Agenda item

The quarterly performance report provided details of the key performance measures reported through the corporate performance framework for 2023/24 and the performance scorecard, which provided information on four key elements of performance for the Council covering Finance, Customer Service, Performance and Human Resources indicators.  Within the performance report and performance scorecard, outturns which were performing at or better than target were classified as Green, those which were within 5% of the target are Amber and those which were more than 5% of the target were Red. At the end of Quarter 3, 93 indicators had outturns reported with a Red, Amber or Green status. Of these, 54 were Green (57%), 18 were Amber (19%) and 22 were Red (24%).

 

RESOLVED –

 

That the performance report be noted including the action taken to improve performance where required.

The quarterly performance report provided details of the key performance measures reported through the corporate performance framework for 2023/24 and the performance scorecard, which provided information on four key elements of performance for the Council covering Finance, Customer Service, Performance and Human Resources indicators.  Within the performance report and performance scorecard, outturns which were performing at or better than target were classified as Green, those which were within 5% of the target are Amber and those which were more than 5% of the target were Red. At the end of Quarter 3, 93 indicators had outturns reported with a Red, Amber or Green status. Of these, 54 were Green (57%), 18 were Amber (19%) and 22 were Red (24%).

 

The Leader asked each Cabinet Member to comment on the red indicators in their portfolio area:-

 

Leader

Strategic Infrastructure projects: percentage profiled spend achieved

Performance in Q3 was 47% which was lower (worse) than the target of 75%. Actual spend on SE Aylesbury Link Road Phase 1 to date was £1,474,870 against a budget of £4m. Phase 2 spend to date was £622,923 against a budget of £500,000. The lower expenditure of Phase 1 was partly due to slower than anticipated progress on construction and land acquisition while the Housing Infrastructure Fund reallocation was awaited. This was a very difficult and complex project and a meeting was being held shortly to address this.

 

Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources

Average Call Wait Time

Q3 performance was 3 minutes 33 seconds against a target of 3 minutes. This was an improvement in performance compared with Q2 (4 minutes 16 seconds). The focus this quarter continued to be to help residents who were online to remain online, thereby reducing the number of calls to the Customer Service Centre (CSC). Use of call back queues and chat bots were being promoted. This quarter the CSC had launched the new Abavus Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which once fully implemented would replace all of the legacy systems. However, it should be noted that the service area was well above target with the percentage of phone calls answered in the Customer Services Centres which was 95.5% against a target of 90%. Customer satisfaction was also above target at 82%. The Leader welcome the use of Microsoft co-pilot which was being trialled, although it was recognised that currently this was for basic tasks.

 

£ value of unsecured debt

This indicator measured the value of unsecured debt greater than 90 days (excluding Business Rates, Housing Benefit and Council Tax, and not secured against a property or asset). Q3 performance was £14.9m against a target of £10m. The outstanding debt in this category had increased by £0.8m since Q2. This was mainly due to:

• Reclassification of £1.4m Adult Social Care debt from secured to unsecured as the legal proceedings to secure a charge against a property were not yet complete. There were currently delays with Government departments: Adult Social Care debts, with waits of 9-12 months for the grant of probate; 6+ month waits for Land Registry charges; and waits of 1-2 months for Court Orders relating to Deputyship.

• An increase in debts across Strategic Assets and Estate Management over 90 days due to the recent film strikes as the Council received revenue from filming from its properties.

• Increased levels of billing in Adult Social care as processes were improved and automated

• Year-on-year billing had increased by approximately £30m and the current challenging economic conditions were having an impact both on residents and corporate businesses which was influencing the delays in settlement of debts by  customers

 

Average time for processing new Housing Benefit claims or any changes to claims (days)

The performance was impacted by the backlog of claims following the single-system merger although it was steadily coming down. There were also pressures in relation to the annual billing process and year end so some of the team would be focussed on this area. There should be a positive trend in the new financial year. In terms of any changes to claims the service area was on target and for new claims additional resources were being utilised.

 

Deputy Cabinet Member – Climate Change and Environment Portfolio

Percentage of waste collected for recycling, reuse, composting or anaerobic digestion from household sources ( Amber indicator )

Recycling was just below target – food waste was lower compared to last year and there was evidence of some food waste being disposed of in the wrong bin. A strong and sustained communications campaign would be undertaken to promote positive behaviour change. Clarification was given that this target applied to all waste including Household Waste Recycling Centres.

 

Flytipping

The Council had increased fines to £1000 which was nationally recommended and a person had been prosecuted for depositing a black bin bag in a layby in Denham who was caught on camera. The person had paid the fine without going to court. The Leader reported that on this issue the Council had been mentioned in the House of Commons, the Today Programme and BBC Breakfast.

 

Cabinet Member for Communities

Household Support Fund (Helping Hand): Percentage of profiled spend achieved

Q3 performance was 70% against a target of 75%. This was the first time there had been 12 months of funding rather than six months. £3,363,128 of the total funds (£4,798,381) was disbursed by the end of Q3. Spend to date in 2023/24 was lower than in 2022/23, however the variance from the target of 75% was primarily due to the requirement to provide vouchers for 2 school holidays in Q4, which would increase spend in this quarter, and retention of sufficient funds to provide support to targeted cohorts in Q4. The full fund allocation was expected to be spent by the end of the year. The lower direct spend reported to date in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23 was largely due to the cessation of provision of funding for carpets, with residents requiring carpets now signposted to other sources of support and a policy change (scheme to allow reuse of floor coverings for tenants) effected within Housing Associations.

 

Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure (Matt Everitt)

Number of visitors to Country Parks

Performance in Q3 is 881,143, which was below the target of 930,203. Visitor numbers in Q3 2023/24 were 3% lower than for the same quarter in 2022/23, but this was a slight improvement on the shortfall in Q1 (-4.1%) and Q2 (-5.9%); and overall visits for the year to date remain 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels (799,790 Q1-Q3). The poor weather through the summer and autumn was likely to be the main cause.

 

Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services

% of children's social care assessments completed in 45 working days

During Q3 (October - December 2023) 1,515 assessments from referral were completed, with 73% completed within 45 days. This was below target and below latest available published benchmarks. The Q3 position was an improvement compared to Q1 (62%) and Q2 (67%).

 

The Chief Executive reported that in relation to this indicator there had been a Joint Targeted Area Inspection which looked at a whole range of issues including the Councils use of the front door (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub). There was an issue which the Corporate Director had already identified which was the extent to which the Council was properly triaging and considering the areas of risk for young people when they came through that front door. This was a serious professional judgement that was required to be made by social workers and Team Managers and if this judgement wasn’t quite right there could be more children coming in for assessment. If a slightly different approach was taken and support was provided for those families outside of a formal assessment the social work intervention would not have been required. The work and oversight of the social workers and Team Managers was really critical.

 

In addition the Council was also rethinking about how they provided that support for children and their families by moving to a locality model of service in April so that children have continuous involvement with their social worker.

 

In terms of children not seen within their target timescales or reviews completed the Chief Executive confirmed that there was serious oversight of those cases where managers identified children most at risk to ensure the correct support and intervention was given.

 

% of children with Initial Child Protection Conferences completed within 15 working days of the strategy discussion

During Q3 (October - December 2023) 195 children were subject to an ICPC, of which 77% (150 children) were completed within time. This was an improvement on Q2 (61%).

 

% of Children in Need seen within 4 weeks

At the end of Q3 (December 2023) 85% of children were seen within 4 weeks. This remained an area for continued improvement. Managers were aware of those children not seen within statutory timescale and record an oversight of the reason and actions taken to mitigate against the risk on the child's case file. Visits to children most at risk of harm were prioritised.

 

Percentage of new Education, Health and Care plans issued within 20 weeks (excluding exceptions)

During Q3 (October - December 2023) 28.2% of EHCPs were issued within 20 weeks. This was below target and below latest available benchmarks for the 2022 calendar year, when 67% of Buckinghamshire EHCPs were issued within 20 weeks. The drop in performance was due to both a continuing increase in requests for EHC Needs Assessments and vacancies within the educational psychology team (currently 11.38 out of 16 FTE’s in post). Over this quarter the numbers of children waiting for assessment had decreased (from 411 to 333). As the backlog of assessments was steadily addressed through the use of associate Educational Psychologists (EPs), the performance had decreased as they were issuing a higher number of plans outside the statutory timescales.

 

The Chief Executive referred to the huge increase in demand and reported that the Council was working with health partners to provide support to children and families while they were on the waiting list.

 

% of initial Family Support Plans completed within 31 working days

During Q3 (October - December 2023) 78% of Initial Plans were completed within 31 working days of the start of Family Support Service involvement. This was 2 percentage points more than Q2, although 7 percentage points below the target of 85%. This area of the service had been affected by changes in management and ongoing changes to working practices made to improve the quality of the work. This had continued to impact on timeliness of assessments in Q3. This part of the service also reported an increase in demand of Level 2 and 3 work since appropriate and necessary changes in the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) came into effect to ensure children and families receive the right level of service. This had led to an increase in what is deemed as Family Support casework and had led to this performance indicator remaining relatively unchanged. As part of the Transformation and change programme in Children’s Services currently underway, work would be focused on ensuring the work of FSS was correctly targeted.

 

Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Annual Reviews - % of CYP with an EHCP who have had an annual review within the last 12 months

At the end of Q3 (December 2023) 71% of children and young people with an EHCP had an annual review in the past 12 months. This was below the agreed target of 75%. This was recognised and agreed as an area where further resource would be required for the financial year 2023/24. Despite successful recruitment other vacancies in the Education, Health and Care Coordinator Teams had impacted on performance.

 

Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

Number of younger people (aged 18-64) admitted to permanent residential or nursing care homes per head of 100,000 population

Between 1 April 2023 and 31st December 2023, 41 younger adults (12.5 per 100,000 population) were permanently admitted to care homes. This was 6 people above the target of 35 people (10.6 per 100,000 population) at the end of Q3, which was set at the 2021/22 South East benchmark level. 2022/23 benchmarking data was now available, and the pro-rata regional figure for this measure at Q3 was 11.6, which equated to 38 people admitted, 3 below the current Buckinghamshire outturn. During Q3, 13 younger adults were admitted - 7 from their own home and 6 transferred from supported living/hospital into care homes. New provider opportunities for the younger adult’s admission cohort were being explored to offer more accommodation options and better choice.

 

% of young people whose Adult Social Care Assessment was completed before they turned 18 years old

Between April and December 2023 57% (13 out of 23) of young people that moved into adult services, were assessed in time. This was lower than Buckinghamshire's position for the same period last year (80%) and the target of 65% (16 out of 20). The 10 people whose assessments were delayed were due to the reasons set out below. All 10 assessments have now been completed.

• 6 cases were delayed allocations due to workforce pressures and prioritisation of higher risk young adults.

• 4 cases were delayed due to a late referral into Adult Social Care Services.

 

In keeping with the rest of Adult Social Care across the region, demand management was a challenge. Steps were being taken to address workforce issues across the service. The Council would continue to prioritise young people needing Care Act assessments, which might result in some young people not being assessed as timely as liked and closer working with Children’s Services.

 

% of those who have set a quit smoking date who have successfully quit at 4 weeks

In Q2, 164 people set a quit date and had the opportunity to achieve their 4-week quit date. Of those, 71 smokers successfully quit smoking at their 4 week quit date (43%). The indicator was 7 percentage points below the target of 50%. The proportion of residents living in deprivation quintiles 4 & 5 (our most deprived areas) who successfully quit by their 4-week set date was 34% (34 out of 99 clients). Q2 had been impacted by the performance of the Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products supplier. The current supplier had a limited range of products, just offering patches and gums, whereas some clients would prefer to use inhalators to replace the hand-to-mouth action. Limited stock had also resulted in delays to dispatching NRT to service users, leading to disengagement and drop-out.

Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services

Whilst the Cabinet Member did not have any red indicators he commented that he was looking at his performance indicators as he felt that they did not reflect the challenges being experienced by the service area. The Chief Executive reported on the positive news that at the end of Q3 there were no applicants with/expecting children who had been in non-self contained B&B accommodation for longer than 6 weeks.

 

Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Percentage of Planning Enforcement Notice Appeals Upheld

The Q3 outturn was 28% against a target of 20%. In Q3, 14 appeal decisions were made, of these 4 appeals were upheld. One of these decisions followed retrospective refusal of planning permission at Planning Committee. Q3 performance was better than Q1 (40%) but slightly worse than Q2 (21%).

 

The Cabinet Member reported that this was a difficult area as the Inspector could be inconsistent occasionally with their decision making. Appeal decisions were reviewed and discussed by the team so learning points could be taken away for use in future cases to ensure continual learning and development within the service. The Leader expressed concern also at some of the decisions which the Inspector overturned as residents then suffered from unauthorised activity. The Corporate Director reported that there was a common misunderstanding that residents who chose to build without planning permission could be served an immediate enforcement notice. The Council had to go through a proper legal process which often took a long time to complete. In the majority of cases the Council did win at appeal.

 

Percentage of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Liability Notices issued within 12 weeks of planning permission being granted

In Q1 performance was 48% which was below the target of 90%. Performance varied across the East/South (57 applications, 54% of Liability Notices issued within 12 weeks) and West areas (32 applications, 38% of Liability Notices issued within 12 weeks). The low performance was due to the challenges of recruiting and training new staff and introducing new processes. However, most of the Liability Notices were issued by the end of Q3 for permissions granted in Q1 (91% in East/South area and 94% in West area). The remaining cases were more complex and took longer to assess. Due to staffing issues and legacy responsibilities this target remained challenging.

 

Number of uncommitted s106 contributions that must be used within two years

A new process to approve the allocation of s106 contributions was being put in place in Q4 which would reduce the overall number that were uncommitted.

 

Cabinet Member for Transport

Percentage of reported Rights of Way issues dealt with in target time

Performance in Q2 was 52%, which was lower (worse) than the target (70%) and a drop from Q1 (54%). Performance had been impacted by staff vacancies (1.5 FTE), which reduced the number of issues that could be resolved in the target time. A similar number of issues had been resolved in Q1 to Q3 as the previous year, however, there had been an increase in the number of issues reported by 12 – 15% and these have added to the backlog of work. Staff training for the new members of staff was ongoing.

 

HS2 highways approvals: Percentage responded within time limit

In Q3 performance was 50% which was lower (worse) than the target of 95% and lower than Q2 performance (100%). These delays were due to poorly programmed and poor quality submissions. Further work with HS2 Ltd would be carried out to improve the quality of their submissions and to space out the applications to avoid an influx of submissions where possible and to work with the technical consultants Atkins Realis to ensure more experienced resources were engaged and the applications were responded to in a timely manner.

 

Average daily cycling count per active cycle counter per day

Q1 and Q2 counts were generally higher than Q3 and Q4 due to favourable weather conditions in Spring and Summer. The wet weather and low temperatures in Summer 2023 could explain the observed reduction in cycling rates.

 

Reference was made to gully cleaning which had a green indicator with 70,000 gullies cleaned by the end of December. However recent wet weather had disrupted the programme of works due to multiple call outs. This could affect the ability to meet the year end target.

 

RESOLVED –

 

That the performance report be noted including the action taken to improve performance where required.