To consider the contents of the report.

The Head of Commissioning – Adults and Children informed Members that this was the second Annual Report to be produced. Feedback from Councillors from the first report suggested there was a desire for a focus on efficiency effectiveness and value for money of service providers.

The contracts and spending areas relevant to the Panel were outlined in table 9 of the report, with a further breakdown in table 10. The Head of Commissioning – Adults and Children said it was important to build relationships with partner organisations who provided services for the Council and a lot of work was being done in this area. It was highlighted that of the five companies awarded the block contracts for residential and nursing care, three had an outstanding rating. This was significant as only three per cent of providers nationally had an outstanding rating. Members were also informed there was an additional spend of around £20million on adult social care services, in addition to the spend on adult social care provision through Optalis.

The Vice Chairman noted the report stated that Achieving for Children’s budget overspend was partly attributable to the continued use of interim staff, and asked if more could be done to combat this. The Director of Children’s Services stated that a high proportion of qualified social workers preferred to work for agencies as their terms of employment did not compel them to work out of hours or do duty work, and in some cases they were able to earn more money doing this. In addition neighbouring authorities were able to offer greater salaries compared to the Royal Borough. There were numerous examples of social workers from out of area receiving training within the Royal Borough but then returning home once their training had been completed. The Director of Children’s Services stated there had been investment in a strong management team in order to reduce risks faced by permanent social workers, as this made the Council an attractive employer. At the same time however it was not considered good practice to have too many newly-qualified social workers working for the Council at the same time. The Director of Children’s Services reiterated that there was a desire for children to be allocated a full-time social worker in order to guarantee continuity of care and stability.

The Vice Chairman noted that one of domiciliary care providers had been given a ‘requires improvement’ rating and asked if any action was being taken in relation to this. The Head of Commissioning – Adults and Children said the number of people whose care was supported by the provider was decreasing, and was not aware of the company having any private clients in the Royal Borough. The care provider had been awarded the contract four years ago but since that time a decision had been made to bring in several more suppliers, rather than relying on a single supplier. The contract was due to expire next year. No concerns were raised over the Council’s ability to fulfil services if the decision was made not to renew the contract. The Lead Member for Adults, Children and Health stated that in future he wanted the procurement process for new providers to unequivocally state that contracts would only be awarded to companies with a good or outstanding rating.

It was confirmed that the rate of pay for social workers was set by each individual Local Authority. It was also confirmed that there was no clause in any training contracts for social workers that compelled them to work for the Royal Borough for a set period of time after completing their training.