Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor Borrow, County Councillor Driver and County Councillor Martin.

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 10^th December 2015 be agreed as a true and accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

Michael Walder, Senior Policy and Performance Officer, attended and presented a report setting out details of corporate performance monitoring for the 3rd quarter of 2015/16 (October – December).

It was reported that a robust performance management framework would underpin the delivery of the new Corporate Strategy from 2016/17. A suite of key performance indicators would be established to monitor and manage the delivery of strategic outcomes, reported as metrics with targets.

For the interim period, regular corporate monitoring of performance across the authority as a whole continued, with the production of quarterly reports and analysis of corporate performance. Quarterly Quality of Service reports against the themes of Start Well, Live Well and Age Well were being produced, giving an overview of performance, along with Highlight reports for other areas of the organisation.

It was reported that each Quality of Service and Highlight report gave details of performance against Performance Indicators for that quarter. A performance summary was set out in the report.

An overview of the Quarter 3 budget position was provided at Appendix 'A' so performance could be viewed within the associated financial context.

It was noted that the latest Ofsted Post Inspection update was provided at Appendix 'B' and updates would continue to feature in the quarterly Corporate Performance Monitoring report going forward.

Reference was made to the suite of indicators for Start Well, Live Well and Age Well. The main points to note were:

·  By 10^th March all children looked after would have a Personal Education Plan.

·  The targets for carriageway and footway defects, street lighting fault repair times and the recycling rates have been met.

·  The performance regarding personal Budgets and Direct Payments is improving but will improve still further with the recalibration of the 'Resource Allocation Scoring' project in spring 2016.

Richard Cooke, Health Equity, Welfare and Partnerships Manager, attended and presented the Ofsted Post Inspection update.

A number of actions have been put in place since the last report to CCPI on 10 December 2015, these included:

·  All Children in Need (CiN) cases have now been audited and appropriate levels of intervention (ongoing, escalated or closure) had been put in place to ensure children are safe.

·  A key message from Ofsted regarding Children's Services in Lancashire was that "it is not all broken" and there was a need to maintain focus on the good areas.

·  An Improvement Board had been established, accountable to the Department for Education (DfE) which would meet on a monthly basis and be responsible for closely monitoring the development and delivery of an agreed improvement plan. The Improvement Plan would be submitted to the DfE on 4^th March 2016.

·  Tony Crane, the Independent Chair of the Improvement Board and specialist children's services improvement advisor for the DfE, would be submitting a diagnostic to the DfE, which would establish a detailed understanding of the capacity and capability of Lancashire's ability to improve children's services.

·  The outcome may be received in 3 or 4  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Ian Young, Director of Governance, Finance and Public Services, attended and presented the draft Risk and Opportunity register and the proposed approach to reporting on risk and opportunities.

It was reported that at its meeting on 25^th January 2016, the Audit and Governance Committee endorsed the draft register and the proposed approach.

The draft Risk and Opportunity Register, included at Appendix 'A', had been developed by Management Team and relevant director/heads of service, and provided a brief, high level description of risks and opportunities along with current controls and further proposed mitigating actions.

The Register also included "risk scores" for both before and after the application of mitigating actions based on a scoring matrix contained in Appendix 'B'.

It was noted that the corporate approach to reporting on risk and opportunity would be provided to Management Team on a quarterly basis, following which reports would then go to the CCPI and then to Audit and Governance Committee. An indicative timetable for the proposed reporting framework during 2016/17 was contained in Appendix 'B'.

Resolved: - That the report now presented be noted.

Bob Stott, Director of Children's Services and Jonathan Hewitt, Head of Service, School Improvement, attended and presented a report setting out the overall attainment in Lancashire schools at the end of Key Stages 2 and 4 in 2015. The results attached at Appendix 'A' had been analysed at District level and showed progress over the past three years.

The report highlighted the key features of the 2015 Key Stage 2 results, including:

·  The overall attainment of pupils in Lancashire had risen when compared with 2014 and, at 82%, was 2% above the national average.

·  Attainment in Lancashire was equal first out of eleven statistical neighbours and was 1% above the North West average.

·  The proportion of schools where there was low attainment fell when compared with 2014 and was better than the national average. Schools where there were low levels of performance have established action plans to raise attainment.

It was explained that there had been a number of changes to the reporting arrangements for 16 year olds leaving secondary school at the end of Key Stage 4 over the past two years, which had adversely affected some schools.

It was highlighted that the key features of the provisional Key Stage 4 results in Lancashire included:

·  The overall attainment in Lancashire had risen compared with 2014 and was around 2% above the national average.

·  Attainment in Lancashire was third out of eleven statistical neighbours and was 3% above the North West average.

·  The number of low attaining schools increased slightly in 2015 compared with the previous year, from 10 to 11 schools. Schools where there were low levels of performance had established action plans to raise attainment.

It was reported that there was a strong correlation between attainment and disadvantage, as there is nationally, and this was broadly reflected in the performance across Lancashire.

It was noted that a number of initiatives had been implemented to raise attainment in the more disadvantaged areas and these included:

·  Sharing good practice between schools so that good schools which were successful against the odds can support those where attainment is low.

·  Bringing together schools on a locality basis to tackle shared problems through establishing Trusts or other partnerships.

The Committee expressed its thanks to Jonathan Hewitt for his work with Schools.

Resolved: - That the report now presented be noted.

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 Tuesday 12 April 2016 at 10 am, in Cabinet Room 'B', the

Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.

The Cabinet Committee noted that the next meeting would be held on Tuesday 12 April 2016 at 10 am, in Cabinet Room 'B', the Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall.