Agenda item

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 – are still feeling those pressures in the new financial year. The position is being closely monitored.

The Committee considered the information presented and raised points as follows –

•           The Committee noted that Adults’ Services and the Learning Service have underperformed in Quarter 1 in relation to sickness levels with long-term sickness cases in the Provider Unit resulting in a total of 634 days lost to sickness in Quarter 1 and primary schools accounting for 69% of the sickness levels in the Learning Service in the same Quarter. The Committee sought clarification of the measures that will be introduced to mitigate the sickness levels in schools and in adults’ services.

The Head of Learning said that the Service has established an action plan collaboratively with Human Resources to address sickness levels in the primary sector. This has several elements to it including targeting specific schools where the issue is most acute and involving school governors more closely in challenging sickness levels. The Learning Service is working with the Human Resources Service and Head Teachers to implement the Action Plan and to instigate improvement.

The Head of Human Resources and Transformation said that sickness absence levels are higher in the primary sector due in part to the fact that actions have been targeted on the secondary sector where the sickness levels have reduced as a result. Ensuring that schools conduct Return to Work interviews is part of the Action Plan referred to above and they will be provided with the support to enable this to happen.

In relation to Adults’ Services, the Assistant Chief Executive/Statutory Director of Social Service said that high sickness levels are connected to the Provider Unit which has 450 staff who work with vulnerable adults via home care and /or residential care provision. The Officer said that 49% of the total days lost to sickness for the service during the period were as a result of a few cases of long-term sickness absence with the remainder being due to short-term sickness absence. In order to address the matter, there will be increased focus on conducting timely Return to Work interviews and where appropriate, specific cases will be referred to the Service’s Sickness Absence Panel. Last year, the Service’s sickness absence levels were affected by a high number of influenza cases which due to the nature of the work meant that staff could not come into contact with the vulnerable individuals for whom they provide care.  Staff are being encouraged to receive flu jabs. The Officer also said where previously there have been references in the quarterly corporate performance monitoring report to sickness levels within Children and Families’ Services, there is no mention of the same in the report under consideration; this is because sickness absence levels within the Service have reduced significantly as a result of the service restructure, a review of caseloads and improved supervision.

The Head of Children and Families’ Services said that the Service has made Return to Work Interviews as much the responsibility of staff as it is of managers with staff being asked to prompt and/or remind their managers if the RTW has not been completed within the required timeframe.

•           The Committee sought clarification of progress with developing Extra Care provision both in relation to the facility under construction in Llangefni and to the intended provision in the Amlwch area. With regard to the Llangefni Extra Care facility, the Committee questioned whether any slippage will mean additional costs for the Council and also whether not being able to achieve full occupancy is a risk.

The Portfolio Member for Social Services said that the Llangefni facility is being developed with Pennaf Housing Group. Any slippage on the timeframe for completing the facility is a matter between Pennaf and the construction company. The aim is to ensure the facility is up and running by the winter time. The Portfolio Member said that a large percentage of the apartments have been allocated and that the interest remains strong. It is important that the Authority ensures that the apartments are occupied by individuals for whom extra care is the most appropriate provision. With regard to the Amlwch area, the Authority’s Housing Service is currently looking at housing needs more widely within the area to include Extra Care housing.

The Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer said with regard to the Hafan Cefni development that the Authority’s contract with Pennaf specifies that if after 3 months apartments remain vacant at Hafan Cefni, then the rental costs of those units will be borne by the Council. However, it is more prudent that the Council should take time to ensure that the individuals coming to live in Hafan Cefni are those whose needs can be met by Extra Care housing, or else it is likely to incur greater costs later on if it is found that the facility is occupied by people for whom this form of provision is unsuitable.

•           The Committee noted that it would like to see the inclusion within the Corporate Scorecard of a Performance Indicator for planning enforcement when the indicators are reviewed for the following year on the grounds that this is an area that is managed by a small team operating under pressure. 

It was resolved –

•           To accept the report, to note the areas which the Senior Leadership Team is managing to secure improvements into the future as summarised in paragraphs 3.1.1. to 3.1.5 and to accept the mitigation measures outlined therein.

•           To recommend that when Performance Indicators are next reviewed for inclusion within the Corporate Scorecard for 2019/20, the SLT, the Executive and the Shadow Executive consider including an indicator for Planning Enforcement.

NO ADDITIONAL ACTION WAS PROPOSED