Consultation on a New Vale of Glamorgan Social Care Section 16 Forum
The Vale of Glamorgan Council is keen to seek your views on proposals we are currently developing for the launch of a brand-new Section 16 Forum for social care services in the Vale of Glamorgan. We will use the Forum to provide support and encouragement to social enterprises, co-operatives, user led services and the third sector, so that they are able and willing to fulfil service delivery opportunities. It is intended that the Forum will facilitate dialogue about the challenges, risks and opportunities for the sector in the Vale of Glamorgan. Our proposal is that in addition to an annual meeting of the forum that during the year we will host 3-4 workshops that will focus on key areas of social care. All section 16 organisations will be invited so they can have the opportunity to attend any workshop they feel is related to them. We will also look to ensure that citizens and unpaid carers representatives are invited to sessions that are relevant to them.
What is a Section 16 Forum?
The Code of Practice for Part 2 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act and the guidance for Part 9 have been redrafted to provide clearer and stronger requirements for implementing the Section 16 duty. This duty requires local authorities to promote social enterprises, co-operatives, user-led services and other third sector organisations for the provision of care and support and preventative services.
In the Vale we have agreed that we will launch a joint Section 16 Forum for Adult Services and Children’s Services, based on the different challenges and opportunities facing the two social care markets in the county as detailed in the Population Needs Assessment, and regional and local Market Stability Reports.
The purpose of our Section 16 Forum is twofold with both aims being linked and mutually supportive:
· Transforming care to achieve greater well-being and sustainability.
· Rebalancing the care market to achieve greater diversity of service providers.
We expect that the work of the Forum will assist Social Services to encourage service delivery that promotes
· Well-being Outcomes
· Coproduction / Voice and Control
· Collaboration
· Early Intervention / Prevention
Whilst also adding value in respect of
· Social and Cultural Value
· Economic Value
· Environmental Value.
We Need Your Feeback
In order to ensure that our approach is inclusive and provides the best opportunity for us to engage in the most meaningful way with Section 16 service providers, work has commenced with internal officers and colleagues from the University Health Board (https://cavuhb.nhs.uk), and the Integrated Health & Social Care Partnership Team (https://cavrpb.org), supported by Cwmpas (https://cwmpas.coop/) to consider what shape the Forum should take and the most appropriate way to ensure meaningful participation with service users and unpaid carers.
We would appreciate you completing the attached survey so that we can understand your preferred options regarding approach and engagement to inform our next steps.
We expect the survey will take no more than 10 minutes to complete and is anonymous.
You can access the survey by following link: Section 16 Forum and Workshop Survey
Please will you return your completed survey by no later than the 14th December?