Meeting documents

            Meeting: Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1A - 24/09/2007 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A5 Quarter 1 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 1 performance for the authority’s priorities relevant to our Corporate Aim, Developing Lifelong Learning.

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. It should be noted that all examination results reported during quarter 1 relate to 2007 examinations so are provisional and subject to change due to remarks, missing results, queries etc. Therefore, it is anticipated that there will be a slight change to the performance of all examination-related indicators. Final figures will be available during December 2007 and will be reported to the Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Sub-committee of the 31 March 2008.


4. Performance and comments relating to indicators relevant to the Corporate Aim, Developing Lifelong Learning is 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	1529%
	Maintained	48%
	Deteriorated	1223%
Data is unavailable (N/a) during quarter 1	21	40%
Total	52

Comparison to target	Number of measures	% of total
	On target (<10% better)	1121%
	Over performance (>10% better)	510%
	Worse than target	1529%
Data is unavailable (N/a) during quarter 1	21	40%
Total	52

Comparison to 2007/08 target	Number of measures	% of total
Predicted to be on target at 2007/08 year-end	25/38*	66%

*14 measures do not have a year-end prediction


5. 5 indicators aligned to Developing Lifelong Learning are included in the authority’s priorities for improvement. Of these indicators two were updated during quarter 1. The following table summarises the performance of these indicators.

	Achieved Q1 target	Did not achieve Q1 target
Improved from year-end	5 or more A*-C GCSEs (BV 38)	5 or more A*-C GCSEs, including English and Maths (BV 38a)
Deteriorated from year-end

Points to Note

· % of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs (grade A*-C).
Performance of this indicator is continuing to improve year-on-year. A provisional result for 2007 of 60.11% shows a 3.53 percentage point improvement since last year (56.58%) and a 19.8 percentage point improvement since 2000 (40.3%). For the first time, two schools, St Bede’s Catholic School and Sixth Form Centre, Lanchester and Park View Community School, Chester-le-Street, have over 80% of pupils with five or more A*-C grades - with 84% and 81% respectively.

Although the percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs (grade A*-C) including English and Maths has not met target, there has been an improvement of 2 percentage points compared to the previous year.

· All other indicators included within the Authority’s priorities for improvement will be available during December 2007 and will be reported to the Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Sub-committee of the 31 March 2007.


6. A summary of all other indicators reported during quarter 1 is shown in the table below,

	Achieved Q1 target	Did not achieve Q1 target
Improved from year-end	Level 5 in KS2 English (BV 194a) Half days missed - primary schools (BV 46) Visits/uses to museums & galleries in person (BV 170b) Scheduled opening hours of libraries (PLSS 02) Active borrowers (CPA C04) Stock turn (CPA C12a)	Level 5 in KS3 English (BV 181a) Level 5 in KS3 Science (BV 181c) Level 5 in KS3 ICT (BV 181d) Level 4 in KS2 Maths (BV 40) Level 4 in KS2 English (BV 41) Early education and childcare - qualified to level 4 or above (BV 222a) 16-18 year olds NEET (LAA C&YP 10a)
Remained static	Early education and childcare - graduate / postgraduate (BV 222b) Households within 2 miles of library (PLSS 01) Cost per library visit (CPA C13) Libraries with access to internet (PLSS 03)
Deteriorated from year-end	Pupils visiting museums and galleries as part of school group (BV 170c) Library workstations with access to internet (PLSS 04) Physical visits to libraries (PLSS 06) Rights of way that are easy to use (BV 178) Replenish lending stock of libraries (PLSS 10)	Level 5 in KS3 Maths (BV 181b) Level 5 in KS2 Maths (BV 194b) Statements of SEN (BV 43a, b) Visits/uses to museums & galleries (BV 170a) Items added to libraries (PLSS 09) Stock Level (CPA 12b)

Areas of concern
(indicators not achieving quarter 1 target with deteriorating performance since 06/07 year-end)

· BV 181b: % of pupils achieving Level 5 in Key Stage 3 test in Mathematics
Although performance has deteriorated slightly (from 76.9% to 76.2%), it is in line with the national average.

· BV 194b: % of pupils achieving Level 5 in Key Stage 2 test in Mathematics
Although performance has deteriorated slightly (from 33.62% to 32.9%), it is in line with the national average.

· BV 43a: proposed statements of Special Educational Need (SEN) issued and prepared within 18 weeks, excluding exceptions
1 child out of 108 had their statement issued outside the 18 weeks time period

· BV 43b: proposed statements of Special Educational Need (SEN) issued and prepared within 18 weeks, including exceptions
1 child out of 132 had their statement issued outside the 18 weeks time period

· BV 170a: number of visits to / uses of local authority funded or part-funded museums and galleries per 1,000 population
For the purpose of this indicator ‘visits / uses’ includes the number of website hits. During the first quarter of 2007/08, the website for Killhope received 50% less hits than usual. This decrease was due to an inappropriate website no longer accessing the Killhope website. Although, it appears that performance of this indicator has fallen, previous data included hits from the inappropriate website. In addition, visits to Binchester and Killhope have been affected by the poor weather.

· PLSS 09: Annual items added through purchase per 1,000 population
The number of items added through purchase has decreased as a result of efficiency savings and budget cuts.

· CPA 12b: Stock Level - books available for issue per 1,000 population
The number of items added through purchase has decreased as a result of efficiency savings and budget cuts. Please note this is no longer a CPA indicator for CPA 2007.


7. Of those indicators where it has been possible to provide a year-end prediction, 25 (66%) are expected to meet their year-end targets. 13 indicators are expected not to meet their year-end targets. They are;

· BV 038a - % of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C or equivalent, including English and Maths
See paragraph 5 for explanation

· BV 181a - % of 14 year old pupils achieving level 5 or above in the Key Stage 3 test in English
Provisional results show that performance has improved during 2007 from 69.19% to 71% and has closed the gap on national average.

· BV 181b - % of 14 year old pupils achieving level 5 or above in the Key Stage 3 test in Maths
See paragraph 6 for explanation

· BV 181c - % of 14 year old pupils achieving level 5 or above in the Key Stage 3 test in Science
Provisional results show that performance has improved during 2007 from 71.74% to 72%. Performance is in line with the national average.

· BV 181d - % of 14 year old pupils achieving level 5 or above in the Key Stage 3 test in ICT
Provisional results show a 4.16 percentage point rise in performance, 0.1 of a percentage point below target. This gap between performance and target may be bridged when the final results are known.

· BV 040 - % of 11 year old pupils achieving level 4 or above in the Key Stage 2 test in Maths
Performance of 78.8% puts the authority at the national average.

· BV 041 - % of 11 year old pupils achieving level 4 or above in the Key Stage 2 test in English
An improved performance of 1.65 percentage points places the authority above the national average for this indicator.

· BV 194b - % of 11 year old pupils achieving level 5 in the Key Stage 2 test in Maths
See paragraph 6 for explanation

· BV 043a / b - % of proposed statement of Special Educational Need (SEN) issued and prepared within 18 weeks, excluding / including exceptions
See paragraph 6 for explanation

· BV 170a - number of visits to / uses of local authority funded or part-funded museums and galleries per 1,000 population
See paragraph 6 for explanation

· PLSS 09 - Annual items added through purchase per 1,000 population
See paragraph 6 for explanation

· CPA C12b - Stock level - books available per 1,000 population
See paragraph 6 for explanation

8. It is recommended that Lifelong Learning 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 APPENDIX A PLEASE LAUNCH THE ADOBE ICON BELOW OR ALTERNATIVELY PLEASE REFER TO HARD COPIES LOCATED IN CORPORATE SERVICES OR THE COUNTY RECORDS OFFICE





Attachments

 Item 5 Appendix.pdf;
 Item 5.pdf