Meeting documents

            Meeting: Communities Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1b - 03/03/2008 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A5 Quarter 3 2007/08 Performance

         

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Report of the Head of Corporate Policy

1. The purpose of this report is to provide an update of quarter 3 performance for the authority’s Priorities For Improvement (PFIs) and the Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) relevant to our Corporate Aim, Promoting Strong, Healthy and Safe Communities.

2. To gain maximum impact of performance management intelligence from Performance Plus, the Authority’s performance management system, tolerances and milestones have been set for 2007/08 targets.

3. Performance and comments relating to indicators relevant to the Corporate Aim, Promoting Strong, Healthy and Safe Communities are reported in Appendix A. An overview of performance is as follows;

Direction of Travel since year-end 2006/07	Number of measures	% of total
	Improved	2560%
	Maintained	37%
	Deteriorated	614%
Data is cumulative or no 06/07 data is available (N/a)	8	19%
Total	42

Comparison to target	Number of measures	% of total
	Worse than	1945%
	Better than by <10%	1740%
	Better than by 10% or more	614%
No target available (N/a)	0	0%
Total	42

Comparison to target	Number of measures	% of total
Predicted to be on target at 2007/08 year-end	17/26	65%

*16 measures do not have a year-end prediction


4. Fourteen indicators aligned to Promoting Strong, Healthy and Safe Communities and included in the authority’s priorities for improvement were updated during quarter 3. The following table summarises the performance of these indicators.

	Achieved target	Did not achieve target
Improved from year-end	Re-registrations on Child Protection Register (A03) Acceptable wait for care packages (BV 196) Direct payments (BV 201) Intensive homecare (LAA HC&OP 05d)	National Healthy Schools Status (LAA C&YP 01b) People with learning disabilities in work (LAA HC&OP 04c) Looked after children with 3 or more placements (BV 49)
Unable to compare to year-end	Smoking rate (LAA HC&OP 01h)	First time entrants to youth justice system (LAA SSC 01f) Mortality Rate (cancer) (LAA HC&OP 01a) Mortality Rate (circulatory) (LAA HC&OP 01b)
Remained static compared to year-end		Investing in Children membership (LAA C&YP 08a)
Deteriorated from year-end		Day care sessions in community for people with learning disabilities (PFI 03b) Equipment delivered / adapted (BV 56)

Areas of concern,
(indicators not achieving quarter 3 target with deteriorating performance since 06/07 year-end)

5. % of day care sessions for people with learning disabilities provided in the community (PFI 03b)
The decrease in performance since quarter 2 can be attributed to increased staff absences, bad weather as the winter months came in and increased activity in the centres. Developments around Pontop have slowed down resulting in community facilities not coming on line as planned. It is envisaged that community facilities will come on line progressively between now and the end of May with Pontop closing in late May. Once Pontop closes all service users will be in the community and performance will increase to at least 42.1% which is in line with the target.

6. % of equipment delivered and adaptations made within 7 working days (BV 56)
Although performance of this indicator has deteriorated slightly during quarter 3, the authority is in the highest banding nationally and is significantly outperforming its comparator group. Work is continuing to speed up the equipment ordering process through the use of technology

7. A summary of all other indicators relevant to this corporate aim and updated during quarter 3 is shown in the table below,

	Achieved target	Did not achieve target
Improved from year-end	Over 65s helped to live at home (BV 54) Violent crime (BV 127a) Vehicle Crime (BV 128a) Intensive homecare for people aged 65 or over (BV 53) Acceptable waiting time for assessment (BV 195) Children de-registered from child protection register (PAF C21) Adults with learning / physical difficulties helped to live at home(PAF C29 /C30) Carers receiving specific carers service (PAF C62) Permanent admissions to residential / nursing care (PAF C72 / C73) LAC who communicated views (PAF C63)	Reviews of child protection cases (BV 162) Assessment leading to provision of service (PAF E82) Domestic burglaries (BV 126a) Timeliness of reviews of Looked After Children (PAF C68) Stability of LAC placements (PAF D78)
Remained static	Trading Standards checklist (BV 166b) Adults receiving statement of needs (PAF D39)
Unable to compare to year-end	Casualties from road traffic collisions (LPI 99c) Service users from ethnic minority groups (PAF E47 / E48)	Casualties from road traffic collisions (LPI 99a/b)
Deteriorated from year-end	Robberies (BV 127b)	Adults with mental health problems helped to live at home (PAF C31) Core assessments completed within 35 days (PAF C64) Final warnings / convictions of LAC (PAF C18)

*’% children aged between 10 and 16 who are looked after in foster placements or placed for adoption (PAF B79) has improved since year-end but has no targets set

8. Areas of concern,
(indicators not achieving quarter 3 target with deteriorating performance since 06/07 year-end)

9. Adults with mental health problems helped to live at home per 1,000 population aged 18-64 (PAF C31)
Analysis of the figures at locality level has identified that there has been a minor decrease in the number of Adults with Mental Health Problems receiving a social care service as at the end of December 2007. Over the last 3 years, this indicator has consistently shown minor fluctuations between quarters, and latest analysis in February 2008 identifies that performance against this indicator is again increasing (5.4). Durham is a high performing authority in relation to this indicator and remains in the top banding nationally.

10. % of core assessments completed within 35 days of their commencement (PAF C64)
Improvement in performance during the year ending 31 December 2007 with performance in line to achieve target for 2007/08

11. Final warnings / convictions of Looked After Children as a ratio of all children given a final warning or convicted (PAF C18)
Improvement in performance during the year ending 31 December 2007 resulted in a positive change in banding. The performance figure for the year ending 30 September 2007 will be the reported PAF outturn figure for 2007/08 although it may be subject to change when new Home Office crime figures are published by DCSF.


12. Of the 26 indicators where it has been possible to provide a year-end predication, 17 are expected to meet their year-end targets. The 9 that are not expected to meet their targets are

13. Number of first time entrants to the youth justice system (LAA SSC 01f)
Although current performance is the best for nearly 2 years, the quarter 3 target has not been met and it is unlikely that the 2007/08 year end target will be achieved. This is partly due to the conflicting police Offences Brought to Justice (OBTJ) target. County Durham Youth Engagement Service (CDYES) will be piloting a pre-reprimand disposal for young people aged 10-13 years, targeting those who commit an offence and would otherwise receive a police reprimand. The pre-reprimand disposal will offer voluntary referral to young people, parents or carers to Youth Inclusion and Support Panels (YISPs) for assessment. Failure to engage will result in the reprimand being issued. It is anticipated that 32% of reprimands could be prevented from entering the youth justice system.

14. % of items of equipment delivered and adaptations made within 7 working days (BV 56)
See paragraph 6

15. % of day care sessions for people with learning disabilities provided in the community (PFI 03b)
See paragraph 5

16. % of primary schools achieving new National Healthy Schools Status (NHSS) (LAA C&YP 01b)
Although progress has been made it has been slower than expected due to the thorough quality assurance process involved, competing priorities of the schools (this programme is voluntary), problems converting from a paper audit tool to a national on-line process and staffing issues affecting capacity to recruit additional schools to the programme. Merger of a infant and junior school as of September 2008 and another as of January 2009 will affect progress toward target.

17. Mortality rate per 100,000 (directly age standardised) population from cancer in people aged under 75 for spearhead area (LAA HC&OP 01a)
2004-06 performance is worse than target.

18. Mortality rate per 100,000 (directly age standardised) population from heart disease, stroke and related diseases in people aged under 75 for spearhead area (LAA HC&OP 01b)
2004-06 performance is worse than target.

19. Number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions (real time) (LPI 99a)
20. Number of children (aged under 16) killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions (real time) (LPI 99b)
Between 1 January 2007 and 30 September 2007, 160 people (of which 18 were aged under 16 years) were killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions in the Authority area. Engineering improvements, enforcement and education are believed to be reducing casualty numbers. However, it is not possible to predict the number of road traffic collisions. Looking at trends over the last few years, it is anticipated that 197 people (of which 24 are expected to be under 16 years of age) will die or be seriously injured by the end of 2007.

21. Adults with mental health problems helped to live at home per 1,000 population aged 18-64 (PAF C31)
See paragraph 9

22. Assessment of adults and older people leading to a provision of service (PAF E82)
CSCI identify that the highest performing councils achieve between 68% and 77% for this indicator. Durham has challenged this view and CSCI in response have stated that they will review this banding for 2008/9 in consultation with the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) and Department of Health. We have set a high target of 86%, current performance is 0.5 percentage points below that.

23. It is recommended that Corporate Scrutiny Sub-Committee Members:
(i) note the contents of this report
(ii) agree to receiving subsequent quarterly performance progress reports
 Q3 scrutiny - 3 March 08.pdf;
 Communities Scrutiny Q3 0708.pdf