Cabinet received a report from the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Services on the inaugural Barking and Dagenham Carers Strategy for the period 2011 to 2015 and proposals for the future provision of the Carers Support Service, the current contract for which expires in March 2012.
The Divisional Director of Adult Commissioning advised that the aims of the “Caring for Carers in Barking and Dagenham” strategy were to bring together the key services for carers and emphasise the borough’s continuing commitment to supporting carers. The Divisional Director highlighted the key priorities for improvement, shared with the national strategy, of ‘Identification and recognition’, ‘Realising and releasing potential’, ‘A life outside caring’ and ‘Supporting carers to stay healthy’ and, in response to a point raised, undertook to provide Cabinet Members with details of the information that the Council holds on the number of adults who live with their children as part of their care.
Cabinet agreed:-
(i) The Barking and Dagenham Carers Strategy 2011-15 and associated action plan, as contained in the appendices to the report;
(ii) The proposals for the review and re-tendering of the current Carers service, to link to the aims and outcomes of the Strategy; and
(iii) To authorise the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services, in consultation with the Corporate Director of Finance and Resources and the Divisional Director of Legal and Democratic Services, to award the contract to the successful contractor on completion of the procurement process.