Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

No declarations of any disclosable pecuniary interest were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2015

Decision Made:

That the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 26 February 2015 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Cabinet considered the annual report of the Director of Public Health for 2014, which provided details of key health issues affecting the Sefton population.

The Chair referred to the improvements made in the life expectancy for both men and women across Sefton detailed within the report and the widening gap in life expectancy between different areas in Sefton which highlighted the inequalities in health within Sefton. A Member of the Cabinet also referred to the need for public health issues to be taken into account during the consideration of any development proposals and planning applications.

Cabinet Members also referred to the forthcoming retirement of the Director of Public Health, Dr. Janet Atherton and expressed appreciation for the work she had undertaken in Sefton during the last 13 years to improve the quality of health and extended best wishes to her for a happy and healthy retirement.

Decision Made:

That the report be received and be submitted to the Council for publication.

Reasons for Decision:

The report is the statutory independent report of the Director of Public Health.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

None.

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Public Health which provided details of the key findings of the Adult Substance Misuse Contract review.

Decision Made:

The contract of Lifeline to provide Adult Substance Misuse services in Sefton be extended for an additional 12 months until 30September 2016.

Reasons for Decision:

Since taking over the contract 18 months ago the provider had addressed underperformance. Further time was required to see the full benefits of changes in the service model.

The current contract expired at the end of September 2015. Adecision must be made by the end of March 2015 at the latest on whether the contract should be extended or retendered. This would provide Lifeline with the minimum 6 months notice period.

The contract was originally awarded for 2 years with the option to extend annually up to 3 years. This was therefore an extension within the existing contract.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Extend contract for a longer time period. - A longer extension would require measurable improvements over the next 12 months.

Retender. - The current provider had only been in place for 18 months and changing providers in such a short time was likely to cause disruption to the care of clients and confusion within the network of substance misuse partners, i.e. primary care, acute services, residential rehabilitation and detoxification agencies.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive

The Cabinet considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive which sought approval for the Council to enter into partnership arrangements under Section 75 of the National Health Act 2006 with each of the two Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) of Southport and Formby and South Sefton covering the population of Sefton, to enable pooled budgets to be established to support the delivery of the Sefton Better Care Fund Plan for 2015/16.

Decision Made:

That:

1)         the work to date on the Sefton Better Care Fund Plan and Section 75 agreement for the pooled budget be noted;

(2)       the Head of Corporate Finance and ICT, Head of Vulnerable Adults and the Head of Corporate Legal Services be granted delegated powers to complete the Section 75 agreement with Southport and Formby Clinical Commissioning Group and South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group to enable pooled funds to be established and to govern the delivery of the Sefton Better Care Fund Plan 2015/16; and

(3)       it be noted that the proposal was a Key Decision but had not been included in the Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions. Consequently, the Leader of the Council and the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Performance and Corporate Services) had been consulted under Rule 27 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution, to the decision being made by the Cabinet as a matter of urgency on the basis that it was impracticable to defer the decision until the commencement of the next Forward Plan because of the tight timescales involved in the submission of the Better Care Fund submission, and any delay in the submission could involve the loss of financial income for the Council.

Reasons for Decision:

Under the auspices of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Sefton Council had submitted its successful Better Care Fund Plan in November 2014. One of the conditions of the approval of the plan was a standard condition relating to the development of a Section 75 agreement for managing the budgets identified within the Better Care Fund Plan

This was reflected in the Care Act 2014 which required that funds allocated to local areas for the Better Care Fund must be put into pooled budgets established under Section 75 agreements. Authority was required from the Council’s Cabinet and each CCG Governing Body to enable each organisation to enter into the Section 75 agreements.

These agreements needed to be in place by 1April 2015 to allow the funds to be pooled and invested in line with the Sefton Better Care Fund plan.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

None.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Young People and Families which provided an outline of the learning from Rotherham and other child sexual exploitation reviews which had taken place since the publication of the Professor Jay report. Information was provided as to the actions that had, and were still, taking place in Sefton to address the national lessons learned and to safeguard children and young people in Sefton from child sexual exploitation.

The report included the following appendices:

Appendix 1 - PAN Merseyside Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Strategy 2014-2017

Appendix 2 - Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) CSE Strategy on a Page

Appendix 3 - LSCB Governance Structure

Appendix 4 - LSCB CSE Partnership Pathway

Members of the Cabinet raised questions on the following issues referred to in the report and the Director of Young People and Families responded to the issues as indicated below:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Built Environment which provided details of the proposed procurement of the Annual Service Contracts for Highway Maintenance Work to begin in July 2016.

Decision Made:

That:

1)      the procurement of the Annual Service Contracts for Highway Maintenance Work be  agreed based on the specifications referred to in paragraph 2.6 of the report;

(2)     the Director of Built Environment  be authorised to approve the Short List of Tenderers for each Contract subject to the appropriate review of the Pre Qualification Questionnaire;

(3)     the tenders be evaluated using the evaluation criteria set out in paragraph 2.4 of the report; and

(4)     the Director of Built Environment  be authorised to award the Contracts to the highest scoring Tenderer.

Reasons for Decision:

The existing Annual Service Contracts for Highway Maintenance Works are due to expire in July 2016.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

There were a number of alternative proposals for delivering the Maintenance Work. Consideration had been given to engaging one Contractor for all the works that forms the Highway Maintenance Programme or by reducing the number of Contracts to a smaller number by joining similar activities together.

However, it was acknowledged that there was a risk that should the works be undertaken by one, or a small number of contractors, any poor performance of a Contractor would have a much greater impact both on service delivery and staff resources. As such, as the previous 5 year arrangement proved effective, it was considered appropriate to use this as a model for the Contracts going forward.