Agenda item

To present the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 2 2017/18.

The report of the Head of Corporate Transformation incorporating the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 2 2017/18 was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report portrayed the Council’s position against its operational objectives as set out and agreed collaboratively between the Senior Leadership Team, the Executive and the Shadow Executive.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Services reported that performance at the end of Quarter 2 is generally good with the majority of indicators performing well against their targets with the exception of 3 indicators (one in Adults’ Services and two in Children’s Services) where performance is presenting as either Amber or Red. These are elaborated upon in the report and the remedial measures to improve performance in these specific areas are outlined. With regard to People Management, the sickness absence rate at the end of Quarter 2 was 4.25 which is an improvement on the performance of 4.89 for the same period in 2016/17. However, further work needs to be done to embed Return to Work (RTW) interviews and Attendance Review Meetings (ARM) across the Council’s services. While 72% of the RTW interviews were held within timescale by the end of Q2 which is an improvement on the Q1 figure of 67%, this performance continues to be below the target of 80%. The ARM figures for Q2 at 59% have declined on the 78% seen in Q1 (not inclusive of schools). Although improvements can still be made in terms of adhering to the Absence Management Policy by conducting the RTW interviews and ARMs as a matter of practice, it is encouraging to note that the overall sickness target has been achieved for the 4th consecutive quarter. If this trend continues, the projected end of year sickness level would equate to 9.9 days per FTE (based on a 3 year average).

In relation to customer complaints management, the main area of underperformance relates to late responses by Children’s Services due mainly to a failure to send written responses within timescale. Notwithstanding the service did hold a discussion with the complainant within timescale in 22 of the 25 complaints received.

In relation to financial management, although the position has improved from that reported in Quarter 1, there remain significant budgetary pressures on Children’s and Families Services and on the Learning Service. The Heads of Service are aware of the issues and are working to reduce the level of overspending which is within their control at year end.

The Committee considered the information presented and made the following points –

•           The Committee noted that the Housing Services’ indicator in relation to the days taken to deliver a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) which showed as Red in Quarter 1 was now ragged Green with a performance of 196 days against a target of 200. The Committee noted the turnaround and sought clarification of the measures put in place to secure the improvement and whether those could be transferred as good practice to other services within the Council.

The Head of Housing Services said that the service has endeavoured to liaise more closely and more frequently with external parties as well as with Social Services which has helped improve the process as regards expediting the progress of applications from initial contact to the completion of works. With further co-operation and collaboration it is hoped that the time taken to deliver the DFG can be reduced still further. Ultimately, improvement has been achieved by applying performance management measures and ensuring that every officer is aware of the performance targets.  The Head of Adults’ Services confirmed that the service has been working closely with Housing Services to come to an agreement on the changes to be made and to ensure that that is done in a timely way.

•           The Committee noted that the Quarter 2 report pays attention to performance issues in Children’s Services and that it provides an update on improvements which link into the Indicators on the Scorecard. The Committee sought clarification of whether the Children’s Services Improvement Panel should play an additional role in scrutinising and monitoring improvements.

The Assistant Chief Executive/Statutory Director of Social Services confirmed that from an Officer perspective, the panel is working effectively – it has a clear and well defined work programme, and its meetings have well thought out agendas and are recorded thoroughly. The service has found the relationship with the Panel to be very beneficial.

•           The Committee noted that the number of children on the Child Protection Register has decreased significantly over the last 6 months with 56 children currently on the register compared with 102 at the end of March, 2017.The Committee sought an explanation for the decrease and whether it can be attributed to actions taken by the service.

The Officers confirmed that the service has reviewed every case and in particular those children who have been on the register for a length of time, often as precautionary step. Where appropriate and where the risk has been assessed as having reduced, individual cases can be de-escalated and monitored through other means e.g. care and support arrangements. With regard to children who come into the Authority’s care or who are on the register, the figures can vary on a day to day basis. Since instigating a review of the cases on the register, the number has fallen and has since remained fairly constant.

•           The Committee noted that there has been a decline in performance in relation to the percentage of carers of adults who requested an assessment or review that had an assessment of review in their own right and that the performance at 83.4% remains below the target of 93%. The Committee sought clarification of whether this decline in performance is directly associated with the introduction of a new database and whether there were other interventions the service could make to improve performance.

The Head of Adults’ Services said that moving to the new WCCIS database system has not had an impact on performance. The team responsible for conducting carers’ assessments consists of 2 staff members only; however, support from the overall social work team ensured good performance to the end of year 2016/17. Whilst performance has deteriorated slightly in the first half of 2017/18, the service is confident that with further planned support from the social work team this performance will improve and the PI target will be met. The Officer said that the service would also wish to note that performance does vary slightly dependent on seasonal factors e.g. unscheduled care pressure or leave which can particularly affect a small team. The absence of one team member because of leave reduces capacity by 50%. There is potential to train other members of staff to provide cover in the event of any long-term absence.

•           The Committee sought assurance that the improvements seen last year with regard to managing sickness absence rates can be sustained and further improved. The Committee noted that complying with the absence management policy by conducting RTW interviews and Attendance Review Meetings consistently and within timescale is likely to secure further improvement in sickness absence levels. However, the Committee also noted that although there has been an improvement on the Qtr. 1 performance with regard to the percentage of RTW interviews held it remains well below target. The Committee sought clarification of whether the Authority could take a more proactive approach to RTW interviews by for example seeking to conduct the interviews on the day before the staff member returns to work. The Committee also sought clarification of whether data is kept in relation to the demographics of staff who are on sick leave and patterns or trends with regard to sickness absence.

The Head of Corporate Transformation said that the Authority does not always have advance notification of a return to work date – staff come back to work when they feel able to do so. The sickness challenge panels have asked services to put in place back-up plans in circumstances where a manager in not available to conduct the interview so a line manager within the section is available to do so. Support is available to staff for the first 5 days after the return to work. All services scrutinise sickness absences with the sickness absence co-ordinator in order to establish any emerging patterns of absence in order to address this at the outset.

The Head of Profession (Human Resources) said that conducting RTW interviews can sometimes be a matter of logistics especially with regard to staff who work off-site in locations other than the main Council office e.g. schools, care homes etc. In cases where arranging a formal RTW interview is difficult, the Authority does encourage managers to try to have an initial conversation with staff who are returning to work after a period of sickness as it then makes completing the formal process easier.

With regard to schools, the Head of Learning said that the service has had in place for over a year a sickness absence improvement plan for schools specifically. Head teachers and the Chairs of Governing Bodies have been given a presentation on the plan. Additionally, an officer has been commissioned to work with schools and as a result of these measures, sickness absence levels in schools have improved significantly. Schools are also provided with a monthly sickness absence update which benchmarks their performance against similar schools.

The Committee suggested that technology in the form of a dedicated template might help services who have missed their targets or which are finding it difficult to complete RTW interviews because of logistics, to expedite the interviews. Alternatively, the Committee to be provided with a follow-up report on how RTW interviews can be facilitated in relation to harder to reach staff.

The Chief Executive said that the Qtr. 3 data will if it shows an improvement, provide the Committee with the answer to this question.

•           The Committee noted that although the Q2 figures show an improvement on Q1 with regard to financial management, a significant overspend at year end is still anticipated. The Committee sought clarification of the measures that have been introduced to bring these budget pressures under control.

The Portfolio Member for Finance said that the current overspend is due primarily to the pressure of demand in Children’s Services particularly with regard to children who require specialist out of county placements because of complex needs which cannot always be met within county and the knock-on effect this has on education provision.

The Interim Head of Children’s Services confirmed that the number of children in the Authority’s care has increased significantly over the past 18 months which is a trend that is replicated nationally. Some of these children’s needs have been met by placements outside of Anglesey and, depending on the nature of the provision, these can cost up to £250k per placement per annum. The Authority is reviewing these placements via an out of county panel that has been established within the service to ensure they provide value for money and that they also still provide the appropriate care for the children in question. The Senior Leadership Team has asked Children’s Services and the Learning Service to provide a further joint analysis of the position internally. In addition, the Authority has invested in the Resilient Families Team which is working with a number of these children and young people to enable them to return to their families and/or to foster care where that is the appropriate and safe option. These are often complex cases and the challenge lies in meeting the individual’s needs whilst ensuring that they stay safe.

The Portfolio Member for Social Services informed the Committee that there is an ongoing discussion at national level regarding how best to provide for looked after children with complex needs and although the discussion is at an early stage, consideration may be given to developing a national scheme to address the issues.

The Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer said that the overspend is currently running at £2m which if that still remains the position at year end, will have to be met from the general reserves fund. The fund stood at £8.3m at the end of March, 2017 which is comfortably above the 5% of net budget benchmark which is customarily recommended which for the Authority, translates into £6m.  The current and previous Executive’s strategy has been to only draw on reserves to invest in initiatives that generate ongoing savings for the Council. However, the fund is available as rainy-day money to meet situations such as this where there is a deficit and where extra demand is placing pressure on budgets. The Officer said that the Council has other reserves which are currently being reviewed to see whether money can be released from them to be used to replenish the general reserve fund e.g.  funds which have been set aside to meet costs arising from equal pay claims which the Welsh Government has now agreed can be capitalised meaning that Council balances do not have to be used to meet this cost. The Authority is in the process of establishing these costs in terms of who is to be paid and by what amount. At the end of that process any residual funds can be released back into the general balances.

The Committee noted that there is merit in addressing the issue of complex, high cost care placements at regional and/or national level and that this may be the best approach to reducing the costs. The Committee also noted that the Finance Scrutiny Panel has commissioned a report from Children’s Services and the Learning Service on this matter and is monitoring the situation with regard to budget overspend.

Having considered all the information presented along with the explanations given for under-performance and mitigation measures proposed, the Committee resolved -

•           To accept the Corporate Scorecard report for Q2 2017/18

•           To note the areas which the Senior Leadership Team is managing to secure improvements into the future as set out in paragraphs 3.1.1 to 3.1.4 of the report, and

•           To accept the mitigation measures as outlined therein.

NO ADDITIONAL ACTION WAS PROPOSED