Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

 

In accordance with the code of Conduct adopted by the City & County of Swansea, no interests were declared.

 

To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Safeguarding Policy Development & Delivery Committee held on 25 May be approved as a correct record.

 

To drive the development of the Council’s Safeguarding Corporate Policies for consideration and adoption by Cabinet and or Council as appropriate.

Note: PD&D Committees may co-opt others on to the Committee either for a topic or for a term if the Committee consider that will assist their role.

The Chair outlined the Terms of Reference for the Committee for information.

 

He outlined to Members the background and rationale behind the introduction of the Policy Development & Delivery Committees (PDDC’s).

 

He indicated that the intention is they will focus on policy development and assurance of delivery, primarily through the Councils Policy Commitments, which are due to be adopted at Council on 27 July 2017. The aim is that the Committees will become a conduit for Members and Officers to work collectively, with a clear Member led approach towards the delivery of the Corporate Priorities.

 

He detailed the distinct difference between the PDDC’s and Scrutiny, and outlined how they are different to the previous CAC’s as the will be led by the Corporate Priorities via the Chair and not the Cabinet Member, although close links will of course remain with the Cabinet process and Cabinet Member.

 

The PDDC’s should aim to provide clear outcomes following the submission of research, evidence and information, and should seek to avoid any duplication of workload with the other 4 PDDC’s, although joint working could be necessary on some topic areas.

 

The Head of Adult Services presented a draft report that detailed Unison’s Ethical Care Charter.  It was explained that Unison’s Ethical Care Charter was born from a Unison survey of homecare workers entitled ‘Time To Care’ undertaken between June and July 2012 to gain their views on why there were so many problems in the sector. Appendix 1 of the report provided the details of the survey.  She noted that other Trade Unions were active in Swansea and any future agreements would require collective Trade Union agreement.

 

Unison stated ‘the over-riding objective behind the Charter was to establish a minimum baseline for the safety, quality and dignity of care by ensuring employment conditions which a) do not routinely  short change clients and b) ensure the recruitment and retention of a more stable workforce through more sustainable pay, conditions and training levels. Rather than councils seeking to achieve savings by driving down the pay and conditions that have been the norm for council – employed staff, they should be using these as a benchmark against which to level up.’

 

It was added that Unison’s campaign website www.savecarenow.org.uk reported that 27 Local Authorities and 2 Local Authority Trading Companies and 2 providers had publicly announced their adoption of the Ethical Care Charter.  Details were provided at Appendix 2.  A report entitled ‘Draft Briefing Note for the Head of Adult Services on Implications of the City & County of Swansea Adopting Unisons’s Ethical Care Charter for the Commissioning of Home Care Services’ dated January 2015 was reported to Executive Board in April 2015. This summarised where the City & County of Swansea was in terms of the 3-stage Charter in respect of its internal and external domiciliary care workforce.

 

Furthermore, in their guidance on adopting the Charter for Councils and other providers, Unison stated that by signing up to the Charter, ‘there would be an immediate commitment to Stage 1 and a plan to adopt stages 2 and 3.  It was noted that the City & County of Swansea already met / nearly met many of the requirements of the Ethical Care Charter and the details were provided at Appendix 3.

 

It was indicated that out of the 5 criteria in Stage 1, the City & County of Swansea already met or exceeded 4 of them. The only criteria, where there was uncertainty regarding compliance in the external domiciliary care sector was, that ‘Homecare workers will be paid for their travel time, travel costs and other necessary expenses such as mobile phones’ as the survey did not ask about payment for ‘other necessary expenses’.

 

Of the 5 criteria in Stage 2, the City & County of Swansea already met or exceeded 3 of them: -

 

·         One of our external domiciliary care providers stated they only offered zero hours contracts;

·         One of our external providers expected their care staff to pay for the cost of training.

 

The City & County of Swansea was not compliant with either of the two criteria in Stage 3, namely: -

 

·         All homecare workers be paid at least the Living Wage (£8.45 per hour outside London).

·          All homecare workers would be covered by an occupational sick pay scheme.

 

The report also outlined how the Authority could address areas of non-compliance, a Swansea Care Charter and the implications of adopting a Care Charter.

 

The Committee discussed the following: -

 

·         Discussions with external providers regarding developing a Charter;

·         Mixed provision being provided internally and externally;

·         Financial implications of adopting the Charter;

·         Implications of Social Services and Well Being (Wales) Act;

·         The general purpose of domiciliary care provision;

·         Changing the emphasis away from time based to outcomes based provision;

·         The need for flexibility in the system;

·         LAC Co-ordinators addressing loneliness of individuals within communities;

·         Financial implications, eligibility and Welsh Government support;

·         Focussing upon the spirit of the Charter in what the Authority was trying to achieve;

·         Comparing how other local authorities / organisations had adopted the Charter;

·         How the Authority would address future and existing contracts;

·         Framework timescales involved and avoiding delay in the process;

·         Direct payments, comparisons with neighbouring authorities and managing risk.

 

RESOLVED that based on the findings to date, the following actions be agreed:-

 

1)    Respond to Welsh Government and Social Care Wales Consultation on domiciliary care workforce issues (July & August 2017);

2)    Continue to progress the Western Bay Intermediate Care Funded Recruitment and Retention Initiative, ensuring that it recognised links to the Care Charter;

3)    Develop a Care Charter for care provision in Swansea with providers, commissioners and Trade Unions that can be incorporated into a future procurement exercise;

4)    Co-produce a service specification for the procurement exercise;

5)    Include a ‘Fair Work Practices’ tender question in future procurement exercise to be evaluated alongside other criteria to ensure that an appropriate balance between quality and cost for the contract is achieved;

6)    Comparisons be made with other authorities / organisations who had adopted the Charter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chair re-iterated that the Committee would be able to further discuss and formalise its Work Programme following the adoption of the Corporate Priorities at Council on 27 July 2017.

 

Discussions took place regarding future topics including gaining an understanding of the Adult Social Services model and services around children, in particular understanding shared responsibility with internal and external agencies to provide reassurance that the same goals were being sought. 

 

It was added that comparisons with other authorities / organisations who had adopted the Ethical Care Charter be made and Officers Framework timescales be discussed at the next scheduled meeting.

 

RESOLVED that: -

 

1)    The content of discussions be noted;

2)    Councillor E J King makes comparisons with other authorities / organisations who had adopted the Ethical Care Charter and reports back to the next scheduled meeting;

3)    Officers Framework timescales be discussed at the next scheduled meeting.

 

 

 

RESOLVED that future meetings of the Committee commence at 4 p.m. for approximately 2 hours.