Agenda and minutes

None received.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

None declared.

Resolved: - That, subject to the amendment of 'implantation' to implementation' on page 3, the minutes of the meeting held on 1 October 2014 be agreed as a true and accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

Ben Kinley, Head of Business Improvement, and Paul Fairclough, Senior Category Manager, Lancashire Procurement Service, attended and presented the first quarterly progress report on the implementation of the Procurement Service Improvement Plan.

It was reported that, following the return of the Procurement Service to the County Council, a Service Improvement Plan (Appendix 'A' to the report) had been developed and Cabinet had, in October 2014, approved a new Procurement Strategy for the County Council. A Procurement Board, at Director level, had also been established and work was progressing to maximise the benefits of electronic systems, allowing suppliers to register for, and use, appropriate County Council IT systems.

Appendix 'B' set out a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators to enable performance against the objectives in the Procurement Strategy to be monitored.

It was noted that a Procurement Board had previously existed and that this was, therefore, a re-establishment of that Board. It was also clarified that, no contracts had been extended since the blanket waiver of Procurement Rules approved by Cabinet on 8 May 2014, rather than since the return of the service to the County Council as suggested in the report.

In respect of payment performance, it was noted that where the County Council could offer quick payments to suppliers, there was scope for the County Council to be able to take advantage of discounts and avoid late payment penalties. Further information on performance in relation to prompt payment and supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) would be available as part of the next progress report.

It was also suggested that information potentially be included in future reports regarding savings made relating to improved procurement practices and performance.

Resolved: - That:

(i)  Subject to the comments made, the report, now presented, be noted;

(i)  A further update report be considered at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on 12 March 2015.

Michael Walder, Senior Policy and Performance Officer, Corporate Policy and Performance Team, gave an overview of corporate performance monitoring for quarter two of 2014/15, i.e. July - September 2014, which detailed that 68% of the total number of Directorate Key Performance Indicators were performing well and on track/target and/or improving. The report also set out brief updates on a number of performance highlights, some of which were the subject of reports at this meeting, with others scheduled for consideration at future meetings of the Cabinet Committee.

Eddie Sutton, Assistant Chief Executive, attended and presented details of actions being undertaken to address under performance in relation to the Blue Badge Scheme where complaints had increased from 0.11% to 0.39% from quarter one to quarter two against a target of 0.25%.

It was reported that the Scheme was currently administered by two separate areas of the County Council; enquiries were dealt with by the Customer Access Team with the administration of the scheme undertaken by the Documents and Records Management Service. Of the overall small number of complaints received, Telly Talk was the subject of the majority, eight in quarter one and six in quarter two. Telly Talk was an online service available in a number of establishments across Lancashire but it was recognised that the technology was out of date and in need of replacement, and that the location of the facilities within establishments did not provide any privacy for users. Specific reference was made to the Telly Talk facility in the Minerva Centre, an NHS establishment in Deepdale, Preston which had been removed following a refurbishment of the building. Proposals to address the Telly Talk issues would shortly be considered by the County Council's Management Team. It was noted that lack of internet access at home to apply for a Blue Badge rather than via other methods (including using Telly Talk) was often linked to the most vulnerable and that this was a group which was less likely to make complaints about the service.

Resolved: - That:

(i)  The report, now presented, be noted;

(i)  A further update on the Blue Badge Scheme be considered at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on 12 March 2015.

Diane Booth, Head of Children's Social Care, Directorate for Children and Young People, and Debbie Ross, Associate Head of Safeguarding/Designated Nurse CLA, NHS East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group, attended and presented a further report updating on the recovery plan for health assessments completed for Children Looked After.

It was reported that a full recovery plan was now in place and that further barriers to improving performance that had emerged since the last report to the Cabinet Committee on 1 October, had now been addressed.

It was reported that tracking and monitoring of progress was being undertaken at team level with a number of reporting steps in place, including to the Corporate Parenting Board. Some 1,000 Children Looked After now had a health assessment in place but a backlog of 215 would impact on performance in this year. Reference was made to 1.7% of Children Looked After who did not wish to have health assessments but that steps were being taken to ensure that they had access to primary health services such as a GP and dental services and to signpost them to other services if necessary. Out of county placements of Lancashire Children Looked After could be more challenging.

Resolved: - That:

(i)  The report, now presented, be noted;

(ii)  A further report be considered at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on 8 June 2015.

Report to follow.

It was reported that consideration of this item had been deferred to the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on 28 January 2015.

An item of Urgent Business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the minutes, the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Members' intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There was no urgent business to be considered.

The next meeting of the Cabinet Committee will take place on Wednesday 28 January 2015 at 2.00pm in the Duke of Lancaster Room – Cabinet Room 'C', County Hall, Preston.

The Cabinet Committee noted that the next meeting would be held on Wednesday 28 January 2015 at 2.00pm in Cabinet Room 'B' - The Diamond Jubilee Room.

Resolved: - That the Notice of Intention to Conduct Business in Private be noted.

The Committee is asked to consider, whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12 to the Local Government Act, 1972 as indicated against the heading to the items, and that in all circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

It was agreed that the report under consideration did not contain the anticipated information that would lead to a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

Resolved: - That the following item of business be considered under Part I (Open to Press and Public).

Gabby Nelson, Client Manager, Business Change Team, and Mark Mayer, Chief Operating Officer, BT Lancashire Services Ltd, attended and presented a report setting out the first update on the revised BT Lancashire Services Limited (BTLS) Service Governance and Performance Monitoring arrangements since the changes to the County Council's strategic partnership with BT, which came into effect on 1 April 2014.

The report covered the first two quarters of operation of the new arrangements in respect of the services that remained within the strategic partnership, i.e. ICT and Payroll and Recruitment. Key activity included:

-  The delivery and installation of ICT hardware to facilitate the return of the first tranche of staff into the newly refurbished Christ Church Precinct, County Hall, Preston;

-  Internet Protocol TV in the Christ Church Precinct;

-  Public Services Network accreditation;

-  Successful launch of a single vacancy site combining both Lancashire County Council's and BT Lancashire Services' vacancies;

-  Multiple projects in relation to Oracle updates for various groups of employees.

In respect of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), it was reported that a non-contractual performance measure for ICT Services would be introduced relating to milestone delivery for key projects, such as Oracle. Reference was made to the asset management programme, quarterly meetings between BTLS's Chief Operating Officer and the County Council's Assistant Chief Executive to consider Quality of Service Reports, and the implementation of Liquid Logic for adult and children's social care which was undergoing a post implementation review to address outstanding issues.

Reference was made to the inclusion of BTLS in the County Council's successful Investors in People re-accreditation and ongoing work to develop staff engagement and introduce 'Pioneer', a BT leadership development programme.

In response to points raised around the review of Key Performance Indicators, it was confirmed that, in respect of core systems, all front end and back office modules and processes were being reviewed but that the whole process would take a number of months to complete.

Further information providing a more comprehensive measurement of service delivery was set out at Appendix 'A' to the report.

Resolved: - That:

(i)  The report, now presented, be noted;

(ii)  A further update report be considered at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on 8 June 2015.