To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Del Campo and Tony Wilson.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 19^th January 2023.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 19^th January 2023 were approved as a true and accurate record.

This item will look to update the Panel on progress of the FUEL (Feed Ur Everyday Lives) project. The programme provides healthy food and enriching activities during school holidays to children who are eligible for benefits related free school meals.

Lin Ferguson, Executive Director of Children’s Services and Education, introduced the item and said that the Holiday Activity and Food Programme was to provide fun activities and nutritious food for disadvantaged young people. The programme was referred to as FUEL in RBWM (Feed Ur Everyday Lives), which was a choice made by the young people who were part of the programme.

Danny Gomm, Family Hub Manager, provided an update on the programme in 2022. Due to the success of the programme in 2021, it was extended for a further three years until 2024. Local authorities were able to use up to 15% of their funding to provide activities for children who were not in receipt of free school meals but could benefit from being part of the programme. The scheme was run for 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, for 4 weeks in the summer, 1 week at Easter and 1 week at Christmas. The objectives of FUEL included:

·         To eat more healthy.

·         To be more active.

·         To take part in engaging and enriching activities.

·         To be safe and not feel isolated.

·         To have a greater knowledge of health and nutrition.

·         To have a greater knowledge of support services available.

Danny Gomm said that RBWM had been initially allocated £296,260 to deliver the FUEL programme in 2022. There had been an increase in the number of children receiving free school meals compared to the previous year, therefore RBWM were allocated an addition £13,860 which took the total allocation to £310,120. A FUEL coordinator had been recruited to oversee the day to day running of the programme. Extended eligibility of the programme included children in care, refugees, children with an education health and care plan, and young carers. It was important that there was no stigma and every effort was put in to ensuring that FUEL funded children were not highlighted to other children. For some activities, RBWM had provided provision for 5 days a week with some providers as missing out on a key day was not in the best interests of the children. Approximately 95% of the spaces available to children were booked, however there were a number of no shows or cancellations due to illness. A total of 832 individual children had attended the programme across 2022. Feedback had been very positive from families, with at least a 4 out of 5 rating being achieved on the booking process, staff, food and the activities on offer. Over 8,300 spaces had been provided to families and travel had also been provided for family hub run offsite trips. Attendance rates had been high for the summer and Christmas programmes, with some additional space being booked with some providers due to high demand.

Danny Gomm considered some of the challenges of the programme:

·         The attendance rates of those children that had booked onto sessions was still lower than hoped for.

·         The number of eligible children was known but the demand for spaces was not.

·         More provision was needed for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

To receive an update on the latest developments on adult social care reforms.

Kevin McDaniel reminded the Panel that last summer he had explained that some major adult social care reforms were planned, this item was an update on these reforms. A significant number of the reforms had been paused, the original launch date had been October 2024 but this had now been pushed back to October 2025. The pause delayed the introduction of a lifetime spending cap, the provision of an online care account for each resident and an increase in the top threshold of assets from £23,000 to £100,000. The introduction of an inspectorate for adult social care would now be a phased introduction from April 2023.

The Care Quality Commission would start by reviewing publicly available data and published documentary evidence to publish a report at an overall national level. From September, the Care Quality Commission planned to complete an initial formal assessment for all local authorities to establish a starting point. Formal assessments would not include observations and would involve data collection in the form of interviews and case tracking. There were four main themes:

·         Working with people

·         Providing support

·         Ensuring safety

·         Leadership

RBWM had a quality assurance working group meeting monthly to provide assurance using the framework as a guide. Audits were taking place in Optalis and a monthly Exec Summary was provided to the Director of Adult Social Care to oversee progress. Using the self-assessment framework, surveys were being sent to all Optalis staff to complete. Theme by theme staff were also being asked to rate practise. This data would be used to build a report which would be ready internally in September, the intention was to repeat this process each quarter to show highlighted areas of work and make changes.

Councillor C Da Costa welcomed the reforms and the plans that RBWM had in place, she felt that it would be good for residents. She said that the reforms were at a high level, how would this affect a carer going to a residents home on a day to day basis.

Kevin McDaniel said that a number of adult social care staff were employed by separate organisations. However, there would be an opportunity to review care packages and the feedback loop would allow staff and carers to ensure that positive changes could be made to improve good practise.

Councillor C Da Costa suggested that advocates could be recruited from Optalis who could speak up for residents who were more vulnerable, this would allow direct concerns to be addressed.

Kevin McDaniel said it could be a useful way to engage further with the community, he was happy to take the suggestion forward.

To note the report, which provides an update on the work of the group following its initial meeting in February.

Lin Ferguson said that the task and finish group had met and developed an action plan of what would be achieved. The group was at the information gathering stage and considering who were the best people to speak to. A list of questions was being drafted in preparation for speaking to witnesses. The Youth Council had also expressed an interest in being involved in the process. It was expected that the task and finish group could take a significant amount of time over the course of the next year.

Councillor Tisi added that the group were keen to explore different groups of people who had been affected by domestic abuse and ensuring that their views were represented. People with neurodiversity and the factor of being diagnosed or not diagnosed was an area the group also wished to explore.

The Annual Scrutiny Report will contain information on the activity of scrutiny over the past municipal year and is due to be considered by Full Council in July 2023. This agenda item is an opportunity for the Panel to consider what they would like to include as part of the report.

Mark Beeley, Principal Democratic Services Officer – Overview and Scrutiny, explained that each year a report was produced which would go to Full Council and highlighted the work of scrutiny over the past municipal year. The Panel were asked if there were any comments or areas they would like to see included in the annual report.

Panel Members were able to share comments for inclusion in the report by emailing Mark Beeley and the Chairman.

To review the ongoing work programme.

Councillor Sharpe said that he was interested in how the healthcare system operated across the borough, particularly interactions with Bracknell in the south of the borough.

Kevin McDaniel said that Bracknell Forest was part of the Frimley Integrated Care System, which meant that there should be system wide pieces which were consistent but place areas which would be different. The Integrated Care Board would be releasing the updated strategy and it could be worth inviting health and place leaders to a future meeting, this could be something to include in the September meeting.

ACTION – Kevin McDaniel to speak to health leaders to see if they would be able to attend a future Panel meeting.

Councillor Tisi suggested that the Panel could review whether Ukrainian families living in the borough were receiving the right level of support, healthcare and education.

The Chairman thanked all Panel Members and officers for their support and work over the course of the municipal year.