The Adult Social Care, Health and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee were scheduled to meet to discuss their remit, key priorities, risks, and challenges for service areas, and to develop a work programme for the 2025-26 municipal year. The meeting was to include an overview of adult social care and community safety, with public health and culture, leisure, and communities to be discussed at a later meeting.

Remit of the Committee

The committee was scheduled to note the areas within its remit, which include:

• Adult care, public health, and wellbeing
• Mental health
• Statutory health scrutiny
• Culture, leisure, and communities
• Community safety and regulatory services, including statutory crime and disorder scrutiny

The report pack states that the overview and scrutiny function is a key part of West Northamptonshire Council's (WNC) democratic structure, holding the cabinet to account, contributing to policy development and review, monitoring performance, and scrutinising external organisations.

Overview of Key Priorities, Risks, and Challenges

The committee was scheduled to receive an overview of key service areas, including adult social care and community safety.

Adult Social Care

The report pack included a presentation on the role of adult social care, which includes support services for adults who need care and support, support to carers, and short-term reablement support, all with the aim of promoting well-being, choice, and independence.

Key priorities for adult social care that were scheduled to be discussed:

• Promoting independence and preventing hospital admissions
• Integration with health services
• Supporting the local care market, including workforce, sustainability, and harnessing care technology
• Financial sustainability and reform
• Quality assurance and regulation

The committee was also scheduled to discuss the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Local Assurance Framework, which focuses on:

• Working with people, including assessing needs, supporting people to live healthier lives, and equity in experiences and outcomes
• Providing support, including care provision, integration and continuity, and partnerships and communities
• Ensuring safety, including safe systems, pathways and transitions, and safeguarding
• Leadership, including governance, management and sustainability, and learning, improvement and innovation

Risks and challenges identified in the report pack that were scheduled to be discussed include:

• Increasing demand due to demographic changes, rising complexity of needs and hospital discharge pressures
• Budget pressure, with £25 million in savings delivered since vesting day¹ but pressure on the current budget due to legacy costs, demand and complexity
• Managing a sustainable market, including workforce shortages, low morale and burnout, and financial instability
• Health sector reform and pressure, including shifts from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention
• Regulatory pressure, policy and reform, including preparation for CQC Local Authority Assurance²

Community Safety

The report pack included a presentation on community safety, engagement, and resettlement, with a focus on prevention, delivering great outcomes, and enabling change in local neighbourhoods. The service vision is to build safer, stronger, and resilient communities by making intelligence-led decisions that address local needs.

The overview of services that was scheduled to be discussed included:

• Community safety, working to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour
• Community engagement and resettlement, ensuring communities have a voice
• Community development/Local Area Partnerships (LAPs), working at a neighbourhood level to solve problems early
• Voluntary Community and Faith Sector and Grants, administering community grants against corporate priorities

The statutory responsibilities that were scheduled to be discussed included:

• Crime and disorder reduction, as mandated by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998³
• Anti-social behaviour management, in line with the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003⁴
• Health inequality reduction, as emphasised by the Health and Social Care Act 2012⁵

Service priorities that were scheduled to be discussed include:

• Implementing and embedding a new community development structure that leverages local strengths and resources
• Leading and delivering focused environmental improvement projects in neighbourhoods with high levels of fly-tipping and environmental degradation
• Finalising and launching the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy, with a fully costed and actionable Year One Delivery Plan
• Securing and operationalising safe, trauma-informed accommodation for victims and survivors of domestic abuse
• Refreshing the Community Funding Grants Framework to incorporate robust evaluation criteria and impact measurement tools
• Refreshing the Community Safety Strategy and developing targeted action plans to address key priorities
• Rolling out tailored Community Engagement Plans across West Northamptonshire to build a resilient engagement network
• Recruiting a dedicated Funding Officer to proactively identify and secure national and regional grant opportunities
• Completing the delivery of eight Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) Phase 3 properties for Afghan resettlement
• Collaborating with Assets and VCSE partners to ensure community buildings and spaces are fit for purpose
• Further developing welcoming spaces by equipping individuals and community organisations with the training, tools, and confidence to support vulnerable residents
• Developing and implementing a comprehensive Youth Offer Strategy across West Northamptonshire to empower young people to thrive

Risks and challenges identified in the report pack that were scheduled to be discussed include:

• Sustaining a year-on-year reduction in crime
• Rising anti-social behaviour and exploitation
• Short-term government funding impact on commissioning and the future sustainability of services
• Low civic participation in some areas
• Highly competitive funding environment
• Cultural and practical needs of resettled families
• Community tensions

The report pack notes that central government and partner funding contributions fund 69% of the roles within the service.

Development of the Committee Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to receive a presentation and give initial consideration to the content of its work programme for the 2025-26 municipal year.