Agenda item

Anne Bristow, Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services, presented the report and advised that over the last six months the Council had been working with partners to refresh its Adult Autism Strategy and to reflect the new ‘Think Autism’ national update, the Winterbourne View Concordat, the Care Act and Children and Families Act.  The Council had commissioned the Sycamore Trust to consult and engage with local individuals, carers and professionals on the Strategy.  The consultation period had ended in December.

Anne Bristow drew the Board’s attention to the aims of the three year plan and the nine priorities, set out in section 2.7 of the report, and advised that the Strategy could be refreshed if there were any significant changes to national guidance. 

The proposal was for the Learning Disability Partnership Board (LDPB) to monitor the progress of the Strategy, with them reporting to the Health and Wellbeing Board on its implementation after one year. 

An £18,000 innovation grant had been offered by the Department of Health to assist the Council and its partners to implement ‘Think Autism’, this was a one off grant and could be used for capital works, including electrical equipment and IT developments or for making public areas more autism friendly.  The plans for the use of the innovation grant were being worked up and would be submitted to the Department of Health by the 12 December.

Whilst the Adult Autism Strategy and the Children’s Autism Strategy were separate documents an integrated approach would underpin both.

Councillor Carpenter said it was a shame that the Adult and Children’s Autism Strategies could not have been issued together.  The Chair and Anne Bristow confirmed that there were areas of overlap within the strategies and that the Adult Autism Strategy had been produced in discussion with Children’s Services.  The Children’s Strategy was still in development so it was not possible to finalise them at the same time, nor was it appropriate to delay the Adult Strategy and the work that would follow on from it. 

Ann Graham, Divisional Director of Complex Needs and Social Care, advised that there would be issues of expectation to manage at the point of transition.  Anne Bristow added that the resources and legislative requirements were different for children and adults and accordingly financial resources for adults were less as well.  Anne Bristow commended the Adult Autism Strategy to the Board and advised that should there be a need for a refresh of either strategy that could be done in due course.

The Board:

(i)  Noted the explanation from the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services on the reasons why the Adult Autism Strategy needed to be put into place at this time and that work would be undertaken with Children’s Service to ensure synergy with the Children’s Autism Strategy where possible, and should any major changes or refresh be necessary these would be brought back to the Board in due course.

(ii)  Agreed the Adult Autism Strategy 2015 to 2017, attached as Appendix 1 to the report

(iii)  Delegated responsibility to the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services to make any final amendments to the Strategy before publication.

(iv)  Delegated responsibility to the Learning Disability Partnership Board (LDPB) to monitor the progress of the Adult Autism Strategy 2015 to 2017 and agreed to receive a progress report on its implementation from the LDPB in one year.

(v)  Delegated responsibility to the LDPB to make amendments to the Autism Strategy following the final publication of the Think Autism guidance in 2015, on the basis that should amendments be substantial the LDPB shall bring amendments to the Health and Wellbeing Board for agreement, subject to discussion and agreement between the Chairs of the LDPB and the Health and Wellbeing Board.

(vi)  Delegated responsibility to the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services to finalise the bid for the Autism Innovation Capital Grant before its submission on 12 December 2014.