To:All Members of the Adult Care and Health Cabinet Panel, Leader of the Council, ACSMB, Barbara Austen, all officers noted for ‘action’ / From:Legal and Member Services
Ask for:Emma Lund
Ext:25563
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ADULT CARE AND HEALTH CABINET PANEL

16 OCTOBER 2009

M I N U T E S

ATTENDANCE

MEMBERS OF THE PANEL

P J Bibby,R F Cheswright, M S Crawley,T L F Douris, C M Hayward (Vice-Chairman),

D J Hewitt,N A Hollinghurst, S L C Johnston,J Lloyd, S Markiewicz, S O’Brien, T J Price,

R H Smith (Chairman, Executive Member for Adult Care and Health), A S M Witherick

Other Members:

C J White

Also present:

H Goldberg

Upon consideration of the agenda for the Adult Care and HealthCabinet Panel meeting on 16 October 2009as circulated, copy annexed, conclusions were reached and are recorded below:

Note: No conflicts of interest were declared by any member of the Panel in relation to the matters on which conclusions were reached at this meeting.

PART 1

ACTION
1. / MEMBERSHIP CHANGES
1.1 / R F Cheswright replaced J R Barfoot and P J Bibby replaced
B J Lamb for this meeting only.
1.2 / The Chairman welcomed Henry Goldberg, Chairman of Hertfordshire LINk (Local Involvement Network) to the meeting. The Panel heard that Mr Goldberg will attend meetings as an observer, and will be invited to participate as a representative of Hertfordshire LINk.
2. / MINUTES
2.1 / Subject to the replacement of ‘incidences’ with ‘incidents’ in minute 6.4, the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 10 September 2009 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
3. / PUBLIC PETITIONS
3.1 / There were no public petitions.
4. / PROPOSED DRAFT RESPONSE TO THE GREEN PAPER ‘SHAPING THE FUTURE OF CARE TOGETHER’
[Officer Contact: Sarah Pickup, Director of Adult Care Services
Tel: 01992 556300]
4.1 / The Panel received a presentation on the government green paper ‘Shaping the Future of Care Together’ which is currently under consultation. The Panel also considered the executive summary of the green paper, press releases and news from the recent party conferences, and was invited to consider and comment upon a draft response to the consultation from the County Council prior to submission by 13 November 2009.
4.2 / The Panel heard about the proposals contained within the paper in relation toa vision for a ‘National Care Service’, including: what people should be able to expect; how and why the system needs to change; ways of funding a National Care Service and details of the three proposed options; the current system, and different ways to contribute. Full details of the proposals are contained within the green paper, which is available at the Department of Health website:

4.3 / Members raised a number of questions on the proposed models and their likely effect in the Hertfordshire context, which were responded to by the Director of Adult Care and Health. Following debate the following changes to the draft response were identified:
Section 4.3 – Prevention
  • Reference to be made to the importance of the National Health Service’s role in providing intermediate care and preventative care;
  • Examples of preventative services to be included
Section 4.5 – A Joined-Up Service
  • Deletion of ‘in principle’ at the start of the section
Section 4.9 – Making the Vision a Reality
  • Re-wording of last two lines to clarify that savings achieved in one area may not be reflected in the budget for that area but may instead appear in a different budget;
  • Mention of the need for access to good services for everyone
Section 4.10 – Funding Options
  • To include the view that the County Council does not feel that the option for funding from general taxation should be completely excluded;
  • To include that offering tax relief could be an incentive to encourage people to contribute to a social care fund;
  • To include reference that there is a lack of clarity in the green paper about options for younger disabled people;
  • Last line of section 4.10 to include that ‘There would need to be a transfer of staff from the DWP into local authorities given the reduction in assessments they would have to do as a consequence of these changes, or additional central government resources.’

Conclusions:
The Panel:
4.4 / agreed the proposed draft response to the green paper ‘Shaping the Future of Care Together’, subject to the amendments outlined above.
5. / DATE OF NEXT MEETING
[Officer Contact: Emma Lund, Democratic Services Officer
Tel: 01992 555563]
5.1 / Thursday 12 November 2009 at 10.00am in Committee Room B.

Kathryn Pettitt

Chief Legal Officer

091016 Minutes

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