Agenda item

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

The report of the Head of Profession (Human Resources) and Corporate Transformation incorporating the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 3 2018/19 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Business reported that the performance against the majority of Performance Indicators at the end of Quarter 3 is to target and is especially good in comparison with that of Quarter 3 2017/18. Three PIs are recorded as underperforming two of which are in Adults’ Services – PM20a: the percentage of adults who completed a period of re-ablement and have a reduced package of care and support 6 months later and PAM/025 (PM19): the rate of people kept in hospital while waiting for social care per 1,000 population aged 75+, and one - PAM018 - is in the Regulation and Economic Development Service and relates to the percentage of all planning applications determined in time. The report outlines the main reasons for the below target performance in these areas and the mitigating actions that are being taken to remediate the situation in each case.

For attendance at work, Quarter 3 showed a score of 2.69 working days lost per FTE which is a near identical score to that of Quarter 3 2017/18. Performance in relation to sickness absence in the primary schools sector is showing as RED on the Scorecard; targeted support is being provided by the Learning Service and Human Resources for the 10 primary schools with the highest level of sickness absence.

With regard to Customer Service the provision of written responses to complaints within timescale in Children’s Services remains an issue although the Service has put in place specific measures to improve performance in responding to complaints. The Council’s social media presence increased once more in Quarter 3 to 29k followers as did the number of registered users of AppMôn which has increased by over 1,700 users from the end of Quarter 2 to 6,607 at the end of Quarter 3. No data can be provided for customer complaints outside of Social Services or for FOI for the quarter because of the long–term sickness absence of the data collating officer.  The challenge remains to ensure that the positive performance of most of the Council’s services is maintained into Quarter 4 and that the areas of underperformance are addressed.

Councillor Dylan Rees, Vice-Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee and Chair of the   Committee’s meeting of 19 March, 2019 at which the Quarter 3 Corporate Scorecard Monitoring report was considered reported that the Committee had noted that performance during Q3 against national performance indicators was generally good with a few areas requiring further attention - in Planning, Learning and Adults’ Services. The Committee also noted the sickness absence levels with the SLT recommending that priority be given to improving attendance at work in Adults’ Services, Highways, Waste and Property Services and within primary schools within the Learning Service. Whilst the Committee was concerned about the time taken by Children’s Services to respond to formal complaints it noted the positive impact of the mitigation measures that had recently been put in place. The Committee had resolved to note the areas which the Senior Leadership Team is managing to secure improvements into the future as outlined in the report and to recommend the mitigation measures for those areas as set out in the report.

The Portfolio Member for Education, Libraries, Culture and Youth in accepting that there has been an issue with sickness absence in primary schools, confirmed that a sickness improvement plan is being implemented; with regard to the below target performance of the Planning Service in determining planning applications within time, the Portfolio Member for Planning and Public Protection said that as the report indicates, there are specific factors which account for this drop in performance.

The Head of Children and Families’ Services explained the steps being taken to ensure that Children’s Services provide a timely written response to all complaints received. The Service has amended its complaints response procedures and this is beginning to yield results. A more rapid response to complaints resolution has reduced the number of complaints and, where a response within timescale is not possible, the Service seeks to provide an explanation, to secure the complainant’s agreement to a time extension and to maintain contact with the complainant. Three complaints received more recently have all been responded to within time.

It was resolved to accept the Corporate Scorecard report for Q3 2018/19, to note the areas in which the Senior Leadership Team is managing to secure improvements into the future, and to accept the mitigation measures in relation to those areas as outlined therein.