Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

County Councillor Keith Iddon replaced County Councillor Geoff Driver CBE.

County Councillor Phillippa Williamson attended the meeting on behalf of County Councillor Susie Charles.

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.

No pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests were disclosed.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on the 27^th June 2017 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Clare Platt, Head of Service – Health, Equity, Welfare and Partnerships introduced Jackie Brindle, Safe and Healthy Travel Manager, Daniel Herbert, Group Manager Highways, Andy Trotter, Inspector from Lancashire Constabulary and Dave Russel, Assistant Chief Fire Officer to the Committee.

Clare Platt summarised the key road safety issues in Lancashire as outlined in the report and identified the actions being taken by Lancashire County Council and partners to reduce the number of road casualties in Lancashire.

The Cabinet Committee noted that Lancashire County Council was a partner of, and worked closely with, the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership which was established on a pan Lancashire geography, including the local

authority areas of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool Councils.  In particular, the Partnership worked to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured (KSI) on the roads of Lancashire, including the motorway network.

The Department for Transport (DfT) had suggested that there was no single underlying factor in KSI casualties but that there were a number of influences including the distance people were travelling; volume and transport modes; behaviour of drivers, riders and pedestrians; the mix of groups of road users and external factors such as the weather.

Clare reported the trends in pedestrian KSI casualties, car occupant KSI casualties and Powered 2 Wheel KSI casualties, and provided information on who the casualties tended to be, where in Lancashire the casualties were happening, and the time of year and day when the casualties were occurring.

The most common factor contributing to KSI casualties was 'failed to properly look', although, as detailed above, there was often more than one contributory factor in each collision.

It was reported that the 20mph limits were generally supported by residents and drivers, and that they had had a positive influence for children and pedestrians.  National research had been commissioned into the effectiveness of 20mph areas and the interim results had been presented to the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.  The Key provisional findings from the national study were outlined and it was noted that the final report was expected before the end of the year.

A link had been provided in the report to the 'Towards Zero Lancashire: Road Safety Strategy for Lancashire' which was a partnership response to improving road safety.

Jackie Brindle informed the Cabinet Committee of a number of interventions taking place to reduce road casualties of all ages and road user types.  A huge part of safety intervention was an annual programme of engineering interventions targeting collision hot spots.  Five routes in Lancashire had been identified by the Road Safety Foundation as being included within the fifty most dangerous local roads in England, and £175m of funding over a four year period was being provided by the DfT to improve the conditions of these roads.  Bids from Highway Authorities were due for submission at the end of September 2017. 

Excessive speed had been identified as one of the factors contributing to KSI collisions in Lancashire and locations were prioritised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

A report was presented by Angela Esslinger, Complaints and Appeals Manager providing complaints and customer feedback on statutory social care complaints for Adults and Children and Young People 2016/17, and the corporate complaints annual report 2016/17.

It was reported that 479 adult social care complaints had been received in 2016/17, which was an overall increase by 15% from the previous year.  However, the number of compliments outweighed the number of complaints, with a total of 538 being received.  Complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman in relation to adult social care had stayed steady over the last few years and in 63% of the 30 LGO complaints received, the action taken by the County Council was considered to be sufficient, with additional action being required in 17% of the cases.

It was reported that 220 complaints had been received in relation to children's social care, which was an overall increase of 4% from the previous year.  Only a small number of compliments were received due to the nature of the work in relation to children's social care.  The Committee noted that no children's social care complaint had resulted in a Stage 3 Review Panel having to be held in 2016/17.  There had been a rise in LGO complaints for children's social care; however, only 21% of these were upheld/partly upheld.  This showed that in over half of all cases, council action had been sufficient, with additional action required in 21% of cases.

In relation to non-statutory corporate complaints, 934 were dealt with during 2016/17, although 99% of these were resolved early in the complaint pathway and 'nipped in the bud', as part of ongoing business matters and by proactive management.  Most of these complaints were about Highways issues due to the considerable size of this service and the fact that roads impact on every Lancashire citizen.  The Highways service attracted a large volume of enquiries and, as a result, was also the most complimented community service. The Committee noted that communication with the public was being improved in relation to corporate complaints.  It was reported that a total of 592 corporate compliments had been received in 2016/17, and that the LGO did not uphold any corporate complaints referral in 2016/17.

In response to a query, it was confirmed that complaints received by the County Council in relation to external care providers, were followed up and that mystery shoppers were currently used in adult social care.  The Committee noted that this may be something which could be explored for children's social care.

Resolved:  That the Cabinet Committee:

(i)  note the statutory social care complaints annual reports for Adults and Children and Young People 2016/17, acknowledging the associated learning, so that the County Council can meet its legal obligations.

(ii)  note the corporate complaints annual report 2016/17, acknowledging the associated learning.

Kieran Curran, Policy Information and Commissioning Manager (Live Well) presented a report detailing some of the more significant issues facing the County Council in the wake of the UK's exit from the EU.  This information had been requested by the Committee at their meeting on 27^th June 2017.

It was reported that the Local Government Association, through its Brexit task and finish group, was attempting to influence the debate and had made a number of interventions in recent months over the future of European-led funding programmes and decisions over retaining, amending or scrapping EU laws once they were converted into domestic law.

The UK was set to leave the EU on 29^th March 2019 but there was still a lot of uncertainty over the future of the UK including it's position in relation to EU law and regulations, it's future trade arrangements, and the prospects for a UK regional funding framework to replace existing EU programmes.  Until the terms of Brexit were fully understood, key sectors of the Lancashire economy would not be able to fully assess the impact on their businesses, in terms of their levels of competitiveness, interaction with key markets and the regulatory frameworks which surrounded their industries.

A summary of the key risks/changes and areas for further analysis was provided to the Committee; these included funding, regulatory, economy and society issues.

The Committee noted the following areas which were likely to impact on county council services (or our providers), including:

·  Working Time Directive and Agency Worker Regulations (2010)

·  Procurement and competition law

·  Social work regulation and accreditation

·  Human rights protection

·  Rights of people with disabilities (housing, education and independent living)

·  Equalities

·  Health & Safety regulations

·  Crime and security (e.g. European Arrest Warrant)

County Councillor Green thanked Kieran for all his work on this and it was agreed to bring another report to the Cabinet Committee in 6-9 months time.  Paul Bond informed the Committee that the UK's withdrawal from the EU was not yet on the Risk Register but that, as things became more clear, it would most likely be added.

Resolved:  That the Cabinet Committee note the contents of the report and that a further report would be presented at the meeting in February 2018.

A report was presented by Paul Bond, Head of Legal and Democratic Services, providing an updated (Quarter 2) Risk and Opportunity Register for the Cabinet Committee to consider.

The Committee noted that the updated Risk and Opportunity Register would be presented to the Audit and Governance Committee on 25^th September.

It was reported that the register would need to be updated, at an appropriate time, to reflect the new administrations financial strategy, policies and organisational proposals.

The Cabinet Committee noted the following key highlights for this quarter:

·  There were three new entries to the register:

o  CR29 Delayed Transfer of Care (DTOC)

o  CR30 Prevent people being drawn into terrorist activity

o  CO5 Apprenticeship levy

·  There was one deletion to the register:

o  CO3 Opportunities through delivering the draft corporate

strategy and Property strategy

·  Allowing for mitigating actions, the residual risk score for various entries, as outlined in the report, remained at 12 or above so the issues remained on the register.

Resolved:  That the Cabinet Committee note the updated Risk and Opportunity Register.

A report was presented by Donna Talbot, Head of Services Business Intelligence, on the Quarterly Performance Monitoring for Quarter 1 of 2017/18.

Start Well

It was noted that the number of 1,875 Children Looked After (CLA), was the highest ever recorded for the Authority.  However, a number of initiatives would help to address this, and a report detailing these was due to be considered by the Children's Services Improvement Board. 

The proportion of care leavers in employment, education or training (EET) had reduced, although this was expected at this time of year when many children and young people were awaiting examination results and considering future options. 

The Cabinet Committee noted that recently published data from the Department for Education had suggested that the exclusion rate for Lancashire schools was higher than national, regional and statistical neighbour averages.  However, it was pointed out that some LAs did not record, as permanent exclusions, pupils who were placed in alternative provision, but removed from their mainstream school roll.  It was noted that this practice was not followed in Lancashire. 

Live Well

It was reported that there had been a low uptake of Health Checks which were available for 40-74 year olds, through a 5 year programme.  This had been due to a number of provider factors this quarter and was currently being addressed.

It was noted that representatives from NHS England had been invited to a meeting of the Health Scrutiny Steering Group on the 27^th September 2017, to discuss uptake levels of the DTaP/IPV/Hib vaccine, which protected babies against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and Hib.

Age Well

An area of concern was the increased rate of admissions of people aged over 65 years into care homes.  However, much of the Passport to Independence work was already focussed on reducing these admissions, and one project was looking at the pathway from hospital discharge to short term care to long term care, and ensuring sufficient reviews were in place to offer alternative solutions. 

The Committee noted that there had been a rising trend both locally and nationally in Delayed Transfers of Care.  This system was managed by the NHS but the County Council were investing in systems and resources to ensure that data was captured consistently, to give a full understanding of causes of delay, and to facilitate strategic planning needed to reduce delays. 

It was noted that waiting times for social work assessment had improved although waits for occupational therapy (OT) assessments were often excessive and not always easy to track.  A priority was to establish more capacity and a more robustly managed OT workforce to address these concerns. 

Highlights were provided to the Committee on Development and Corporate Services and Commissioning, Governance, Finance and Public Services.

Ofsted Post Inspection Update

Richard Cooke, Programme Manager, provided a summary of the actions and activity that had been implemented to improve services that support and protect children and young people.  This update placed particular emphasis on work that had been developed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

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 were no items of urgent business.

The next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Performance Improvement will be held on Wednesday, 6 December 2017 at 10.00am in Committee Room B – The Diamond Jubilee Room.

The next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Performance Improvement would be held on Wednesday 6^th December 2017 at 10.00am in Cabinet Room B – The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.

The meeting is likely to move into private session to consider the following report, and the public will be excluded from that part of the meeting. The reason for this is that the report will involve the disclosure of confidential and/or exempt information as defined within S100A(3) and Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. A final decision on whether the meeting shall move into private session will be taken during the meeting.

A notice was published in accordance with the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012. No representations have been received in response to this notice.

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.

Resolved: That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item 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 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972 and that in all circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Steve Scott, Head of Waste Management, presented an update report on the performance of Lancashire County Council's waste management company and waste processing facilities.

Resolved: That the report and the information provided at Appendix 'A' be noted.