Action Notes of East Sutherland and Edderton Ward Forum
09 August 2011, Brora Scout and Guide Hall
Attending / Representing
Cllr. Deirdre Mackay (Chair) Highland Council
Cllr. Ian Ross Highland Council
Cllr. Jim McGillivray Highland Council
Iain Miller Golspie Community Council
Lee Bright Brora Community Council
Alex Campbell Rogart Community Council
Christine Ross Voluntary Groups East Sutherland
Ch. Insp Mathew Reiss Northern Constabulary (NC)
Bill Alexander, Highland Council
Liz Sergeant, Highland Council
Bob Silverwood, Highland Council
Eugene McGowan, Highland Council
Phil Tomalin, Highland Council
18 Members of the public
1 Apologies
Yvonne Ross, Kathleen Cunningham, Evelyn Mackenzie, Anne Ford
2 Action Points/ Matters Arising
Weed control - Transerv will ensure the workforce pay particular attention to the condition of the footways etc in the week immediately prior to community events.
ACTION CCs can either contact Transerv direct or via Ward Manager
COMPLETED – no contact made via WM
Golspie - Transerv needs to cut back the trees on the A9, particularly at Dunrobin.
ACTION Iain Miller agreed to take photos. HC Members keen to take a coordinated approach with Transerv COMPLETED PT has sent IM’s photos to Transerv
Stagecoach - Recent timetable changes (principally aimed at improving the service in Caithness and E Ross have caused some complaints. In Sutherland there is no Local Liaison Group but Stagecoach are willing to meet regularly with such a group.
ACTION Jim McGillivray to set up meeting with Steve Walker of Stagecoach.
3 Ward Discretionary Budget
A sheet detailing expenditure to date was circulated. There were no questions.
4 Self Directed Support
Bill Alexander – Director, Social Work,
Liz Sergeant – Team Manager - Self Directed Support
Bob Silverwood, Community Care Manager, Caithness, Sutherland and E. Ross
Eugene McGowan, Social Worker/ SDS Champion CSER
Background
• SDS Scottish pilot in Highland, Glasgow and Dumfries and Galloway.
• SDS already implemented in England and Wales.
• SDS strategy for roll-out published in Oct 2010 with Bill going through Scottish Parliament and likely to be enacted in 2012.
• In Highland there were 40 people in original trials and a range of service choices were implemented.
What is SDS?
• SDS aims to:
o Modernise services
o Improve choice and flexibility
o Promote and enable client independence.
• SDS is an alternative to receiving Council-arranged services. Clients receive an individual budget to spend on the support they require. This offers clients:
o Choice and flexibility
o Money to buy services
o Management of their own support.
• Clients can choose between (or a combination of):
o Highland Council arranged services
o Direct payment to clients to organise their own care
o Care provider managing funds for clients.
SDS Approach
SDS aims to achieve 3 types of outcomes
o Change – an improvement in skills, employment, moving on
o Quality of life - maintaining quality of life for clients (change not appropriate for all clients)
o Positive experience
• Outcomes are agreed with clients then plan agreed to identify resources, activities etc.
• Draws on support from professionals, community, vol. and private sector including gardening, cooking etc. to increased independence. Example of client who could read timetables and had some money skills whose independence (cooking and shopping) was improved through building on the original key core skills.
• Risk enablement helps clients to understand risk and how to manage rather than avoid risk taking – very important to increasing independence.
• Personalisation is important – helps individuals achieve their potential and become part of the community. Local authority provision has not been so good on this in the past - one size does not fit all.
Discussion points
• Challenges are different in different areas esp. rural vs. urban.
• SDS clients can still access LA provided services that are available and appropriate.
• Evidence from trials is that many clients leaving school prefer SDS to institutionalised day care.
• There is no plan to close Beachview but service provided there does need to change: more flexible, more responsive to demands. Some people fear hidden agenda to close Beachview – this is not the case – but equally, how the service will be provided in the future is not clear, and budget pressures are a reality. Beachview has plenty of potential – newish building, underused, new opportunities following withdrawal of Learning Centre provision, a sanctuary for users – familiar and local.
• Change from Day Services should be seen in as positive light, but aware change causes anxiety.
• Same As You is a useful forum for people investigating opportunities e.g. offer of land for market garden.
• HC Education Culture and Sport Service is looking at what will replace learning that has been withdrawn from Learning Centre. Broad range of training opportunities is important: literacy, numeracy, confidence building, money skills etc. These can be funded through SDS esp. where groups of clients work together to purchase shared service. There are also opportunities for communities to help develop these skills.
• Direct payments make client employers and this can be a heavy bureaucratic workload. Whilst employer status does not suit everyone, some clients welcome the opportunity. If carers are self employed it greatly simplifies paperwork but cover for periodic of illness and holiday can be difficult to arrange. Individual service funds (where budget managed by provider) offer an alternative. HC is in discussion with SG to try to reduce monitoring requirement on clients. Vol. sector may also be a valuable source of support for clients e.g. Community Connectors. HC care at home service now operates a 24/7 rota and is working on provision of emergency cover.
• SDS also applies to older adults, and there is a lot of interest, but the systems are not fully in place so opportunities currently limited. SDS will be rolled out for all older adults over next year or so.
• Integration of NHS and HC Social Work will not affect SDS which is national programme. Furthermore, both NHS and HC are working to reduce hospital times and through “re-ablement” getting people living independently at home as soon as possible.
• Liability for expenditure of direct payments depends on the agreement. Where service provider is fund holder, client has no liability.
• Communication and consultation about the changes are recognised as being key to the successful roll-out of SDS.
5 Police / Community Safety - Ch. Insp Mathew Reiss
• Driving Ambitions will be given to all S6 and North Highland College Students in Caithness, Sutherland and Tain and E. Ross Wards over next few weeks.
• Recent checkpoint at Tain was successfully used to monitor vehicle condition and also to catch criminals and drunk/drug drivers.
• Increase in theft esp. heating oil, diesel and fencing materials - public need to be vigilant and call NC when suspicious.
• Sgt Garry Cameron has been promoted to Inspector and will be transferring to Caithness.
Discussion Points
• New Traffic Warden due to start shortly. She will be based at Tain and will cover up to Helmsdale. Parking, whilst not a priority for NC, is a concern where road safety is affected, inc parking on pavements. Shift patterns mean that NC resources are concentrated to weekend evenings therefore Traffic Warden a welcome addition.
6 Voluntary Sector – Christine Ross
• Understanding How to Influence Parliament – 10 places available for this conference on 29 Oct. Contact VGES
• Promotion of volunteering - VGES to undertake mapping exercise
• Woman at Work Training - how to make the most of meetings - 22 Aug
• VGES Newsletter due end Aug
7 Community Council Issues - CC Chairs
CC Elections
HC will organise and run the elections, although CC s are asked to help promote the process esp. opportunity for 16 and 17 year olds to stand and vote
ACTION PT will inform CC Secs at end this week whether CCs need to stop meeting during election.
Golspie - Seagulls remain an issue. Scottish pilot currently being undertaken testing different control measures
ACTION PT to provide copies of revised HC leaflet
No issues raised by Brora or Rogart
8 Issues raised by Cllrs Mackay, McGillivray and Ross
East Sutherland Schools
• Recent press coverage referred to a “superschool” for East Sutherland. This was based on an email released following an FOI request. The email reflected very early discussion about possible options to be investigated in East Sutherland as part of the Highland-wide School Estates Review.
• Recent Scottish Govt. moratorium on closure of rural schools is now likely to delay the review, which would have reached East Sutherland in 2012.
• The review process involves the development of a range of options (most of which will be subsequently ruled out) with the final decision made by Councillors at ECS committee.
• East Sutherland and Edderton Ward Members are confident that there will be no change to school provision in E Sutherland and retain full support for and confidence in both Dornoch Academy and Golspie High School.
9 Questions from Members of the Public
There were no further questions.
10 Date of Next meeting
Tues 20 Sept, Helmsdale Community Centre