To comment on the report to be considered by Cabinet on the 26 May 2016.

The Head of Commissioning, Adults, Children and Health, Hilary Hall, informed the Panel that the report presented the outcome of the comprehensive review of drug and alcohol services commissioned by Cabinet on the 29 October 2015 and had been undertaken by a multi-stakeholder Task and Finish Group, under the leadership of the Deputy Lead Member for Public Health (Councillor Stuart Carroll).

Members noted that the report recommended that Cabinet accept the recommendations of the Task and Finish Group to specify a best practice model for RBWM, and approve a procurement exercise to secure drug and alcohol services for adults, effective from 1 April 2017. 

The Head of Commissioning, Adults, Children and Health explained that the recommendations of the Drug and Alcohol Task and Finish Group in relation to the commissioning of drug and alcohol services in the Royal Borough were to:

• Retain the current commissioning staff of one manager and two commissioning officers to ensure tight contract management, effective coordination across all services and specialist advice and guidance.
• Carry out a systematic review of the services provided by other agencies in the Royal Borough for drug and alcohol substance misusers in order to provide assurance around quality and breadth of provision.

The recommendations of the Drug and Alcohol TFG in relation to adults were to:

• At a minimum, commission the essential core service model.
• Commission the essential enabling services required to ensure maximum impact of the core service model or at least a significant proportion of these services according to priority to allow for effective implementation, see table 5 in appendix 1. 
• Work with partners to ensure that the services which enhance the core service model and its enabling services, see table 6 in appendix 1, are provided within the Royal Borough.  The costs of these additional services could be split across local partners and be implemented in an integrated fashion based on the JHWS and JSNA.  Undertake a feasibility study to assess opportunities in this area with a detailed budget proposal to follow to assess cost-effectiveness and financial viability.
• Deploy a flexible negotiated tender methodology in order to secure maximum efficiencies from the procurement process.

The recommendations of the Drug and Alcohol TFG in relation to young people were to:

• Move the current young people’s substance misuse workers into children’s early help services to enable integration with the wider children’s service delivery.  This is viewed as the only credible and viable option. 

The Deputy Lead Member for Public Health, Councillor Stuart Carroll, added that the Task and Finish Group had in terms of the method broken it down against some clear terms of reference,, did a benchmarking report (in Appendix) and undertook a comprehensive stakeholder consultation exercise.  It was noted that bespoke meetings also took place to ensure broad views were included.  

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  Members were referred to table 4 in the report (page 37) which listed the detailed core service requirements and estimated annual costs.

Ø  That the Council was not proposing to take anything out of the service but was looking to commission services more efficiently.

Ø  That signposting would be looked at more closely.

Ø  That the review had started to hone in on clearer definitions of success which the Council could use to measure the effectiveness of delivery.

Ø  That the key message was that this was a really important service that needs to be protected. 

Ø  Councillor Malcolm Beer informed the Panel that he had been in contact with Councillor Lynne Jones who whole heartedly agreed with the content of the report.  It was noted that Councillor Jones was however concerned that if at all possible the ‘whole package’ should be done in order to save money in the long-term.  The Chairman stated that he believed not everything could be done but that the Council were proposing to do what it could to deliver the service to meet the needs of the cohort of people with drug and alcohol needs in the Royal Borough.   

Ø  The Chairman referred everyone present to paragraph 9.7 in the report (page 39). 

Ø  Parish Councillor Margaret Lenton agreed that it was a well written paper and stated that she was pleased to hear that the paper was flexible as she was concerned that a number of people going into prison were coming out as drug abusers.  The Deputy Lead Member for Public Health, Councillor Stuart Carroll stated that the current service did already look at that issue quite clearly already. 

Ø  The Head of Commissioning, Adults, Children and Health explained that prevention for the Young People cohort could be delivered in a much more integrated way across all agencies by using the whole children’s workforce to get a better value for the resource.  Councillor Werner stated that he would hate this to be dropped in a cost-cutting exercise.

Ø  Councillor Bowden raised the issue of patient confidentiality when it came to doctors identifying individuals when referring them to the Council.  The Chairman stated that he believed the majority of referrals were self-referrals and that only 50% of the drug user’s cohort would use the service.  It was noted that whilst a GP could refer someone to use the service they did not have to.

Ø  Councillor Simon Werner and Malcolm Beer both questioned what would be happening with the Reform Road Centre.   Councillor Carroll confirmed that the costs of accommodation were included in the core service model costs.

Ø  The Chairman stated that ‘success’ with abusers was when they ceased to take the drug.

The Crime & Disorder Overview & Scrutiny Panel unanimously agreed to recommend to Cabinet the following:

                    i.          Notes the outcome of the Drug and Alcohol Services review undertaken by the Task and Finish Group and agrees the recommendations, see box 1.

                  ii.          Approves a tender exercise to secure drug and alcohol services for adults, effective from 1 April 2017.

                 iii.          Notes that Cabinet will receive a report back on the outcome of the tender in January 2017.  

Councillor Stuart Carroll, echoed by Councillor Coppinger (Lead Member for Adult Services), thanked everyone involved in the Task & Finish Group including officers who had worked to the tight timescales involved.

The Panel commented that they would like DAAT services as included in the paper to be provided and the tender process commence.

The Panel requested that the referral pathways be checked and that signposting (as part of the feasibility study) be included.

The Panel congratulated Councillor Carroll and the Head of Commissioning, Adults, Children and Health on the report.