transition to Adult Services;

·                Homecare Contracts

·                Disability Supported Accommodation Services Quality Assurance (QA)

·                Management Oversight and Supervisions

·                Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DolS); and

·                Mental Health Casework Compliance.

The Programme was focused on ensuring the basics were in place for adult social care to deliver high quality services for Manchester residents and to successfully deliver health and social care reform and integration.  The programme plan for this work had been developed based on the outcomes of diagnostic work and the internal audits completed. The programme included workstreams on:-

·                Assessment function;

·                Safeguarding and Quality Assurance functions;

·                Provider services;

·                Workforce skill and capacity;

·                Adult social care commissioning; and

·                Front Door offer.

The Programme was governed by the Adult Social Care Improvement Board, chaired by the Executive Director of Adult Social Services and comprised of senior officers from the service and MLCO with support from the corporate core. The Board reported to the MLCO Executive through the Executive Director of Adult Social Services, and provided assurance to the Council’s Strategic Management Team and the MHCC Executive on a quarterly basis.

The report went on to detail the progress to date of a number of key priorities.

The Chair invited questions from the Committee.

A Member commented that it was not clear what recommendations identified by Internal Audit were still outstanding and when and how these would be resolved.  In response, the Executive Director Adult Social Services assured the Committee that the Improvement Programme would address all outstanding recommendations and that this would be monitored by both the Council’s Senior Management Team and the MLCO Executive.  The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer also commented that an update report on the outstanding recommendations was due to come before the Committee in November.

The Committee queried whether the new Liquid Logic software provided a method for monitoring supervisions and also whether the consultation with staff on the proposal of weekend working to increase the impact of the reablement service was genuine.

It was reported that the Executive Director Adult Social Services had reviewed the Supervisions Policy and how it fitted with other Council policies and following the appointment of 12 Neighbourhood Team managers, these supervisions were now being undertaken.  It was also reported that the consultation with staff on improvements to the reablement service were genuine and work was ongoing with staff and Trade Unions to identify suitable solutions.

A Member commented on the overuse of acronyms within the report; questioned whether the additional number of posts that were being created could be financed from the £4.225million that was being invested into the service to support delivery of the improvement programme; sought clarification as to how the Quality Assurance approach was being embedded, and with reference to Mental Health Casework Compliance, queried how the Council was able to have internal audit of systems that it did not own or manage.

The Executive Director Adult Social Services noted the point made around the overuse of acronyms, acknowledging that the report was complex and that this would be looked at in future reports.  It was explained that the total number of posts being created would be funded from a number of funding streams in addition to the £4.225million that the Council had invested.  In terms of quality assurance, it was explained that there had been a reduction in the number of staff each manager had responsibility for to ensure that this was being embedded within teams and in terms of Mental Health Casework Compliance, it was explained that whilst the Council did not directly employ Mental Health Supervisors, it did have a statutory duty to deliver a Mental Health service and worked closely with Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust (GMMHFT) who delivered this on behalf of the Council. From a Council perspective, any recommendations for improvement to this service that Internal Audit identified would be directed to the Executive Director Adult Social Services who would then engage with GMMHFT.

The Executive Member for Adult Health and Wellbeing commented that she strongly believed the role of Audit was to reassure the Council that all aspects of work and service delivery were being delivered effectively and efficiently and acknowledged that that the governance of the integration of health services with the Council was complex.

In relation to a query on recruitment to the Disability Supported Accommodation Service, it was explained that new support co-ordinators had been recruited.

The Executive Director Adult Social Services advised that BiA’s stood for Best Interest Assessors in terms of Safeguarding and DoLS and that in relation to recruitment to safeguarding positions 13 BiA’s had been recruited.

It was commented that a progress table of the outstanding recommendations should be included in the report that was due to come before the Committee in November as well as some form of assurance mapping.

The view of the Council’s External Auditors was sought and it was noted that the External Auditors role was to consider the governance arrangements of the Council and they had an assurance of the overall arrangements.

Decision

The Committee note the actions being taken through the Adults Social Care

Improvement Programme.