Agenda item

Cabinet Portfolio:               Corporate Services and Finance (Lead)

Strategic Directorate:         Assistant Chief Executive

The Board considered the Council Plan performance report for Quarter 2 (July - September 2019) which provided an analysis of performance against 13 key delivery outcomes and 69 measures.  At the end of Quarter 2, 28 measures (52%) had either met or exceeded the target set in the Council Plan, compared with 55% in Quarter 1.  The direction of travel was positive for 30 (56%) of the measures calculated in this quarter, an improvement from the 53% figure for the previous quarter.  Pressures arising from demand for social care remained a challenge, but good progress was seen on the measures under priorities 3 and 4 for Regeneration and Environment. 

The focus for the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board was on the 18 measures rated as red which were discussed on a priority by priority basis.

Priority 1

1A3 Number of Looked After Children

There had been a big improvement since the last quarter to just below the target figure, with numbers reducing as predicted due to the actions put in place such as right child, right plan.

1A4 Proportion of families who rated Early Help as good or excellent

Members observed that performance on this measure had dipped and queried whether exit surveys were carried out with all families, including those who had not had a positive experience. It was agreed to doublecheck that everyone was offered the opportunity to feed back. Some would choose not to respond and as the numbers involved were small this made the measure liable to large percentage changes.  Attempts were being made to encourage more responses and to make the survey more service user friendly.

1A5 Proportion of children on repeat child protection plans (within 24 months)

This was still below target although with an improved direction of travel and Members asked about work to identify who may go back on a plan and were concerned in particular about high numbers returning after 12 months.  Specific work by the safeguarding lead looked at cases of returners, which could be due to unforeseen changes in family circumstances within a short period such as a new partner or other children joining the family.  Sometimes people had been over optimistic in removing a child from a CPP and they would be put back on one.  Children stayed on plans as long as was needed.  Compared with neighbours on measures regarding repeats, Rotherham was slightly lower than middle, performing well on no repeat plans ever, but was still addressing some legacy issues which could mean possibly going back on a plan in their teens.

1B4b Permanent Exclusions - primaries

Officers agreed with the view that exclusion for a child was problematic, especially in primary school, with serious long term consequences and should be avoided at all costs. Exclusion rates were quite high but with a lot of actions taking place to support schools and families to avoid it being necessary.

1A7 Proportion of Looked After Children with disrupted placements

A concern was raised that the Intensive Intervention Programme could lose its funding.  A joint review with the NHS would take place on all therapeutic interventions, so would be part of that work and evidence was needed to show it was making a difference, including feedback from participants.

1A8 Looked After Children placed within a Family Based setting.

Members challenged the progress with this measure and asked if newer data was more positive.  Officers confirmed that too many children and young people were in the care system, with a high percentage in residential rather than family-based settings but the ratio changed daily.  There had been some success in reducing total numbers but it depended on where the children had come from when they stepped down e.g. from residential to family or family to own home.  The most recent data dis show an improvement to 79.3%

A general point was raised regarding the potential for making more up to date information available and officers agreed to revisit the cycle and timelines as it was nearly Quarter 3.

Priority 2

2A1 – Successful completion of drug treatment – opiate users

Clarification was sought on this measure and whether successful completion meant that the individual was no longer dependent and if they did go back into services if that would skew the figures. If people re-presented to services they would count again in the figures but treatment was becoming more successful as the number of re-presentations was lower than the national average.

2B7 New permanent admissions to residential/nursing care (adults) and 2B8 Total number of people supported in residential/nursing care (adults)

A question was asked about short term admissions and the reasons for these.  Historically there had been short term admissions through the hospital pathway and a recent flurry of short term admissions becoming permanent had impacted on the measure. Positive respite and pathway changes led to some short term admissions.

2B2 Information and Advice at first point of contact (to prevent service need).

Although rated amber rather than red, Members observed that this measure had declined during the summer and queried whether with a target of 40% if 60% of people have to come back?  This was an important measure in light of the Council’s statutory duty.  An access workshop had been held with staff regarding recording and about the changes to the conversation at the front door.  It was a question of understanding thresholds and training staff. Reassurance was given that people were getting the right advice but the aim was to deal with 20% at the front door in Adult Care with the remainder signposted elsewhere. 

Priority 3

No red measures were reported for Culture, Sport and Tourism which was performing well across all areas with high satisfaction levels in excess of targets.  The intention was to devise more qualitative/descriptive performance indicators, including Members and the community in their development.

3A2 Proportion of positive outcomes for reported hate crimes

OSMB had held a performance sub-group on hate crime but assurance was sought on the direction of travel for the measure and what it actually measured.  A positive outcome was where a report had been made and action followed, so there could be various outcomes and conclusions.  It was explained that this was data from the police but not necessarily a measure that the police would usually use.  As more incidents were reported, with more third party reporting centres and more anonymous reports it became harder to deal with and the length of time could be problematic.  The police favoured the shift to community solutions which could actually be tougher for the perpetrators.  Improvement was anticipated from the new actions.

3A4b – Taxi licensing – vehicle and driver compliance in spot inspections

Members verified if this was something that would continue to be closely watched. The new policy had gone out for consultation and would be very stringent.  Spot inspections were finding fairly minor compliance issues not major health and safety or safeguarding issues.

3B3 - Customer contact

Members had received feedback regarding brown bins that it was hard to get through on the ‘phone to pay.  Fly tipping seemed to have increased but it was positive to see prosecutions and would be good to see more punitive measures.

A concern was raised about the need for cleaning or refurbishment and renewal of road signs as dirty signage gave a bad impression of the borough to visitor and it was confirmed that bollard/sign cleaning had been discussed by the working group.  It was clarified that the borough had been divided into two halves, east and west, for tasks such as tackling weed growth and a Member Seminar on zonal working would outline the more holistic approach.

Priority 4

4A5 Narrowing gap on working age economically active in the borough

Officers stated that the data related to a small sample and the challenge for the Council was via its influencing role rather than directly, through partnerships with   Jobcentre plus and the Employment and Skills Plan. It was confirmed that with a long lead time in promoting economic development that would be a lag in the data.

Priority 5

5A1 Council tax collection and 5A2 Non-domestic (business rate) collection.

The service was confident it would achieve 98% for business rates by the year end, but less confident on 97% for Council tax.

5D7 Completion of Mandatory Equality Training

Quarter 2 data was 68% but the latest figure showed an increase to 82% and was expected to reach 95% by year end.

5D2 Sickness absence – days lost per Full-time Equivalent

Sickness rates were off target and workshops were underway with managers to address this. The Chair reminded the Board that a performance workshop would be looking at this issue.

Resolved: That the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board hold further discussion on the report at the meeting to be held on 12 February 2020 prior to making any specific recommendations for future items in the work programme.