Agenda item

The Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive which presented a review of progress towards delivery of the key priorities within the Council Plan 2023-27 in line with the Council’s Corporate Performance Framework.  The report covered performance in and to the end of quarter three 2023/24, October to December 2023 (for copy of report see file of minutes).

Councillor R Bell highlighted some of the areas where performance had been good.

·      Employment levels were within the highest levels for 20 years and unemployment remained low;

·      the amount of investment secured for companies and the number of inward investments attracted to the County were on track to achieve their annual targets;

·      Processing times for major planning applications were better than target and compared favourably with peers;

·      increased attendances at all cultural events had strengthened the Council’s position as a culture county and contributed significantly to the local economy;

·      Domestic waste diverted from landfill continued to be better than the target and performance was improving with kilogrammes of waste collected per household;

·      reduced contamination of recycled collections continued to fall following targeted education and enforcement activity;

·      demand for early help and statutory support for children and families remained consistent with previous trends, whilst improved practice had led to a consistently low referral to statutory and social care;

·      in adult social care, timeliness of completion of assessments had increased by more than 10% since quarter two, from 54.2% to 65.2% and was the highest for over two years. This remained a key area of focus for the service;

·      the time to repair highways maintenance defects across almost all categories were better than target and the Council continued to see lower levels of fly tipping following a proactive approach towards perpetrators;

·      almost 54,000 residents had received support towards council tax bills and more than £63 million through the council tax reduction scheme. A further £1.6 million had been spent supporting those who did not qualify for 100% reduction; and

·      £9.3 million had been allocated through the household support fund (HSF), including support for families claiming free school meals and it had been pleasing to note that the Chancellor had announced a six month extension to the HSF fund.

There were areas requiring attention where, for a range of issues, performance had not been what Cabinet would have liked it to be.

Although overall statutory demand for children's social care remained consistent, the number of children and young people receiving intensive support on a child protection plan taken into our care was relatively high. The service continued to review trends and learning would feed into strategic placement, sufficiency work and preparation for the implementation of care review proposals.

Requests for new education, health and care plans (EHCP's) increased substantially between 2019 and 2022 and had continued at a very high level in 2023. This impacted on capacity within the service to achieve timely assessments. A comprehensive action plan was in place to address these challenges.

In relation to homelessness prevention, the proportion of cases where statutory homelessness duty has been accepted had increased in the quarter due to the work of the housing team significantly reducing the number of lost contact cases. Government funding had been secured to acquire support and additional temporary accommodation and bed spaces to support those in need.

In town centres, 16% of retail units in the county were vacant compared to 14% nationally. Vacancy rates were significantly higher in Bishop, Auckland, Newton, Aycliffe and Peterlee. Support continued through council led initiatives such the Towns and Villages Programme, the Targeted Business Improvement Scheme and Town Centre Master Plans.

Councillor Wilkes, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change thanked officers for another excellent quarterly report. Councillor Wilkes highlighted that the Council had beaten their own targets for fly tipping, but also had a rate that was less than half the national average and as much as five times lower than some other North East Councils. There had been over a 30% fall since the Joint Administration took control of the Council. This proactive approach extended to a big increase in fixed penalty notices for waste carrier offences, which so far this year was at ten times the average number under Labour. Nearly seven times more spot checks were taking place on waste carriers than the previous administration and more than double the number of fly tippers had been prosecuted than under the previous Labour administration.

The default yard clearance team had been firmly embedded into the Warden service. This team was clearing up hundreds of filthy yards and gardens and billing those responsible, something that never happened under the previous Labour administration. Excellent progress had been made, with more to follow.

Councillor Shield, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Equality and Inclusion referred to the issue of homelessness. The proportion of households prevented from homelessness and help to remain in their current homes was on par with quarter two. Further positive outcomes were expected to continue following the appointment of two full time visiting officers to assist with preventative work into existing accommodation. The team had significantly reduced the number of lost contact cases since quarter two, which had resulted in a higher number of cases requiring a main duty decision in quarter three which was expected to impact positively on the statistics. On a positive note, the Council had been successful in securing additional funding of £4.42 million from the Department of Levelling up Housing and Communities to deliver the single homeless accommodation programme (SHAP) to secure suitable accommodation for the most vulnerable clients and funding would be used to purchase thirty two bed spaces for rough sleepers or people at risk of rough sleeping. £675,000 had been awarded from Homes England to secure fifteen temporary properties for clients. Thirteen of these properties had already been purchased and a further bid of £1.5 million had been submitted in January 2024 to secure funding further twenty five properties. This demonstrated Durham County Council's commitment to continue to address the variety of complex cases which presented themselves to the Homelessness Team. However, on a word of caution, there was an element of concern regarding the issue of Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO), particularly in East Durham, which may impact on the homeless situation.

Councillor Hood, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Adult and Health Services highlighted some of the successes within Adult and Health Services. Care act assessments completed within 28 days had risen from 54.2% to 65.2% the highest for over 2 years. The percentage of older people still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital into reablement rehabilitation services was the highest since the same period last year at 91.9% and within one percentage point of the three year average. Latest performance was better than our Better Care Fund target of 84% and regional and national benchmarking.

Referrals into adult social care had been stable over the last year with an average of 5,768 per quarter. 68.3% of service users had received an annual assessment or review in the last 12 months demonstrating the effectiveness of the new review team set up in 2023. This marked the highest recorded performance in more than two years. DCC was to be one the first Councils to be assessed under the new CQC assessment framework and the Council looked forward in welcoming the commission to Durham County Council.

Councillor T Henderson, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People’s Services explained that the number of Children receiving intensive support was high and the service were reviewing trends. EHCPs had increased substantially and continued at a high rate in 2023. This impacted on achieving timely assessments due to a shortage of educational psychologists, which was a national problem and would continue to be the case until more could be engaged.

Areas of positivity included the OFSTED inspection of care leavers. Family hubs had been awarded national trailblazer status. The Adult and Community Learning Service had been rated as a good provider of education by OFSTED.

Resolved:

That the contents of the report be noted.