Audit & Performance Committee Report
Executive Summary
The Local Area Agreement (LAA) 2008-2011 is a statutory requirement for all local authorities. It provides a framework for the Council and its partners to identify shared improvement priorities and targets for the City. Achievement of the targets is through a mixture of mainstream resources and partnership funds.
To enable the Council and partners to effectively manage and monitor the LAA the framework proposed in this document has been developed to cover:
- Performance management principles
- Governance structures
- Data quality arrangements
- Financial Monitoring
- The reporting cycle and approach to keeping performance on track
That the Committee note the final LAA agreement signed off by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and comment on the arrangements to monitor delivery of the LAA targets and related expenditure.
- -
/Audit and Performance Committee
Date: / 14October 2008Classification: / For General Release
Title of Report: / Local Area Agreement Performance and Financial Management Framework
Report of: / Director of Policy and Performance
Wards Involved: / All
Policy Context: / The new Local Area Agreement (LAA) is a statutory requirement. It has been drawn from the One City Vision and the City Plan and reflects the needs of local residents. It will be central to the Comprehensive Area Assessment and how the Council and partners are risk assessed.
Financial Summary: / The Local Area Agreement will be achieved through partners’ mainstream resources and a small Partnership Fund, which is made up of elements from the Area Based Grant. Following the withdrawal of the Working Neighbourhoods Fund the Westminster City Partnership (WCP) will receive transitional neighbourhood renewal funding in 2008-2010; £2.1m in 2008/09 and £0.9m in 2009/10, and nothing thereafter. At this stage around £2.6m of the Partnership Fund has been committed to fund existing management structures and projects in 2008/09. There is a possibility that Working Neighbourhoods Fund allocation for Westminster may be reinstated as a result of the technical case put to the Minster by the City Council.
The Partnership Fund will also benefit from reward grant secured through the existing LAA, based on current performance this would be in the region of £6million. The WCP will also be eligible for £1.5m reward grant should the new LAA targets be successfully achieved, which will be paid during 2011/12 and 2012/13.
Report Author: / Una McCarthy, Performance Manager
Telephone: / 020 7641 3164
1
1.Background
1.1 The Local Area Agreement (LAA) is a three-year agreement that sets out priorities for Westminster, jointly agreed the Westminster City Partnership and Central Government. The LAA enables the Council and its partners to pool funding streams and which will enable them to deliver services in more innovative and efficient ways. Performance in delivering the agreement is measured against a set of outcome indicators. These were agreed by Cabinet on 2 June 2008 and signed off by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in June 2008.
1.2Westminster’s first LAA (2006-09) has strengthened partnership working in the City and is evidence of how partners can work together to deliver improved results for local people. The 12 stretch targets associated with this LAA will be monitored until end March 2009. At the end of 2007/08,85% of targets were on track to achieve almost £6m Performance Reward Grant.
1.3The new LAA 2008-2011 is structured around 19 Improvement Priorities underpinned by 19 national and 15 local indicators and associated targets (see Appendix 1). Development of the LAA has been led by the LAA Partnership Board and reflects local needs as set out in the City Plan. All but 3 indicators have targets and the baselines for these are currently being developed. There is an opportunity to remove indicators if they could not be properly measured or did not work as part of the LAA refresh with GoL in December 2008.
1.4The LAAwill sit at the heart of the new performance regime – Comprehensive Area Assessment – and LAA delivery will be essential to maintain Westminster’s excellent performance ratings.
2.Performance and Financial Management Framework
Principles
2.1 A detailed Performance and Financial Management Framework has been developed for the LAA which covers the 34 performance indicators, monitoring expenditure against funding and project delivery.
2.2The following principles underpin the LAA performance and finance management approach:
- Clear lines of accountability for delivery
- Timely performance information will be submitted to the Council
- Performance information will be submitted once and exchanged with ease
- Easy access by partners and the public to relevant performance management information
Governance Structures
2.3 Appendix 2 shows the governance structures that will ensure the LAA delivers its targets and monitors expenditure effectively.
2.4Responsibility for delivering the LAA rests with the Westminster City Partnership (WCP), which also provides partner endorsementfor LAA budgets and commissioning plans.
2.5Westminster City Council is the Accountable Body for the LAA and takes responsibility for the receipt and use of funding provided by Central Government for the achievement of the aims and objectives set out in the LAA.
2.6 Performance and financial monitoring is the responsibility of the Director of Policy and Performance supported by the Director of Finance.
2.7The LAA Partnership Board is an advisory sub-group of the WCP thatco-ordinates, oversees and manages LAA performance and delivery.
2.8On a practical level, delivery and monitoring is undertaken by the WCP’s eight thematic networks. Each thematic network is responsible for a specific set of LAA ‘outcomes’, and is able to bid for Partnership Funds to commission work in support of those outcomes. The Accountable Body has entered into formal funding agreements with each of the thematic networks. All networks report quarterly to the Accountable Body on their expenditure and outputs achieved. The next wave of partnership fund allocation will take place in Winter 2008; the total fund available for 2009-2011 is £6million, subject to the confirmation of the Performance Reward Grant[
2.9Policy and Scrutiny Committees and Audit and PerformanceCommittee track LAA performance as part of related work programmes to assist in the corporate governance and accountability of partners in delivering the LAA.
Performance Monitoring
210 The LAA relies upon a diverse group of organisations to deliver projects and achieve outcomes. This creates significant risks that the council, in its capacity as the accountable body, must manage. Central to managing these risks are robust and comprehensive performance monitoring arrangements.
To mitigate the risks all lead partners, responsible for achieving an LAA target, have been asked to submit systems forms for each indicator setting out how they will gather data and manage performance (see section 2.15). Against each improvement priority partners have also been asked to submit a delivery programme that maps spending and activity need to achieve the targets.
Financial Monitoring
2.11The City Council is accountable for the LAA Partnership Fund and by working with itsPartners, expenditures are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that they have been spent within the levels and conditions agreed by the Partnership Board. In particular, a quarterly financial monitoring report on the Partnership Fund is submitted to the Partnership Board for discussion. Furthermore, where the network lead delivery partner is the City Council itself, the financial position is also reported as part of the City Council’s monthly monitoring process.
2.12 The lead network delivery partners are challenged for any significant budget variations reported and appropriate management actions will be put in place through negotiations between the Partnership Board, LAA Policy manager and individual LAA Programme managers.
Timetable
2.13An annual reporting timetable with a full description of reports is attached as Appendix 3. The key elements are:
(i)Quarterly exception reporting to the LAA Partnership Board (based on agreed trajectories and tolerance levels) (see para 2.16)
(ii)Quarterly review of performance and finance by the council’s LAA Team and Finance Department
(iii)A six-monthly report to this Committee, Cabinet (in the Council’s capacity as the accountable body), the WCP and GoL.
(iv)A comprehensive annual report to GoL, Cabinet and the WCP
(v)8 Thematic Network Annual Progress Summaries
(vi)An annual report to residents
Data Quality and Assurance
2.14 The success of the LAA is measured through the delivery of its targets. It is clear, therefore, that the LAA indicator data must be captured, successfully monitored and reported in a clear, coherent and auditable way.
2.15To achieve this, a ‘System Form’ has been completed for each LAA performance indicator to ensure that the data that supports reporting is robust. This includes a named officer who is responsible for indicator reporting/data submissions to the Performance Team on a periodic basis and provding accountability for data ‘sign off’. The System Form also enables any local indictaors that are not showing meaningful perofrmance to be removed from the LAA performance framework.
2.16All LAA performance indicators are part of the council’s wider Performance Management Framework which contains the council’s management information. This framework is governed by the principles set out in the Council’s Data Quality Strategy which ensures that performance data is accurate, valid, reliable, timely, relevant, and complete. The performance framework is also subject to an annual internal audit data quality spot check and Audit Commission Data Quality Audit to ensure that data used to inform decision making and planning is robust.
2.17 The City Council’s Financial Regulations sets the control framework for key areas of activity including financial mangement, risk management, audit, external partnerships arrangements, etc. This control framework outlines the overall financial responsibilities of members and officers in the management and execution of the Council’s financial affairs. The use of the Partnership Fund is bound by this financial regulations where the City Council is the lead delivery partners. For external delivery partners such as the voluntary sectors, they are subject to annual audits carried out by the financial team at the City Council on behalf of the Partnership Board in order to obtain a reasonable level of assurance that expenditures incurred are legitimate for the purposes of the LAA.
Keeping performance on track
2.18The System Forms described above also set out the mechanisms to identify, at regular intervals, whether performance is on or off track.
2.19 A trajectory will be used to assess this, which will plot:
- Agreed quarterly performance trajectories (where data is unavailable proxy data or commentary on progress will be used).
- Agreed tolerance levels for expected performance
2.20Actual performance will be measured against the trajectory curve and reported to the LAA Partnership Board quarterly. Where performance is not in line with expectations (as per the trajectories above) the three-stage process set out in Appendix 4 is proposed. This is outlined brieifly below.
2.21When an indicator is not meeting its quarterly trajectories, the proposed actions and expected timescales for improvement will be logged by the Performance Team and reported to the LAA Partnership Board.
2.22Where performance does not improve within a reasonable period the Director of Policy and Performance will diagnose the drivers of underperformance and work up improvement plans with the responsible parties. In the event of sustained underperformance (for example three consecutive quarters), this will be escalated to the Westminster City Partnership.
2.23At this stage, the WCP would nominate one of its members to agree a revised plan to tackle under-performance, details of which will be reported to the LAA Partnership Board within three months.
2.24 The LAA Partnership Board will also be responsible for reviewing the Improvement Priorities and delivery plans on a regular basis. At every meeting they will review 2-3 Improvement Priorities and where performance, spend and programmed activity are failing requests for extra information and recommendations will be made to relevant networks.
3. Conclusion
3.1The LAA is a three year agreement and is subject to annual review. The review is an opportunity to amend the LAA to reflect new central government requirements or local needs.
3.2 The LAA will be reviewed during winter 2008 and the WCP have been requested to submit any amendments to Government Office to London by 16th February 2009.
If you have any queries on this report please contact Una McCarthy on 020-7641-3164, e-mail1
Appendix 1: LAA Performance Management Framework
LAA Indicators and TargetsImprovement Priority / Indicator(s) including those from national indicator set
*NI = National Indicator
LI = Local Indicator
Cabinet Portfolio indicated in bold / Baseline
(Taken against the 2006/07 outturn) / LAA Improvement Target (including mandatory education and early years targets) / Partners who have
signed–up to the target and any which are acting as lead partner/s
(shown with a *)
2008/09 / 2009/10 / 2010/11
An Improving City Environment
LAA 1 To make Westminster an energy efficient borough / *NI 185 – CO2 reduction from Local Authority operations
(Placeholder)
Finance and Support Services and Customers and Neighbourhoods / Proposed baseline - 1 Jan ’08 – 31 Dec ’08 (data to be collected in the course of 2008), baseline and target to be established by 31 March 2009 / Baseline year: no target necessary / TBC (by 31 March 2009) / TBC (by 31 March 2009) / *WCC
LAA 2 To increase the level of household recycling / *NI 192 – Household waste recycled and composted
Environment and Transport / 20.40% / 25% / 28% / 30% / *WCC
LI 1 – Percentage of population served by kerbside collection
Environment and Transport / 75% / 89% / 93% / 100% / *WCC
LAA 3 To make our local environment and open spaces enjoyable for all / LI 2 – Number of green flags in the borough (to include Royal Parks but exclude Cemeteries Green Flags that are outside of the boroughs boundaries)
Customers and Neighbourhoods / 6 / 12 / 15 / 20 / *WCC
LAA 4 To tackle anti-social behaviour and reduce the number of people who feel it is a problem in their area (Will include a focus on alcohol and drug misuse.) / *NI 17 – Perceptions of anti-social behaviour
Community Protection / 19% / 17% / 16% / 15% / *WCC and *Police
LI 3 – The number of brief interventions[1] provided to people who attended Accident and Emergency as a result of their alcohol use
Community Protection and Health and Adult Services / 800 / 900 / 1000 / 1100 / *PCT, WCC and Police
LAA 5 To tackle violence and deal with its consequences (Will focus on domestic violence.) / *NI 20 – Assault with injury crime rate
Community Protection / 14.26
(3306 offences)
(2007/08) / 13.79
(3,197 offences) / 13.32
(3,088 offences) / 12.85
(2,979 offences) / WCC and *Police
LI 4 – Number of repeat victims of domestic violence
Community Protection / 21%
2004/05 - 2006/07 / 21% / 20% / 19% / *WCC and *Police
LAA 6 Tackle and Prevent Theft / *NI 16 – Serious acquisitive crime rate
Community Protection / 7,159 offences (2007/8) / 29.83
(6916 offences) / 29.53
(6844 offences) / 29.21
(6772 offences) / *Police, WCC and Probation Services
LAA 7 To increase access to good quality affordable housing / *NI 155 – Number of affordable homes delivered (gross)
Housing / 76 / 122 / 335 / 137 / *WCC
Registered Social Landlords, CityWest Homes
*NI 160 – Local Authority tenants’ satisfaction with landlord services
Housing / 69% / 70% / 70% / 72% / *WCC
CityWest Homes and Housing Providers
LI 5 – Number of intermediate housing opportunities
Housing / 170 / 140 / 175 / 210 / *WCC
Registered Social Landlords, CityWest Homes and Zone Agent
Better Life Chances for All Our Citizens
LAA 8 To meet housing need and tackle the consequences of housing shortage / *NI 156 – Number of households living in Temporary Accommodation
Housing / 2,865
(March 2008) / 2,433 / 1,788 / 1,573 / *WCC
Registered Social Landlords, CityWest Homes and Housing Options Service
LI 6 – Number of households assisted to relieve pressures of overcrowding
Housing / 410
(2007/08) / 420 / 435 / 450 / *WCC
Registered Social Landlords, City West Homes, Schools and Vital Regeneration
LI 7 – Proportion of habitual rough sleepers suitably accommodated.
Housing / 70
(April 2008) / 30% (21) / 60% (42) / 90% (63) / *WCC
Registered Social Landlords and the Voluntary and Community sector
LAA 9 To encourage children and their families to have a healthy lifestyle and control their weight / *NI 55 – Obesity among primary school age children in Reception Year
(The target must be rounded, but the actual figure is below)
Children’s Services / 10%
(10.4%) / 10%
(10.1%) / 10%
(9.9%) / 10%
(9.7%) / *PCT and WCC
LAA 10 To enable people to live longer and healthier lives / *NI 120 – All-age all-cause mortality rate
Health and Adult Services / M 508.97
F 371.92 / M 536.00
F 370.00 / M 508.00
F 356.00 / M 481.00
F 343.00 / *PCT
LI 8 – 4 week quitters from 5 Multi Super Output Areas with highest smoking prevalence
Health and Adult Services / N/A[2] / 265 / 265 / 265 / *PCT
LI 9 – Time taken to resolve the needs of persons needing major adaptations in the private sector
Housing / 45 weeks / 18 weeks / 17 weeks / 16 weeks / *WCC
LAA 11 To enable people with long term conditions and their carers to achieve the best health possible, with increased control and choice of their health and care / *NI 135 – Carers receiving needs assessment or review and a specific carer’s service, or advice and information
Health and Adult Services / 18%
(Based on 2008/08 outturn) / 19% / 25% / 30% / *WCC, PCT and Carer’s Network
*NI130 – Social Care clients receiving Self Directed Support (Direct Payments and Individual Budgets)
Health and Adult Services / 378.0 / 568.2 / 1104.6 / 1827.5 / *WCC and PCT
LAA 12 To enable older residents to live independently and enjoy a good quality of life. / LI 10 – Uptake in falls prevention service
Health and Adult Services / 133 / 205 / 229 / 266 / *PCT and WCC
LAA 13 To support vulnerable young people into education, employment and training / *NI 45 – Young offenders engagement in suitable education, employment or training
Children’s Services and Community Protection / 81.1% / 84% / 87.7% / 90.3% / *WCC, Police and LSC
*NI 63 – Stability of placements of looked after children: length of placement
Children’s Services / 62.5% / 64% / 66% / 68% / *WCC
LI 11 – Number of new apprenticeships with employers for Westminster learners and residents
Communities and Economic Development and Children’s Services / 150 / 175 / 225 / 250 / *LSC and WCC
LAA 14 To increase the number of disadvantaged people in employment / *NI 116 – Proportion of children in poverty[3]
Communities and Economic Development and Children’s Services / 34.7% / 33.5% / 32.5% / 31.5% / WCC* and JCP*
*NI 153 – Working age people claiming out of work benefits in the worst performing neighbourhoods[4]
Communities and Economic Development / 28.5% / 27.4% / 26.2% / 24.9% / WCC* and JCP*
Paddington Development Trust and CrossRiver Partnership
LAA 15 To improve the employability of disadvantaged adults / *NI 161 – Learners achieving a Level 1 qualification in literacy
Health and Adult Services and Communities and Economic Development / 400 / 415 / 430 / 450 / *LSC and WCC
LAA 16 To increase the range of opportunities to engage children and young people in positive activities / LI 12 – Participation of children and young people in positive activities
Children’s Services / 4,550
(2007/08) / 4,778 / 4,914 / 5,005 / *WCC and Paddington Development Trust
LAA 17 To support the development of existing and new small local businesses / LI 13 – Number of pre-start ups and existing small enterprises connected to support
Communities and Economic Development / 102 / 263 / 310 / 355 / *WCC, Westminster Small Minority Business Council, Paddington Development Trust and CrossRiver Partnership.
Strong, United and Engaged Communities
LAA 18 To create united communities who take pride in their neighbourhoods and are involved in making their area a better place / *NI 4 – % of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality
Customers and Neighbourhoods / 44% / 48% / 49% / 50% / *WCC, Paddington Development Trust and CrossRiver Partnership
*NI 35 – Building resilience to violent extremism
Community Protection / Level 1[5] / Level 2 / Level 2 / Level 3 / *WCC , *Police and Voluntary Action Westminster
LAA 19 To increase the number of people who support the local community through regular volunteering and community action / LI 14 – Increase the number of formal volunteering opportunities[6] in Westminster
(Placeholder)
Customers and Neighbourhoods / Baseline will be set this year, targets will be agreed in 08/09 for 09/10 and 10/11 / *WCC, Volunteer Centre Westminster and Voluntary Action Westminster
LI 15 – A strong and vibrant third sector[7] throughout the whole City
(Placeholder)
Customers and Neighbourhoods and Health and Adult Services / Baseline will be set this year, targets will be agreed in 08/09 for 09/10 and 10/11 / Voluntary Action Westminster, *WCC and Paddington Development Trust
Mandatory Indicators – Children’s Services
(All targets are set annually and reported based on the academic year. The targets below will be reported in Autumn 2009.)
NI 92 / Early Years (EYFSP) – to narrow the achievement gap at age 5 / 36.9% / 30%
NI 72 / Early Years (EYFSP) – to increase achievement for all children at age 5 / 41.3% / 45%
NI 73 / Key Stage 2 – to increase proportion achieving level 4+ in both English and maths / 71.5% / 76%
NI 93 / Key Stage 1-2 – to improve proportion progressing 2 national curriculum levels in English / 90.6% / 86%
NI 94 / Key Stage 1-2 - to improve proportion progressing 2 national curriculum levels in Maths / 79.8% / 81%
NI 74 / Key Stage 3 - to increase proportion achieving level 5+ in both English and maths / 70% / 70%
NI 83 / Key Stage 3 – to increase proportion achieving level 5 in science / 71% / 78%
NI 95 / Key Stage 2-3 - to improve proportion progressing 2 national curriculum levels in English / 25.1% / 31%
NI 96 / Key Stage 2-3 - to improve proportion progressing 2 national curriculum levels in Maths / 56.4% / 55%
NI 75 / Key Stage 4 – to increase proportion achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE and equiv incl GCSE English and Maths / 52.8% / 55%
NI 97 / Key Stage 3-4 - to improve proportion progressing equivalent of 2 national curriculum levels in English / 43.8% / 59%
NI 98 / Key Stage 3-4 - to improve proportion progressing equivalent of 2 national curriculum levels in Maths / 43.4% / 52%
NI 87 / Attendance – to reduce persistent absentee pupils in secondary schools / 5.6% / 5.4%
NI 99 / Children in care – to increase proportion achieving level 4+ in English at Key Stage 2 / 64% / 25%
cohort = 8
NI 100 / Children in care – to increase proportion achieving level 4+ in maths at Key Stage 2 / 64% / 25%
cohort = 8
NI 101 / Children in care – to increase proportion achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent including GCSE English and maths / 7% / 32%
cohort = 19
1