Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest reported at the meeting.

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of this Committee held on 25 October 2022, be approved as a correct record.

Verbal Update from the Assistant Director – Adult Services

The Assistant Director, Adult Services, reported that the Charging Reforms had been paused until 2025, and that the Inspection Framework would come forward next year.

Members requested that a written update, rather than a verbal update, be provided to future meetings, and enquired as to when an update on the Fair Cost of Care would be forthcoming.

RESOLVED – That the update be noted.

Presentation from the Assistant Director – Adult Services, the Workforce Development Manager and the Darlington Academy Coordinator

The Assistant Director, Adult Services, the Darlington Academy Coordinator and the Workforce Development Manager provided a presentation on workforce recruitment and retention in Adult Services.

The presentation provided Members with an overview of the issues in terms of recruitment and retention, the use of the workforce recruitment and retention fund, information in relation to recruitment and retention in Darlington, details of the Council’s retention schemes and programmes, details regarding recruitment campaigns and the different approaches adopted in terms of recruitment, and how that fed into the bigger picture.

Members entered into discussion on the success of the differing strands of the recruitment campaign, recruitment of both young people and older people into the sector, the use of relief contracts as opposed to zero hour contracts, the benefits and disadvantages of zero hour contracts within the sector, the need for workers to access services to enable them to continue to work within the sector, and the reduction in staff turnover in Darlington.

RESOLVED – That the contents of the presentation be noted.

Report of the Assistant Director – Law and Governance

The Assistant Director Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated) requesting that Members gave consideration to the Work Programme items scheduled to be considered by this Scrutiny Committee during 2022/23, and to any additional areas that Members would like to be included.

IT WAS AGREED – That the content of the report be noted.

Report of the Chair of the Care Homes in Special Measures (Executive Safeguarding Arrangements) Task and Finish Review Group

The Chair of the Care Homes in Special Measures (Executive Safeguarding Arrangements) Task and Finish Group submitted a report (previously circulated) to provide an update on the work of the Care Homes in Special Measures (Executive Safeguarding Arrangements) Task and Finish Group.

The submitted report advised that at a meeting of this Committee on 21 June 2022, Members requested that a piece of work be undertaken to allow Members to receive information on those Care Homes in ‘Special Measures’, and to understand the reasons as to why those Care Homes had entered Executive Safeguarding Arrangements. It was reported that the Task and Finish Group met on 8 November 2022, and a note of the meeting, together with the recommendations of the Group, were appended to the submitted report.

It was noted that ‘Special Measures’ was not the appropriate term to describe this process, and that the correct terminology was ‘Executive Safeguarding processes’.

RESOLVED – (a) That this Committee receive a six-monthly report on those Care Home to which executive safeguarding processes currently applied.

(b) That the CQC be approached with a view that representatives attend a future meeting of this Committee, and provide a presentation on the role of the CQC and respond to questions from Members.