Agenda item - Formal Public Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by members of the public:

(a)    Petitions – to receive any petitions presented to the full council or at the meeting itself;

(b)    Written Questions – to receive any questions submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 14^th July 2015;

(c)   Deputations – to receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 14^th July 2015.

5.1            The Chair welcomed Mr. Kirk to the meeting and invited him to put his question to the Board.

5.2            Mr. Kirk thanked the Chair and asked the following question,

              “Board members will have seen an Argus article¹ about syringe needles in the toilet at the Level. I have heard recently of a case of a little girl injuring herself on a syringe needle in Queens Park. This coincides with the outsourcing of the Substance Misuse Service to Cranstoun/Surrey Borders NHS Trust, in particular, the fact the needle exchange venue has now moved location and the additional services that were offered to clients has new ceased. Apart from the need for the Council to safeguard children playing in Brighton and Hove parks –

a)     How does the Council monitor the performance of the new SMS provider?

b)     Are there any clauses in the new contract to take account of a degradation of the service? For example, is there a clause in the contract that can enforce the Council taking the service in-house following clear service failure?

c)      The SMS service was exemplary and despite advice the Council went ahead with outsourcing. Will the Council take heed that, despite the promises made by alternative providers, outsourcing is so often followed by service inadequacy?”

5.3            The Chair stated that he had a written response which he would ensure was copied to Mr. Kirk following the meeting and replied, “The Substance Misuse Neighbourhood Liaison Officers have been in touch with the Police, CityClean and City Parks and to date have not been able to confirm that the child did injure herself on a needle i Queen’s Park.  The drug litter bins in the public toilet at the The Level were installed in October 2014 in response to an increase in needle finds over the summer months.

Pavilions were not able to continue to provide a needle exchange from the building used by the previous provider in St. George’s Place.  The needle exchange is currently being provided from premises on Ditchling Road.  In addition 18 local pharmacies provide a needle exchange.

In regard to your other points, performance is managed through the contract and against predetermined key performance and quality outcome indicators.  The performance of the new SMS provider, Pavilions is being monitored at quarterly contract review meetings chaired by the Lead Commissioner for Alcohol and Drugs.  Performance data and information is drawn from national statistics, activity based reports and service provider summaries.  In addition, monthly mobilisation and post contract commencement meetings have been held with Pavilions in order to address transitional issues.

With regard to drug litter, relevant service information is included in the quarterly Service Provider summaries, which include Needle Exchange and Open Access interventions.

Where the Local Authority is of the opinion that a material breach has occurred then the authority may take any of the following actions:

(i)        Require the contractor to submit a performance improvement plan to address the areas of concern;

(ii)      Suspend the individual service element, without terminating the contract;

(iii)     Without terminating the entire contract, terminate the individual service element and then the Authority may supply or procure a third party to deliver this element of the service.

The previous adult drug and alcohol service providers were not provided by the council, but by a partnership of NHS and non-statutory providers.  The Pavilions partnership consists of a range of partners including the NHS and local agencies.  The performance of the partnership is being monitored and performance issues will be addressed as described above.

5.4            Mr. Kirk thanked the Chair and stated that he understood there could be a number of variances in service provision and asked whether the monitoring included asking the staff how good the service was?

5.5            The Chair stated that he had met with staff and received positive feedback and he would continue to seek that feedback.

5.6            The Chair noted that there were no other public questions.