Review of partnership agreements for older peoples' services

The County Council's Cabinet agreed yesterday to changes to what we call the Section 75 agreements bwetween the County Council, the NHS and an NHS organisation called Cambridgeshire Community Services (CCS) who are responsible for the management of many aspects of care in Cambridgeshire.  The Section 75 agreement is effectively the contract that we have that underlies the working arrangements.

What we agreed was that,rather than have a three way contract, to take NHS Cambridgeshire out of the middle and to have a single Section 75 agreement with CCS.  The thinking behind this is to provide better accountability and management oversight in an area that, in the past, has been too complex and has a history of overspends.  This is not a criticism of either organisations and, in particular, I would say that the National changes to the NHS are resulting in huge improvements in local relationships; these S75 changes are more an evolution of arrangements that happened some years ago.

The important point in this is not the technicalities of this single change, but that it signals the start of a real process of change in Adult Social Care, of which more will come forward in the coming months.  We are trying to be innovative in dealing with the financial problems we face - to be more preventative, to be more radical in how we manage what we do and to use the changes in the NHS to the advantage of the residents of Cambridgeshire.  The last inspections showed that the level of care we provide is good, but we do need change and innovation in order to keep care affordable - but also to do more to prevent people needing it in the first place.

This afternoon I am at my first meeting of a Scrutiny sub-committee that is going to examine what we are doing with delayed discharges - another area of concern for Cambridgeshire - and I will be discussing further proposed changes there.

The County Council's Wisbech Day

As a break from usual ways of working, the County Council held it's Cabinet Meeting at the Boathouse in Wisbech today as part of a whole day focused on Wisbech and its issues.  I am not one who denies those issues exist, the evidence is all too clear.  So, in terms of trying out something new, it was absolutely the right place to start.  I do want to say however, that the Daily Mail (my least favourite newspaper) and others who choose to exaggerate and stretch reality in order to sell papers does absolutely nothing to help.  The point was made today that we need to start talking positively about the future of Wisbech and realising that even a community that has issues, has strengths that can be captured and built upon.

The day started with a breakfast hosted by Archant (owners of Cambs Times and Wisbech Standard) and attended by Cabinet Members, local dignitaries, readers of abovementioned newspapers and others. The leaders of both Fenland District Council and the Council spoke during this session - a great way of setting the scene for the day.  

We then went on to the Cabinet meeting, where we discussed a number of issues.  The Lib Dems excelled themselves by talking about a bus service, having spoken to passengers about the impact that ending the subsidy would have, in fact, the bus they travelled on was commercial and therefore not under threat.  But, overall the meeting was a good one with some really good contributions from most of the speakers and some positive discussions. 

There were a number of important announcements made today.  I could comment on each and every one, it's probably better to just catch up with the Wisbech Standard website and Steve Tierney's blog.  But it is worth saying that the most important announcement was the 20-20 vision, because it potentially encompasses the rest.

As a Whittlesey Councillor, I do want to highlight that once again Alan Melton, the Leader of Fenland District Council, said that the A605 Whittlesey Bypass is key for the future of Fenland - a vision both he and I have been selling for some time.  This solution is a long way from being done and dusted but it is moving forwards.  Why is the bypass important?  Well, Whittlesey residents are screaming out for it, but for the rest of Fenland the potential to have the sort of easy access to the A1 from the heart of Fenland that an A605 bypass would provide offers all sots of economic benefits.

During lunch we had a discussion with community representatives and some very positive contributions from Inspector Robin Sissons, Christopher Smith, the former MD of Roddons and a number of primary school leaders which gave us, as a Cabinet, plenty of food for thought.

I then went for a trip to a day centre and a residential centre for adults with learning disabilities - all linked to my Adult Services cabinet role.  Once again, it was incredibly helpful.  I really enjoy getting out and talking to people, spending time getting to know how things work from the bottom-up.  In an organisation that spends over £180m a year (which Adult Services does) this is a vital part of what I do. It is this sort of, often hidden, work of a Cabinet Member that takes time and effort, but offers a real contribution to helping improve services and, in turn, peoples' lives.  As ever, I learned a huge amount, took a few issues away and left cards for people to contact me and so they can invite me back if needed.

We finished the day with a wash up, just discussing the day and what we learned from it - overall the feedback was really positive.  Three things come out of today; some much better informed Councillors; some real positive momentum for a Town that needs and deserves exactly that; and a model that can be repeated elsewhere in the County.

I have to say, when the idea of a Cabinet meeting in Wisbech was mentioned to me, I was a bit sceptical; I felt that it would be seen as tokenism.  I was wrong, well partially wrong, because what today turned into was something that was far more worthwhile than just simply moving a meeting out of Shire Hall and I hope the press response has proven that.

Cabinet Meeting this morning

Today's Cabinet Meeting was definitely one of the better ones.  We approved two excellent papers to do with preventative work with vulnerable children and families, we agreed an extension to the Babraham Park and Ride.  I personally dealt with some very helpful but challenging comment from the Leader of the Labour Group, Tariq Sadiq about Adult Social Care overspending and reform, giving my initial views about the direction we need to take.

The contrast between the Labour Group Leader being active in the meeting and making some helpful, challenging comment and the Leader of the Lib Dem group who had decided to say nothing and actually sat at the back of the room appearing totally uninterested and playing with his laptop was pretty stark.

My Friends Cambridgeshire Lib Dems Again

Sometimes I despair.

Today during a discussion on the use of LPSA funding - for which an agreement has been reached with every District in Cambridgeshire with the exception of the City Council (again), the Leader of the Lib Dem group at the County Council made a plea to the Cabinet to rethink our position or face the decision being called in - making the point that he didn't want to create "unnecessary work."

If he recognises that the call-in would be unnecessary work - then don't call it in, otherwise it would be a blatant waste of public money.

There was some really good stuff at Cabinet today, including an excellent interim report on Domestic Violence presented by Cllr Samantha Hoy.  It was also the first time I had spoken at Cabinet in my new capacity as Cabinet Member for Adult Services, talking about progress since the last CQC assessment (completed in 2010) .  It was a good news story because the assessment judged us as performing well with excellent features, and the action plan created after the inspection has been delivered pretty well.

All change at the County Council as well

Yesterday I was advised that Catherine Hutton, the current Cabinet Member for Adult Services was standing down because of work commitments (a seriosu issue for some Councillors) and was asked if I would take over that portfolio.  One which is, arguably, the most challenging in the Council.

As someone that relishes a challenge, I have accepted.  I could say more, but it is probably best to link to the news release from Shire Hall.

Even on the first day, the enormity of the task that I face is becoming very, very apparent.

The truth about the Health and Wellbeing Board

One of the decisions I guided through Cabinet today was the approval of the structure, terms of reference and make up of the Shadow Health and Well Being Board in Cambridgeshire, which is being created as part of the changes being made to Health delivery in England through Andrew Lansley's changes to the NHS.

A number of factors went into our thinking about the Board; we wanted it to be small enough to be an efficient vehicle for delivery and for everyone involved in Health to be able to have their voice heard, whilst recognising that not everyone could have a seat on the Board without it becoming too cumbersome.

As a result, we created a board of eleven members, including; the Leader of the County Council, myself and a representative from the District Councils as democratic representatives along with a number of Council Officers and representatives of the Health Sector.  But we also agreed to create a number of networks underneath this, including Local Health Partnerships which will ensure some of the thinking is done in a more localist way.  We also agreed for the District Councils to be able to create their own network so that their representative on the board could speak for all.

I believe this is an excellent structure - but of course the Lib Dems claim it is undemocratic.  So let me explain where the democracy is in this structure.  Firstly, our overview and scrutiny function will be continuously overseeing the function of the board; that committee includes District Councillors and Liberal Democrats.  The Local Health Partnerships will have councillors on them (including in some places Liberal Democrats) and the Board itself has three Councillors.  So, whilst maintaining an efficient top level structure, we have managed to make the overall structure localist and democratic.

The Lib Dem position is, of course, about headlines rather than reality. Some things never change.

Congratulations to Steve Count

It was announced today that my fellow Fenland County Councillor Steve Count has been appointed to the Cabinet at the County Council to take on the Resources and Performance portfolio.

I am really pleased for Steve, he has proven to be a a real asset to the County Council since his election and his promotion is well earned.  I am really looking forward to working with him on the Cabinet.

P.S. Please give me credit for not using a "Count on Steve" headline - trust me I was tempted.

Cabinet and Gamlingay Village College

Full Cabinet today was enthralling.  The decision we had to make over the future of Gamlingay Village College meant that it was one of those meetings where there was a clear feeling that there was extremely important.  It wasn't helped by the fact that I had dreadful toothache today.

The history of this is extremely important to the decision. After 18 months of the Local Authority trying to get the school to change its ways and failing because of a lack of co-operation from the leadership in the school, the County Council issued the school with a warning notice which was copied to OFSTED and resulted in a devastating inspection.  Often described as one of the worst inspection reports that our very experienced officers could remember.

One of the options in front of us was to close Gamlingay Village College and move the students to nearby Bassingbourn,whilst also expanding the lower school into a traditional (for Cambridgeshire) 4-11 Primary school.  The other serious option was to keep the school open as a Middle School and to federate it with nearby Bedfordshire School, Stratton Upper (which is the school most Gamlingay students move on to).

There was an extremely vociferous campaign from parents to keep the Village College open.  An interesting one that seemed (to me) to include a strong element of denial about the circumstances of the school and which seemed to pay insufficient detail about the need for a rapid turnaround in standards.  It made the decision all the more difficult; it is OK to listen to a voice of protest - but that voice has to accept where things are, and in my view there was not sufficient acceptance of that. Indeed if I had made a decision solely on the quality of the campaigning (as opposed to numbers) I would have voted for closure. In the end however, I did agree with the option of keeping GVC open - not because of the protests but because I was convinced by a number of speakers that the Federation with Stratton could turn the school around quickly.  Given that I felt this was possible I agreed that it was the best long term education and community solution.  This was supported by all but one of the Cabinet, but - the arguments were extremely close and, if things don't turn out as I hope and believe they will, then I will be amongst the first to ask for a rethink.

I would urge all of the parents who have supported the campaign to keep the school open to switch their focus onto making sure the solution they have supported creates the first class education that their children deserve.  If their enthusiasm can be harnessed towards improving education it could make a huge difference.  But I have to say I found myself supporting their wishes despite of their campaign, not because if it.

We spent two and a half hours on this issue this morning - the longest discussion we have ever had on a single issue.  It deserved that sort of airing and our Leader Nick Clarke deserves credit for the way he has handled this, as do our Officers and the Cabinet Member David Harty.