Issue - items at meetings - Market Position Statement

Report of the Executive Director of Adult Services (copy attached).

(1)       That the key messages in the document attached in Appendix 1:  Adult Social Care Market Position Statement be noted.

66.1    The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director of Adult Services which informed members that the White Paper ‘Caring for our Future’ introduced a duty on Local Authorities to promote diversity & quality in the provision of care services. The Department of Health urged Local Authorities to create a Market Position Statement that would be useful for providers of care services in planning their businesses.

66.2    The Market Position Statement (MPS) outlined the Commissioning priorities for Adult Social Care services, Brighton & Hove, and highlighted the key factors influencing developments in the care market.

66.3    The Market Position Statement also detailed areas of work that Adult Social Care would be concentrating on in future.

66.4    The report was presented by the Head of Commissioning & Partnerships, aided by the Commissioning Manager.  Members would receive a full colour version of the final document. 

66.5    The Executive Director of Adult Services informed members that the document had been shared with commissioning colleagues across the council.  Feedback from the Care Homes Commissioning Group had been positive.  Providers thought it was a useful document.

66.6    Councillor Meadows considered that it was a useful document for third sector and private providers.  She asked how self funders care costs would be managed.  The Head of Commissioning & Partnerships explained that more work needed to be carried out with regard to that issue. The matter would be addressed as more details of the Care Bill were received.

66.7    Councillor Mears found it an interesting document.  Councillor Mears referred to the section on demographic and prevalence data.  She noted that this section reported that 73% of people stated that they had no religion. She asked why this information had been included.   Councillor Mears felt this was a misleading statistic in the document.  Councillor Mears referred to the section 5.1 in relation to sheltered housing allocation.  She asked for reassurance that the allocation was through the council’s homemove scheme. 

66.8    The Head of Commissioning & Partnerships explained that there was no particular relevance to the statistic about religious belief.  The statistics were received from Public Health.  The Commissioning Manager reported that officers were keen to work with faith groups.  There had been a productive meeting the previous week with church representatives about the need to work together.

66.9    The Head of Commissioning & Partnerships referred to the question about sheltered housing allocation.  She explained that officers were working closely with colleagues in housing.  All the content in the document had been checked with housing officers and there would be collaborative working with housing colleagues.   

66.10  Councillor Janio welcomed the document.  He referred to the statistics set out in the section on demographic and prevalence data.  He stated that people were not good at reading statistics. He suggested taking out the percentages and replacing them with baseline figures.  

66.11  Colin Vincent of the Older People’s Council expressed his concerns about the document.  He stated that on first reading, he felt that it could be said that the council were abrogating responsibility for adult social care, particularly in relation to older people. The document appeared light on scrutiny and contractual details. Mr Vincent stated that at the moment the Adult Care & Health Committee had a degree of scrutiny.  He would have grave concerns if the committee was to be disbanded.  In the meanwhile, he would share the document with the Older People’s Council.

66.12  The Executive Director of Adult Care & Health explained that the document was not about abrogating responsibility.  The document was for providers and possible providers in the city.  There was a duty to assess need and the document showed that these were the sort of services that were required.  The Commissioning Manager stated that she would be attending the Older Peoples Council to give a presentation on the document. 

66.13  The Chair stressed that the document was not about shirking responsibility but about being clear about services and who would provide them.  It was an absolute priority to ensure that safeguarding and quality control would continue regardless of who provided the services. 

66.14  The Executive Director of Adult Services explained that officers wanted the document to be of a reasonable size to ensure its readability.  There were supporting documents providing details of contracts and contractual support.

66.15  Councillor Norman considered the document to be a relatively easy read.  In relation to Mr Vincent’s comments, he stressed that the council had a scrutiny process in place.  Councillor Norman asked how powerful was the word ‘urged’ in paragraph 1.1 of the report.  

66.16  The Committee Lawyer replied that although there was not a statutory requirement to produce a Market Position Statement, there was an expectation on the part of Central Government that the Statement would be created and produced. 

66.17  RESOLVED - (1)      That the key messages in the document attached in Appendix 1:  Adult Social Care Market Position Statement be noted.