Agenda item

To submit a report by the Head of Profession, HR and Transformation.

The report of the Head of Profession (Human Resources and Transformation) outlining the position of the Council against its operational objectives for the first quarter of the 2018/19 financial year was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Services reported that this year’s indicators (similar to previous years) have been  decided via a workshop held on the 2 July, 2018 with members of the Senior Leadership Team, the Executive and the Shadow Executive following guidance from Heads of Service as to which indicators they identified as important. They include new Public Accountability Measures (PAM) which are a set of indicators which measure performance on a national basis. The Portfolio Member said that at the end of Quarter 1 it is encouraging to note that the majority of the performance management indicators are performing well against their targets. This also compares well with the equivalent position for 2017/18. However, two indicators have started the year as underperforming against their annual target and are denoted as Red/ Amber with the one relating to Children and Families’ Services (PM28 – the average length of time for all children who were on the CPR during the year and who were de-registered during the year) and the other to Adults’ Services (PM20a – the percentage of adults who completed a period of reablement and have a reduced package of care and support 6 months later). Both indicators deal with a small number of cases which means that any fluctuation can affect performance.  The remaining indicators for Quarter 1 are ragged Green or Yellow and have started well against their target. In addition, of the 8 indicators which were highlighted as Red or Amber at the end of 2017/18, it is good to see that of those that can be tracked during Quarter 1 of the current year, 5 of the 6 have improved in performance with only one currently underperforming.

The Portfolio Member said with regard to People Management that at the end of Quarter 1, the Council’s sickness rate of 2.69 days per FTE shows a decline in performance when compared with the 2.23 days achieved for the same period in 2017/18. On a service level, the two services that are underperforming compared to their targets for the quarter are Adults’ Services due mainly to a number of long-term sickness cases in the Provider Unit and the Learning Service where long terms sickness absence is again a factor along with high sickness levels in the Primary sector. Both Heads of Service are aware of the issue and are working to instigate mitigating actions.

With regard to Customer Complaints management, at the end of Quarter 1 13 complaints were received compared to 20 for the same period in 2017/18. This is an improvement in terms of the Council’s service provision especially given that all of the complaints requiring a response by the end of Quarter 1 (12 in total) have received a response within timescale. Of the 10 complaints under the Social Services’ Complaints process (1 Stage 2 and 9 Stage 1) 56% were responded to within timescale. Although Children’s Services did not succeed in sending written responses within timescales for 3 of the 5 Stage 1 complaints, a discussion was held with the complainant in 4 of the 5 or 80% of complaints. The Executive noted that the number of complaints received by Children’s Services during Quarter 1 was significantly lower than in the same quarter a year ago.

The Portfolio Member said that based on the Council’s financial performance at the end of Quarter 1 an overspend of £1.744 is forecasted for the year end which replicates the pattern for the same period in 2017/18 with the same services – Children and Families’ Services and the Learning Service - still experiencing budgetary pressures . The financial position is dealt with in greater detail in the financial monitoring reports on the agenda.

The Portfolio Member concluded by saying that he wished to take the opportunity to thank all the Council’s staff for their efforts in maintaining and improving performance at a time when Council budgets are under significant pressure. Continuing to work as a team will help improve performance indicators still further in Quarter 2.

The Portfolio Member for Education, Libraries, Youth and Culture said in respect of sickness absence levels in the primary sector that the issue has been identified and an action plan has been formulated collaboratively between the Learning and Human Resources services to bring those levels down. The plan will involve a targeted approach aimed at specific schools where the problem is greater. There has already been much focus on improving sickness levels in the secondary sector and this has brought about the desired results. The Portfolio Member said that Elected Members also have a contribution to make in proactively getting the message across to their schools in their capacity as school governors.

The Executive considered and accepted the information presented and acknowledged the role played by the Council’s staff in improving performance across services in Quarter 1 in what are increasingly challenging circumstances. The Executive also noted in the context of customer service the growing popularity of the AppMôn technology as a means of contacting the Council and it highlighted the need to build upon this usage and to further promote AppMôn as the smarter and quicker way of getting in touch with the Council.

It was resolved to note the areas where the Senior Leadership Team is managing to secure improvements into the future as those are set out in paragraphs 3.1.1 to 3.1.5 of the report and to accept the mitigation measures as outlined.