Agenda and minutes
PDF 117 KBVenue: Committee Room 5, Guildhall, Swansea. View directions
Contact: Liz Jordan, Scrutiny 01792 637314
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Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests. Minutes: None |
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Julie Thomas, Head of Child and Family Services Chris Francis, Principal Business Development and Commissioning Lead Councillor Mark Child, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing Additional documents:
Minutes: The Panel thanked the Cabinet Member and
officers for providing the report and attending the meeting to discuss the
Family Support Services Commissioning review that is focussing on children with
additional needs and disabilities. The panel highlighted the following issues: 1.
It is good to see inclusion and a detailed
consultation exercise to gain views of disability services from children and
young people although they appreciate the difficulty in getting large numbers
to participate in this. 2.
The Panel recognise that there are two commissioning
reviews looking at additional needs, the family support aspect but also the
Additional Learning Needs review being led by Education. They were pleased to
hear that the departments are working closely together and that these two
pieces of work have been aligned to ensure a co-ordinated and joined up
outcome. 3.
They were interested to hear about the co-production
with parents in developing services and welcome the development of a
consultation mechanism with parents that will include a wide group of parents
of children with additional needs. We
did however emphasise the importance of ensuring we reach out to get views of
those parents who may be less vocal or for whatever reason, find it difficult
to engage. 4.
We heard that there are a growing number of children
with additional needs, which is an ongoing challenge for both local authorities
and health authorities alike. Consequently we support the increase in funding
going towards the Early Help Service, We support the need to develop better prevention
services in conjunction with health and also support the authority in the
strive to engage health in future developments. 5.
The report details that 11% of overall funding is
made up of grants which in itself must be seen as a risk when moving forward. They did emphasise the importance of
contingency planning should these grants stop or be reduced. 6.
The Panel understand that the introduction of a
voucher scheme for play and leisure for children with additional needs is being
considered. They would like to emphasise
the importance of recognising the potential implications of this type of scheme
for provider and parents. They were
encouraged to hear that you plan to look at how this is working in other local
authorities and to work closely with parents when considering this as an
option. 7.
The Panel were pleased to see and were supportive of
the recommendation around specialist services for young carers. They recognise
that currently it is in its early stages but feel it is a positive move. 8.
They did note however that only 3 of the 6 recommendations
required assessment of potential alternative supply mechanisms and indeed 2 of
them were purely internal development. They also note the intention to seek to
resource external facilities for overnight short breaks with the aim of
reducing the cost of the service by £50k, and this will hopefully result in an
improved service. The panel though it need to guard against a poorer service
was important. They were also a bit
disappointed that where assessments had been carried out for (recommendations
1, 2 and 3) that we only had the final score and not the breakdown of that
score into its separate elements. |
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Discussion and Questions a) Consideration of Cabinet Report and Questions b) Panel’s views for Cabinet Minutes: The Convener of the Panel will attend Cabinet on the 16 November and a letter will follow to the Cabinet Member outlining the Panels views. |
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