Agenda item

A report was presented by Donna Talbot, Head of Business Intelligence, on the performance update for Quarter 2 2021/22.

 

County Councillor Buckley pointed out an error on the report which should have read '….new corporate priorities for 2021-2025'.

 

Following Cabinet's agreement of the new corporate priorities for 2021-2025 on 7 October 2021, the Cabinet Committee noted that the report had been reformatted and updated to monitor performance against each of the new corporate priorities (delivering better services; protecting our environment; supporting economic growth and caring for the vulnerable).

 

Existing key performance indicators (KPIs) were now reported under each new corporate priority, along with service developments which contributed to the delivery of those priorities. Appendix 'A' provided the latest performance updates. To supplement this performance information, and to give an overview of other recent work and notable achievements, Appendix 'B' set out a list of national award nominations that the county council had been shortlisted for since June 2020.

 

The Cabinet Committee noted the highlights of good performance and those indicators performing below the desired leveland/or due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as detailed in the report.

 

The following officers attended the meeting and provided details and updates on their respective service areas:

 

·  Tony Pounder – Director of Adult Services

·  Dave Carr – Director of Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health

·  John Morrissy – Director of Organisational Development and Change

·  John Davies – Head of Service – Highways

·  Andy Walker – Head of Business Growth

·  Sue Lott – Head of Service – Community North and Health and Prisons

Specific areas were discussed as follows:

 

Delivering better services

 

Safety carriageway defects – although the emergency and urgent repairs were still categorised as 'red' in the RAG rating, it was reported that actual numbers of these not repaired within the targeted timeframe were relatively small with a total number of 255 defects reported and 220 repaired within the timeframe. It should be noted that, in some of these instances, the defects had been attended to within the timeframe but not recorded until the following day and there was no facility to backdate them. Most of the defects had been recorded under the 10 and 20 day category and performance in this area was good.

 

September figures had shown improvement as increased resources had been deployed to respond to increased demand, although it was noted that the number of defects would continue to increase as we moved towards winter.

 

Street lighting fault repair – although performance had significantly improved compared to this time last year, it was noted that pressure would be put on this service due to more faults being reported in the darker nights

 

County Councillor Buckley asked that actual numbers be provided within the report, in order to understand what the percentages meant in absolute terms.

 

Sickness absence– there had been a steady rise in the sickness absence rate per FTE which had increased each month since May 2021, although the number of new long-term absence cases in the latest quarter had slowly declined from 183 to 114. The average number of days lost per Covid-19 absence had increased from 3.8 days in April to 6.3 days in September and HR resources had been directed to provide support and guidance to services with long-Covid cases. It was reported that the target in relation to sickness absence was currently being reviewed.

 

The Chair requested that comparative sickness levels in other local authorities be made available for either the next meeting or outside of the meeting.

 

Additional service developments – as flexible working, accommodation and the introduction of Microsoft 365 had been brought forward due to the Covid-19 response, the 'Our Improvement Journey' transformation programme was being re-shaped to reflect this and to pick up on new priorities. Oracle would be replaced with Oracle Fusion, enabling better data and information interaction, and the provision of good quality information on key performance areas to be presented to the Cabinet Committee. In Education & Children's Services, the Family Safeguarding Model had been established and plans in Adult Services to initiate widespread improvement using the '3 conversations model' were underway. The HR & Skills, Learning and Development Service was also being reviewed to support the delivery of the Improvement Journey.

 

It was reported that the staff survey results had been received and that analysis would be provided within the next few weeks. Progress continued to be made on the pilot for our ways of working and flexible working.

 

The Chair asked how we were communicating the totality of the transformation programme to staff and managers. It was reported that this was a current priority and that the team were currently working with Communications on a refreshed plan which would run in 3 phases, starting with outlining the Peer Review Findings to staff. A Communications Lead had now been recruited to take this forward.

 

County Councillor Riggott stated it would be useful for the refreshed plan to include reflective views on what we had done well and what needed improving on. The Committee were advised that although the improvement journey had not yet been widely communicated, it was clear that it needed to reach all staff and managers, not just Members and the Senior Leadership Team, and lessons had been learned from the O-WOW element.

 

Protecting our environment

 

Recycling – current levels of kerbside collected recyclables were slightly lower than in the previous quarter although it was noted that an increase in recyclables at the recycling centres could be a contributing factor to the kerbside reduction. County Councillor Riggott asked for actual figures to be provided, in addition to percentages, and whether other factors not reported under this indicator were affecting these figures and whether people were taking waste to the recycling centres or putting it in their general waste. The Chair agreed that actual numbers would be helpful for both the internal and external audience.

 

Supporting economic growth

 

Rosebud – levels of investment continued to be disappointing, largely due to the amount of bounceback loans and Covid business loans provided. Fund Managers had been approached and, as it had been accepted that targets would be significantly lower, they had been asked to reduce their management fees to reflect this.

 

Boost – levels of enquiries remained very high and the target for 200 new business to be established was well underway. This was not yet showing in the job creation figures within companies although Lancashire had not seen large levels of people not returning from furlough.

 

County Councillor Riggott thanked Andy and his team for all their hard work, adding that it was important to recognise what our economy and business needs were and that services needed to continue to be evolved to take account of this.

 

Following a question from County Councillor Buckley, it was noted that the schedule for the Annual Report on number of visitors to Lancashire, the economic impact of visitors to Lancashire and full time equivalent jobs supported by the visitor economy would be discussed at the next Corporate Performance Board in January.

 

Educational attainment – 2020/21 figures for Key Stage 4 would be available to report in the near future. County Councillor Ali asked for this information to be provided to Committee separately as soon as it was available.

 

Percentage of primary and secondary pupils offered one of top three school preferences – County Councillor Ali asked for this information to be made available by District.

 

Exclusions – on target figures for 2019/20 had previously been reported to Committee and 2020/21 figures would be published in July 2022. County Councillor Ali asked if information could be made available on those children who were absent from school due to not having a school place.

 

Libraries – a picture of recovery was being seen in the number of visits to libraries and the number of PNET sessions. This was also the case for the  number of library events organised although there were limitations on these due to Covid and they were having to be prioritised, along with the volunteer capacity. The number of e-downloads had decreased slightly although most who had moved to electronic formats continued to use this service, which had been reflected in the new target set. 

 

County Councillor Riggott was pleased to see the number of library events increasing, recognising the importance of them to communities, library staff and the service as a whole.

 

Caring for the vulnerable

 

Children and Families Wellbeing Service – although overall performance in the latest quarter had dipped slightly due to the usual, seasonal increase in families becoming disengaged or withdrawing consent during August, figures were above target.

 

Looked after children actually living in Lancashire – this indicator remained above target and work was ongoing to ensure children and young people could remain within their communities, where possible, enabling them to continue to access their educational establishments and be close to family and friends where it was safe to do so.

 

It was noted that these targets may need to be re-visited to potentially make them more challenging.

 

The Chair was pleased to see continuing good performance in these areas and appreciated the ongoing efforts of the Team.

 

Safeguarding outcomes – steady progress had been made in the proportion of adults and older people indicating their safeguarding outcomes had been fully met although it was noted that sometimes the solutions service users and families were seeking were unattainable. The service was experiencing a higher rate of referrals and alerts, particularly from the care home sector as it had been harder for families to visit their relatives. The service was in the process of resuming its transformation programme to try to streamline and improve the focus of the team, and a positive picture was expected over the next 12 months.

 

Quality of community service providers – this continued to remain a very positive picture for services provided by both the independent sector and the county council.

 

Quality of care homes – out of the 16 county council maintained care homes, 11 were currently rated good or outstanding and 5 requiring improvement. As mentioned previously, the care home sector had faced extremely difficult challenges throughout the pandemic. Over the past 2 years, the Care Quality Commission had only been inspecting those care homes where concerns had been raised. Actions had been put in place to address issues at the 3 homes rated as requiring improvement in 2019, although these homes had not yet been re-inspected. Whilst it was recognised that performance could be better, it was acknowledged that three of the homes which provided residential rehabilitation during Covid had been delivering some of the most demanding services seen across the country.

 

Percentage of adults with learning disabilities in employment – slight progress had been made due to work starting to resume in this area, to review how more adults with learning disabilities could be supported into employment in 2021/22, by both the role of the specialist support team and providers of care and support services. There were currently 71 adults with learning disabilities in employment; a further 34 were needed in order to meet the target. Considerable progress was expected to be made within the next 12 months.

 

Public Health Outcomes in Lancashire – additional metrics were being considered for inclusion in future reports. Another meeting was due to take place in December with Cabinet and engagement was taking place with wider Members. The annual report was due at the end of the year/early next year and work was in progress to include key performance indicators and outcome measures in the report.

 

Percentage of older people (65 and over) who were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital into reablement/rehabilitation services – although this indicator was slightly below target, 341 out of 400 were still at home and only an additional 8 people were needed to meet the target. This figure fluctuated with seasonal variation and an increasing number of people with complex needs was being seen. A lot of work was being done with reablement services but pressures in the care market impacted on this.

 

Proportion of adults with learning disabilities who live in their own home – records indicated that out of 3,388 adults with learning disabilities, 3,080 lived in their own home. t It was noted that there had been an issue with data capture for this indicator in the past so the figure in this latest report represented increased / improved accuracy of data rather than a step change improvement in performance .

 

Proportion of adults and older people receiving long term services who are supported in the community – out of 11,687 adults and older people receiving long term services, 11,645 were supported in the community. Another 42 were needed to meet the target. Performance had broadly been maintained in this area and it was expected that the '3 conversations model' would help improve this indicator.

 

Permanent admissions to residential and nursing care homes per 100,000 population aged 18-64 during the year – this indicator remained within target at a percentage of 13.3% equating to 96 people. The county council were continuing to consider options to help people aged 18-64 to remain at home and avoid admissions to care homes.

 

Permanent admissions to residential and nursing care homes per 100,000 population aged 65+ during the year – this indicator was within the 600-680 target at 662.2, equating to 1,693 people. This was a significant increase for this quarter, due to many families being reluctant to consider care or residential home options throughout the pandemic. It would remain a challenge to maintain this performance, given the rise in the number of people being discharged from hospital into care homes, together with the pressures in the home care market. However, the county council was working closely with Health colleagues to focus on supporting people to return home, wherever possible.

 

The Chair was pleased to see actual numbers provided for these indicators, which helped to put the percentages into context.

 

Health checks – it was reported that the NHS Health Check programme within the Healthy Hearts agenda was a Public Health priority, and that several mobilisation activities were currently underway to restart the programme.

 

County Councillor Buckley thanked officers for re-formatting the report in line with the new Corporate Priorities.

 

The Cabinet Committee's attention was drawn to Appendix 'B' which set out a list of national award nominations that the county council had been shortlisted for since June 2020. The Chair and County Councillor Buckley wished to pass on their congratulations to all those who had either won awards or been shortlisted.

 

Resolved:

 

The Cabinet Committee on Performance Improvement noted:

 

(i)  The performance and additional information set out at Appendix 'A'.

 

(ii)  The information set out at Appendix 'B'.