Agenda and minutes

Resolved:- That the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th January, 2009 be approved as a correct record.

With regards to Minute No. 27 (Bids for RIEP Funding), Julie Slatter, Head of Policy and Performance, confirmed that £500,000 had been allocated to the South Yorkshire sub-region.  Consideration was being given to the development of Elected Members, what was in place, avoiding any duplication, and what was needed for the future.

In terms of Minute No. 29 (Corporate Improvement Plan), Lorna Kelly, Corporate Improvement Manager, explained that, as a result of the Comprehensive Area Assessment, the Corporate Improvement Plan would need further development and significant updating.

Further to Minute No. 24 of the meeting of the Corporate Improvement Board held on 12^th January, 2009, consideration was given to a report that was presented and circulated by Deborah Johnson, Performance Manager from Children and Young People’s Services.  

The Action Plan, developed as a result of the 2008 Annual Performance Assessment, was monitored and updated on a regular basis and the progress presented today for information.

Discussion ensued and clarification on progress was provided on each of the Areas for Improvement:-

·              Teenage conception rate.

·              Inadequacy of the Fostering Service.

·              Emergency placements in Children’s Homes.

·              Attainment at Key Stage 1.

·              Children’s attainment in English, mathematics and science at Key Stage 2.

·              Attendance in secondary schools.

·              Percentage of young people not in employment, education or training.

·              Level 2 and Level 3 achievement.

·              Management oversight for looked after children.

·              Overestimation of performance.

Questions were raised and clarification provided on issues relating to:-

-                 Awareness raising on teenage pregnancy in schools.

-                 Comprehensive Area Assessment Framework will make best use of information to identify vulnerable members of the community.

-                 Hotspot targeting of resources to reduce teenage conception rates and the effect on the general provision provided for the rest of the borough.

-                 Monthly briefings to the Cabinet Member on Foster Carer numbers.

-                 Ensuring the protection of all children and their placements of safety.

-                 Impact of inclusion and integration of statemented children in mainstream education.

-                 Underachievement of children at Key Stage 1 and the impact on future results.

-                 Educational aspirations of pupils, teachers and parents.

-        Two secondary schools in Rotherham are now in the top 50 most improved nationally and none are in the bottom 50 for Persistent Absence.

-                  Information regarding the role and work of Locality Teams for Children and Young People’s Services.

-                 Effect of authorised absence on the attendance figures in secondary schools.

-                 Monitoring the outcomes and performance of the incentives and work for young people not in employment, education or training.

-                 Management effectiveness and the monitoring of quality and performance.

-                 Sharing of information with Elected Members as Corporate Parents.

-                 Target date for submission to Performance Team for the Interim Report – now 31^st March, 2009 and submission of final report – now 17^th April, 2009.

Resolved:- That the report be received and the contents of the Action Plan, as now submitted, be noted.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Julie Slatter, Head of Policy and Performance, which detailed how Inspectorates had published the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) Framework which would become effective from 1st April, 2009.

The report summarised the key elements of the framework including proposals on

what the assessments would look like, how evidence would be gathered and how the Comprehensive Area Assessment would be delivered. It also highlighted a proposed way forward on how the Authority and partners took forward the new framework.

There was still much work to do which would influence the first Comprehensive Area Assessment judgement in November, 2009.

As the prime focus of the area assessment was around delivery of outcomes and prospects for future delivery it was essential to ensure that the Council and partners were on track to deliver the priorities in the LAA and Sustainable Community Strategies.

Comprehensive Area Assessment represented a fundamental change in the way Councils and partners were assessed – moving away from focusing on past performance towards a forward looking assessment of the prospects for the future. The Council had an important role in ensuring that this ambition was properly understood at local level amongst Members, officers and partners.

Comprehensive Area Assessment would also place greater emphasis on the quality of local performance management data.  Therefore, it was important that there were effective performance management arrangements across the partnership and Council to ensure high quality data. In addition, there was clear expectation that partnerships undertook regular and rigorous self assessment. The framework also emphasised the two way relationship between scrutiny and Comprehensive Area Assessment, in that information from scrutiny reviews would provide evidence for Comprehensive Area Assessment and the findings from Comprehensive Area Assessment may also provide a focus for scrutiny review.

Comprehensive Area Assessment would place importance on citizen and customer views as it was essential that the Council and partnership could demonstrate effective mechanisms were in place to understand community needs, priorities and service delivery expectations and how the Council was responding to them. The partnership approach to community consultation and involvement (CCI) and the developing CCI database would be a key source of evidence.

It was proposed to raise awareness of the Comprehensive Area Assessment through a variety of briefings to various meetings.

Further information was provided on the additional costs that may be incurred by the Council in relation to the performance management arrangements and the risks and uncertainties that may arise.

It was noted that the IDeA publication "Measuring equality at a local level (September 2008)" highlighted the extent to which equality information was currently available.  It illustrated which of the National Indicators had underlying figures for each of the groups identified and work was currently ongoing between the Chief Executive's Performance and Quality Team, the Equalities and Diversity Team and Research Team to identify the extent to which equality information was gathered in Rotherham in relation to the new national indicators.  However, because this information needed to be developed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.