Meeting documents

Cabinet are asked to:

1.    Come to a view on how the organisation is performing

2.    Take action to improve performance where necessary

Cabinet received a summary report, scorecard and detailed measures for each of their portfolio areas and were asked to update on those areas that were being flagged as red.

The Leader

• There were no red statuses to report in The Leader portfolio. 
• % of new floor space developed in enterprise zones relative to projected amount in plan (performance measure) – an error in dates was highlighted, Fit out is due to complete by December 2019 should have read December 2018.
• Mr Tett highlighted the achievements of three successful enterprise zones in the north of the county and stated that Silverstone was exceeding all expectations.  Mr Tett congratulated the Local Enterprise Partnership on their work.

Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health

• Number of clients screened by Live Well Stay Well was highlighted as a success.
• Red - % receiving an NHS Health Check of those who were offered an NHS Health Check – there had been some resistance by GPs to complete as questioned their value.  The Council were offering the NHS support in order to achieve targets.
• Red - % of successful drug treatment completions of those in treatment – improvement actions were in place.  It was a particular area of concern as impacts were widespread.
• Red - Total number of visitors to Bucks County Museum – this was due to better weather in October 2018 resulting in less people using the facility.

Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing – Ms G Quinton, Executive Director for Communities, Health and Adult Social Care provided an update

• Adult Social Care was currently going through a Transformation Programme.
• Admissions of older people (65+) into residential and nursing care was highlighted as an area of success.  There had been an improvement due to the Transformation Programme having had an impact.  Ms Quinton stated that although the numbers were dropping costs were not, due to the complex needs of clients.
• Red – Delayed transfers of care from hospital– this was a key national indicator and in comparison to other areas, Buckinghamshire were performing well and were amongst the best performing in the South East region.  It was noted that it was a stretching target and improvements had already been made since the last report was published.
• Red - % Adult Social Care clients receiving an annual review – Ms Quinton stated that the numbers tended to improve as the year progressed.  There was currently a significant shortage of social workers to carry out the assessments.  It was noted that there was a plan to create a bespoke team to carry out the assessments.  Mr Tett stated that this was a particular area of concern and asked that any support required be highlighted to Cabinet.
• Red - % of people re-abled with an outcome of Independence – Ms Quinton highlighted that at the beginning of the year it was 35% (now 41.5%) so on an upward trend.  There had been a significant improvement in processes which included sign posting to a broader range of early help interventions.
• Red - Average length of stay in Residential/Nursing care.  Rate of those going into residential care had dropped.  Those in residential care had been there for a long time which impacted on the average length of stay. 
• Ms Quinton also highlighted that the percentage of adults with learning difficulties in paid employment was slightly higher than the national average however there was still room for improvement.  A deep dive into the service had been commissioned to see how it could be improved to allow people to live more independently.

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

• Concerns about lack of social interaction with people staying in their homes longer and asked what was being done to improve this for service users and carers.  Ms Quinton stated that there was a new integrated service to make improvements, with a shared approach to prevention agreed by all key partners.

Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

• Percentage of Looked After Children seen in the last six weeks was highlighted as a success as this was now back above target.
• Amber - % repeat referrals within 12 months – pleased with rating as had sustained reduction so close to target.
• Red - % assessments completed in 45 working days.  February had seen a slight increase.  The focus was on quality of outcome for children rather than speed of assessment.
• Red - % ICPC (Initial Child Protection Conference) held within 15 working days of the strategy discussion – a deep dive had been carried out earlier in the year and improvements had been seen.
• Red - % of children waiting less than 14 months between entering care and moving in with their adoptive family – Mr Whyte stated that this was a small cohort of children so only took a small group of siblings to effect the data.  Mr Whyte highlighted the ongoing work to attract adoptive parents and hoped that the slight upward trend would be sustained.  The Cabinet Member was asked how realistic the high target of 75% was when the national average was 50%.  Mr Whyte said that this would be reviewed as part of the next reporting process.

Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

• Red - Permanent exclusion rate – primary and secondary.  Mrs Cranmer stated that there had been an increase on last year but an overall decrease since the reporting process had started.  Actions had been put in place which included ‘Side by Side’ a programme of those higher performing schools lending their expertise.  A new behavioural programme and training were also being rolled out and supported by a toolkit.  Mr Tett commented that exclusions were a much publicised issue and that there needed to be a balance between discipline in mainstream schools while allowing other students to still learn and progress.     
• Green – Key Stage 1 - % of pupils reaching the expected standard in writing, many of which took a range of different exams.  
• Green - Key Stage 1 - % of pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics.  Mrs Cranmer highlighted this as a good news story in the portfolio with Bucks performing above the national average.

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

• The target for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) seemed to be low and it was asked if a more challenging target should be set.  Mrs Cranmer stated that there was a shortage of Educational Psychologists so there was currently a backlog, hence the lower target.  The shortage of Educational Psychologists was a national problem.

Cabinet Member for Resources

• Green – both total capital spend across BCC and overall revenue were on target and there had been improvements in the level of unsecured debt.
• Red - % of BCC website pages that meet accessibility standards.  Mr Chilver stated that there was an improvement programme in place.  The Council’s Society of Information Technology Managers (SOCTIM) rating had improved from 4 to 8.
• Red – Number of sickness absence days per FTE annually.  Mr Chilver stated that this was partly due to seasonal impact.  The Council were actively promoting staff wellbeing.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment

• Mr Chapple highlighted a number of high performing areas including  being on target for Sustainable Drainage planning applications processed even with minor ones from the Districts (from around 100 to 400).  Another area of success was Country Park visitor numbers which would exceed 1m this year. 
• Mr Chapple made reference to those rated as amber (% of waste collected for recycling and satisfaction of Rights of Way network) and stated that targets were set high and BCC were still way above national average.
• There had been funding allocated over the next four years for the footpath programme.
• Mr Chapple thanked residents, volunteers and staff for their work on keeping footpaths clear.

Cabinet Member for Transportation

• Delivery in the last three quarters had been fantastic in terms of road and footpath resurfacing and building safety barriers.
• Dealing with category 1 road defeats had risen from 43% after a bad winter to 99%.
• Public satisfaction survey, dealing with congestion – this was still disappointing with 43% against a target of 48%.  Mr Shaw highlighted some of the issues were due to works being carried out by third parties such as utility firms which caused congestion.  Mr Shaw reiterated the commitment to get people moving around the county.  Mr Shaw asked that members of the public contact their local councillor to report particular problems and that councillor could view work in their area on Fix My Street.

Cabinet were asked to:

1. Come to a view on how the organisation is performing
2. Take action to improve performance where necessary

RESOLVED:  Cabinet took a view on how the organisation was performing and discussed actions being taken to improve performance where necessary.