Web Agenda/Minutes Summary Document

Meeting Name:
Adult, Community Services and Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel

Meeting Date:
12/14/2009 Pick

Meeting Time:


Location:


Sub Committee / User Forum etc (if required):




Members Present:

Non-Members Present:

Confidentiality: Part I


Document Type: Agenda


Document Status: Final

COUNCILLOR MEADOWCROFT (CHAIRMAN)
COUNCILLOR MRS ENDACOTT (VICE-CHAIRMAN)
COUNCILLORS BASKERVILLE, MRS EVANS, LENTON, MAJEED, MRS NAPIER, MRS PROCTOR & MRS YONG

SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS
COUNCILLORS HERDSON, MRS HOWES, MRS KEMP, MRS LUXTON, PENFOLD & D. WILSON

ITEM	SUBJECT	WARD	PAGE NO
1	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE To receive any apologies for absence
2	DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST To receive Declarations of Interests from Members of the Panel in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.		-
3	MINUTES To confirm the Part I Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 9 November 2009.	All	i-v
4	ANNUAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF ADULT SOCIAL CARE BY THE CARE QUALITY COMMISSION (CQC) To consider the report being submitted to Cabinet on 17 December 2009 on the annual performance assessment of adult social care by the Care Quality Commission.		1
5	ADULT SERVICES CUSTOMER CARE ANNUAL REPORT 2008/2009 ADULT AND COMMUNITY DIRECTORATE To note the new Adult Social Care complaints process and to receive the level and nature of the complaints and compliments received by Adult Services, Adult and Community Directorate during the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009.	All	23
6	SERVICE MONITORING REPORT To consider activity within the Adult, Community Services and Health services during the period to November 2009.	All	29
7	LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 – EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC To consider passing the following resolution:- “That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 8 and 9 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"	-	-

i) The report and this year’s Performance Rating be noted.

ii) The Head of Adult Services be asked to put in place the action plan to address those areas of the service deemed to be ‘areas for development’ (see Appendix 3).

What will be different for residents as a result of this decision?

Improved services for older people, those with disabilities and other vulnerable adults. This will impact on their quality of life and provide an improved range of service for some of the most vulnerable in the community.

Performing poorly – not delivering the minimum requirements for people
Performing adequately – only delivering the minimum requirements for people
Performing well – consistently delivering above the minimum requirements for people
Performing excellently – overall delivering well above the minimum requirements for people

Ongoing routine business meetings between the Council and the CQC
An annual self-assessment submitted by the Council
2008/09 performance indicators
An Annual Review Meeting (which was held in July 09) that examined evidence from both the self-assessment and the performance indicators
The outcome of the CQC inspection that took place in June of this year
The subsequent Performance Assessment Notebook (PAN), containing evidence and emerging hypotheses, which was shared with the Council after the Annual Review Meeting
The final performance ratings letter, sent to the Council under embargo in October 2009 (to provide an opportunity to comment before the publication of the final version on 4 December 2009).

Areas for judgement	Grade awarded
Delivering Outcomes – Overall Windsor and Maidenhead are performing:
Outcome 1 - Improved health and emotional well-being	Excellent
Outcome 2 - Improved quality of life	Well
Outcome 3 - Making a positive contribution	Well
Outcome 4 - Increased choice and control	Well
Outcome 5 - Freedom from discrimination and harassment	Well
Outcome 6 - Economic well-being	Well
Outcome 7 - Maintaining personal dignity and respect	Adequately
Performance Rating	Performing well

The council works effectively to ensure that the rate of delayed discharges from hospital for which the council is responsible, is relatively low.
The Short Term Support and Rehabilitation Service enables people to rehabilitate quickly and in familiar environments.
The council works well with partners and voluntary organisations to support people who use services and their carers.
The council has undertaken a dignity audit and is developing a dignity action plan to improve people’s experiences of the council.
The council responds promptly when it receives safeguarding referrals and takes appropriate action to prevent people being at further risk.
There has been some innovative work within the council to promote the respect of people’s dignity, including a dignity audit, the development of a council wide Dignity Action Plan and Dignity Charter and dignity Challenge Cards for all providers.

The CQC National Report, released on December 3^rd, highlights the responsibilities councils have for commissioning good quality residential and home care, which are also registered by CQC and receive ratings. Local authorities are now able to use a CQC data set to monitor ratings and standards. In RBWM there is a contracts monitoring team which proactively does this and works closely with providers to where quality issues are raised and if there are safeguarding concerns, an investigation will be carried out according to the safeguarding procedure. RBWM commissions, or has placements with 44 residential nursing care homes in the RBWM area. Fifteen are rated excellent, 26 good and 3 adequate. We commission 14 home care agencies 2 of which are rated as excellent, 11 good and 1 adequate. The CQC comment in the report on commissioning by RBWM states “The council has worked effectively with partners and other authorities to commission services across a range of service groups………The council effectively uses regulatory information from the Care Quality Commission to inform placement decisions and to identify the circumstances when they would intervene and seek improvement. When commissioning care services that are regulated by the CQC, the council mainly uses services that are rated as good or excellent”.

	Option	Comments	Financial Implications
	1. That Members note the report and ask the Head of Adult Services to implement an action plan	Some areas for improvement would be difficult to address within the Council’s current budgetary position	Any improvements would need to be achieved from within existing financial resources
	2. Do nothing	This is not an option as the performance ratings are part of the overall Comprehensive Area Assessment arrangements

Financial	Legal	Human Rights Act	Planning	Sustainable Development	Diversity & Equality
Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A


Background Papers: None

What the Council does well	What the Council needs to improve
Outcome 1 – Improved health and emotional well-being
The council works effectively to ensure that the rate of delayed discharges from hospital, for which the council is responsible, is relatively low. The Short Term Support and Rehabilitation Service enables people to rehabilitate quickly and in familiar environments. The council has made excellent progress in improving the number of people who use services that receive a review. The council has worked effectively to maintain people’s mobility through the SMILE programme.	The council must ensure that their plans to introduce individual budgets are effectively implemented.
Outcome 2 – Improved quality of life
The council works well with partners and voluntary organisations to support people who use services and their carers.	The council should effectively work with partners to improve waiting times for major adaptations so that people’s independence is not put at risk. The council should continue it’s work to further promote Telecare so that assistance can be provided to people at an earlier and more appropriate stage.
Outcome 3 – Making a positive contribution
The council works well with voluntary organisations to support people to engage with them to help make improvements to services. Workers with disabilities who work for the council interact with the public as part of their work. Advocacy is now available to all people within residential services and the community including self-funders. The council has acted upon the views of service users in the re-tendering and development of services.	The council should, through it’s own work and work with voluntary organisations ensure greater engagement with minority communities and hard to reach groups so that they are involved in influencing the development of services.
Outcome 4 – Increased choice and control
The council gives advice and information to people to empower them to make choices over the services that they receive. The council places great importance on and values the personal circumstances and wishes of individuals. The council works corporately to develop services and housing options that give greater choices and improves outcomes for service users and their carers.	The council needs to ensure that there is increased awareness among older people that Personal Budgets and Direct Payments can give them greater control to make informed choices about the care and support they receive. The council needs to consider if it’s current brokerage arrangements to support older people with the management of Personal Budgets and Direct Payments are sufficient to give confidence to people to manage their own care and support options. The council should accelerate the timeliness of social care assessment for all service users.
Outcome 5 – Freedom from discrimination and harassment
All council staff have received training on discrimination and harassment. The council has undertaken a dignity audit and is developing a dignity action plan to improve people’s experiences of the council. The council works with voluntary organisations to give information to people to prevent harassment and to make them feel safe in their own homes. The council works with partners so that people who may need services and support and their carers become known to the council and are offered support and advice.	The council needs to have more effective links with minority groups to ensure that there is fair access to services.
Outcome 6 – Economic well-being
The council is leading by example by employment of people with disabilities and the overall numbers of people with learning disabilities gaining employment are very high. The council’s provision of information and advice initiatives have had a significant impact on enabling people to claim the benefits to which they are entitled.
Outcome 7 – Maintaining personal dignity and respect
The council responds promptly when it receives safeguarding referrals and takes appropriate action to prevent people being at further risk. There has been some innovative work within the council to promote the respect of people’s dignity, including a dignity audit, the development of a council wide Dignity Action Plan and Dignity Charter and dignity Challenge Cards for all providers.	The council needs to address the safeguarding recommendations in the June 2009 CQC Service Inspection. The council needs to ensure that people who have been involved in the safeguarding process are able to give feedback to the council so that this influences the development of safeguarding within the Royal Borough. The council needs to work with it’s partners on the Safeguarding Board to raise public awareness of protecting adults from all forms of abuse. The council should make effective use of it’s monitoring and continue it’s work to provide more safeguarding training for staff working in care services where staff are not employed by the council. The council should ensure that there is not an under reporting of safeguarding referrals for people who self-fund their residential care.

Annual Performance Assessment Report 2008/2009 Adult Social Care Services

Council Name:	Windsor and Maidenhead
This report is a summary of the performance of how the council promotes adult social care outcomes for people in the council area. The overall grade for performance is combined from the grades given for the individual outcomes. There is a brief description below – see Grading for Adult Social Care Outcomes 2008/09 in the Performance Assessment Guide web address below, for more detail. Poorly performing – not delivering the minimum requirements for people Performing adequately – only delivering the minimum requirements for people Performing well – consistently delivering above the minimum requirements for people Performing excellently- overall delivering well above the minimum requirements for people We also make a written assessment about Leadership and Commissioning and use of resources Information on these additional areas can be found in the outcomes framework To see the outcomes framework please go to our web site: Outcomes framework You will also find an explanation of terms used in the report in the glossary on the web site.
Delivering Outcomes Assessment Overall Windsor & Maidenhead council is performing:		Well
Outcome 1: Improved health and emotional well–being		The council is performing:	Excellent
Outcome 2: Improved quality of life		The council is performing:	Well
Outcome 3: Making a positive contribution		The council is performing:	Well
Outcome 4: Increased choice and control		The council is performing:	Well
Outcome 5: Freedom from discrimination and harassment		The council is performing:	Well
Outcome 6: Economic well-being		The council is performing:	Well
Outcome 7: Maintaining personal dignity and respect		The council is performing:	Adequately

Assessment of Leadership and Commissioning and use of resources

What the council does well.

The council works effectively to ensure that the rate of delayed discharges from hospital, for which the council is responsible, is relatively low.
The Short Term Support & Rehabilitation Service enables people to re-habilitate quickly and in familiar environments.
The council has made excellent progress in improving the number of people who use services that receive a review.
The council has worked effectively to maintain people’s mobility through the SMILE programme.

The council must ensure that their plans to introduce individual budgets are effectively implemented.

What the council does well.

The council works well with partners and voluntary organisations to support people who use services and their carers.

The council should effectively work with partners to improve waiting times for major adaptations so that people’s independence is not put at risk.
The council should continue its work to further promote Telecare so that assistance can be provided to people at an earlier and more appropriate stage.

What the council does well.

The council works well with voluntary organisations to support people to engage with them to help make improvements to services.
Workers with disabilities who work for the council interact with the public as part of their work.
Advocacy is now available to all people within residential services and the community, including self funders.
The council has acted upon the views of service users in the re-tendering and development of services.

The council should, through its own work and work with voluntary organisations ensure greater engagement with minority communities and hard to reach groups so that they are involved in influencing the development of services.

What the council does well.

The council gives advice and information to people to empower them to make choices over the services that they receive.
The council places great importance on and values the personal circumstances and wishes of individuals.
The council works corporately to develop services and housing options that give greater choices and improves outcomes for service users and their carers.

The council needs to ensure that there is increased awareness among older people that Personal Budgets and Direct Payments can give them greater control to make informed choices about the care and support they receive.
The council needs to consider if its current brokerage arrangements to support older people with the management of Personal Budgets and Direct Payments are sufficient to give confidence to people to manage their own care and support options.
The council should accelerate the timeliness of social care assessment for all service users.

What the council does well.

All council staff have received training on discrimination and harassment.
The council has undertaken a dignity audit and is developing a dignity action plan to improve people’s experiences of the council.
The council works with voluntary organisations to give information to people to prevent harassment and to make them feel safe in their own homes.
The council works with partners so that people who may need services and support and their carers become known to the council and are offered support and advice.

The council needs to have more effective links with minority groups to ensure that there is fair access to services.

What the council does well.

The council is leading by example by the employment of people with disabilities and the overall numbers of people with learning disabilities gaining employment are very high.
The council’s provision of information and advice initiatives have had a significant impact on enabling people to claim the benefits to which they are entitled.

What the council does well.

The council responds promptly when it receives safeguarding referrals and takes appropriate action to prevent people being at further risk.
There has been some innovative work within the council to promote the respect of people’s dignity, including a dignity audit, the development of a council wide Dignity Action Plan and Dignity Charter and dignity Challenge Cards for all providers.

The council needs to address the safeguarding recommendations in the June 2009 CQC Service Inspection.
The council needs to ensure that people who have been involved in the safeguarding process are able to give feedback to the council so that this influences the development of safeguarding within the Royal Borough.
The council needs to work with its partners on the Safeguarding Board to raise public awareness of protecting adults from all forms of abuse.
The council should make effective use of its monitoring and continue its work to provide more safeguarding training for staff working in care services where staff are not employed by the council.
The council should ensure that there is not an under reporting of safeguarding referrals for people who self fund their residential care.

Ref	Outcome	Action (s) Required	By When	Lead Responsibility	Resource Implications	Outcome targets	Risk Assessment (with controls)
	Improved Health and Emotional Well-Being
1	The council should ensure that their plans to introduce individual budgets are effectively implemented.	Introduction of Self Directed Support	1st Feb 2010	Allan Brown, Head of Adult Services	Within existing budgets	25 new users receive individual budgets by 31st March.	Low
	Improved Quality of Life
1	The council should effectively work with partners to improve waiting times for major adaptations so that people’s independence is not put at risk.	Review of current working arrangements.	30th June 2010	Diana Wade-Smith, Principal OT.	Within existing resources.	Waiting times decrease.	Medium
2	The council should continue it’s work to further promote Telecare so that assistance can be provided to people at an earlier and more appropriate stage.	Continue emphasis being placed on the benefits of Telecare.	30th June 2010	Diana Wade-Smith, Principal OT.	Within existing resources.	Number of people using Telecare increase by 10%.	Low
	Making a positive contribution
1	The council should through it’s own work and work with voluntary organisations ensure greater engagement with minority communities and hard to reach groups so that they are involved in influencing the development of services.	Greater involvement with voluntary organisation involved in working with BME groups.	30th June 2010	Allan Brown, Head of Adult Services	Within existing resources.	Voluntary organisations respond to and influence new development.
	Increased choice and control
1	The council needs to ensure that there is increased awareness among older people that Personal Budgets and Direct Payments can give them greater control to make informed choices about the care and support they receive.	Awareness raising through the launch of “My Care, My Choice”.	30th June 2010	John Scaife, Joint Commissioning Manager	Within existing resources.	Number of people receiving a personal budget increases.	Low
2	The council needs to consider if it’s current brokerage arrangements to support older people with the management of Personal Budgets and Direct Payments are sufficient to give confidence to people to manage their own care and support options.	The establishment of care brokerage arrangements within the Self Directed Support arrangements.	30th June 2010	Allan Brown, Head of Adult Services	Within existing resources.	A specialist care brokerage service is available.	Low
3	The council should accelerate the timeliness of social care assessment for all service users.	A review of the assessment processes to increase efficiency.	31st March 2010	Allan Brown, Head of Adult Services	Within existing resources.	Performance indicator improves.	Low
	Freedom from discrimination and harassment
1	The council needs to have more effective links with minority groups to ensure that there is a fair access to service.	See Outcome 3.1
	Maintaining dignity and respect
1	The council needs to address the safeguarding recommendations in the June 2009 CQC Service Inspection.	Implementation of the Action Plan.	31st March 2010	Allan Brown, Head of Adult Services	Within existing resources.	See Inspection Action plan.	Low
2	The council needs to ensure that people who have been involved in the safeguarding process are able to give feedback to the council so that this influences the development of safeguarding within the Royal Borough.	Undertake a survey and review of other people who have been involved in order to, where possible, give their views.	31st March 2010	Andrew Small, Safeguarding Manager with Sue Bestjan, Independent Chair		50% of people have been through the adult safeguarding process, provide details of their experience which is reported to the Board, Overview and Scrutiny and Annual Report.
3	The council needs to work with it’s partners on the Safeguarding Board to raise public awareness of protecting adults from all forms of abuse.	Increase awareness through publicity campaign.	30th June 2010	Andrew Small, Safeguarding Manager
4	The council should make effective use of it’s monitoring and continue it’s work to provide more safeguarding training for staff working in care services where staff are not employed by the council.	Ensure that training opportunities are made available to the independent sector.	30th June 2010	Melanie Edridge, Training Manager	Within existing resources.	Number of people trained increase by 10%.	Low
5	The council should ensure that there is not an under reporting of safeguarding referrals for people who self fund their residential care.

Date: 14^th December 2009

Member Reporting: Councillor Dudley

Contact Officer(s): Libby Dineley 01628 796721

Wards Affected: All

To inform Members about the new Adult Social Care complaints process and the level and nature of the complaints and compliments received by Adult Services, Adult and Community Directorate during the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009.

2. RECOMMENDATION:

That Members note information presented about the new Adult Social Care complaints process (which came in to effect on the 1^st April 2009) and the levels of complaints and compliments detailed in parts one and two of this report.


3. SUPPORTING INFORMATION

3.1 As stated in the last Annual Report, the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 requires the operation of the complaints procedure to be reported to Members. The information covered should be anonymised information about the numbers and types of complaints and compliments received.

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) view is that more complaints should be recorded, with these being resolved at stage 1 of the process. This identifies any trends and also indicates that service users’ concerns are being listened to and acted on.

In addition to this Annual Report, complaints are monitored by

Monthly scorecards
Monthly reporting to the Policy and Performance Unit
Quarterly meetings with the Adult and Community DMT


Recommendations arising from complaints are monitored for implementation.

3.2 Objectives of the Complaints Procedure

The legislation and guidance states that the objectives of the procedure are:

· Accessible and easy to understand
· Provide a strong problem-solving element
· Speedy
· Guarantee a considered response
· Provide information on how policies translate into practice
· Highlight areas where the authority should be more responsive to the needs of individuals and the community.

3.6 Breakdown of Compliments and Complaints Received

During the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 the following have been notified to the Customer Care Co-ordinator.


(i) Compliments

43 compliments were notified to the Customer Care Co-ordinator as having been received in Adult Services, excluding home care. The compliments are mostly in relation to quality of service with some highlighting individual staff members.

The majority of compliments are received in the comments section of service users' care plans and assessment summaries, with the remaining number received in letters and cards from service users or their families. A breakdown by team is in Part 2 of this report.


(ii) Complaints

Stage	Number	Cost
Stage 1	37
Stage 2	2	£8,043.51
Stage 3	0
Overall Cost of Adult Services Complaints for the reporting year 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009		£8,043.51

07/08 Stage	Number	Cost	06/07 Stage	Number	Cost
Stage 1	60		Stage 1	77
Stage 2	3	£4,615.83	Stage 2	5	£8,324
Stage 3	2	£3,126.67	Stage 3	0	0
Overall Cost for 07/08		£7,742.50	Overall Cost for 06/07		£8,324

1. Complaints can be received in writing, by email, telephone or in person.
(Complaints received verbally that can be resolved to the complainants satisfaction either straight away, or by the following working day, do not count as a complaint under the new legislation.)

2. If a complaint cannot be resolved straight away, or was received in writing, the complainant will receive an acknowledgment of their complaint within three working days.

3. We will offer to discuss the complaint with the complainant, at a time to be agreed with the complainant. We will listen to their concerns and agree with them an action plan for their complaint. This will include:
I. The agreed complaint
II. The agreed desired outcome for the complaint (desired outcomes need to be agreed based on if our policies, procedures and eligibility criteria allow this and if it is fair and legal)
III. Who will be responding to the complaint
IV. A time frame for the response

Although the new legislation does not stipulate a timescale for responses, we continue with the aim to respond to most complaints within 10 to 20 working days.

Date: 17 December 2009

Member Reporting: Councillor Kellaway

Contact Officer(s): Andrew Brooker, Head of Finance, x6341

Wards affected: All

1. SUMMARY

1.1 This report reviews the Royal Borough’s current projected pattern of spend against its approved estimate. Appended are the Strategic Directors report on their relative performance.

3.3 The mechanism of “grazing” budgets to take known savings into reserves continues. To date a net £139k has been transferred. There are, however, some anticipated additional costs which managers are asked to reduce.

1.2 Reserves at the year-end are anticipated to be £5.702m. General Reserves balances are expected to be £4.363m with a total of £1.339m being held in the Economic Contingency Reserve. This compares with a position at the start of the year of £5.202m in General Reserves (after carry forwards) and £1.2m in the economic contingency.

1.3 There has been £996k slippage of the capital programme into 2010/11 but the remaining schemes totalling £53.142m are on target for 2009-10.

2. RECOMMENDATION: That:

i) This month’s movements, £38k, in the revenue budget contained in paragraph 3.2 be approved.

ii) The provisional revenue and capital outturn figures be noted, and the slippage of £996k as detailed in Appendix C be approved.

iii) That Directors work with Lead members to develop proposals to contain expenditure within current budget limits.


What will be different for residents as a result of this decision?

The Council is responsible for ensuring that it has put in place the proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources. If the management of services and their budgets are not regularly reviewed, any and all services for residents could be adversely affected and Council Tax levels may be affected.

3.1 Budget Movements

3.2 There have been a number of budget movements since the 1^st April 2009. A summary of the movements approved up to the last Cabinet meeting, and details of movements recommended for approval at this Cabinet meeting are set out below:

		£'000
	Original Budget	87,082
1	Changes Approved up to November Cabinet	1,380
	Changes Recommended for December Cabinet
2	Supplementary Estimate for additional Staffing requirements within Revenue & Benefits	33
3	Allocation of Healthy Schools Enhancement Model - ABG	6
4	Other	(1)
	Allocation from Development Fund
	Allocation from Economic Contingency Reserve
	The following areas are under economic pressure. They will be kept under review
	for the next few months. However, it may be necessary to draw down on budget
	support in the longer term. – Housing Benefits, Council Tax, Land Charges.
	Total changes for December Cabinet	38
	New Service Expenditure Budget	88,500

3.4 Where savings are uncertain this is noted on the revenue summary and kept under review for a period of time (typically three months). If, during that time, it is clear that there is indeed a definite saving the agreed sum is extracted to the contingency fund.

3.5 Directors have reassessed their anticipated spend based on current activity and overall costs are expected to be £1.460m greater (last month: £1.107m greater) than the approved estimate. Each Director has summarised their service pressures in Appendix A. However the key pressure arises from Children’s Services – Safeguarding Children. Total (+)£1,304k. This is due to additional residential care costs and the current unprecedented demand for foster care placements.

4. OVERALL POSITION

General Reserves are expected to stand at £4.363m. Including the contingency reserves, the overall reserves position is therefore £5.702m. This compares to an overall reserves position last month of £5.562m and £6.402m at the start of the year.

A VAT claim is progressing as a result of the ruling by the House of Lords in the Fleming and Conde Nast case. To date we have received £820k. The Area Based Grant has been increased by £11k. It is recommended that a contribution of £300k be made to the Development Fund.

	Development Fund	Contingency Reserve
Opening Balance	2,453	1,200
Movements In	300	1,324
Movements Out	-80	-1,185
Closing Balance	2,673	1,339

5. CAPITAL

5.1 Capital Budget Movements

The approved 2009-10 capital budget stands at £54.614m.

Exp Inc Net
£'000 £'000 £'000
Approved Budget November 2009 54,614 (44,442) 10,172
Variances identified (476) 598 122
Slippage to 2010/11 (996) 926 (70)
Projected capital programme 2009/2010 53,142 (42,918) 10,224
Variances to November are (-)£476k compared to (-)£639k last month.

A further (+)£996k (£543k last month) of slippage has accrued in November 2009 (details in Appendix C) and authority is sought to slip this to 2010-11.

5.2 Overall Programme Status

The project statistics show the following position as at the end of November 2009. For comparison purposes the figures for November 2008 are also shown:

09-10 08-09
Number of Schemes in Programme 520 466
Yet to Start 9% 8%
In Progress 39% 52%
(Of which Ongoing Annual Programmes (7%) (6%)
e.g. Disabled Facilities Grant)
Completed 30% 26%
Devolved Formula Capital Grant schemes 15% 14%

6. OPTIONS AVAILABLE AND RISK ASSESSMENT

6.1 Options

	Option	Comments	Financial Implications
	1. Accept the report	Directors have a responsibility for managing their Services within the Budget approved by Council. Cabinet has limited power to vary those budgets within the overall budget and policy framework or to re-define the priorities agreed when the budget was approved. Cabinet does however have responsibility for considering the impact on future year’s budgets of the decisions taken.	Revenue Capital
	2. Reject the report	This is not an option as The Local Government Act 2003 requires the Royal Borough to monitor its financial position	Revenue Capital

Risk assessments are carried out as a matter of course for the delivery of individual services. The main Financial risks are included on the Council’s Risk Register. The removal of budget from Directors reduces their flexibility when cost pressures arise during the year. In mitigation, where manager are unable to contain costs within revised budget provisions they can bid against the contingency pool containing the budget reduction.

The Councils Financial Strategy outlines the measures available to it in the event of a series of events that lead to significant projected budget variances being reported.

7. CONSULTATIONS CARRIED OUT

No specific consultation is carried out as this is a regular monitoring report

8. COMMENTS FROM THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY PANEL

Relevant components of this report will be considered by each of the four scrutiny panels as part of their next round of meetings.

9. IMPLICATIONS

The following implications have been addressed where indicated below.

 Meetings 091214 Acshosp Service Monitoring