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NEGOTIATIONS between Wokingham Borough Council and its partner for its adult social care company are still ongoing.
Wokingham Lib Dem group leader Cllr Lindsay Ferris wanted to know if relations between the council and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead had improved. He said: “We are aware that there have been a number of issues within Optalis over the past months”.
Responding at the virtual meeting of Wokingham Borough Council held on Thursday, November 26, Cllr John Halsall, the leader of the executive stepped in as technology failed, preventing Cllr Charles Margetts from responding.
He said that Optalis “remains key to this council’s delivery of its Adult Social Care and improvement journey” and that it was performing well.
“Plans are being jointly developed to create additional front-line capacity in the organisation. This will facilitate continued measured growth, by providing a genuine alternative market option, this will also stimulate further efficiencies in the wider local adult social care sector,” he said.
“In addition to this, further opportunities for driving efficiencies and improvements are being developed in partnership with the Director of Adult Services.”
He also thanked OPtalis staff for their work throughout the pandemic, saying they had gone “above and beyond” to keep residents safe.
Responding directly to the question posed by Cllr Ferris, he said: “here has been an ongoing dispute in terms of agreeing an equitable split of Central costs as laid out in the shareholder agreement. I am pleased to announce that RBWM have agreed to settle 2 parts of that dispute with positive ongoing negotiations to resolve 3 and final element.
“So, the short answer to your question is yes there is an improvement I am positive about the future, but we do need to let these negotiations conclude over the coming weeks.”
Cllr Ferris responded by saying that he had concerns about the current cross-council arrangements “and feel they may be unstable in the future”. He wanted to know if that view was shared.
Cllr Margetts, the executive member for health, wellbeing and adult services, said: “I’ve shared publicly before that within the last 18 months, we’ve been looking at Optalis, and we’ve had a change of strategy … it follows that just because a company was doing something when it was set up, it doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing in perpetuity. That’s what’s driven this discussion.”
He added: “There are negotiations going on basically to resolve the third of the issues regarding future costs at the moment, I’m hopeful of a positive outcome. And things have been much better with Optalis over the last six months.
“Within Wokingham Borough Council, we are fully focused on getting a relationship with works with Optalis, but works most of all, basically, for our residents, because that’s what we are here for – to serve (residents).”
