Meeting documents

Communities Scrutiny Sub-Committee (DCC)
Monday 5 June 2006


            Meeting: Communities Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1a - 05/06/2006 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A7 Performance Management a) Report of Performance Monitoring Manager b) Report of Corporate Policy Unit


         

Scrutiny Sub-Committee
Promoting Strong, Healthy
& Safe Communities

5 June 2006


Performance Management


Report of Performance Monitoring Manager

1. Purpose of the Report

To provide Scrutiny Sub-Committee with an update on performance information for 2005/06.

2. Background

Since 2000/1 Durham’s performance against the Department of Health Performance Assessment Framework indicators as a whole has steadily improved. In an analysis carried out by Cordis Bright Consultants, Durham has been ranked as the top authority in England in terms of average PAF bandings for 2004/5. This is an improvement of one place from 2003/4 and is an indication of consistently high performance of which the council can be rightly proud.

This has also helped improve in the Social Care Star Rating awarded to Durham. The authority has moved from 1 star in 2002/3 to 2 stars in both 2003/4 and 2004/5.

3. Current Position

Performance against PAF indicators for 2005/6 is shown in Appendix A. Results are traffic lit and most range from dark green (‘very good’ performance) to red (‘investigate urgently’).

3.1 Adult Services: -

3.1.1 Overview

Adult Services performance indicators for which there is available data (twenty five out of twenty seven) are grouped by Department of Health bandings as follows:

9 very good (dark green)
9 good (light green)
3 acceptable (yellow)
2 ask questions (orange)
1 investigate urgently (red)
1 not banded

One of the indicators in the yellow banding and one in the light green banding are in the highest banding that can be achieved. In total eleven out of twenty seven indicators that can be banded at this point in the year are in the top banding that can be achieved.

3.1.2 Achievements

Very good performance is reported in relation to households receiving intensive home care, helping adults with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and mental health problems to live at home. Delivering items of equipment within seven days and the number of delayed discharges from hospital are also in the top (very good) banding. User satisfaction reported in the Home Care Survey was also in the highest banding.

3.1.3 Areas for Improvement

PAF C72 (Adults aged 65+ admitted on a permanent basis in the year to residential or nursing care per 10,000 65+ population) is in the red banding with 119.4 admissions per 10,000 65+ population. This is a new indicator for 2005/6. The high rate of admissions is being addressed by Adult Services with an action plan developed and local targets set to reduce the number of admissions across the County.

An Equality and Diversity Action Plan to address issues in relation to PAF E47 (ratio of the percentage of older service users receiving an assessment or review that are from minority ethnic groups compared to the percentage of older people in the population that are from minority ethnic groups) has been developed and implemented. A meeting has also taken place with the Race Equalities Council to explore ways of better engaging service users from minority ethnic groups. Due to such a small minority ethnic population in County Durham, small numbers can affect this indicator dramatically. Indeed, the ideal ratio of 1:1 would have been achieved if another 5 users from a minority ethnic group were assessed.



Changing Performance

PAF D55 (Acceptable waiting times for assessments) has moved into the orange banding after a change in banding thresholds and a change in how the indicator is calculated in 2005/6. Workers are now required to make contact with the client within 48 hours of Adult Services having received a referral. This is a risk area for the Service due to increasing demands, complexity of work and capacity issues. The majority of delays are occurring with Occupational Therapy assessments. Work is ongoing to make the process more responsive, including the appointment of an Occupational Therapist within Social Care Direct and the further development of Equipment Shops.

PAF E48 (ratio of the percentage of older service users receiving services following assessment or review that are from minority ethnic groups compared to the percentage of older users assessed or reviewed that are from a minority ethnic group). The indicator moved from the yellow to the orange banding. This is because the percentage of users from minority ethnic groups who received a service following assessment is higher than for the rest of the population. This is a volatile indicator that is liable to fluctuate year on year owing to the small numbers of people, only two in 2005/6, being assessed that are from minority ethnic groups.

PAF D40 (adults and older clients receiving a review as a percentage of those receiving a service) has moved from the orange to the yellow banding as a result of a greater number of re-assessments taking place under the Single Assessment Process. Under the definition of this indicator these re-assessments are classed as reviews.

PAF D56 (acceptable waiting times for care packages) has dropped from the dark green to light green banding due to an increase in the banding thresholds of 5%. This is despite there being an improvement in performance in 2005/6.

3.2 Children’s Services:

3.2.1 Overview

Children’s Services performance indicators for which there is available data (nineteen out of twenty one) are grouped by Department for Education and Skills bandings as follows:

9 very good (dark green)
3 good (light green)
3 acceptable (yellow)
2 ask questions (orange)
2 not banded

One of the indicators in the light green banding is in the highest banding that can be achieved. In total ten out of seventeen indicators that can be banded are in the top banding that can be achieved.

3.2.2 Achievements

Very good performance is reported in relation to the number of looked after children who are adopted and the number of children looked after that are in foster placements or placed for adoption. There is also very good performance in relation to the low number of re-registrations on the child protection register and the number of children looked after who have had 3 or more placements in a year. Very good performance is also reported in relation to the completion of core assessments to timescale, timeliness of reviews of children looked after and the percentage of child protection cases reviewed.

3.2.3 Areas for Improvement

PAF C18 (final warnings and convictions of children looked after as a ratio of all children given a final warning or convicted) remains an area for improvement for Children’s Services. The figure reported as at the end of September 2004, which was used for the PAF entry in 2004/5, was uncharacteristically low. A backlog of cases awaiting court dates and issues with computer data entry caused this. Performance in 2005/6 is a more accurate reflection of the situation. A Restorative Justice Approach has been implemented which will lead to different ways of working with young people and hopefully reduce the number of incidents within Children’s homes.

3.2.4 Changing Performance

PAF C20 (percentage of child protection cases reviewed in the last year) has improved from 98% to 100%. This is excellent performance and moves the indicator into the dark green banding.

PAF C23 (percentage of children looked after who are adopted) has increased significantly in 2005/6, moving from the light green banding to dark green. This is good practice and is in line with Children’s Services Invest to Save strategy of reducing the number of looked after children.

PAF E44 (percentage of children’s gross expenditure that was not spent on children looked after) has moved from the yellow to orange banding. It should be noted, however, that this figure is provisional and the actual out-turn figure will not be available until July. A reduction of 2% will move this indicator back into the yellow banding. It should also be noted that the reduction in money spent on children looked after is in line with the Invest to Save strategy.

4. Recommendations and reasons

Members are recommended to:


a. Note the information contained in this report.
Contact: Keith Newby Tel: 0191 383 4959
TO VIEW TABLES PLEASE CLICK ON PDF ATTACHEMENTS ABOVE OR REFER TO HARD COPIES LOCATED IN CORPORATE SERVICES AND THE COUNTY RECORD OFFICE

Corporate Scrutiny
Sub-Committee
5
th June 2006
Promoting Strong, Healthy & Safe Communities

Year End Performance 2005/06
Report of the Head of Corporate Policy

Purpose of the Report


1. The purpose of this report is to provide an end of year performance update (2005/06) for Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) relevant to our Corporate Aim, Promoting Strong, Healthy and Safe Communities.

2. The end of year performance 2005/06 for BVPIs aligned to Promoting Strong, Healthy & Safe Communities is available in Appendix A.

3. There are 26 BVPIs relevant to our Corporate Aim, Promoting Strong, Healthy and Safe Communities. Comparison of the final outturn of 2005/06 to the final outturn of 2004/05 shows that 20 indicators improved performance, 3 deteriorated, 2 remained static and 1 had no comparative data (BV127b - robberies per 1,000 population was a new indicator for 2005/06 so has no comparative data from 2004/05). Of those indicators that had a target set for 2005/06, 19 (73%) met the target and 7 (27%) did not.

Performance
BVPI
Improved
49 - % children in care 3+ placement
53 - Intensive home care per 1,000 65+ population (T)
54 - Older people helped to live at home (T)
56 - % equipment
58 - People with statement of needs (T)
99ai - Road accident casualties - KSI All (T)
99aii - % change - KSI All (T)
99aiii - % change 1994-98 KSI All (T)
99bi - Road accident casualties - KSI Child (T)
99bii - % change - KSI Child (T)
99biii - % change 1994-98 KSI Child (T)
99ci - Road accident casualties - Slight Injuries (T)
99cii - % change - Slight Injuries (T)
99ciii - % change 1994-98 - Slight Injuries (T)
126a - Domestic Burglaries per 1,000 households (T)
128a - Vehicle Crimes per 1,000 population (T)
162 - Reviews of child protection cases (T)
163 - Adoptions of children looked after (T)
196 - Acceptable wait for care packages (T)
197 - Change in
Static
166b - Checklist - Trading Standards (T)
201 - Adults receiving direct payments
Performance
BVPI
Deteriorated
127a - Violent crime per 1,000 population
161 - Care Leavers - Employment and Training
195 - Acceptable waiting times for assessment 195 - Acceptable waiting times for assessment
No comparative data
127b - Robberies per 1,000 population

(T) denotes that the target for that indicator was met.

Areas of Improved Performance

4. The performance of a number of indicators improved since 2004/05. Of particular note:
  • BV 49 - % children in care 3+ placement. During 2005/06 48 Looked After Children had 3 or more placements (353 had less than 3). Although an improvement on 2004/05 outturn, performance was below target. This was due to a high number of children entering the looked after system, who may encounter more than 3 placement moves during their early stages in the system.
  • BV 53 - Intensive home care per 1,000 65+ population. More households received intensive home care than during 2004/05 and performance was better than target.
  • BV 54 - Older people helped to live at home. During 2005/06, 8,108 older people were helped to live at home. The rate per 1,000 population for 2005/06 is higher than 2004/05 and above the 2005/06 target.
  • BV 56 - % equipment 6,097 items (91.2%) of equipment were delivered / adaptations made within 7 working days during 2005/06. Performance was better than during 2004/05 and the 2005/06 target was exceeded.
  • BV 58 - People with statement of needs. 2005/06 performance has improved from 2004/05 and is better than 2005/06 target.
  • BV99 Road Safety (and its sub-indicators)
    i. BV 99a - Road accident casualties - KSI (All). 24 fewer people were killed / seriously injured.
    ii. BV 99b - Road accident casualties - KSI (Child). 12 fewer children were killed / seriously injured.
    iii. BV 99c - Road accident casualties - Slight Injuries. 170 fewer people suffered slight injury due to road accidents. This BVPI is included in the 2005/06 table but it should be noted that the guidance requires us to report figures for the calendar year 2004. These figures are therefore already established.
  • BV 126a - Domestic Burglaries per 1,000 households. Throughout 2005/06, domestic burglaries were reduced and this was significantly below the 2005/06 target.
  • BV 128a - Vehicle Crimes per 1,000 population. Vehicle crime reduced in 2005/06 compared to 2004/05 and is better than target.
  • BV 162 - Reviews of child protection cases. Every child protection case that should have been reviewed regularly during 2005/06 was reviewed. This amounted to 125 cases.
  • BV 163 - Adoptions of children looked after. Performance during 2005/06 was significantly better than both 2004/05 outturn and 2005/06 target. During 2005/06, 44 adoption and 2 guardianship orders were granted.
  • BV 196 - Acceptable wait for care packages. We have increased the proportion of new older clients waiting no more than 28 days from completion of assessment to provision of all services in the care package. This is an improvement on 2004/05 outturn and is better than target.
  • BV 197 - Change in This data was published in February 2006 and relates to the 2004 calendar year. 1998 data is used as the baseline to calculate the change in the

Areas of deteriorated performance
5. The performance of a number of indicators deteriorated since 2004/05. Of particular note:
  • BV 127a - Violent crime per 1,000 population. During 2003/04 Durham Constabulary was graded as ‘amber’ for compliance to the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS) by the audit commission. Significant effort was made to ensure a totally victim focussed approach to crime recording. This resulted in a rise in the number of crimes recorded, especially violent crime. Therefore, part of the increase can be attributed to rigorous compliance to NCRS. In addition, Durham Constabulary is tackling quality of life issues across the communities of County Durham and this positive policing is resulting in an increase in low level violent crime.
  • BV 161 - Care Leavers - Employment and Training. The ratio of the percentage of care leavers aged 19, engaged in education, employment and training, to the percentage of the population of Durham County aged 19 in education, employment and training has decreased in 2005/06. The 2005/06 target was not achieved.
  • BV 195 - Acceptable waiting times for assessment. Performance of this indicator appears to have deteriorated. However, this dip in performance can be attributed to a change in definition during 2005/06. Prior to this change, contact with a third party (close relatives / carer) could be classed as a ‘contact assessment’. The new definition states that the ‘contact assessment’ must include the client. As the client makes only 18% of enquiries, performance during 2005/06 appears much lower when in reality there has been no change in practice.
Recommendations

That Corporate Scrutiny Sub-Committee Members:

i. note the contents of this report
ii. agree to receiving subsequent quarterly performance progress reports
Contact: Debra Kitching Tel: 0191 383 4186
TO VIEW TABLES PLEASE CLICK ON PDF ATTACHEMENTS ABOVE OR REFER TO HARD COPIES LOCATED IN CORPORATE SERVICES AND THE COUNTY RECORD OFFICE

Attachments


 SHS communites - year end - appendix A.pdf;
 SHS Communities Scrutiny Report - June 06.pdf;
 Scrutiny Jun 06 Appendix.pdf;
 Jun 06 Scrutiny sub-committee.pdf