Meeting documents

            Meeting: Corporate Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1a - 25/02/2008 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A3 Quarter 3 2007/08 - Joint Performance and Finance

         

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Report of Ann Campbell, Head of Corporate Policy, & Stuart Crowe, County Treasurer

Purpose of the Report

1. To provide an update on performance and financial matters at quarter 3 and to alert chief officers to areas of concern and good progress.

Background

2. This report provides performance information on key performance indicators included in the Council’s Corporate Plan relating to quarter 3, 2007/08 that can be reported at this time. The report provides summaries, highlights exceptions, and identifies where finance /resource has impacted on performance, or has the potential to impact upon future performance.


Direction of Travel

3. The following summary provides an indication of the Council’s direction of travel since the year end 06/07 based on the agreed corporate priorities for improvement for 2007/08 included in the Council’s Corporate Plan.

PI Status	Number of measures (58)	%
Improved since y/e 06/07		1667%
Maintained y/e performance		14%
Deteriorated since y/e 06/07		729%
Reported this qtr but no direction of travel available	7
Total		31
Not being reported this Qtr.	27

4. At this point we are reporting 31 of the 58 indicators that make up our corporate priorities for improvement. However, the direction of travel for 7 of these indicators can not be reported due to either having no 06/07 year-end data or being compared to a plan (finance indicators). The majority of the 27 indicators that are not being reported this quarter are reported annually. 5. Reporting Quarter 3 performance highlights that 67% of our reportable agreed Priorities for Improvement PIs are demonstrating improvement at this point, compared to 64% at the end of Quarter 2 and 52% at the end of quarter 1. The remainder of this report provides detail on an exception basis for areas of concern and good performance beginning with the corporate scorecard.



6. This section contains a summary of performance for the individual domains of our corporate scorecard. Exceptions are highlighted, whether performance or resource related, or where financial / resource management information indicates the potential to impact on future performance.
(for data see Appendix 1, pages 19)

Priority For Improvement	Number reported this quarter	Number improved since year end	On target (<10%)	Over Perf. (>10%)	Worse than target	No. PIs predicted to be on target at Y/E
Protecting & Supporting vulnerable children	4	2*	0	1	3	0/1
Improving Educational Attainment	5	3	2	0	3	2/5
Protecting & Supporting vulnerable adults	6	4	3	0	3	4/6
Improving Health	6**	2*	1	0	4	0/4
Promoting Economic Wellbeing	5	4	4	1	0	Not available
Quality of the Environment	2	0*	1	1	0	2/3
Total	28	15	11	3	13	8/19

*some indicators either have no year-end data or are cumulative so it is impossible to measure improvement
**1 indicator is subject to a time lag (4 week smoking quitters), therefore the most recent data relates to quarter 2.
EXCEPTIONS

Vulnerable Children

PAF A3 % re-registrations on the Child Protection Register

Q1 Performance has improved from 2006/07 outturn, continues to be better than both the quarter 3 and the 2007-08 year end target and remains in the top banding (performance between 10% and 15%). However, this indicator can be heavily influenced by sibling groups being re-registered.

Q2

Q3

Q4

BV 49 % of children looked after with 3 or more placements

Q1 Although, performance of this indicator is now better than 2006/07 outturn it still fails to meet its target. However, this indicator sits comfortably in the highest banding of very good performance (i.e. 16% or less) and is in line with the Authority’s IPF comparator group.

Q2

Q3

Q4

Educational Attainment

BV 38a % of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C or equivalent, including English and maths

Q1 N/aAll remarks, missing results and queries have been resolved and the final result is slightly higher than the provisional result from quarter 2. Although 2007 results were an improvement on 2006, Key Stage 4 remains a priority to ensure the gap is closed on our target. Schools are encouraged to enter pupils early in English and Maths to provide additional focus on weaker subjects. Beyond Expectations Transformation Team (BETT) specialist consultants are working with target groups of pupils in vulnerable schools.

Q2

Q3

Q4N/a

BV 38a % of p

PFI 02b % of Looked After Children in year 11 with 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C or equivalent

Q1N/aThere were 22 pupils in the 2007 year 11 cohort and half of these pupils had statements of Special Educational Need (SEN). Individual results have been compared against information from the Fischer Family Trust, which estimates what a child’s attainment should be, based on prior attainment weighted for a number of social factors. This analysis revealed that the majority of Looked After Children (LAC) achieved at or just below the expectation. In year 11, 6 of the 22 young people achieved more than expected. Continued collective targeting of the right type of support, peer mentoring and improving the stability of school placements will make a difference.

Q2N/a

Q3

Q4N/a

PFI 2c Average mean point score gap for all girls and boys at key Stage 4

Q1N/aAll remarks, missing results and queries have been resolved and the final result is slightly lower than the provisional result from quarter 2. The following actions are being implemented to narrow the gap between boys and girls, a) School Improvement Partners (SIPs) to work with schools, b) conference support to discuss methods of improving boys’ performance, c) curriculum changes to best suit boys’ temperament (PE courses), d) school’s audit to pinpoint areas for improvement, e) professional development days to continue to improve teachers’ work.

Q2

Q3

Q4N/a

Vulnerable Adults 14. Adult and Community Services (ACS) has an excellent record of investing and targeting resources into areas that will improve performance and improve outcomes for the public of County Durham. Robust monitoring has clearly proven that the ACS has continued to improve performance consistently in recent years. This especially the case in the following areas:

BV 053	Intensive home care per 1,000 for the over 65’s
BV 195	Acceptable waiting times for assessment
BV 201	Adults receiving direct payments
PAF C 72	Older people aged over 65 admitted on a permanent basis to Residential or Nursing care
LAA HCOP 5d	% of users receiving intensive home care as a proportion of those receiving intensive home and residential care

BV 56 % of items of equipment delivered and adaptations made within 7 working days

Q1 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.

Q2

Q3

Q4

LAA HC&OP 4c % of people with learning disabilities known to the Council and in work

Q1 An additional 20 jobs were created during quarter 3 so the total number of people with learning disabilities in work is 130. Although the quarter 3 target was narrowly missed, it is expected that the year-end target of 150 will be achieved. This equates to 7.2% of people with learning disabilities known to the council.

Q2

Q3

Q4

PFI 3bi % daycare sessions for people with learning disabilities provided in the community

Q1 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.

Q2

Q3

Q4

Improve Health Economic Well-being Quality of the Environment

BV 187 % of category 1, 1a and 2 footway network where structural maintenance should be considered

Q1The results of this survey will not be available until March 08. However, due to the rate of deterioration continuing in line with last year and reduced funding in 2007/08 (for both capital and revenue), the target figure is unlikely to be achieved.

Q2

Q3

Q4

20. (for data see Appendix 1, page 22)

	Number reported this quarter	Number improved since year end	On target (<10%)	Over Perf. (>10%)	Worse than target	No. PIs predicted to be on target at Y/E
Performance Indicators	14	9	3	4	7	8

EXCEPTIONS

21. Worse than target performance PIs. 22. BV 2a - Level of the Equality Standard for local government
23. BV 2b - Duty to promote race equality 24. BV 11b - % of top-paid 5% of local authority staff who are from an ethnic minority
BV 17a - % of local authority employees from ethnic minority communities 25. BV 14 - % of employees retiring early (excluding ill-health retirements) 26. BV 16 - % of local authority employees with a disability 27. BV 157 - % of e-enabled interactions 28. Although the number of working days lost due to sickness (BV 12) is improving and has met its milestones, it is expected not to achieve its year-end target

BV 12 Working days lost due to sickness

Q1 Although a much improved figure, it may be worth exercising caution when considering the projected end of year figure. The December 2006 quarter leaving the calculation was particularly poor from the number of days lost to sickness absence by comparison with other figures at this time of year recently. The effects of the disaggregation and reorganisation of the largest two Services remains an uncertain factor in influencing the final data - hence there has been no specific change to the projection at this point.

Q2

Q3

Q4

Data is 12 months ending 31 December 2007	No. of Full Time Equivalents (FTEs)	Working days lost	Working days lost per FTE
Adult and Community Services	2,309.7	35,439.1	15.2
Chief Executive’s Office	153.1	1,283.4	8.4
Children and Young People Services	10,508.7	80,542.9	7.6
Corporate Services	314.3	2,067.0	6.5
County Treasurer’s	221.9	2,022.0	9.2
Environment	493.8	5,044.0	9.9
Service Direct	833.5	10,488.0	12.7
Total	14,835.1	136,850.9	9.2

30. Current performance is the best recorded since December 2001. It is also a 30% improvement on our poorest performance in December 2003 when absence levels peaked at 13.10 days per FTE. 31. Sickness is reported as a 12 month rolling total. Q3, 2006/07 was a particularly poor quarter for sickness and has now been replaced by Q3, 2007/08. This has led to an improvement in the performance of this indicator. However, Q4, 2006/07 was much more in line with expectations and an improvement during Q4, 2007/8 is not expected. Consequently, we are expecting the year-end outturn to be similar to the current level of sickness. However, sickness rates often fluctuate and it is too early to determine if we have made a breakthrough below the 9.5 benchmark. Another factor that prompts caution is the potential ongoing effects of the disaggregating and re-aggregation of the two biggest Services. Hence, at this stage, the projected end of year figure remains unaltered at 9.85. 32. The Authority is continuing work to improve sickness rates and is working with the Audit Commission on a review they are conducting on the management of sickness absence across local authorities in Durham and Teesside. This study is aimed at establishing what is working well, identify areas for development, and examine the approaches which lead to reductions in absence levels. It is anticipated that outcomes will include the identification of areas of good practice that can be shared, while establishing reasons for the disparity between best and worst performing Councils. 33. The Stress Management Group is continuing to meet and has updated the policy, the release of which is expected in the near future. Following feedback from managers, the policy will include guidance relating to practical measures that they can use to support staff. The group is also seeking to identify good practice in Services to share across the Council. 34. A Working Group of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee is examining the whole area of stress management, including how to identify stress in the workplace and what processes are in place to deal with stress related issues and sickness absence in general.

35. Last year, the County Council was successful in achieving the Bronze Health at Work Award in the region. A Working Party has recently been recalled to work toward the Silver Award. Work is ongoing on this project, for example, some measures will be included to mark the national 'No Smoking Day' on Wednesday 12 March.

Quarter 3 updates	Citizens’ Panel Environment Service has a number of highway and transportation related questions in the next citizens’ panel, some of which relate to satisfaction. The questionnaire was sent out on the 1 February 2008 and an update of the results will be provided in the year-end report.
User Satisfaction updates	Adults: · During September and October 2007, all County Durham home care clients were surveyed. 98% stated they were satisfied with their home care worker and 96% were satisfied with the overall quality of their home care services. · Each year, over 5,000 people visit our Home Independence Shops. 98% of the customers surveyed told us they were happy with the advice and information received at the shops and 98% were satisfied with the range and choice of products available. Children: A children and young people survey is due to be carried out at the end of March via Cnet (electronic communication facility with schools/pupils). Environment: · Surveys are continuing and quarter 3 results are; CPA E30 Consumer satisfaction is 95.3% CPA E31 Business satisfaction is 85% · A report relating to consumer / business satisfaction and the Registered Traders Scheme satisfaction is due to be completed in February 08. · The Urban and Rural Renaissance team are to ask the residents of the towns/villages where works have taken place whether they think the scheme has improved the locality. Results are expected at the end of financial year. In 2008/09 Highway Management Services with Service Direct are to undertake surveys based on a sample of footway schemes. Questions will include asking how happy residents (and businesses depending on where the schemes are undertaken) are with the quality/standard of the works, with the information provided etc.
Complaints / compliments	April to December 2006/07 April to December 2007/08 219 complaints 185 complaints The number of complaints has decreased by 15.5% compared to the same period last year. April to December 2006/07 April to December 2007/08 495 compliments 595 compliments The number of compliments has increased by 20.2% compared to the same period last year Work continues within services to learn from complaints. Details of learning from complaints are reported to service management teams.

(see Appendix 1, page 24, and Appendix 3, from page 33 for detailed financial summary)

	Number reported this quarter	Number improved since year end	On target (<10%)	Over Perf. (>10%)	Worse than target	No. PIs predicted to be on target at Y/E
Performance Indicators	5	1*	1	0	1	1/4

* as some indicators included in ‘use of resources’ are compared to an annual plan, data is not always comparable to previous years and milestones are not always appropriate.


EXCEPTIONS

Worse than target performance PIs.

39. 1 of the 2 indicators included within ‘Use of Resources’ achieved its quarter 3 target and it is anticipated that only 1 indicator will meet its 2007/08 year-end targets. The 4 indicators that have not or are projected not to meet their targets are; 40. BV 8 - % of invoices paid on time 41. KPI UOR 01 - % revenue over / under spend 42. KPI UOR 02 - % capital over / under spend 43. KPI UOR 03 - % headcount variance from budget
Summary of all PIs - by service

44. The following table provides a summary of services’ performance against target for all relevant indicators (including corporate scorecard and other PIs in the APR). The table provides an indication of the number of PIs being reported this quarter, how many have improved, performance against target, and, where year end predictions have been provided, whether they are expected to achieve target by the year end.

SERVICE	Number reported this quarter	Number improved since year end	On target (<10% or between thresholds if CPA indicator)	Over Perf. (>10% or above upper threshold if CPA indicator)	Worse than target (or below lower threshold if CPA indicator)	No. PIs predicted to be on target at Y/E
Adult and Community Services (including vulnerable adults and relevant PIs from Improving Health)	22	16	14	3	5	14/17
Children and Young People Services (including vulnerable children, educational attainment adults & relevant PIs from Improving Health)	26	19	7	1	17	5/14
Environment (including Quality of the Environment & Economic Well-being)	14	4*	2	10	2	12/14

*some indicators either have no year-end data or are cumulative so it is impossible to measure improvement


45. The next section contains narrative for service PI exceptions outside the corporate scorecard Full performance details can be found in Appendix 2 (page 25).


EXCEPTIONS

Adult and Community Services

46. (for data see Appendix 2, page 25)

Budget Summary

Home Care - BV053/LAA HCOP 5d

47. Purchase of home care continues to increase in line with our policy for promoting independence. At this stage an overspend of £1,200,000 is forecast. At the same time however this increase in purchase improves our performance. The improvement in performance from 22.1 per 1,000 of the population helped to stay at home to 23.8 has already exceeded our set target of 22.2. Similarly, the target in relation to LAA HCOP 5d (see above) of 36% has been exceeded with current activity being 38.6%.

Residential/Nursing - PAF C72

48. Although purchase of home care is increasing in line with demographic expectations it is encouraging to note that the purchase of Residential/Nursing care has continued to decrease. This is illustrated by the continued improvement in the Performance Assessment Framework (PAF) target C 72 in relation to ‘Admissions to Residential and Nursing Care’ . The latest reported figure of 80.2 per 1,000 of the over 65 population is banded green. This can be compared to the orange banded figure of 119 from 2005/06 and last year’s performance of 95.3. This improvement in performance is also resulting in a forecast underspend on this budget of £1,500,000.

49. It is also very encouraging to see performance in relation to BV195 ‘Waiting times for assessment’ improving. Performance has been mixed in this area but improved working practices and additional resource are now turning performance around. Performance has improved from 79/2% last year to the current level of 85.1%.

50. At this stage of the year ACS is reporting a forecast underspend of £2,469,552 against the target budget. This financial position could change significantly however based upon the volatility of care provision. Performance at this stage however continues to show a continued level of improvement which is positive at this stage of the cycle.

51. BV 170 - visits to / uses of local authority funded or part-funded museums and galleries per 1,000 population 52. CPA C04 - Active borrowers as a percentage of the population

53. BV 126 - Domestic burglaries per 1,000 households
54. PAF C31 - Adults with mental health problems helped to live at home per 1,000 population aged 18-64
55. PAF E82 - Assessment of adults and older people leading to a provision of service Children and Young People’s Services 56. (for data see Appendix 2, Page 28) 57. BV 162 - % of child protection cases which were reviewed regularly, out of those cases which should have been reviewed during the year. 58. PAF C64 - % of core assessments that were completed within 35 days of their commencement 59. PAF C68 - timeliness of reviews of Looked After Children (LAC)
60. PAF D78 - % children under 16 who have been looked after for 2.5 years or more who have been living in the same placement for at least 2 years, or are placed for adoption
Educational Attainment 61. All remarks, missing results and queries have been resolved and the final results for indicators relating to educational attainment can be found in appendix 2. For the majority of indicators performance has improved since 2006, although year-end targets have not always been met.



62. Key Stage 2 (11 years) 63. Key Stage 3 (14 years) 64. Key Stage 4 (16 years) 65. BV 43a / b - Proposed statements of Special Educational Need (SEN) 66. PAF C69 - distance children are placed from home
67. BV 221 - % of young people aged 13-19 gaining recorded / accredited outcomes compared to the percentage of young people aged 13-19 participating in youth work 1. We have some under reporting across the service particularly in the Dales and Easington. Area managers are working to rectify this and we anticipate data will be up to date by half term
2. The data does not include Duke of Edinburgh information from the Duke of Edinburgh Award development officer. This is because DEEMS system used nationally by the award is ‘not talking’ to our MIS system. It doesn’t look like this problem will be rectified so we will copy the data across manually this quarter.
3. Some projects are struggling to achieve the targets that have been set for them. Area managers have identified these and are putting coaching and support programmes in place. 68. PAF C18 - Final warnings and convictions of Looked After Children (LAC) as a ratio of all children given a final warning or convicted
Environment

69. (for data see Appendix 2, page 31)
TO VIEW APPENDIX 2 PLEASE REFER TO THE PDF ATTACHMENT OR ALTERNATIVELY REFER TO HARD COPIES HELD IN CORPORATE SERVICES OR THE COUNTY RECORD
Budget Summary

70. The Service provides innovative and award winning services and continues to seek to provide value for money through various contractual arrangements it has in place.

71. LPI 99a - Number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions (real time) 72. BV 178 - % of the total length of rights of way in the local authority area that are easy to use by the general public Associated issues:

Benchmarking - Pricewaterhouse Cooper

73. We continue to incorporate benchmarking information into quarterly reports to CMT, Cabinet and Scrutiny Committees as appropriate. PWC is currently working on a number of developments with regard to the Benchmarking Club:
o VFM benchmarking
o The implementation of the new national indicator set
o The workings of the club to ensure CAA compliance

Finance

74. The revenue and capital budget will be monitored on a monthly basis by each of the services and reviewed centrally by the County Treasurer and reported to Corporate Management Team (CMT). Reports will be presented to Cabinet on a quarterly basis for year to June, September, November (this is a two month period but facilitates the incorporation of this revised estimate into the budget process) and March.

Data Quality

75. During the last quarter the Audit Commission published ‘Improving information to support decision making: standard for better data quality - a framework to support improvement in data quality in the public sector’. The implications of this voluntary framework and standards were considered by CPMG in December. The Audit Commission has stated that it will be incorporating the framework’s principles into any future assessments that include data quality.

76. CPMG decided that an approach should be made to internal Audit to further explore the implications for DCC and investigate whether any additional internal processes are required to assure the quality of our reported data.

Performance Management of Partnerships

77. CMT received a report on Dec 4th outlining implications of new guidance on complaints handling in partnerships from the Local Government Ombudsman. Work is ongoing to amend the corporate Performance Management Framework to reflect the guidance and to ensure that the Corporate Complaints process includes an appropriate complaints protocol (to be adopted proportionately) when local authority functions are delivered through partnership arrangements.

78. A number of high - level partnerships are currently subject to a structural and governance review as part of an ongoing review of the countywide LSP, which has recently been integrated with the LAA Board. Once the review is complete, partnerships which are part of this strategic framework will be subject to a fit for purpose review which will provide assurance on issues such as governance, performance management, risk etc for all partners, reinforcing the corporate process, which currently evaluates partnerships from the Authority’s point of view. 79. Outside of this process, internal audit are looking at a sample of partnerships from the Partnership Register, to test the effectiveness of the current corporate process. Recommendations

80. It is recommended that Corporate Scrutiny Sub-committee members:
a) note the revenue budget position as at 30th November 2007
b) note the performance of the Council’s short-term investments to the 30th November 2007.
c) note the capital budget position as at 30th November 2007 and the prudential indicators for subsequent financial years
d) note performance related exceptions as at 31st December 2007
e) identify any remedial actions required to address areas of underperformance

Contact: Debra Kitching ex. 4186 / David Watchman ex. 3543

Attachments

 Q3 corporate scrutiny excel.pdf;
 Q3 corporate scrutiny.pdf