Present:

Devon County Council

Councillors Haywood (Chairman), Cann, Chugg, Davis, Edgell, Fowler, Greenslade and

Yabsley

North Devon Council

Councillor Tucker

Devon Association of Parish Councils

Councillor Geen

Members attending in accordance with Standing Order 25:

Councillor Barker

* 14 Membership

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Tucker, who had been appointed by North Devon Council as its second representative on the Committee, and Councillor Geen, the newly appointed representative of the Devon Association of Parish Councils.

*15 Minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2009 be signed as a correct record.

*16 Devon Association of Parish Councils

Councillor Geen outlined key issues for the Devon Association of Parish Councils which included: the role of Parish Councils in any new local government structure; future viability of/support for Parish Councils; and various highway related matters.

*17 Adult and Community Services Update (Min. *20/3 December 2009)

Councillor Stuart Barker, Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services, attended the meeting at the Committee s request to discuss future care provision in North Devon. He was accompanied by Keri Storey, Assistant Director of Health and Social Care, Northern Devon.

Councillor Barker reminded members of the models for the externalisation of in-house residential care services and future domiciliary care and day services, and the background and rationale for the restructuring which were founded on changes in social care practice to have more people cared for in their own homes and increasing demand and costs. The proposed future service models and staffing levels for residential care services had been subject to extensive consultation. The new (post Shaw Healthcare) preferred externalisation process involved:

a tender for residential and nursing care services that did not include day care or extra care housing. These were the subject of separate tender exercises;

a tender for extra care housing development partners that would help develop extra care facilities;

a tender for block contracts of 600 beds divided equally between high dependency residential care and specialist nursing care;

separate tenders for the sale of homes and the purchase of block service contracts;

the offer of block contracts in small lots which would divide the area requirements into units which were approximately a third of each area requirement.

The core elements for a redesigned in-house domiciliary service were:

standard and complex care services to deliver longer-term care would be commissioned from the private sector. There would be a mixture of block contracts and spot purchase utilising brokerage;

a rapid response care service;

home based rehabilitation;

home based reablement;

carer support.

A redesigned day care service might include the following:

specialised day care centres that support people with the most complex, high level needs including those with dementia and their carers;

flexible local services such as community mentoring, luncheon clubs, host families and memory cafes.

Councillor Barker and Keri Storey responded to queries and comments from members on matters including: the relative costs of in-house and private sector provision; terms for any disposal of a care home; service continuity; the block bed contract; care home staffing/employment issues; and domiciliary care provision in rural areas. Councillor Barker indicated that:

the service would be focused on the needs of the person being cared for and providing the appropriate level of care at the appropriate time;

the emphasis would be on retaining existing care homes and ensuring that the existing residents in our homes would be able to stay in the home for as long as they wanted and it met their needs. Staff in post at the time of transfer would also stay with the home so the residents would continue to be cared for by the same people;

we were committed to maintaining and improving care standards, and continuing to provide choice for the individual;

service improvements were dependent on releasing resources through the reduction of unnecessary overheads and management costs;

the tendering system was designed to be as flexible as possible to provide a wide choice to service users and potential bidders and respond to local demand;

there were no proposals for individual homes and none were intended. If this changed following the tender exercises local members would be consulted if individual home proposals needed to be formulated.

It was suggested that there should be a briefing for all County Councillors on the outcome of the consultation exercise on the care proposals.

*18 Barnstaple Poverty Action Group (BPAG)

The Committee received a presentation from Mr Phil Davey, Manager of the Barnstaple Poverty Action Group, on the work of the Group. Mr Davey explained that BPAG was an independent, community based charity that provided a range of services to people across northern Devon who were experiencing crisis and hardship. The Group worked to prevent and resolve homelessness, rough sleeping and to reduce the impact of poverty and financial exclusion. Mr Davey commented on how BPAG had evolved since its inception, drawing attention to the current emphasis on early intervention.

BPAG:

ran various projects which included: tackling homelessness and rough sleeping, working with young people, intensive tenancy support, financial inclusion and rural outreach;

was managed by a voluntary Board of Trustees drawn from the local community and local organisations and services were delivered by a team of staff and volunteers;

worked in partnership with a range of local authorities and other agencies and received funding support from a number of sources including partners, statutory services, charitable trusts/foundations and donations.

Mr Davey responded to queries and comments from members which were focused on the challenges of service provision by BPAG in rural areas. Members offered to help BPAG reach local communities by making Parish Councils aware of the service and commented that some publicity material would be welcome.

The Chairman thanked Mr Davey for his presentation.

*19 Feedback from County Council Representatives on Outside Bodies

The County Community Strategy Officer reported that a standard item would be included on future County Committee agendas to enable those members serving as representatives of the County Council on other local bodies eg. the Northern Devon Local Children s Trust to report back/raise issues on the activities of those bodies. He indicated that he would circulate a list of current appointments for North Devon members and give some thought as to how this should be taken forward.

*20 North Devon County Committee Locality Budget for Financial Year 2009/10 - Confirmation of Spending Proposals and Spend to Date

The Committee considered a report by the County Community Strategy Officer (CX/10/46 - text only | pdf CX/10/46):

setting out recent Locality Budget spending approvals, new spending proposals and the budget position at 10 March 2010;

drawing attention to variations made to the operating procedures for Locality Budgets in line with recommendations by the Devon Audit Partnership.

The County Community Strategy Officer referred to confirmation at the meeting of the Procedures Committee on 2 February 2010 that any underspendings in members Locality Budgets in 2009/10 would be carried forward to 2010/11.

Alison Boyd, Locality Development Officer, reported on further proposals for the use of Locality Budget funds for 2009/10.

Councillor Cann reported that over 6000 had been raised by the recent appeal for the Children s Hospice South West at Fremington.

It was MOVED by Councillor Davis, SECONDED by Councillor Greenslade and

RESOLVED

(a) subject to the amount of funding for the project involving North Devon Cricket Club being amended to read 1600, that approval for the spending proposals set out in the report, including those agreed by the Chairman/Vice-Chairman since the last meeting, be confirmed;

(b) that the following additional new spending proposals be approved:

Organisation	Nature of Project	Name of Councillor(s)	Amount of Funding
Newton Tracey Cricket Club	Improve Website, New Practice Nets and Bowling Machine	R Cann	1,000
Goodleigh Village Hall	Refurbishment of Village Hall	R Edgell	1000
DCC Highways	Sandy Lane, Morthoe - Road Improvement Design Works	A Davis	500
DCC Highways	Speed Limit Extension at Combe Martin on A399	A Davis	2,200
Lee Lincombe First Aiders	Training for Use of Defibrilator by First Responders	G Fowler	300
Witheridge Rest a While Group	Renovation/New Roof	J Yabsley	1,000
South Molton Football Club	Disabled Access to Changing Rooms and Electrical Works	J Yabsley	1,000
South Molton Community Company	Community Map and Signage	J Yabsley	500
South Molton Woodland Group	Wheelchair Access Picnic Table and Advertising Materials	J Yabsley	400
West Buckland Women s Group	PC Design Software and Display Materials for Photo History/Art Project	J Yabsley	300
West Buckland Festival		J Yabsley	300
Molland Village Hall	Large Renovation/Build Project	J Yabsley	2000 - Agreed in principle but not to be paid until balance of funds in place

(c) that the current budget position for 2009/10 be noted.

*21 Member Development Steering Group

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 January 2010 were noted.

*22 County Council s Forward Plan

The Forward Plan was noted.

*23 Future Meetings

(a) Dates

The Committee noted the following:

Next Meeting:

Tuesday 29 June 2010

Subsequent Meetings:

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Tuesday 22 March 2011

(all on the rising of the HATOC at Barnstaple Civic Centre)

(b) Work Plan/Items Identified for Future Discussion

The Committee noted and endorsed the following work programme:

Inspiring Young People (Sustainable Community Strategy theme);

Pilots involving Parish and Town Councils on New Ways of Working as part of Local Government Reorganisation;

Implementation of The Way Ahead - Data and Trends Information;

Ilfracombe Narrowing the Gap Project;

Briefing on Review of County Farms Estate Management Strategy and Plan;

Briefing on Children s Services.

The County Community Strategy Officer said that he would follow up with the Leader of the Council and the Chairman of the Farms Estate Committee the request for a briefing on the review of the County Farms Estate Management Strategy and Plan.

*DENOTES DELEGATED MATTER WITH POWER TO ACT

The meeting started at 11.30am and finished at 1.45pm

The Minutes of the North Devon County Committee are published on the County Council s Website at:-