Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Note the overall position in relation to the Year Ahead Delivery Plan activities.

2.    Note the Quarter 4 and year-end 2023-24 data for the Council Plan performance measures.

3.    Agree the revised Council Plan performance measure targets and new Year Ahead Delivery Plan for 2024-25 for the final year of the current Council Plan.

4.    Note that future progress reports will be presented to Cabinet in January and July 2025. 

The Chair invited the Leader of the Council to introduce the report and present the update.

The Council Plan was a strategic document published on a four yearly cycle, there was an Annual Delivery Plan that sat underneath the Council Plan which detailed the relevant delivery actions. Updates on the Council Plan were presented to Scrutiny on a six-monthly basis. 78% of the 98 actions detailed in the plan had been completed. 59% of the 68 performance measures were on target. The report was the year-end report for the previous municipal year and the proposals for agreement, for the current municipal year were detailed in the report. Consultation would begin over the summer period, for the next four-year Council Plan.

In relation to the theme Every Neighbourhood Thriving, there had been achievements such as, the completion of a new Pavement Parking Policy and the Council were looking to start engagement with Ward Members on what places they would like to prioritise engagement with the pubic relating the regulations. In February 2024, a new 20 mile per hour approach was agreed, to adopt a more coherent approach to 20 mile an hour speed limits. The Taxi Licensing Review was concluded, a new library was built at Thurcroft, and the programme of Capital Investment in CCTV Cameras was completed, although there was further work to be completed relating to the software of the cameras. In relation to delayed activities in this theme, the Local Neighbourhood Road Safety Schemes had ten schemes complete and eighteen in progress. The Towns and Villages Fund Phase One included the first four million pounds to be spent on the schemes, fifteen schemes had been delivered, four were on site at the current time and three were delayed. An example of Brinsworth was provided for one scheme that was delayed due to local issues.

In terms of performance measures in this theme, the anti-social behaviour perception measure was based on a police survey of how residents were feeling about anti-social behaviour, which had missed its target by less than 1%.

In relation to the theme People Safe, Healthy and Live well, there had been achievements such as the delivery of the Say Yes Public Health Campaign which encouraged people to say yes to healthier lifestyles. There had been a refresh of the Learning Disability Strategy and two thousand Rother Care kits for the new assistive technology, had been rolled out in advance of the future move towards digital phone lines. As all Councils were providing equipment for digital phone lines, BT had delayed their deadline for ending analogue phones and introducing digital phones only, therefore the delay was a national challenge. There had been a restructure of the homelessness service which resulted in several staffing changes and an increase in recruitment, to ensure the service would be more proactive and able to assist people before they became homeless, rather than responding to people who were already homeless. There were two delayed actions in this theme, one was Castle View which was a major plan for an in-house day centre with associated housing at Canklow. There had been a change in the plan and delays were a result of the costings of the scheme. The report referenced that a Cabinet decision was required for this action in July due to additional funding that was required. There were a number of housing scheme delays due to challenges at some sites. In relation to performance measures, admissions of elderly people into long-term residential care had a target of 300 and this was 301. Safeguarding enquiries where people felt their needs to be partially met was less than 1% off target. There were also two measurements relating to homelessness that were off target. This was due to an increase in people requiring homelessness support and was part of a wider national homelessness crisis.

In relation to the theme Every Child is Able to Fulfil Their Potential, there was achievements such as the roll out of the Family Hopes Programme, which was a two-year piece of work for Childrens Services and Health Services. The Youth Justice Action Plan and the SEND Written Statement of Action were completed. Improvements were required in both areas over recent years, and it was important that the Council had delivered on those actions to improve the services. There had been delays in actions relating to children’s residential homes, one had been opened, two purchased and one property had been identified but was not yet acquired. Delays in this area were due to identifying the right properties, purchasing the right properties, and completing engagement with local communities throughout planning processes. It was also a challenge to recruit employees for residential homes, an example was provided of how residential managers in particular could be a challenge to recruit. Although this was behind schedule, the Council were committed to delivering these commitments. In relation to performance measures, there was one off target, this was the year one phonics screen check, the data for this measure was out of date, it was based on the academic year rather than the municipal year.

In relation to the theme of Expanding Economic Opportunity, there were achievements such as the UK’s Small Grants Programme which supported businesses and business start-ups. The Local Labour Planning Policy was adopted, and several town centre works were underway. In terms of delays, there was an identified delay on actions relating to Riverside Gardens Public Realm Scheme and the Templeborough Towns Fund Scheme. In relation to performance measures, the proportion to people in or looking for work, was based on recent new data and there was concern around the number of Rotherham residents feeling unable to access or look for work. It was advised that there was a high number of people who were economically inactive due to ill health. The numbers were based on Labour Force Survey numbers, which were unreliable, due to it being a small sample. There were four indicators which were pointing in the wrong direction for the last year and more work was required in this area. The performance measure relating to the recruitment of apprentices required further work to increase numbers.

In relation to the theme of a Cleaner, Greener Environment, there were achievements such as, a new IT system in place which would change the way IT was used, ensuring the system would work effectively and residents would get responses to enquiries in a timely manner. The new household recycling centre contract was in place and the Council was in the process of bringing the operations back in house over the next few years. Several transport schemes had also been delivered. There were a number of delays in this theme, such as the procurement of narrow access vehicles, the vehicle was on lease at this point in time and there was no difference in the service provided. Rother Valley and Thrybergh Country Park works were delayed and the Centenary Way bridge repairs were delayed, to ensure that the repairs would not run alongside other roadworks in the area. The outline business case for the Mainline Station was delayed due to changes from the Government relating to the High Speed Two announcement and the requirement for Network Rail to produce the document for the Council. The new electric vehicle fleet for the Council was delayed due to a delay in officer recruitment to undertake the work. The delivery of the in-house green energy provision was delayed due to the landowner deciding not to go ahead with the project. The EV Charging Scheme relating to the Drummond Street Car Park was delayed due to guidance from the Government relating to the nature of the schemes, guidance had been issued and work could now continue on the scheme. In relation to performance measures in this theme, there were challenging targets relating to enforcement measures on fly-tipping and other forms of enforcement, the target was not met but improvements in this area had been made. Targets on waste, reuse and recycling were not met, but this measure was 3% higher than the year before. There was a challenge for the Council to ensure people were recycling appropriately and avoiding simple mistakes. Complaints about Street Scene were off target by 2%. There was a delay in the data relating to carbon emissions therefore the report contained the previous year’s data. Tree planning was delayed due to changes to the climate. In terms of One Council, all actions were completed. In terms of performance, there was challenges for the Complaints Team around timescales. There was a challenge relating to days lost to sickness and an ageing workforce, in particular within front-line services. These created challenges relating to sickness rates and recruitment levels.

New targets had been developed for the up-coming year which were more challenging than the previous year. An example was provided of highway maintenance, the target outcome was better than expected, therefore the target had been updated accordingly. On page 183 of the agenda pack there were a series of measures developed for the Year Ahead Plan for the up-coming year.

Councillor Marshall queried the number of days lost to sickness and whether there were any indicators towards the cause of the sickness levels and the work being completed to combat the levels.

The leader responded to advise that the two main causes of sickness were stress related conditions and musculoskeletal conditions. The Assistant Chief Executive advised that in relation to musculoskeletal conditions, the Council were completing more day one referrals where an employee indicated that they are off work due to strains, into the Occupational Health Service to ensure support would be provided at an early stage, to support a return to the workplace. In relation to stress, there were several measures in place such as team risk assessments, the Employee Assistance Programme and a Health and Wellbeing Programme. The Employee Assistance Programme was accessible to all employees for personal or work-related stresses.  Managers were provided with support and guidance was provided to assist them to prioritise work in situations where particular teams had higher workloads and stresses resulting from that.

Councillor Tinsley queried the two-year Capital Investment Programme to improve play areas across the Borough, under the theme Every Child is Able to Fulfil Their Potential. He asked where the capital investment was and advised that Maltby had not received any funding from this fund. The Leader advised that the measure covered a range of schemes that were funded in different ways and the Maltby funding was generated locally. There was £100,000 of capital budget investment corporately that contributed to the works, there were a series of small-scale play equipment replacements, and all works were captured in the measures. The Council’s in-house Design Team worked on a basis of covering their own costs through capital works and a fee was provided to the Team out of the scheme costs.

Councillor Yaseen queried the tables referenced on page 59 relating to the theme People are Safe, Healthy and Live Well and advised that the causes of increases in homelessness were not only as a result of people’s personal circumstances, but also due to other external factors. An example was provided of the impact that delays in housing schemes could have had on homelessness levels within the Borough. Councillor Yasseen felt that the housing schemes developed did not always meet the greatest pressures, an example was provided of someone fleeing domestic abuse and the lack of housing stock for that profile.

The Leader responded that he agreed with Councillor Yaseen’s assessment of the domestic abuse measures and assurance was provided that the service had increased engagement levels, this provided confidence about the support that people would receive if required. The Leader advised that the challenges around homelessness were not related to housing delays. Over the last five years the Council had built more council homes than in any comparable period for several decades. Compared to the scale of the challenge around homelessness, the delays in housing schemes were relatively small numbers. There was a high level of people requiring emergency accomodation for homelessness last year. All housing options were considered when discharging homelessness duties, this included the private rented sector, supported housing and council properties. If the Government helped to restrict the Right to Buy Scheme, this would help the Council to maintain the number of council houses that were available. The Council wrote to the Government to request support for more social housing delivery, this was part of a national drive.

There was a challenge relating to hostels for short term accomodation for the night, there was not this type of this accomodation available within the Borough and the Council relied on hostel accomodation based in Sheffield.

Councillor Yasseen queried pages 68 and 69 which related to the theme a Cleaner, Greener Local Environment and the delays listed in the tables. Councillor Yasseen felt that the Council was not prioritising the climate emergency and provided an example of how the council fleet Carbon emissions target had been lowered from 18% to a 10% target, both of which had not been met and Council carbon emissions had increased by 3.2%.

The Leader responded that the Council had spent money on specialist employees to assist with delivering on the climate emergency. The goals set for reducing carbon emissions were challenging. The Council made a big commitment of providing resources to shift the Councils energy supply and shifting fleet. The recruitment of specialist employees had taken longer than anticipated and once the team was established the numbers on emissions would drop, with the aim of the Council getting as close as possible to the 2030 commitment.

Councillor Yasseen queried the equality and diversity levels of the Councils workforce and the lack of a proportional representation of BAME employees. She asked whether this was being proactively addressed.

The Leader responded that the Council was one of the biggest employers in the Borough, with 75% of Council employees being residents. The real living wage was introduced for Council employees provided funds for Council employees and also the wider local economy.

Council Yasseen also queried specific measures in the report, an example was provided of the BAME figures and the use of the 2011 Census data rather than the latest Census data.

The Leader responded that the targets relating to people in BAME communities were developed because of the Council wanting to improve those figures. There was further work to do to ensure residents understood the breadth of careers that the Council offered. Work had been completed to improve this understanding, such as careers fairs and visits to schools across the Borough to engage people before they completed their GCSE’s. Further work on BAME recruitment was needed, this would require targeted work to ensure the Council were reaching all individuals.

The Assistant Chief Executive advised that when the Council Plan was written the 2011 Census data was the only Census data available at that point in time. The latest Census data had been captured during the life of the current Council Plan and was captured within the report, forming part of the new targets for the new Council Plan. The Council were not representative fully of the communities that they served, and work was on-going to increase this via the Workforce Plan. A Senior Community Engagement Officer position had been developed within the Organisational Development Team and would focus on this work. The Service were engaging with community centres such as the Clifton Learning Centre, colleges, and schools to understand the barriers that may exist in recruitment processes.

Councillor Bacon queried the Cleaner and Greener Local Environment Theme and the ambition to increase satisfaction with the cleanliness of the Borough and how this would be completed. He felt that reports by residents into services were not being followed up, which had led to reports being reported more than once.

The Leader responded that in terms of improving the satisfaction with the cleanliness of the Borough, there had been investments made into street cleansing and ending seasonal working. An example was provided of additional resources provided throughout the winter. In terms of assessing satisfaction and impact, an industry standard assessment was in place for the cleanliness of Street Scene, a sample of streets were assessed on a quarterly basis and measured against a set of national metrics. There had been the introduction of handheld devices for bulky waste which was assisting to ensure tasks were being completed and closed in a timely manner. There was a Love Where You Live Volunteer Scheme where volunteers were helping to keep streets clean within communities. The re-reporting of the same issues was a challenge, as resources had reduced the schedules of work had been static. As Zonal working became better established, this would help to reduce the re-reporting levels.

Councillor Bacon felt that cleanliness could range quite widely and queried whether the Service would acknowledge that potholes and pavement repairs were an important aspect of cleanliness. Councillor Bacon held up a photograph of a pothole repair which he felt was a bad pothole repair.

The Leader responded that road re-surfacing completed to a good standard lifted communities, ensuring it would look better. It was advised that the picture shown was most likely a temporary repair, temporary repairs were completed to ensure the road was safe in the short term, whilst a permanent repair was arranged.

Councillor Bacon queried page 166 and asked whether the figures on reporting included internal Member casework. It was advised that the figures did not include internal Member casework.

The Leader responded that the Service were proactive with the resources that they had and did not rely on peoples reports. An example was provided of the changes made to the Bulky Waste Service, the changes had allowed more time for the team to focus on proactive work.

Resolved:- That Cabinet be advised that the recommendations be supported.

That Cabinet:

1. Note the overall position in relation to the Year Ahead Delivery Plan activities.

2. Note the Quarter 4 and year-end 2023-24 data for the Council Plan performance measures.

3. Agree the revised Council Plan performance measure targets and new Year Ahead Delivery Plan for 2024-25 for the final year of the current Council Plan.

4. Note that future progress reports will be presented to Cabinet in January and July 2025.