HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

POLICY AND RESOURCES CABINET PANEL

THURSDAY 11DECEMBER 2008 AT 2.00PM

HCC PERFORMANCE REPORT – QUARTER 2 2008/09

Report of the Director of Adult Care Services

Authors:Sarah Pickup, Director of Adult Care Services

01992 556300

Jennifer Williams, Organisational Improvement Manager

01992 588382

Executive Member:David Lloyd

1. Purpose of Report

To provide members with an update on HCC’s performance for Quarter 2, 2008/09.

2. Recommendation

The Panel is asked to note progress and to comment on any areas of concern and/or interest.

3. HCC Performance Report

3.1 The following information is included in the performance report:

Service Priorities

Human Resources

Resilience and Health and Safety

Key Departmental Projects:

  • Building Schools for the Future (CSF)
  • ICS Implementation (CSF)
  • Libraries for 21st Century (CSF)
  • Older People’s Accommodation Project (ACS)
  • Climate Change (Corporate)
  • Performance Management (Corporate) / Performance Improvement (Perform) Programme (CSF)
  • Individual Budgets (ACS)
  • Waste Treatment Facilities (Env)
  • Infrastructure and Investment Strategy (Env)
  • Finance Transformation (Corporate)
  • Safer Staffing (Corporate)
  • HR Transformation (Corporate)/ E-recruitment (Corporate)
  • IS/IT Transformation (Corporate)
  • Office Moves/ Working Environment (Corporate)
  • MSS/ESS (Corporate)
  • Procurement (Corporate)
  • Pathfinder (Corporate)

Customer Care, Public Satisfaction and Communications

Inspections:

  • APA (Adults)
  • APA (Children)
  • JAR
  • CPA
  • Use of Resources (Corporate)
  • Direction of Travel (Corporate)
  • Use of Resources (Fire & Rescue)
  • Direction of Travel (Fire & Rescue)
  • Supporting People (ACS)

Budget Monitor

Risk Monitor

Property

Improvement Plan

4.0 Service Priorities

4.1Adult Social Care

  • The number of assessments completed on time fell again during the second quarter to 68.1% and remains well below our target of 80%. Data quality continues to be an issue with the poor recording of assessment dates leading to waiting times regularly being overstated. A number of cases are being checked for accuracy and IRIS should be updated retrospectively in late November. Information Quality Officers are working with staff to correct recording practice. In addition there is evidence that the introduction of individual budgets has resulted in an increase in the time taken to assess needs and put personalised support plans in place. Business processes are being reviewed to see if there is scope to reduce the time taken.
  • The number of services delivered within 4 weeks of assessment dropped from 94.6% in quarter one to 91.6%, slightly below our target of 93%, but above the 90% target required to be top-banded in the old PAF indicator set.

4.2Children’s Social Care

  • Performance on the timeliness of Initial Assessments and Core Assessments continues to improve significantly during quarter two at 90.6% and 79.4% for September respectively. The re-establishment of weekly data for Team Managers has enabled focus on completing work within the timescales to be maintained. However, problems filling Assistant Team Manager vacancies could be a risk in sustaining progress.
  • In August 0.6% of children on the Child Protection Register were not allocated to a qualified social worker – this represents three cases which were being held by Team Managers for a period of one week in anticipation of new social workers starting. The September figure of 0.2% represents one case allocated temporarily to an Assistant Team Manager whilst a social worker was absent through illness.
  • Performance continues to improve in relation to Children Looked After, with 95.3% allocated to a named qualified social worker. The number of children participating in their review increased from 77.9% in June to 94.4% in September.

4.3Libraries and Culture

  • The Society of County Treasurers benchmark tool shows Hertfordshire as one of only two library authorities (out of 16 counties) to have increased visits in 2007-08 compared to 2006-07. This increase in visits and issues continues in quarter two of 2008-09.
  • Although alternative service delivery is planned during library refurbishments, the programme is expected to adversely affect comparative usage figures in the third and fourth quarters of 2008-09.
  • The increased availability of temporary staff over the summer period has helped to keep the number of staff related closures in static libraries low at only 5.75 hours. The increase in ‘hours lost’ in the second quarter relates to the mobile service which, as it is single staffed, has been adversely affected this quarter by sickness absence and additional vacancies.

4.4Killed or Seriously Injured (KSIs)

  • The trend is still downward for KSIs with a figure of 512 in June 08 and we are on track to achieve the 2010 casualty reduction target of no more than 600.

4.5Carriageway Maintenance

  • Carriageway maintenance completed in the second quarter has dropped to 41.5% of target, it was 84.9% in June. A significant number of the walk and build surfacing schemes originally programmed for delivery in the second quarter are now programmed for delivery in the third quarter. The delivery programme will be kept under regular review to ensure projects are reliably programmed and adequately resourced for completion within the financial year.

4.6Residual Household Waste

  • Current projections indicate householders will exceed recycling targets as residual household waste continued to fall in September to 653 kilograms per household. This is lower than the Eastern Region Average for 2007/08 of 666 kilograms.

4.7Landfill

  • Landfill has also decreased from 53.6% last quarter to 52.93%, well below the Eastern Region average of 57.6%. This is partly due to the drop in residual household waste and the introduction of recycling schemes for commercial properties by some District Councils.

4.8Fire and Rescue (Deaths and Injuries)

  • There was one accidental fire death this period and 15 accidental fire injuries. This is an area which it is difficult for F&R to directly control but preventative work continues as a part of the Home Fire Safety Check programme and the targeting of high risk areas such as single parents and the elderly. We are currently performing well.

4.9Fire and Rescue (Attendance Standards)

  • Overall performance is above target but there is significant variation between districts. Stevenage and St Albans have achieved 100% attendance across all three pumps. East and North Herts are slightly below target, partly due to the more rural nature of the districts and the higher proportion of retained stations. However, more investigation will take place to ensure there are not more serious contributing factors.

4.10OFSTED

  • The number of schools judged as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ has increased over the last four terms from 72.7% to 78.6% in the Summer 2008 term and continues to be significantly higher than benchmark figures.

5.0 Workforce

The latest data available shows the position at the end of August 08.

5.1Turnover

  • Voluntary turnover for HCC is currently 12.2% and is considered at a healthy level to bring new ideas into the organisation.

5.2Agency Usage

  • Although temp spend has increased over the last year, actual spend has started to slow as targeted work with top spenders continues.
  • In August, spend for Fire & Rescue and Herts Catering continued to drop.

5.3Sickness

  • Sickness in HCC is maintained at 7.1 days per employee - below the public sector average of 9 days.

5.4Vacancies

  • The overall number of vacancies received by Manpower to August 08 was 2,049 compared to 1,777 to August 07.
  • There have been successful targeted recruitment campaigns this quarter for Catering, Engineers, Planners, CSF Social Workers and ACS Supported Living with engineering and planning vacancies in August both falling to zero.

6.0 Resilience and Health and Safety

  • HCC has 10 Business Continuity Plans (BCPs), 50% of which have been reviewed or revised in the last 12 months.
  • Three BCPs are scheduled for testing in November and December.
  • RIDDOR notifications (Reporting of the Incidents, Diseases or Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) is currently at 40 for quarter two, however this drop is likely to be due to a lag in reporting data and a more accurate figure for this period will be reflected in the next performance report. The number for quarter one has risen since the last report from 90 to 102 – this still represents a decrease on period 4 of 2007/08.
  • Due to the relatively high level of violent incidents previously reported to the SERM Board, a project group has been set up to investigate the causal factors further.
  • There were no HSE prosecutions or prohibition notices this quarter.

7.0 Key Departmental Projects

Progress is being made on most projects with any problems and risks that have been identified being dealt with effectively. A few key points include:

  • Building Schools for the Future – the Government has recently issued new guidance on the future BSF funding regime which is less favourable than its predecessor. HCC will resubmit the Expression of Interest by 30th November 2008.
  • Libraries for the 21st Century – the impact of L421C was reported to P&R panel on 18 September. The panel agreed the investment and actions undertaken had improved performance.
  • Accommodation Services for Older People - reviews of existing Extra Care Housing (ECH) schemes have been completed and the project is on track to commission the additional 250 ECH places through re-modelling sheltered housing. Feasibilities on several sites for new build ECHs across the county are progressing well.
  • A Climate Change Board of senior officers has been set up to address both mitigation (reducing the greenhouse gases that cause climate change) and adaptation (coping with the impacts of climate change).
  • Performance Management and Perform Programme – ‘Planning the work of your team’ has been agreed and the first departmental versions are available on the new ‘Performance Hub’ on Connect. Work is taking place to streamline SMB, Board and Member reporting.
  • Finance Transformation – 88% of budget managers / holders attended induction training between June and September.
  • Safe Staffing – work has started on checking and collecting missing data for supply teachers. There is a risk that without extra resources, CRB numbers will not be recorded on supply teachers records in SAP by December.
  • HR Transformation / E-recruitment – negotiations are in hand with SAP and Logica to confirm that SAP E-recruitment is fit for purpose and to agree a project plan for improvement and relaunch.
  • IS/IT Transformation – project is complete, move to business as usual.
  • Office Moves – all relocations to Stevenage are now complete.
  • Manager and Employee Self Service are being rolled out to departments with Corporate Services complete.
  • Pathfinder – the current focus is on considering an operating framework for Hertfordshire councils to partner and share back office services such as council tax, revenue and benefits, HR, ICT and finance.

8.0 Customer Care, Public Satisfaction and Communications

  • The number of Stage 1 complaints improved this quarter, falling from 416 to 351.
  • The number of compliments fell again this quarter from 408 to 383.
  • The percentage of calls answered in five rings has fallen slightly in quarter two to 82%.
  • CSC customer satisfaction overall is 80%.

Communications

HCC featured in 393 local press stories during this quarter. Coverage received is monitored by the press office and categorised as either positive, balanced or critical. Positive articles stem from press releases and communicate County Council messages to the public. Balanced articles come from external sources but publish a response from the County Council. Critical articles do not offer the communications team the chance to reply or do not include our response.

  • Out of the 393 articles during the quarter, 61% (241) were positive, 37% (147) were balanced and only 1% (5) were critical.
  • Although all five critical articles were Environment (including Highways) related, this was a small proportion of the overall coverage for Environment which accounts for 160 articles.
  • The majority of stories (187) featured in July with only 85 stories in September.

9.0 Inspections

9.1Annual Performance Assessment (APA) – Adults

  • The APA plan for last year is now completed. Our next letter from CSCI which will generate the plan for next year is due in November.

9.2Annual Performance Assessment(APA) – Children’s Services

  • Our self-assessment evaluated our overall contribution to children’s services as a grade 3.
  • On-site inspection took place on 9 October. The informal impression is that they broadly accepted our self-assessment but there has been no formal feedback.
  • Notification of the result is due mid-November

9.3Joint Area Review

  • It is hoped the improvements noted by Children First are reflected in the recent APA inspection.
  • We have independently commissioned Children First to return in November to evaluate how successfully improvements have been embedded.

9.4Comprehensive Performance Assessment

  • To regain our 4 star status by February 2009 all services must score 3 or above.
  • To maintain our 3 star status, all services must score 2 or above.
  • There is some concern over the Use of Resources judgement and we may only achieve a 2 overall for UoR.
  • Corporate – Use of Resources
  • Initial feedback in October highlights concerns that some of the HCC working papers for 2008 were not adequate in some areas, the integration of property and financial information is not robust enough to cope with developing accounting requirements over the next two years and our Value for Money may be judged as adequate rather than good.
  • The Audit Commission draft scores are due in November.
  • Corporate - Direction of Travel
  • Following the submission of our self-assessment, the Audit Commission undertook their on-site fieldwork 23-24 October.

9.7Fire & Rescue Service - Use of Resources

  • No changes reported from quarter one.

9.8Fire & Rescue Service - Direction of Travel

  • The F&R self-assessment was submitted for 8 September 2008.
  • Fieldwork took place in early October including meetings with focus groups from all levels of the service.
  • There were no immediate issues identified during the informal feedback session.

9.9Supporting People

  • It is possible that publicity resulting from publication of the final report suggests we are delivering poor services, which is not the case.
  • An action plan is in place to address all recommendations in the inspection report and good progress has been made.
  • External review to be commissioned.

10.0 Budget Monitor

Following SMB of 17th November, the budget monitor is included as an appendix to this report and provides analysis of the revenue budget, efficiencies, capital budget and identified high risk budgets.

11.0 Risk Monitor

The risk monitor is included as an appendix to this report. There are currently 39 risks on the HCC risk register identified as significant enough to be reported in the corporate monitor.

Fire & Rescue Service risks have not previously been included in the risk register, therefore the addition of five new Fire & Rescue risks this quarter (HFRS01, HFRS04, HFRS05, HFRS08 & HFRS09) is not a cause for concern.

There are a further eight new risks this quarter: ACS01, CSF08, CSF11, ENV08, ENV09, ENV13, ENV22 and HC08.

Of the 26 remaining risks which were reported in quarter one, there are no changes to their Red / Amber / Green ratings.

12.0 Property

There are no changes to the Property Report from quarter one.

13.0 Improvement Plan

The time-frame for producing the Quarter 2 Performance Monitor has been reduced to enable reporting closer to the period end. Due to the longer-term nature of the improvement plan it was agreed with Sarah Pickup and Geoff Brown that the Improvement Plan would not accompany this performance monitor as changes will be minimal since it was last presented.

The Improvement Plan will accompany the Quarter 3 report and thereafter continue to be reported quarterly.

14.0Outcome of SMB discussion of report

  • Business processes in ACS to be reviewed to see if there is scope to reduce the time taken for assessments.
  • The definition of when a child social care case is allocated is being reviewed and agreed.
  • Environment and HBS will undertake targeted intervention with HR, to address the rising sickness trend.
  • ACS and CSF (non-schools) will investigate vacancy levels which are rising even in the recession.
  • ACS will need to recruit to a higher level of establishment to reduce agency spend.
  • Safe Staffing is progressing, and ‘vetting and barring’ is to be included in the next update.
  • A progress report on Accommodation services for older people is to be taken to SMB
  • A progress report on Procurement is to be taken to Resources Officer Board and SMB.
  • Future performance monitors to include the following additional projects:
  • Support Services Review
  • Development of the Corporate Plan (to Feb 2009)
  • Projects no longer required to be reported in future monitors
  • CSF Perform
  • IS/IT transformation
  • Offices moves
  • Risk analysis required for E-recruitment project to assess what will be needed if this doesn’t work.
  • Information and data on Communications is to be reviewed so that only the key data is provided in the future
  • CSF to investigate why complaints rose in the previous quarter.
  • ACS to investigate why compliments increased markedly from the previous quarter.
  • Future monitors to include CAA in inspection section
  • The timing of the production of the budget monitor to be reviewed in the light of difficulties in producing it to the deadlines required for this monitor. The budget monitor is therefore being considered at the next SMB.
  • The risk of ensuring the viability of the School Meals service is to be investigated to determine the extent to which this is dependent on public perception.
  • It was noted that the next monitor will have a section on contractors.
  • It was finally noted that a process to ensure service boards receive relevant information from the monitors and executive members are appropriately briefed is required.

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