Agenda and minutes

• Councillor Mahmood had been in attendance but became ill for the duration of the pre-meeting and therefore passed on his apologies and left before the start of the meeting.
• Councillor Benea passed on her apologies following her appointment to Cabinet.

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

Personal interests were declared as follows:

• Councillor Ketan Sheth – Lead Governor of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
• Councillor Ethapemi – spouse employed by NHSE
• Councillor Tazi Smith – employed by NHSE

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations received.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2024 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

There were no matters arising.

To outline the actions Adult Social Care (ASC) is taking following the publication in August 2024 of the CQC Inspection Report into Brent ASC.

Councillor Nerva, as Lead Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Leisure, introduced the report, which provided details of the Brent CQC Adult Social Care Inspection and the Adult Social Care (ASC) Improvement Plan. He highlighted that the local authority was last inspected over 10 years ago, and this was the first inspection Brent had received as part of the new CQC inspection regime for local authorities. The result from the inspection was that Brent Adult Social Care ‘requires improvement’, and it was highlighted that the Council was 1 percentage point from ‘good’. Councillor Nerva emphasised the importance of not dwelling on that one point and instead to take on board the feedback received from the inspectors. In addition, the authority was judged ‘good’ for both keeping residents safe and leadership. He added that, whilst the CQC Inspection was of Adult Social Care fulfilling its Care Act responsibilities, some of the services that were inspected ran right across the authority and interfaced with NHS services and the voluntary sector. In bringing his remarks to close, he highlighted that the Adult Social Care Improvement Plan and Adult Social Care Transformation Programme due to be considered in the following agenda item complimented each other and focused on the measures the local authority was putting in place to make demonstrable improvements.

Claudia Brown (Director Adult Social Care, Brent Council) added that the Improvement Plan focused on the areas identified by the CQC as requiring improvement whilst emphasising the importance of ensuring that systems and processes within ASC continued to be safe. She explained that, whilst safeguarding and leadership had been judged as ‘good’, ASC was not being complacent and was focused on ensuring safeguarding and leadership continued to do well and improve to ‘excellent’. The main areas of improvement included in the Plan and identified by CQC were around how ASC delivered services to individual users. Many of the areas identified by CQC were areas that ASC was already aware of and already had plans in place to deliver on. Overall, she felt the report presented to the Committee outlined a comprehensive plan to move ASC to a more qualitative service delivering good customer care, collaborating with other organisations and customers and continuing the trajectory of improving services towards excellent.

Harry Peacock (Head of Performance, Change and Assurance, Brent Council) provided more details about the improvements and actions outlined in the plan. He advised the Committee that CQC assurance fell within his remit and the Improvement Plan aimed to bring all actions together to understand the available data and Brent’s performance against benchmarked London boroughs. Prior to the CQC Inspection, the Council had completed a self-assessment of ASC and identified through the data and talking with partner agencies, staff and customers some areas needing improvement. The CQC Inspection then further reinforced those areas in terms of how Brent compared to national datasets and comparative London boroughs.

The Committee heard that one of the major areas of focus was on the customer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To provide information to the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee regarding the implementation of the Adult Social Care Transformation Plan.

Councillor Nerva, as Lead Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Leisure, introduced the report, which provided information regarding the implementation of the Adult Social Care (ASC) Transformation Programme. He highlighted that the programme took into account comments made by the CQC as well as learning from other areas of work. Claudia Brown (Director of Adult Social Care, Brent Council) added that the programme focused on the Council’s drivers for change and what was being put in place to ensure change occurred, highlighting the enablers being used to make that happen.

Harry Peacock (Head of Performance, Change and Assurance, Brent Council) outlined further details of the programme, which had been rescoped to incorporate all areas where ASC wanted to see change. The programme focused on 4 frontline facing areas; how ASC worked with partners and customers to maximise people’s independence; how ASC ensured practice was strength-based and reflected the needs and outcomes that people wanted; how early intervention work could be provided to prevent, reduce or delay the need for formal care and; how ASC could use digital and tech enabled care to support residents to be independent and live safe and well in their own home. It was recognised that, to make radical change, it was essential to have support from other areas, so the transformation programme includes enabling workstreams across commissioning, finance, performance and data, and underpinning the entire programme was co-production.

The Chair thanked presenters for their introduction and invited comments and questions from the Committee, with the following issues raised:

The Committee highlighted the commitment in slide 5 of the appendix – ‘working with you to live your best life’ – and asked what that meant in practice. Officers explained that it meant working with people in a way that gave them the solutions that mattered and worked for them. ASC understood that people’s circumstances could be challenging and that there were things the Council and ASC could to do support them further. For example, the Transformation Programme looked for ways to support people much earlier in their life to delay, reduce or remove the need to enter formal care. To do this, there would be a need to do things differently and shift resources into the right areas.  

In relation to the aspirations outlined in the Programme, particularly in relation to the use of new technology to support the deliver of care, the Committee highlighted that training would be essential to equip staff with the relevant skills to deliver. Officers confirmed that training had been considered and ASC was working with Triple Value Impact to develop the digital blueprint. A key aspect of that work was about working with resident groups, staff and providers to take up that technology. It was recognised that, as well as equipping people with the skills to use technology, there would be an element of culture and behavioural change needed to show the positive impact of technology and bring people on board.

The Committee asked if the financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To provide an overview of the performance and key metrics for the Adult Social Care and Public Health services for Quarter 3 of 2024-25, including a narrative on 29 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), 9 of which are reported to Cabinet as part of the quarterly Borough Plan performance update.

Councillor Nerva, as Lead Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Leisure, introduced the report, which provided an overview of the performance and key metrics for Adult Social Care (ASC) and Public Health services for Quarter 3 (Q3) of 2024-25. Dr Melanie Smith (Director of Public Health, Brent Council) added that the report provided a succinct and clear account of the corporate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that the Council measured performance by. She clarified that these areas were not the only things that were measured, for example, in the Council’s contracted services there was a suite of KPIs to hold contractors to account for, but the KPIs presented had been selected to give an overview of the most relevant areas of performance.

The Chair thanked presenters for their introduction and invited comments and questions from the Committee, with the following issues raised:

The Committee felt that, whilst there was a comprehensive set of information about performance included in the report, there had been no explanations, context, comparisons or detailed solutions for improving performance outlined in the report. Officers explained that the report aimed to follow the template that the Corporate Performance Team provided to Cabinet on a quarterly basis, and some of the information had been covered in the previous two items, although it was acknowledged that this document could be read as a standalone item separately from the agenda. There was benchmarking information available as well as a visual performance dashboard which officers agreed to share with the Committee.

The Committee highlighted that there were several KPIs not reaching their target, and asked how confident officers were that the Improvement Plan and Transformation Programme considered in the previous two agenda items would improve performance and bring those KPIs into target. Rachel Crossley (Corporate Director Community Health and Wellbeing, Brent Council) advised members that she felt confident around a number of KPIs relating to timeliness and satisfaction, but she had less confidence in relation to improving the number of people with a mental health condition or Learning Disability being supported into employment. She understood this was not a solely ASC issue but about how officers engaged businesses to find the right type of work, and she felt there was more work that could be done across the Council with partners in the employment space to improve that. Claudia Brown (Director of Adult Social Care, Brent Council) added that there were plans to redesign Day Opportunities, which included supporting those with Learning Disabilities and mental health issues into employment.

In relation to the amber KPI outlined in section 3.2.21 on health checks, the Committee asked whether officers had identified the reason for missing the target and any mitigations in place for that. Dr Melanie Smith explained that health checks were commissioned by Public Health from GPs and Public Health then reported on the overall performance, but did not report publicly on performance by individual GP practice, although it did hold that data. As such, Public Health would be able  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To present the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Recommendations Tracker to the Committee.

The Committee noted the recommendations tracker.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.