Meeting documents

Cabinet is 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.

Leader

• There were no red statuses to report in The Leader portfolio. 

Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health

• Red - % receiving an NHS Health Check of those who were offered an NHS Health Check – only slightly adrift from target of 48%.  Mr Williams stated that he would be having the health check himself and communications would be shared on this to raise awareness.  Mr Williams mentioned that there had been concerns from some GPs regarding the quality and value of the health checks.  It was a national campaign and the service would continue to actively promote and work with GPs.
• Red - % of successful alcohol treatment completions of those in treatment – Mr Williams highlighted the Director of Public Health report focused on the theme of alcohol use and would come with an action plan for improvement.
• Amber - % of the eligible population invited to an NHS Health Check – it was confirmed that although amber at 88.8% the Council were outperforming their peer group and 100% was a stretching target.
• Amber - % of successful drug treatment completions of those in treatment – at 12.6% this was not far from the target of 13% but was still disappointing and there was further work to do.
• Green – % of births that receive a face-to-face New Birth Visit within 14 days by a health visitor in the quarter – had gone beyond the target of 90% which was a great achievement. 

Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

• It was highlighted that the Transformation programme in the service was having an impact on performance which was on an upward gradient.
• Red – Delayed transfers of care from hospital per 100,000 population (attributable to Social Care or jointly to the NHS and Social Care) – it was noted that this was a national target.  Good work continued in the service and options being considered which included the integration of the Reablement Team.
• Red - % contacts progressed to assessment – this was showing as 3% behind target however the indicator had improved since the start of the Transformation programme.  The three year target was already close to being achieved.
• Red - % Adult Social Care clients receiving an annual review – this was a national target of a stretching target of 100%.  There were still issues in the recruitment of social workers and this would have an impact on general performance.  The service was looking at various initiatives in a drive to recruit social workers and was high on the agenda to improve over the next 12 months.
• Red - % of people re-abled with an outcome of Independence – local set indicator as part of the Transformation programme.  Moving towards target in line with the Transformation programme outcomes, improvement from previous year.
• Red - Admissions of adults (under 65 yrs) into residential and nursing care.  Rate per 100,000 of population – the target had dropped significantly since the start of the Transformation programme.  Lin Hazell stated that they had not moved the position for younger adults as much as they would have liked and this was due to a lack of alternative provision across the County. It was highlighted that the service had commenced a review of the approach to learning disability and autism and a detailed plan of how this would be addressed would come to Members in the near future.  Working with colleagues across the county as part of the new unitary authority would help progress.
• Red - % of adults with learning disabilities who live in their own home or with their family – further work was needed to understand how to best support those with learning disabilities to stay independent.
• Red – Average length of stay in Residential/Nursing care – the figure was expected to drop in line with the Transformation programme; a strength based approach.
• Amber - % of adults with a learning difficulty in paid employment – this was a long running issue with some resistance in the employment sector.  Lin Hazell confirmed that the integration of Supporting Employee Service into Day Services was now completed and continued to work with adults supporting them into appropriate employment.

Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

• Mr Whyte made reference to the % of births that receive a face-to-face New Birth Visit within 14 days by a health visitor indicator and state what a fantastic achievement it was and reflected the importance the county council put on achieving the target.
• Red - % of children waiting less than 14 months between entering care and moving in with their adoptive family – Mr Whyte commented that the county council were more focused on achieving the right placement for the child rather than a quick fix to meet targets, which could result in a failed placement.  The projection for the indicator was better.
• Red - % assessments completed in 45 working days – assessments were a critical part of the social work process and needed to be carried out correctly.  Work being carried out was seeing results however in improving practices time was needed to imbed to achieve a sustained improvement.
• Red - % ICPC (Initial Child Protection Conference) held within 15 working days of the strategy discussion – Mr Whyte stated that it was a stretching target and that the county council performed above their South East neighbours.  Reassurances were given to Cabinet that senior managers took improvement in the area seriously.
• Amber - % of children who became the subject of a Child Protection Plan for a second or subsequent at any time – Mr Whyte had asked for further information regarding the target as there was more concern for those that returned in a short period of time.  There was a lot of hard work happening in the service and was moving in the right direction.
• Green - % of care leavers in employment, education, or training – the indicator was on target and the county council were performing better than its statistical neighbours.  Mr Whyte highlighted that the Corporate Parenting Panel maintained pressure on social workers and other stakeholders to deliver.  The results were a great outcome for care leavers as it meant that it had a productive and beneficial impact on their future lives.
• Green - % of Children Looked After seen in the last 6 weeks – the performance had got back on track over the last two quarters and was part of the Improvement programme.

Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

• Red - % new EHC plans issued within 20 weeks (excluding exceptions) - it was highlighted that it had been a long running issue but the backlog had now been cleared and only current plans were now being dealt with.  The next performance report would show further improvement.
• Red – Permanent exclusion rates – was an area of improvement as currently above the national average.  Plans were in place to tackle the issue which included the Side by Side programme.
• Amber – Overall attendance rate at Secondary Schools in Buckinghamshire – Mrs Cranmer mentioned that the £60 fine for pupils being out of school would be reviewed.  Although it was a national requirement to impose a fine there needed to be work into the different types of absence and not a blanket fine.  Mr Tett asked that Cabinet were kept informed of development.
• Mrs Cranmer made reference to two green indicators which were Overall attendance rate at Primary Schools in Buckinghamshire and % of pupils attending schools rated good and outstanding by Ofsted.

Cabinet Member for Resources

• Red - % total capital spend across BCC (forecast) compared to Budget (performance measure) – only marginally outside of the green range at 11.2% of the total Capital budget for the year.  Mr Chilver stated that the slippage mostly related to major infrastructure projects in the Leader and Transport portfolios and other factors were where Capital project had been put on hold due to the unitary decision.  Mr Chilver also highlighted that they had fully spent the Capital money for Highways maintenance and schools building programme and had actually achieved ahead of target.
• Red - Number of existing staff and new employees taking up apprenticeships (excluding schools) – this had been disappointing and fell short of the public sector target set. Lack of suitable training apprenticeships standards in certain areas for example the social worker apprenticeship standards that were due to be published this year.  There were also practical restrictions to the number of placements that could supported in light of budget cuts.  The Learning and Development team had been actively promoting the scheme and the county council had recently been successful in an application to join the LGA Apprenticeship Accelerator Programme which would provide eight days of consultancy work from the LGA to support the apprenticeship strategy.
• Amber - Number of sickness absence days per FTE annually (BCC) – continued to support mental health and wellbeing campaigns.  Mr Tett raised the importance of understanding the reasons for high sickness and if related to work related stress.
• Green - % of BCC website pages that meet accessibility standards – there had been a vast improvement in the area as precious red, it now performed well above target.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment

• There were no red statuses to report
• Amber - % of waste collected for recycling, reuse, composting or anaerobic digestion) from household sources – this was a starching target and performance was currently in the 5% tolerance.  It was noted that the county council were performing in the top 10% of all authorities.
• Amber – % of customers satisfied with their local Rights of Way Network – there had been a number of issues with routes.  The service had been successful in a Capital bid for the next four years.
• Green - % of Sustainable Drainage planning applications responded to within 21 days or agreed timeframes – performing well at a 99.4% success rate and Mr Chapple stated that this had been in part to the hard work of the apprentice within in the team.
• Green – Country Parks: Visitor Numbers – performing well with over 1m visitors.  The parks were of a very high quality and to be proud of.

Cabinet Member for Transportation

• Red - % of Highways Development Management (HDM) planning applications responded to within 21 days or agreed timeframes – there had been a number of challenges which had included resource within the team.  There had been an increase of applications submitted.
• Red - NHT Public Satisfaction Survey: Tackling Congestion – this was scoring just below amber.  It was recognised that the more work carried out on the highways the more issues this caused.  Some instances were also related to works carried out by utility companies that the county council were not always made aware of prior to the work. Mr Tett highlighted increased housing and traffic but no investment from government in infrastructure and that the county council continued to put pressure on central government regarding this.
• Green - % of individual Capital schemes (Network Safety, Safety Fencing and Drainage) completed by year end –had been a really good year and performed at 94%
• Green - % of overall Capital Carriageway Maintenance Programme delivered by year end – 100% delivery.
• Green - % of overall Capital Footway Programme delivered by year end – 100% delivery which was done to good planning as it previously looked like it could slip.
• Green - % of Category 1 defects repaired in 2 working days – 43% last year but now performing at 99%.  There had been fewer defects due to better and the delivery of the plane and patch programme.

Mr Whyte praised the performance of the Customer Services Team with 14k-15k contacts by email or phone a month and had improved first time resolve from 58% to 69%.  Mr Whyte stated that given the complexity of some of those inquiries the results were impressive.  Mr Williams confirmed that it would also be a seamless process when the new council would go live on 1 April 2020.

Mr Williams highlighted the work of the Corporate Parenting Panel and in particular those children that were now placed within 20 miles of them home, this had been in part due to the increase in foster carers and the county council opening their own children’s homes.  Mr Tett stated that it was important to remain focussed as the council moved into the new unitary authority.

Cabinet was asked to:

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

2) Take action to improve performance where necessary

RESOLVED: Cabinet came to a view on how the organisation was performing and summarised action being taken to improve performance where necessary.