North Yorkshire Council
Care and Independence Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 27 January 2026 commencing at 10.00 am.
Councillor Karin Sedgwick in the Chair. plus Councillors Eric Broadbent, Andy Brown, Caroline Dickinson, Robert Heseltine, David Jeffels, Mike Jordan, Heather Moorhouse, Andy Paraskos, Monika Slater, Roberta Swiers, Robert Windass and Subash Sharma.
Officers present: Richard Webb, Louise Wallace, Anton Hodge, Abigail Barron, Karen Gullon and Cecilia Marchant.
Apologies: Councillors Nigel Knapton, Peter Lacey and Jack Proud.
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Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book
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Apologies for Absence
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Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 October 2025
Resolved – That the draft Minutes of the meeting held on 20 October be taken as read and confirmed by the Chair as a correct record.
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Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest.
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Public Participation
No public questions or statements were received.
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Update on Financial Management of Adult Social Care Cost Pressures
Considered – A detailed presentation on the financial management of Adult Social Care cost pressures, provided by the Director for Health and Adult Services (HAS) and supporting officers.
Richard Webb, Director for HAS introduced the presentation and provided an overview of the key cost pressures and the actions being taken to address them, which included: · A breakdown of the HAS budget for 2025-26 and expected overspend · The increased number of hospital discharges and associated additional cost to the Council · The increased use and associated spending on the provision of short-stay beds · The comprehensive 3-year plan to reduce the use of short-term beds and average length of stay · The increased average cost of care home placements, and the investment in a new e-brokerage system · The expansion of Extra Care across the county · The increase in resource as a result of the restructure of ASC · The above average cost of Home Care across the county as a result of the rural premium paid, which had reduced in 2025 in part due to better prices from providers · The ongoing work to improve long waiting times for referrals and assessments · An overview of the Pilot in Whitby testing a new model of commissioning home care with an alliance of care providers · The expansion of the use of Direct Payments and introduction of individual service funds · The introduction of Occupational Therapy Assistants to reduce a backlog in assessments · The 140 new supported living units in the pipeline, to reduce the demand for more restrictive and expensive residential care · The establishment of a Preparation for Adulthood team to enable more joined up working with Children’s Services · The continuing Healthcare Income Plan aimed at ensuring that the NHS pays appropriately
Richard Webb also provided an overview of a proposed 3-year pilot of a new Prevention Plus Model which would build on the success of Living Well and involve working with a number of Community Anchor organisations across the county to deliver local services and activities.
In response to Members’ questions, officers confirmed: · An increase in population was a factor in the rising costs of ASC, as people were living longer · The Council had inherited a fairly low public health budget · Complaints around hospital discharges were fully assessed for lessons learnt · 15-16 additional extra care schemes were being developed across the county with funding from Homes for England - Developers were always encouraged to build extra care facilities · In response to a finding from the CQC inspection, the workloads of Social Workers were moving to being more specialised. · Data on the speed of recovery as a result of early hospital discharge was currently fragmented.
Members noted the potential future cost pressures and went on to debate the age split used to focus service delivery i.e. 18-74 and 75+, suggesting that it may be appropriate to also have a clear focus on those aged 18-25, given the potentially high number of young people with complex needs transitioning from Children’s Services to Adult Services.
It was also suggested that the Council should use revenue from second homes council tax to fund the building of specialist housing.
The Chair thanked officers for the detailed presentation, and it was
Resolved – That the presentation on the financial management of Adult Social Care cost pressures be noted.
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Public Health Annual Report 2024/25
Considered – A report by Louise Wallace, Director of Public Health (DPH) introducing the DPH Annual Report 2024-25, with a focus on ‘Working Together for North Yorkshire’ that illustrated the power of partnership and working together to improve and protect the health of the people of North Yorkshire, as detailed in section 3 of the report.
Louise Wallace provided an overview of her independent annual report which every DPH had a statutory requirement to publish on the health of their population, as a vehicle for informing local people about the health of their community and informing decision-makers in local health services and authorities on health gaps and priorities that needed addressing.
Louise Wallace drew specific attention to: · The feedback on the implementation of the recommendations from the 2023-24 Annual Report. · The Public Health Peer Review undertaken in February 2025 and the actions taken in response to the recommendations arising from that review. · The recommendations within the 2024-25 Annual Report, suggesting that Recommendation 1 – implementing the recommendations from the Public Health Peer Review, and Recommendation 3 – ensuring the voice of the people with lived experience was an integral part of the work of the Public Health Team, were of key importance.
Members discussed: · The areas of deprivation identified in the report i.e. Selby and Scarborough, unchanged for the last 15+ years. It was noted that since becoming a unitary, there had been a step change, with more housebuilding, more apprenticeships and the introduction of decent town investment plans etc. · The greater sense of community prevalent since the pandemic · The increased contact with employers through the pandemic and the trailblazer money being used across the county on a number of initiatives designed to get people back in to work. · The county’s ageing population and the associated challenges.
Overall, Members commended officers on the report and endorsed its recommendations, and expressed an interest in keeping a watching brief on their implementation and agreed to take them into consideration when planning future areas of focus for the Committee.
The Chair thanked the Director for Public Health for her Annual Report, and it was
Resolved - That the report be noted.
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Health & Adult Social Care Local Account 2024/25
Considered – A report of the Corporate Director of Health & Adult Services (HAS) presenting the Local Account 2024-25.
Richard Webb, Corporate Director of Health & Adult Services confirmed the Local Account was an annual statement of HAS performance in delivering adult social care, detailing progress against the Directorate’s improvement priorities for 2024-25.
Specific attention was drawn to the examples of involvement work within the report, the challenges identified with the report and a number of achievements over the 2024-25 year.
It was noted that the Local Account would provide the CQC with key data to track progress against their recommendations arising from their recent inspection.
Councillor Subash Sharma drew attention to the data in the report on the county’s growing ethnic minority population (page 88) and suggested the England average figure shown of 26.5% was incorrect. Officers agreed to check and revise the data if necessary.
Overall, members welcomed the report, but it was suggested that future Local Accounts would benefit from the inclusion of more statistical data trends
Resolved – That the Annual Account for 2024-25 be noted.
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CQC Inspection - Outcomes & Action Plan
Considered – A report of the Corporate Director of Health & Adult Services (HAS) presenting the outcome of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Assurance process carried out in 2025 and the actions being taken to address the feedback.
Richard Webb, Corporate Director for HAS introduced the report and confirmed that the Council was currently fourth equal highest in the country which might change as more reports were published. He went on to drew specific attention to Appendix A, the draft CQC Action Plan.
Members noted the headline priorities identified in the Action Plan and agreed it would benefit the committee to understand the timescales for delivery of those, as it would help inform the Committee’s future work programme.
It was confirmed the draft Action Plan had recently been considered by the Improvement Board made up of key managers from the Directorate alongside representatives from the voluntary sector and NHS partners, which had resulted in a number of suggested amendments.
With this in mind, Members agreed they wanted to consider a more finalised version at a future meeting so that they could use it to inform their future work programme for 2026-27.
Resolved – That: i. The report be noted; ii. The completed Action Plan be presented at a future meeting.
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Work Programme 2025-26
Members took account of the discussions on previous agenda items and other developments taking place across the county and agreed a number of amendments to their work programme for their final meeting of the 2025-2026 municipal year, as follows: i. The update on Substance Use be deferred to the Committee’s meeting in July 2026 ii. The Bi-annual Performance Update be removed from the work programme. iii. The addition of the finalised CQC Action Plan
In regard to the committee’s work programme for the coming municipal year, Members agreed they would like to hold an introductory session with the new Corporate Director for Health & Adult Services, once the new Director was in post. They also agreed to add a future item to look at younger people’s care (age 19-25), given the potentially high number of young people with complex needs transitioning over from Children’s Services to Adult Services.
Finally, as it was his last meeting in post, the Committee expressed their thanks to the Director for HAS acknowledging his support, guidance and invaluable contributions to the work of the Committee.
Resolved – That the work programme document be updated as above.
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Date of Next Meeting - 20 April 2026
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The meeting concluded at 12.00 pm.