The report of the Head of Service: Efficiency and Improvement is marked to follow.  For further information please contact Ruth Houghton on 01743 253093

The Head of Social Care, Efficiency and Improvement presented a report on the sections of the Adult Social Care Bill relating to Prevention, Information and Market Shaping, Entitlement to Public Care and support and Assessment and Eligibility. 

            She stated that part of prevention was having a whole range of services and adopting a universal approach.  Shropshire had been one of the early adopters of preventative services.

            The report provided the link for the Community Directory.  The directory contained over 3,000 records.  The range of preventative Services continued to be developed through the People to People social work practice pilot and the STEP project where the increased use of Community based resources and local clubs, groups and activities were accessed to support local people within their own communities. 

            A Member stated that she wanted to see the building at Alena Lane used more.  In response the Head of Social Care, Efficiency and Improvement stated that she had in fact only visited the building last Wednesday to see how the site could be better utilised. 

            The Head of Social Care, Efficiency and Improvement stated that Shropshire Council currently commissioned information, advice and advocacy from a range of voluntary sector providers and funded this with approximately £1 million of grants.  The Council was currently working with the Information and Advice Alliance in Shropshire (IAA) to redesign and re-commission these services using a ‘co-production’ model.  It was hoped that this would be launched in October.  

            The Head of Social Care, Efficiency and Improvement stated that the Care Bill was intended to improve the range and quality of services available and required local authorities to support a market that delivered a wide range of care and support services that would be available to people in their local communities.  Each local authority was required to develop a market position statement which would inform the care market of future demand and trends in demand, the sort of services that were required and the types of services that the local authority would buy in the future.  The Care Bill would change who was entitled to public care and support.  At the present time people were entitled to public care and support if they had an eligible need under Fair Access to Care Services at a substantial or critical level and if they had less than £23 in funds.  In the future under the new bill both of these would be changing.  There would be a national eligibility criteria which was still being determined and the financial thresholds would also be changing  The assessment process in the Care and Support Bill made it explicit that any potential need for any potential type of care and support input  covered in the legislation had to be actively considered in an assessment.   If an adult refused a needs assessment, the local authority would not be required to carry out an assessment but under certain circumstances, such as an adult experiencing risk of abuse or neglect, still had to carry out an assessment. 

            RESOLVED: That the current Prevention Services and planned recomission that will support the implementation