The Overview and Scrutiny Specialist
introduced the purpose of the item and invited the Corporate
Director for Wellbeing and the Director of Public Health to present
to the Committee.
The Corporate Director for Wellbeing’s
presentation highlighted the following:
- Wellbeing
Directorate – Overview
- Total wellbeing
budget 2024/25 – including a breakdown of gross
expenditure
- Where the money is
spent: 2024-25 BCP
ASC/Commissioning Gross expenditure
- Budget
narrative
- 2024/25 projected
outturn
- Wellbeing MTFP
– pressures
- Wellbeing MTFP
– one off and transformation savings
- Wellbeing –
ASC Transformation (Fulfilled Lives Programme): Investment per
scheme, £ and % of total programme
- Wellbeing –
ASC Transformation (Fulfilled Lives Programme): Programme
Investment and Savings Schedule.
The Director of Adult Social Care highlighted
the £5.1 million virement to Children’s Services and
explained that the budget had been set using assumptions on levels
of care which, due to changes in circumstances, may no longer be
required.
The Committee discussed the presentations,
including:
- The Chair
highlighted the slides detailed how the £3.5 million savings
were going to be achieved.
- Following a query,
clarification was given over the different ways the pie charts cut
the budget
- In response to a
query about consideration given to bringing services back in house
as part of the transformation programme, the reasons why this had
not been considered was provided including the large number of
providers ASC commissioned. The
Committee was advised that consideration had been given to how best
to maximise the potential of the services commissioned, to ensure
efficient services at the best value and ensuring there was no gaps
within the provision.
- The Committee was
reassured that Adult Social Care were a major player in the local
market, who also commissioned on behalf of health partners and
could use its influence as a positive.
- In response to
concerns regarding the virement to Children’s Services, the
Committee was advised that the anticipated budget for some complex
cases was not required and in order to
balance budgets where possible, the virement was processed.
- In response to
queries regarding waiting times within the service including for
reviews and assessments, the Director of Adult Social Care
suggested this could be a good area to focus on within the deep
dive working group.
- In response to a
query regarding the £10 million variance detailed, the
Committee was given the reasons for that which included an increase
in income generated, transferring users or sharing costs with
health partners and changes in circumstances. It was noted that there was a breakdown of the
variance which could be shared with the Committee.
The Director of Public Health’s
presentation highlighted the following:
- 24/25 Public Health
arrangements
- 24/25 forecast
- Transition to 25/26
new arrangements
- 25/26 budget
proposals
- Implications of
agreements to date
- Risks, issues and
uncertainties.
The Committee discussed the presentations,
including:
- In response to a
query regarding the cost and impact on residents of splitting the
Public Health function, the Committee was advised that there would
still be a lot of collaboration between the Directors of Public
Health and their teams and that the split could enable the
authorities to commission more targeted support to its population
increasing responsiveness and flexibility. How each of the authorities would manage the cost
of splitting the role was detailed.
- In response to a
query regarding the activities and outcomes of the Live Well Dorset
programme, the Committee was advised that it had managed to reach
those living in the most deprived areas of BCP and that access
could potentially be provided to the dashboard for the Committee to
see the output. ACTION.
- In response to a
query regarding the contracts currently retained in Dorset, the
Committee was provided with details of the mix of contracts
including those provided through a quality framework
agreement. It was advised that there
were some very complex contracts which would require time to
retender as opposed to some of the smaller contracts which could be
completed in a shorter timescale. It
was noted that each contract would be considered and where
appropriate, pan Dorset contracts would continue.
- In response to a
query regarding the potential of redundancies, the Committee was
advised that an HR process was currently being finalised and it
would not be appropriate to discuss this at this time.
- A Committee Member
requested the positives of the separation of the Public Health
function be reported back to Committee at an appropriate
time. ADD TO WORK PLAN.