Agenda item

To present the report of 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 final quarter of 2017/18 financial year was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report provided an overview of the Council’s performance in its business as usual activities whilst also setting out specific pointers towards other transformational developments which were completed during this time period.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Services said that despite it being another challenging year for the public sector, it was encouraging to be able to report that the majority of indicators performed well against their targets, and that this achievement should be recognised when the Council’s Annual Performance Report will be drafted in the autumn. The final quarter’s outcomes have not produced any surprises with certain areas of performance in Children and Families’ Services and the Learning Service proving challenging. Notwithstanding, the former is undergoing a transformational change and will continue to prioritise the areas where performance has fallen short of target – improvement has been seen in 4 of these 5 underperforming indicators especially during the latter half of the financial year following a restructuring exercise and a review of policies and processes. The Learning Service will continue with the implementation of the mitigation measures reported at the end of Quarter 3 and summarised in paragraph 2.2.5 which should continue to improve performance in the forthcoming year.

The Portfolio Member reported that in terms of People Management, the performance of the Council’s sickness rates at the end of 2017/18 narrowly missed the corporate target of 9.75 days sick per FTE at 9.96 days sick per FTE. Although the performance with regard to sickness absence in Quarters 1, 2 and 3 was ahead of target, the higher than normal sickness rates during Quarter 4 impacted on 6 of the 9 Council Services which effectively skewed the end of year performance result and meant that the corporate target was not met. This outcome is replicated nationally.

There have been improvements in Customer Service most notably in relation to the use of Digital Services, with an increasing number of the public now using the App Môn technology and the Council’s website to communicate with the Authority and to report issues. The Council’s social media presence and followers have also increased and it is envisaged that the flow of information distributed and received via social media channels will continue to grow with time. The percentage of FOI requests responded to within timescale performed at 78% at the end of 2017/18 compared to 77% at the end of 2016/17. Although not hitting the corporate target of 80%, the outcome is encouraging in view of the fact that 7,527 requests were dealt with in 2017/18 compared to 5,700 during 2016/17.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Services concluded by saying that the Council needs to continue the momentum of progress and will do this by services working collectively to continually drive improvement.

In respect of Children and Families’ Services, the Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation) and Statutory Director of Social Services highlighted that although the service’s performance has improved during the period and in particular following the restructuring, the improvement is not captured by a single end of year figure but is better and more clearly evidenced by the detailed data.

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

•           The Committee noted comments submitted by the Vice-Chair, Councillor Dylan Rees via the Chair referencing a Local Government Association Bulletin highlighting an article in The Times about young people being let down by foster care. The article states that the Children’s Commissioner has warned that young people are being moved around the care system frequently during adolescence and that almost 20% of 12 to 15 year olds are moved at least twice in a year meaning they live in 3 foster homes over a 12 month period. The Chair of the LGA’s Young People Board is quoted as saying that “90 children per day entered care in the last year and councils saw the biggest annual increase in children in care since 2010.This is against a background of unprecedented cuts to local authority budgets.” Councillor Dylan Rees suggests that although the article refers to the situation in England overall there is also cause for concern in Anglesey with the Quarter 4 Scorecard showing Red for PI PM32 (the percentage of looked after children who have experienced 1 or more changes of school during a period or periods of being looked after which were not transitional arrangements, in the year to 31 March) and Amber for PI PM33 (the percentage of looked after children on 31 March who have had three or more placements during the year) Councillor Rees although acknowledging that mitigating explanations are offered, believed that a more in-depth analysis is required to try to understand the reasons why children who are looked after are experiencing school instability which can prove disruptive for their education.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation) and Statutory Director of Social Services said that whilst the Authority seeks to minimise all forms of instability for the children in its care, placement and school moves are sometimes unavoidable e.g. in instances where a placement has broken down or where a child/young person is put into an emergency placement whilst a more suitable placement is found. Placement changes can also be part of the care process and are instigated for the benefit of the individual e.g. in circumstances where the child/young person is in need of therapy which requires a change of placement for the duration of the therapy. The Head of Children and Families’ Services said that a change of school can also happen when a child returns home to live with their family, following a period in care.

•           The Committee noted that Appendix B of the report provides an update on the status of projects reporting to the two main Transformation Programme Boards. The Committee noted further that under the theme of Prevention, implementation of the Early Intervention Strategy and the Tackling Poverty Strategy has yet to start and it suggested that had progress been made with these strategies it might ease the current pressures on Children and Families’ Services. The Committee noted also that the update unhelpfully provides no timescales for the delivery of the projects listed.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation) and Statutory Director of Social Services confirmed that work on the Early Intervention Strategy has begun with a team having been established and a strategy created – the grant funding is at present at a transitional stage. The Head of Housing Services said that the consultation process on the Tackling Poverty Strategy is about to begin and is expected to report back to the Executive in December.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Partnerships, Community and Service Improvement) confirmed that information about project delivery timescales is available and that it is a matter of populating the table with this information.

•           The Committee noted with respect to People Management that the performance in relation to conducting Return to Work interviews has declined both as regards interviews held within timescale (73% for 2017/18 compared to 78% for 2016/17) and as regards the total number of interviews held which at 85% is low compared to the target of 95%. The Committee sought assurance that steps will be taken to bring the performance back to an acceptable level.

The Head of Profession (Human Resources and Transformation) said that there is no single reason for the decline in performance but rather a combination of reasons which need to be examined and which will receive attention by Heads of Service.

•           The Committee noted comments by the Head of Service (Highways, Waste and Property) about a lack of clarity with regard to PIs 30, 31 and 31 in relation to fly tipping incidents cleared, municipal waste collected and prepared for reuse and/or recycled, and municipal waste sent to landfill against which there are downward red and amber arrows indicative of a decline in performance although the percentage figures clearly show otherwise. The Committee sought clarification of the designations in order to avoid possible misperceptions arising.

The Performance and Business Planning Manager said that the downwards red and amber arrows indicate a decline on the previous Quarter 3 performance. The upwards green arrows to the right of the table indicate an improving year on year performance for PIs 30, 31 and 32 which is supported and reinforced by the narrative commentary at paragraph 2. 2. 6 of the report.

The Committee noted the clarification provided but noted also that it was the Head of Service - Highways, Waste and Property’s view that comparison of performance between different quarters is not especially helpful or fair in relation to services such as municipal waste collection as the volume of green waste generated varies and is less in Quarter 4, meaning that a like for like comparison with Quarter 3 performance is not possible.

Having scrutinised the Quarter 4 Scorecard and having been assured by the information presented and the explanations provided both within the report and by Officers at the meeting, the Committee resolved to note the areas which the Senior Leadership Team is managing in order to secure improvements into the future as summarised in paragraphs 1.4.1 to 1.4.5 of the report and to accept and to recommend the mitigation measures as outlined.

NO ADDITIONAL ACTION WAS PROPOSED