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: The minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2014 were agreed as an accurate record and were duly signed by the Chair.

Michael Walder, Corporate Policy and Performance Team, briefly introduced the Quarterly Corporate Performance Monitoring for the period October 2013 to December 2013. 

It was reported that monitoring revealed the need for two areas of work/performance to be highlighted to the committee for further information, explanation and examination.  These performance areas are:

• The proportion of people receiving self-directed support receiving Direct Payments

• Adoptions and Permanence

Direct Payments

Olive Carroll, Director of Personal Social Care, Barbara Lewis,  Head of Support Planning and Review and Helen Bickerstaffe, Self Directed Support Officer presented this performance plan.

It was reported that whilst there are targets for this indicator, it is important to recognise that for service users, the decision to use Direct Payments is a choice.  For some it is an appropriate method to provide their services, but, for others it is not.  The important factor is that for each service user they have the most appropriate care for them, and have some control over how that care is provided.

However, a number of actions are being taken to promote an increase in the take up of Direct Payments.  It has been noted that in the past some service users were unaware of Direct Payments and if it was available to them.

To meet the 17% North West average, it has been calculated that the County Council would need an additional 1778 service users receiving Direct Payments.  The current figure of service users stands at 3015.

Personal Social Care complete on average 2100 assessments and reviews per month.

The comparator group average stands at 14% which would require an additional 960 service users receiving Direct Payments.

The County Council has approximately 400 workers and a target of one Direct Payments take up per worker per month has been set to encourage all workers to make the offer of Direct Payments.  Although it is recognised that some workers are less likely than others to deal with cases where Direct Payments are appropriate.

Staff Training has also taken place, with further dates arranged for May.

Comparisons have been made with other authorities, some have introduced Pre-Paid Cards to speed up the process.  In Lancashire the development of the Direct Payments Support Service has streamlined the process to reduce the number of people in contact with the service user.

Resolved:  The Cabinet Committee noted the actions being taken regarding Direct Payments take up, and requested that a further annual update on progress be presented to a future meeting, when appropriate.

Adoptions and Permanence

Stasia Osiowy, Head of Youth Justice, Fostering and Adoption, and Anne-Marie Ranson, Adoption Service Manager, presented this performance plan

It was reported that adoption is one of the means by which permanence can be achieved for children who require substitute families. In addition to the 109 children it is anticipated will have been placed for adoption during 2013/4 a further 50 children have achieved permanence via Residence Orders, ( RO)  43 through a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) with carers other than previous foster carers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Russell Eaton, Head of Business Services, Office of the Chief Executive, presented the report.

It was reported that data produced via the old reporting system to ensure a like for like comparison, shows that the County Council has, over the last 5 years made significant improvements in attendance levels with a 23% reduction in sickness absence between 2008/9 and 2012/13.

During 2012/13 a total of 8.05 days were lost per Full Time Equivalent (FTE).

The results of a survey by the North West Employers organisation during 2012/13 show that Lancashire's performance was second best of the 18 authorities surveyed with the range of absences being 6.86 to 11.4 days lost per FTE. The average performance was 9.29 days lost per FTE.

It was agreed to set an overall sickness absence target of 8.00 FTE days lost per employee for 2013/14.

The latest absence figures available from North West Employers for the period April to September 2013 shows that the County Council's performance of 3.36 days lost per FTE again compares favourably with other authorities. Lancashire's performance is again second best of those authorities surveyed with the range of performance being 3.2 to 5.14 days lost per FTE. The average performance was 4.08 days lost per FTE.

A review of the County Council’s occupational health service during 2012/13 and subsequent procurement exercise resulted in Atos Healthcare (now called OH Assist) continuing to be our provider from 1 April 2013.  The contract will run for a three year period with the option of extending for a further year.

The changes in the contract with OH Assist, along with the latest reported referral volumes and contract management arrangements were noted.

Resolved:  The Cabinet Committee noted the good performance regarding Attendance Management, and requested that the performance continues to be monitored and reported back to the Committee at an appropriate time.

Mark Orford, Director of ICT, ICT Services presented the report.

Social Care System Replacement

It was reported that the replacement of the Social Care systems (LiquidLogic) for Adults and Children's services was progressing well, and Children's Services went live today (4^th March 2014), so far everything has been working well.  Adults Services will go live in June 2014.  This staggered approach will allow for learning and any issues that may arise from the Children's Services launch.

Millstones that have taken place were summarised as follows:

• during 2011, work was undertaken to identify the business requirements for the programme. These were documented and formally approved by the Directorate for Children and Young People (CYP) and the Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing Directorate (ASH&W) in January 2012;
• during 2012, invitations were issued for tenders for a solution to deliver the business requirements;
• these tenders were evaluated during 2012, with the outcome that the solution offered by Liquidlogic was selected by the County Council as its preferred solution;
• formal contracts were negotiated and agreed during late 2012, with the formal implementation programme commencing in January 2013;
• a joint project team was established of ASH&W, CYP and ICT representatives and that team has worked together during 2013 and 2014 to develop and implement the solution.

The overall programme approach is a phased implementation.  Both ASH&W and CYP projects are being run in parallel, however it was not possible (due to the amount of staff members to train) for the training stages of each project cannot be accommodated concurrently due to the volume of staff who need to be trained. As such, the ASH&W project will go live in June 2014..

Document and Record Management Service

It was reported thatthe Document Management Service project will deliver a coherent, county-wide approach to electronic document and records management, workflow and case management, integrated into core applications and business solutions.

The Document Management Service platform will comprise three main elements:

·  an Enterprise Content Management platform, to manage all forms of unstructured content – records, documents, etc – both for stand-alone use and tightly integrated with line-of-business systems;

·  a Business Process Management toolkit which will automate, manage, monitor and transform processes across the County Council, integrating with local workflows and replacing manual operations wherever viable;

·  a Document Handling Centre which will capture and process white mail, fax and ‘service-specific’ email communications as they enter the organisation.  It will also streamline output to reduce printing and postal costs and encourage channel migration.

These core elements will be integrated with each other and with a range of services, processes and Line of Business systems and workflows.  The result will be a solution that reduces the use of paper, streamlines processes, reduces transactions, saves money and delivers improved management information across the County Council.

The majority of the initial Programme is now delivered, with the key remaining activity being the Child Protection Portal, a new system for Emergency Planning and some services for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

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.

None

The next meeting of the Committee will be held at 2pm on the 9 June 2014, in Cabinet Room 'B', County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee will be held at 2pm on the 9^th June 2014, in Cabinet Room 'B', County Hall, Preston.