Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor Driver.

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

Resolved: - That the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th July 2015 be agreed as a true and accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

Amanda Melton, Interim Principal Lancashire Adult Learning College, attended and presented a report giving an update on the County Council's response to the Ofsted inspection of Lancashire Adult Learning.

A monitoring visit was carried out by a Further Education (FE) Advisor over the period 23/24 June 2015 to consider the progress that had been made in line with the FE Commissioner's recommendations.

The report from the FE Commissioner was set out at Appendix 'A' together with the covering letter from Nick Boles MP, Minister of State for Skills.

It was reported that the FE Commissioner had concluded that Lancashire Adult and Community Learning was being transformed, and the practical partnership between the local authority and the Board of Nelson and Colne College in introducing interim arrangements was to be applauded.

There was clear evidence of a changing culture. A strong Governing Body with appropriate experience and autonomy had been complemented by an equally strong Senior Leadership Team which has maintained an inexorable focus on quality improvement. It was hoped that these arrangements could translate into a permanent arrangement.

The FE Commissioner had recommended that in the light of the service's performance, the service should no longer be subject to a review by the FE Commissioner but included in the normal Skills Funding Agency monitoring procedures.

Ofsted carried out a third follow up re-inspection monitoring visit on 17^th March 2015. A copy of Ofsted's follow up re-inspection monitoring visit report was included at Appendix 'B'.

A further one day monitoring visit is expected in November carried out by a single HM Inspector where we would learn when a full re-inspection is likely to happen.

A further update report would be presented following the final OFSTED full inspection in spring 2016.

Resolved: - That the report now presented be noted.

Rachel Tanner, Head of Service Procurement attended and presented a report on the progress made to date in implementing the Procurement Service improvement plan and the current performance of the service against the key performance indicators aligned to the procurement strategy.

The report focused on the performance of the Procurement Service and the related actions within the existing service improvement plan which was set out at Appendix 'A'.

It was reported that the Procurement Service sits within the wider Corporate Commissioning function and is responsible for the buying of goods, services and works for the County Council. There are three Category Management Teams that look after main categories of expenditure; care and public health, construction and assets, and corporate goods. There is also a Procurement Information Management Team which is responsible for the management and control of data within the Oracle suite of systems and supporting operational systems.

Regarding the Service Improvement Plan, it was reported that whilst progress has been made in a number of key areas, a review has highlighted that not all actions had been implemented as anticipated by March 2015. The actions relating to the service going forward and the current position, including revised timescales was set out at Appendix 'A'.

The position of two key areas within the improvement plan was reported:

·  The Procurement Strategy was approved by cabinet in October 2014. The performance indicators attached at Appendix 'B' set out progress against the strategy for some key performance areas.

·  A Procurement Board was re-established in May 2014 and meets on a bi-monthly basis to drive forward policies and working practices that will support the achievement of the broad objectives of the procurement strategy.

It was explained that to support procurement performance a number of key activities had been undertaken or ongoing since the start of the financial year:

·  Heads of Service training was completed in July 2015 to highlight the need for planned activity to be shared with the Procurement service at the earliest opportunity.

·  Ongoing review of current contracts register to highlight potential gaps in contract information.

·  Reintroduction of timely management reviews of current procurement activity.

Resolved: - That the report now presented be noted.

Jonathan Hewitt, Head of Service School Improvement and Audrey Swann, Head Teacher for Children Looked After attended and presented a report providing information on the attainment, progress and achievements of Lancashire Children Looked After (CLA) in 2015.

It was reported that the findings for Key Stages1 and 2 were based on unvalidated assessment information released by the Department for Education (DfE) and local authority information on CLA. The Key Stage 4 data was school reported data and provisional at this point.

The data showed that there were improvements in achievement at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2, but achievement for CLA remained below that of other pupils in Lancashire. At the end of Key Stage 4, the information indicates that levels of attainment rose in 2015 but remain low when compared with other pupils.

The report also highlighted pupil progress in key areas of development and the steps taken to implement the Recovery Plan, included at Appendix 'A', developed in autumn 2014.

Councillor Mein asked if it was possible to look at/compare figures of pupils' attainment levels before and after coming into care and the impact on children who leave care. It was agreed to provide this information in a future report to the Cabinet Committee.

Resolved: - That the report now presented be noted.

Angela Esslinger, Complaints Manager attended and presented an Annual Report on Complaints and Customer Feedback. It was reported that the production of the Complaints and Customer Feedback Annual Report is a longstanding annual statutory requirement and included statistical information, analysis and learning for the organisation in relation to statutory social care and (non-statutory) corporate complaints and compliments received from 1^st April 2014 to 31^st March 2015.

The Complaints and Customer Feedback Annual Report 2014/15 was included at Appendix 'A'.

The Committee agreed that how the County Council handles complaints regarding changes in service levels going forward needed to be examined. It was suggested that there was a need to distinguish between complaints as a result of changes in service levels and actual complaints about service delivery.

It was agreed that the County Council needed to be proactive in communicating these changes to the public in order to manage expectations.

Resolved: - That:

(i)  The report now presented be noted,

(ii)  The Adult Social Care Complaints and Customer Feedback Annual Report for 2014/15 be shared as a public document.

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 on Performance Improvement will be held on Thursday, 10 December 2015 at 10 a.m, in Cabinet Room 'B', the Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.

The Cabinet Committee noted that the next meeting would be held on Thursday 10 December 2015 at 10am, in Cabinet Room 'B', the Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.

Notice is hereby given in accordance with Regulations 5(4) and 6 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 that this meeting is likely to move into private session to consider the item listed as Update Report on the Performance of Lancashire County Council's Waste Management Company.

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, attended and presented the quarterly report on the service delivery and performance of the County Council's waste disposal company.

Resolved: - That the report, now presented, be noted.