(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC) / ITEM NO.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF CHANGE
TO CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S DIRECTORATE LEAD MEMBER BRIEFING
ON 23RD OCTOBER 2006
TITLE :COMPREHENSIVE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT SELF ASSESSMENT 2006
RECOMMENDATIONS :
1. The Leader of the Council is asked to review the attached draft self assessment and:
a) comment on the general content and message;
b) identify any additional information which will enhance the self assessment.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY :
The Audit Commission has requested that the Council submits a self assessment which will assist them in developing the annual CPA audit letter and the associated direction of travel statement.
The self assessment has to be submitted to the District Auditor by 31st October 2006. The function of the self assessment will be to address any gaps in information the Audit Commission may have after they have considered the Best Value performance Plan, existing self assessments and recent inspection reports.
A draft of the self assessment is attached to this report which the Leader is invited to comment on.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS :
(available for public inspection)
Direction of Travel Guidance note issued by the Audit Commission, 30th August 2006.
ASSESSMENT OF RISK :
SOURCES OF FUNDING : N/A
CONTACT OFFICER : Paul McKenna, Group Leader (Policy and Improvement), 0161 793 3421
WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S) : All
KEY COUNCIL POLICIES :
1. Introduction
1.1. Each year the Audit Commission publishes the annual audit letter which provides its assessment of how the Council has performed over the previous 12 months. The annual audit letter will be published in February 2007. The audit letter will contain the Council's annual comprehensive performance assessment rating and an accompanying direction of travel statement.
1.2. The comprehensive performance assessment rating is based upon a combination of the corporate assessment score and a set of service scores based on baskets of performance indicators across a range of service blocks.
2. Self Assessment
2.1. The direction of travel statement will be based upon the District Auditor's assessment of the degree to which the Council has improved and can continue to improve. The direction of travel statement will be informed by improvements in PI scores, the District Auditor's personal knowledge of how the Council is improving and a self assessment submitted by the Council.
2.2. The self assessment should provide a brief summary of:
· The context in which the Council operates;
· the things the Council is trying to achieve;
· the things which have been achieved by the Council; and
· how the Council has achieved them.
2.3. The self assessment should focus on highlighting information which the District Auditor will not be aware of.
2.4. The self assessment should be no longer than 7 sides. The deadline for submission is the 31st October 2006.
3. Developing the Self Assessment
3.1. The current draft has been shared with strategic directors and other key staff from across the Council.
3.2. A final draft will be prepared and submitted to the Chief Executive's Directorate Lead Member briefing on the 30th October 2006.
Recommendations
The Leader of the Council is are asked to review the attached draft self assessment and:
a) comment on the general content and message;
b) identify any additional information which will enhance the self assessment.
Comments should be provided to Paul McKenna by 25th October 2006.
SALFORD CITY COUNCIL
CPA DIRECTION OF TRAVEL
SELF-ASSESSMENT
OCTOBER 2006
Introduction: What has the Council sought to achieve?
The council’s priority areas are expressed in the seven pledges, which in turn link to the themes of the Community Plan. Over the last twelve months the council has continued to make sustained progress towards improving outcomes in relation to all seven pledges. The following document outlines in detail the progress that has been made under each of the seven pledges and also improvements that have been made in terms of the corporate management of the City Council.
The pledges have been aligned to establish a clear link between national government priorities, the priorities for the city as identified with our local partners and the work of the council. The pledges are our longer term aspirations for the people of Salford. Those activities we undertake from year to year, in order to achieve the pledges are set out in the Cabinet Workplan. The Cabinet Workplan priorities for the year ahead are: Directing the right resources to the right places at the right time; Influence our partners to deliver outcomes in the City; and “Raise the bar” in terms of what people expect for themselves and from the Council.
The council is also looking at how it works under the four perspectives of its balanced scorecard – Learning and Growth, Internal Processes, Financial and Customer.
Our Children’s Services Directorate are leading on the drive to achieve against the national five outcomes for children and our Social Care services are working to deliver against the seven outcomes.
How are key improvement priorities being delivered?
We have listed our key improvement areas under the heading “main focus” in each pledge section and under the “enablers” heading we have provided examples of some of the ways in which we achieve improvement.
What has been achieved to date / is being achieved?
Under each pledge section there is an achievement heading under which we have provided some examples of our results. The achievements shown all relate to 2005/06 unless otherwise stated.
Pledge 1 Improving Health in Salford
Main Focus
q Promoting a healthy lifestyle and tackling health inequalities
q Working with partners to improve life chances and promote good health for individuals and communities
q Improving and redesigning services to maximise access and meet need
Achievements
· Improved performance in respect of over 83% of the performance indicators under this pledge.
· Achieved the targets set for over 66% of the indicators under this pledge which again is a pleasing result.
· We are working to reduce the number of people who smoke in the city:
o 1897 people gave up smoking using the smoking cessation service.
o By the end of 2005, Salford had over 70 smoke free cafes and restaurants, the highest in the North West.
o A range of health and well being initiatives have been developed with the PCT including a smoke free homes scheme, Health Trainer scheme and Neighbourhood Health Improvement Programmes.
o The smoking in pregnancy rate has dropped from 24% to 21%.
· The smaller Charlestown LIFT building (now called the Energise Healthy Living Centre) opened in October 2005. Lower Kersal topping out ceremony occurred in May 2006. The four major larger schemes (Swinton/Eccles/Walkden/Pendleton) are moving towards financial close. Once financial close is achieved then building work will commence.
· Delayed hospital transfers reduced by 12.8% well above the target of 5%.
· Uptake of primary vaccinations by children aged 0-4 is just below the target of 95%.
· We achieved 74.2% on flu vaccinations – see Self Assessment for more details of how we achieved this on page 20.
· 58% of Occupational Therapy assessments were commenced within 48 hours and completed within 4 weeks.
· 1,519 households received more than 5 hours home care per week. 123.5 older people per 1,000 population aged 65+ helped to live at home. 94.83% of community care equipment was delivered to homes where needed within 7 days.
· Achieved a 98.6% response rate to Environmental Health complaints and requests within 3 working days of receipt.
· A 100% score against a checklist of Environmental Health Best Practice has been maintained.
Enablers
· The well-being strategy for older people has been developed and agreed by Cabinet.
· A pilot health and social care team was set up in Walkden with nurses, social services staff and an occupational therapist all working together under a single manager.
· A single assessment process has been largely rolled out across Salford which reduces the number of potentially repetitive health and social care assessments a vulnerable person might receive.
· An electronic social care record has been set up which will enable easier access to information across health and social care again reducing the potential for duplication and enabling better decision making by the organisations. (check current)
External recognition
· Our Social Care team was awarded 3 stars by the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate in December 2005. This was up from a 2 star rating in previous years. A 3 star rating is the top rating available and made our Social Care team one of only 26 other council Social Care teams nationally achieving 3 stars- (out of 500 councils). Of these there were just 10 other authorities (out of the 500) that improved their performance from a lower star rating to 3 stars. On a regional basis Salford was one of just 3 North West Authorities (out of 20) achieving 3 stars and the only one of those to move up to 3 stars.
· The Education and Social Care Service Annual Performance Assessment (APA) 2005 recognised that outcomes for children and young people were good in relation to health.
· The Community Occupational Therapy and Equipment Service has been recognised as a Centre of Excellence by the Healthcare Commission.
· Community Occupational Therapy and Equipment Service - The service was a finalist in the round 7 Beacon scheme in the category of Transforming the delivery of service through partnership.
· The publication by the College of Occupational Therapy and the Housing Corporation “Minor Adapts without Delay” highlights Salford’s Occupational Therapy service as an example of good practice.
· Integrated Equipment and Special Needs Housing Service based at Burrows House A further 10 authorities visited the Integrated Equipment and Special Needs Housing Service based at Burrows House.
· Extra Care Sheltered Housing. Visit by Jeremy Porteuous from Change Action team at the Department of Health as an example of good practice in this area.
· The crusade to improve the standard of food in schools and to encourage healthy eating as a way of life has meant the development, of a new menu introduced in January 2006. All the menus have been independently analysed, checked and verified by Professor J. Vernor Wheelock a well respected nutritionist expert in the Food Industry, who considered that: ‘Citywide Services deserve to be commended on the nutritional standards that have been achieved. He was particularly impressed by the continuing efforts to improve on the standards which have been achieved.
Pledge 2 Reducing crime in Salford
(see also BVPP p12 – 17)
Main focus
· Reducing the fear of crime and targeting the crimes causing most concern to the people of Salford
· Helping victims and witnesses
· Tackling offenders
· Implementing crime reduction and prevention measures
Achievements
50% of our performance indicators under this pledge showed improvement and 80% of targets were met.
Results
· Vehicle crime was reduced by 10%.
· Criminal damage reduced by 6.42%.
· Domestic burglary reduced by 41.6%.
· Robberies reduced by 24.4%.
· 82% of victims of youth crime were offered the opportunity to participate in a restorative process.
· 100% of reports of offensive and racist graffiti responded to within 48 hours.
· 47% of convicted young offenders were put through a community payback programme.
· Through the burglary reduction initiative 3386 properties have been secured.
· 99.18% of street lights working at any one time.
· Joint working relationship in place with GMP (3 very successful campaigns have been carried out) dealing with :
· Under age alcohol sales
· To reduce the market for stolen goods
· Reduce doorstep crime
· Reduce nuisance motorcycles
· Health and safety issues connected to Commercial robbery
· An Environmental Crime Co-ordinator has been appointed and will head team of Fixed Penalty Wardens and Investigation Officer to reduce incidents of environmental crime across the city. Environmental Crime Action Squad created to rapidly respond to incidences of environmental crime and facilitate swift removal.
Enablers
· The number of Community Support Officers has been increased to 43 providing additional support to the police particularly in term of addressing the fear of crime amongst the public. This is due to be increased by another 33 by the end of December 2006.
· Implement the anti-social behaviour and hate crime incidents reporting hotline by December 2005. The TOGETHER action national reporting hotline is to be continued until 2008.
· Provision of an additional graffiti team previously funded through Housing Market Renewal Fund is to continue via Neighbourhood Renewal funding.
External Recognition
· Salford Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) was one of the 7 (out of 149) DA(A)Ts who were awarded 'excellent' (4-star) status in this latest round of Healthcare Commission reviews. This put Salford in the top 5% nationally.
Pledge 3 Encouraging learning, leisure and creativity in Salford
(see BVPP pages 18 – 37)
Main Focus
· Raising the educational attainment of children, young people and adults in the city
· Providing better quality schools and leisure facilities
· Promoting independence for people through education, training and employment
· Encouraging more people to participate in a range of sport, culture and learning activities
· Promoting the city for major cultural, sporting and leisure events
Achievement
Results
· 85% of PIs under this pledge are improving and over 55% of our performance indicators have achieved the targets set.
· For 2005/06 Salford had the most improved on 5 A*-C GCSE pass rates in Greater Manchester and one of the most improved nationally. Pass rates increased from 38.3% to 47% 5 A*-C grades in 2005. The result for 2006 is 52%.
· The number of all students leaving Salford’s secondary schools with 5 A* - G GCSE qualifications was 85.6% in 2005.
o 62.77 % of school leavers went into full time education
o 79.3% of school leavers went into some structured learning
o 6.52 % went into full time training and
o 15.42% into employment and training
· Created 102 new jobs within the childcare workforce across the city