Agenda item

Quarterly Corporate Performance Monitoring Report (Quarter 3) 2017/18

Minutes:

A report was presented by Donna Talbot, Head of Service, Business Intelligence, providing an overview of performance activity across the Council covering September to December 2017 (Quarter 3).  The Committee noted that there was a new format for this report.

 

Start Well

 

It was reported that there had been an improvement since the last quarter in the amount of contacts which had led to a referral.  There was a low conversion rate from referrals received from the Police; the Director of Children's Services was meeting with the Assistant Chief Constable to discuss this.

 

The percentage of completed assessments which took over 45 days was still at an unacceptable level, although Amanda Hatton confirmed that management action was being taken on this.

 

It was reported that the number of Children Looked After and Children in Need (CIN) needed monitoring.  The number of CLA had continued to increase and, in November, had been the highest figure ever recorded for the Authority, although the figure was significantly lower than the regional rate.  The Committee noted that the highest proportion of CIN plans were for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).  The number of newly qualified social workers (ASYEs) had reduced which meant that retention was improving.  In addition, the Social Work Academy had had a positive impact.

 

There had been an improvement on the previous quarter on the average time taken between a child entering care and moving in with their adoptive family.  It was also reported that there had been fewer first time entrants into the youth justice system.  However, published data from the Ministry of Justice suggested that the proportion of Lancashire youth re-offending was still higher than the national and regional rates.  These figures were monitored by the Youth Justice Board. 

 

Live Well

 

The Committee noted that the reduction in recycling, re-use and composting was due to increased residual waste at both kerbside and HWRCs, together with reductions in the amount of green waste collected at kerbside, following the introduction, in some districts, of collection charges.

 

It was reported that there had been a decrease in the volume of loans from libraries, which was a national trend.  However, it was noted that some library users rarely borrowed books or did not borrow in high numbers but regarded their library as enabling them to use a community space, have digital access, feel less isolated and have access to information and community activity.  It was noted that the figures in the report included those for mobile libraries.  County Councillor Buckley had requested District information figures, and also by individual library, which Michael Walder confirmed had been sent.

 

In relation to the DTaP/IPV/Hib vaccine for babies, the Pennine Lancashire Immunisation Uptake Group had been created to address the decline in uptake figures.  The Committee noted that the figure was still lower than satisfactory, but that there were several improvement projects underway.

 

Steady improvements had been made to the number of NHS health checks completed since the beginning of the programme, with current uptake being 59.2% which was good compared to the national figure.

 

It was reported that Lancashire had been 'spot checked' by the DCLG to ensure that the claims made under the terms of the Troubled Families programme had been valid and robust.  The Committee noted that very positive feedback had been received regarding the programme delivery in Lancashire, and that the team had been impressed with the progress made.

 

It was reported that there was an action plan to increase the payments by results claims before the end of the financial year, with the aim of a total of 1,838 families achieving significant and sustained progress, compared to the current total of 1,179 payments.

 

It was reported that there was lots of work going on in relation to road safety, identifying trends and emerging problems in all casualty types across Lancashire.  In addition, there were a number of initiatives targeted at children.

 

More information had been requested at the last meeting in relation to Healthy Lifestyles, and this was provided to Committee Members.  Across Lancashire, the Targeted Physical Activity programme was generally meeting completion targets, although those targets in the Community Weight Management programme were slightly underperforming.  The Committee noted that this was part of a much wider and complex behaviour change issue. 

 

Age Well

 

It was reported that the percentage of adults receiving direct payments was below the national average but was improving steadily through targeted reviews.  There had been an improvement in the number of residential admissions which was in line with the Passport to Independence work.  However, the Committee noted that there was still a way to go and that Lancashire's figures were higher than the national average.

 

The number of reablement referrals had increased by 4.2% with the number of completed reablement support plans increasing by 26.6%.  In addition, the monthly total for delayed transfers of care had decreased by 644 days (-14.2%) compared with an overall decrease of 3.8% for comparator authorities, and a decrease of 6.3% for all authorities.

 

Although it was appreciated that occupational therapy assessment waiting times were still often excessive and not always easy to track, the timeliness of assessments had continued to improve.

 

Of the 17 community care services operated by the County Council, an inspection found that 3 had achieved an overall rating of an outstanding service, 13 achieved an overall rating of good and only 1 was rated as requiring improvement.

 

Ofsted Monitoring Visit

 

It was reported that the last Ofsted monitoring visit which had taken place on the 30th and 31st October 2017 had focussed on the quality of help and support given to children in need.  The link to the findings were provided to Committee Members via a link in the agenda papers.

 

The next visit was taking place on the 27th and 28th February 2018 and was focussing on the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and the interface with early help services. 

 

SEND Inspection

 

The Committee were informed that commissioning across Lancashire was not consistent and that there was a need for all 12 districts to work closely with the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).  The local authority and the area's CCGs were expected to submit a joint written statement of action to the Department for Education (DfE) by the 23rd April.  Although a number of weaknesses had been highlighted by the inspection, the Committee noted that Lancashire was above the national expectation in some areas.

 

David Graham, SEND Senior Manager, reported that work had already begun on addressing the issues raised by the inspectors, and that we had identified and started to implement a number of actions in response to Ofsted's findings including:

 

·  Setting up a SEND partnership board that includes representatives from parents and young people;

·  Changes to the Local Offer;

·  Advertising Designated Clinical Officer posts;

·  Sending questionnaires to all families with children with an Education, Health and Care Plan, in order to elicit their views and experience in greater detail;

·  Arranging to meet school leaders to deliver ways to reduce exclusions as a matter of urgency.

 

David reported that there was a High Needs block overspend of £6m and that we needed to try to resolve this through broader commissioning arrangements.  We also needed to look at how we commissioned services within limited resources and needed to sustain a partnership with Health, agree a standard and maintain it.

 

The development and delivery of an improvement plan would be closely monitored by the DfE and Lancashire's Improvement and Accountability Board.

 

New Inspection Framework

 

The Committee were provided with details in relation to the new inspection framework for the inspection of local authority children's services implemented by Ofsted in January 2018.  The new approach aimed to support improvement whilst still holding the local authority to account in meeting their legal responsibilities to children in need of help, protection and care.  Where concerns arose about a local authority, the regional director would decide whether to undertake an inspection or a focussed visit.  Progress in between inspections would be reviewed through the local authority's self-evaluation and annual engagement meeting. 

 

Ofsted had confirmed that Lancashire's re-inspection, due to take place late Spring/early Summer would be completed under the previous Single Inspection Framework used to inspect Children's Services in 2015.

 

Ofsted Annual Conversation

 

The Committee noted that an update had been provided to Ofsted in respect of the measures being taken to improve social work practice and the findings of recent external reviews including the LGA Peer Review, Six Month DfE Review, and recent Ofsted Monitoring Visits.

 

Resolved:  That the reported performance for Quarter 3 and the Ofsted post inspection update information and comments be noted.

 

 

 

 

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