(a)   the coalition government has moved away from inspection regimes and scored judgments, including the abolition of the Annual Performance Assessment for Adult Social Care;

(b)   in the place of inspection regimes, a Local Account would be self-assessed and published by the council and there would be no central Government role in the assurance of the document;

(c)    local authorities have been encouraged to develop a Local Account for 2011, Recent Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) guidance has suggested that all councils with social care responsibilities consider producing a short, accessible local account during 2011/12;

(d)   the Government had signaled that it did not intend to specify the content of a Local Account and that the account should be locally designed;

(e)   the process of producing a Local Account should be linked to the wider corporate business planning cycle. It is proposed that the Local Account would be published during July/August of each year, which allows sufficient time for information to be gathered and validated;

(f)     there was no prescribed method of approval or formal reporting for a Local Account, but initial guidance from ADASS suggests that Local HealthWatch would have a role in signing off the report.

(g)   the account was aimed at service users, carers, professionals and the general public;

(h)   there was an action plan with regard to surveying the views of those with physical, mental and learning disabilities. The department continually looked at new ways to engage. There was a learning disability partnership board in place and more users were being invited to sit on that board and challenge commissioners on their decisions;

(i)     about 900 adults with disabilities were in the care or the local authority, many in residential care. Around 80 people were supported in paid employment and the department planned to increase this in the future. The department was also working with assistive technologies and solutions for transport to increase access to employment opportunities;

(j)     the Plymouth Online Directory was an easy service to update and was cost effective;

(k)    the department spent less then average on individual care. However this reflected a combination of a number of different factors including unit costs for services. The figure did not include services provide by the department through other areas such as the Life Centre and libraries. The reported figure relied on a narrow focus on care packages;

(l)     all feedback received through the system was reflected in the number of complaints and compliments;

(m)the target to achieve for the percentage users on personal budgets was 60 per cent for 2011-12. This target was not reached. The department plans to have the remainder of service users, if appropriate, on the personal budgets by April 2013.

(1)   the document is provided in an “easy read” format, accessible to those with disabilities and those who do not use English as a first language;

(2)   the Department will provide action plans regarding indicators 146 (Adults with learning disabilities in employment) and 150 (Adults in contact with secondary mental health services in employment) for distribution amongst panel members;

(3)   the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny panel is added to the list of consultees within the document;

(4)   the website address for the Plymouth Online Directory is added to the document;

(5)   the final Local Account would be presented at a future meeting of the panel.