Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed all those present to this meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee. He extended the Committee’s sincerest condolences to Councillor Robin Williams on the loss of his father. He also congratulated the Assistant Chief Executive (Partnerships, Community and Service Improvement) on becoming a grandparent.

To receive any declaration of interest from any Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

No declaration of interest was received.

To submit the minutes of the previous meetings of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on the following dates –

·       4 June, 2018

·         5 July, 2018 (extraordinary)

·         13 July, 2018 (extraordinary)

·         2 August, 2018 (call-in)

·         6 August, 2018 (call-in)

The minutes of the previous meetings of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on the following dates were presented and were confirmed as correct –

•           4 June, 2018

•           5 July, 2018 (extraordinary)

•           13 July, 2018 (extraordinary)

•           2 August, 2018 (call-in)

•           6 August, 2018 (call-in)

To present the report of the Scrutiny Manager.

A progress update report on the work of the Finance Scrutiny Panel during the period from July to August, 2018 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

Councillor Dafydd Roberts (Scrutiny Member on the Finance Scrutiny Panel) reported that the Authority is operating in financially challenging times with the need to reduce budgets without directly affecting services becoming an increasingly difficult task. The Finance Scrutiny Panel is acutely aware of the financial pressures on services, in particular those which are demand-led such as Children and Families’ Services and elements of the Learning Service. One of the Panel’s aims has been to identify and understand the underlying issues which are responsible for the recurring pressures on these services and to ensure that the overspends which have resulted therefrom are mitigated by sustained and appropriate actions. Councillor Roberts confirmed that scrutiny of the financial pressures in Children’s Services and the Learning Service has therefore continued to be a key priority for the Panel in the context of budget monitoring during Quarter 1 2018/19. The Panel commissioned further information from both Heads of Service which was considered at its July meeting with specific attention being given to the areas most under pressure along with the mitigation measures proposed and/or implemented. The Panel has invited both Heads of Service to present a further update to its meeting in September, 2018.

Councillor Roberts said that the Panel has also been considering its role in the budget setting process for 2019/20 as well as scrutinising how well planned efficiencies are being delivered to date in the Learning Service, Adults’ Services and Highways, Waste and Property in order to form a view on the likely percentage of efficiencies to be realised in full by year end.

The Head of Function (Finance)/Section 151 Officer said that the purpose in establishing the Finance Scrutiny Panel was to enable a small group of Members to conduct more in-depth scrutiny of service budgets than the Corporate Scrutiny Committee’s work programme allows thereby helping them develop a better understanding of the budget issues affecting services leading to more meaningful challenge and suggestions for improvements. In this sense the input of the Panel is adding value to the budget setting and monitoring processes.

The Committee noted that current budget pressures in Children’s Services and the Learning Service continue to be a concern for the Panel and that it has escalated this matter to the attention of the Committee. The Committee further noted that the term “overspend” can create a misleading impression of a service spending irresponsibly or without due regard for its budget when in the case of Children’s Services the spending occurs because the service has to meet the needs of the increasing number of children coming into the Authority’s care in order to ensure they supported appropriately. The case could be made alternatively that Children’s Services are underfunded and that the Service budget has not kept pace with the growing demands upon it.

It was pointed out by the Committee that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To present the following –

·        A progress report by the Head of Children and Families’ Services on implementing the Children’s Services Improvement Plan.

·        A progress report from the Children’s Services Improvement Panel.

•           The report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services on progress in implementing the Service Improvement Plan was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Leader and Portfolio Member for Social Services highlighted some of the comments made in the final report of the Independent Support Team (IST) which were reproduced in the Officer’s report. The IST at the request of the Director of Social Services, has been working with the Service to support improvement following the inspection of Children’s Services in November, 2016. The IST refers to the number of encouraging and positive features that have become apparent during its work which include but are not limited to a clear leadership and management structure; efficient recruitment to vacant posts and staff training and development programmes; improved management and mentoring support for Children’s Social Workers as well as a high level of political understanding of the issues being tackled by Children’s Social Services.  The Portfolio Member also reported on the marked improvement in Performance Indicators as shown in the table at Section 3 of the report which compares the performance in Quarter 1, 2018/19 against the cumulative performance for 2017/18. A like for like comparison with Quarter 1 2017/18 performance evidences the improvement even more noticeably. Similarly, there has been considerable improvement in relation to the performance of the Service in achieving corporate performance standards.

The Portfolio Member highlighted that the Service recently organised a Celebration Event for Foster Carers which was held in recognition of the invaluable work which the Authority’s foster carers and family and friends (connected persons) foster carers do in providing care for children and young people in a safe environment  when they are not able to live at home.

The Assistant Chief Executive and Statutory Director of Social Services said that significant progress has been made since the inspection by the former CSSIW (now CIW) in November, 2016 and the submission of the resulting report to the Corporate Scrutiny Committee in March, 2017 which contained 14 recommendations for improvement. The Officer said that CIW has now confirmed that the Service will be re-inspected in October, 2018.

The Head of Children and Families’ Services said that the Service Improvement Plan has been reviewed and added to regularly since it was formulated post-inspection. In terms of the recruitment and retention of staff which was a key area for improvement and has been one of the areas on which work has been focused since the last report to the Committee, the re-structuring of the Service is now nearing completion. The Service has successfully recruited 5 newly qualified Children’s Social Workers and has had some success in appointing experienced Social Workers and continues to advertise for the latter. A recent advertisement for the post of Practice Leader drew interest from outside the Authority which is a reflection of the improving reputation of the Council’s Children’s Services. The Service has also made progress in other ways as evidenced in improved performance against key indicators and fewer complaints against the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To present the report of the Head of Transformation and Human Resources.

The report of the Head of Transformation and Human Resources incorporating the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 1 2018/19 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Services reported that the Scorecard reflects the position of the Council against its operational objectives as agreed collaboratively between the Senior Leadership Team, the Executive and the Shadow Executive in a workshop held on 2 July, 2018. The position at the end of Quarter 1 is encouraging and compares favourably with the position at Quarter 1 2017/18 with the majority of indicators performing well against their targets. However, 2 indicators have started the year as underperforming against their annual target for the year – these are in Children and Families’ Services and in Adults’ Services. The indicator in both cases involves a small number of individuals meaning that any fluctuation can affect performance; the indicators will continue to be monitored. The remaining indicators reported for Quarter 1 for performance management are all ragged Green or Yellow. Additionally, of the total number of indicators which were highlighted as Red or Amber at the end of 2017/18, it is pleasing to note that of those that can be tracked during Quarter 1 of the current year, 5 of the 6 have improved in performance and only one is currently underperforming.

The Portfolio Member said that with regard to People Management the performance in relation to sickness absence at the end of Quarter 1 has declined slightly when compared to the same period last year with a sickness rate of 2.69 days per FTE as opposed to 2.23 days per FTE for Quarter 1 2017/18. On a service level, Adults’ Services and the Learning Service are underperforming which in the case of the former can be appropriated to a number of long term sickness cases in the Provider Unit and in the case of the latter to long term sickness and high sickness levels in primary schools. The number of Return to Work Interviews – which is an important sickness management tool - held within timescales has increased for the Quarter.

With regard to Customer Service the use of App Môn technology to contact the Council continues to increase. In respect of Customer Complaints management, at the end of Quarter 1, 12 complaints were received compared to 20 for Quarter 1 2017/18. This is an improvement on the Council’s service provision especially when noting that all of the complaints that required a response by the end of the quarter (12) have received a response within timescale. Within Social Services, 56% of complaints received a response within timescale with 4 late responses. The percentage of FOI requests responded to within timescale performed at 80% - up from 78% at the end of 2017/18.

For Financial Management, at the end of Quarter 1 a total overspend of £1.744m is projected for the year ending 31 March, 2019.The services that were experiencing  significant budgetary pressures in 2017/18  - Children and Families’ Services and the Learning Service –  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To present the report of the Scrutiny Manager.

The report of the Scrutiny Manager incorporating the Committee’s current Forward Work Programme for 2017/18 to 2019/20 was presented for the Committee’s comment and review.

It was noted that the Committee’s meeting to consider the initial budget proposals for the 2019/20 budget will be able to go ahead on 24 October, 2018 as the announcement of the Welsh Government’s provisional local government settlement is expected in early October.

It was resolved to accept the Forward Work Programme without further comment.

NO ADDITIONAL ACTION WAS PROPOSED

To present for the Committee’s information, the Social Services’ Complaints Procedure Annual Report for 2017/18.

The Annual Report on the operation in 2017/18 of the Social Services’ Representations and Complaints Procedure was presented for the Committee’s information. The report set out the way the Procedure was implemented within Children and Families’ Services and Adults’ Services during the period from April, 2017 to the end of March, 2018.

It was resolved to note the Social Services’ Representations and Complaints Procedure Annual Report for 2017/18 which included the following –

•           The views of service users received during 2017/18 regarding the services provided by Social Services.

•           Information about the performance of Social Services in implementing the Representations and Complaints Procedure and dealing with complaints.

•           An Action Plan for developing the arrangements for dealing effectively with representations and complaints received from service users and their representatives.