Issue - meetings

This report provided details of the Council’s performance for 2009/2010 with particular reference to performance against indicators and actions agreed in the Council Plan 2009/2012. This included performance against the six priorities and two core values in the Council Plan and performance achieved against individual detailed actions and performance indicators relating to those priorities.

It was noted that of 116 key performance indicators, 64 had achieved or outperformed the annual target, 17 were below target but within acceptable variance limits and 35 had performed below target.

The report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committees and this was summarised in paragraph 4 of the report.

This report presents Council performance for the year 2009/10.  In particular it includes performance against indicators and actions agreed in the Council Plan 2009-12. 

Discussion:

The Assistant Director, Adult Social Care introduced the report to Members, highlighting the key areas from quarter 4 (January to March 2010) performance monitoring.

Officers responded to Members’ questions. In relation to NI 146 adults with learning disabilities in employment he explained that the economic downturn had seriously affected employers’ ability to employ people with learning disabilities.  A number of local cafes, which had provided much needed employment for people with learning disabilities, had recently closed.  This explained the drop in performance on this target.  He stated that the Council was working hard to ensure that as an employer it set the standard for other local employers in offering employment to people with learning disabilities.

In relation to the contingency plans put in place in January 2010 when there had been significant snowfall in Medway, Members commended the commitment, professionalism and innovation of staff in responding to the challenges.

The Assistant Director, Adult Social Care then referred to the issue raised by Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee in relation to the lack of performance data received from Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.  He stated that one of the Council’s key actions would be to improve in gathering this performance data.  He undertook to report back on progress to the Committee and to Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee in due course.

Decision:

The committee agreed to:

(a)               note the report;

(b)       submit a report to the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its July meeting setting out the committee’s proposed action to the referral relating to Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust as set out above;

(c)               congratulate the social care staff for their commitment, professionalism and innovation during the heavy snowfall in January 2010.

This report presents Council performance for the year 2009/10. In particular it includes performance against indicators and actions agreed in the Council plan 2009-12.

Discussion:

The Performance Manager introduced the report to Members, highlighting the

key areas from the quarter 4 (January to March 2010) performance monitoring.

Members then discussed various performance indicators including:

·        recycling and waste collection, including compost bins and kitchen waste

·        the new government’s intention for future funding for regeneration projects

·        rent and length of leases for business units

·        journey times around Chatham

·        the number of people killed or seriously injured on Medway roads.

Officers responded to the points raised and offered to send a Briefing Note to Members detailing the information requested throughout the discussion.

Decision:

Members noted the performance for 2009/2010.

This report presents Council performance for the year 2009/10. In particular it includes performance against indicators and actions agreed in the Council Plan 2009-12.

Discussion:

The Director of Children and Adults introduced the report, highlighting areas where improvement was required.  She explained that the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee had also referred some areas to this Committee for further investigation that included the cluster of indicators around vulnerable children and the attainment of looked after children and the Committee would need to consider how they wished to look at these issues when considering its work programme.

It was suggested that a lot of the indicators that required improvement were closely linked and could possibly together, relate to a small but very important group of children and young people in Medway.  It was therefore felt there was a need to move away from looking at indicators individually but perhaps scrutinise them with a more holistic approach, with partners, in order to have a positive impact.  In response, the Director offered to help Members with this approach by clustering some of the indicators together at the work programme meeting.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report. 

This report presents Council performance for the year 2009/10. In particular it includes performance against indicators and actions agreed in the Council Plan 2009-12.

Discussion:

The Assistant Director Communications, Performance and Partnerships presented a report detailing the Council performance for the year 2009/10 against the measures of success and actions agreed in the Council Plan 2009-12.

Colour copies of Appendix 2 of the report and an updated section of the report relating to the council priority –‘older and vulnerable people maintaining their independence’ were circulated at the meeting.

Members noted that the Medway Park refurbishment had been completed on time and within budget and asked that the same profile was given for all projects in the future.

Members identified a range of issues where they considered that more in depth investigation was needed within areas beyond the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny remit and referred the issues to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees asking them to consider the referral and report back to this committee.

Members asked that the reports to other committees covered the causes of the underperformance, the success of current responses and an understanding of what it would take to improve performance.

In relation to its own remit Members asked for an in-depth report on:

• The cluster of issues on NI 156 (Number of households living in temporary accommodation), H5 (Average time for non-urgent repairs) and H8 (Average time taken to re-let council dwellings).

Members asked how the Council could better coordinate road works even though they may not be within the Council’s control on a case-by-case basis.

Members were concerned about the extent of missing data in the older and vulnerable people tables. Officers responded that they were pursuing Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust in relation to where the data was their responsibility, and also clarified that some data had a ‘lag time’ eg 4 week smoking quit figures would by definition take longer to collate, but officers were mapping dates for receipt of partner Local Area Agreement (LAA) data to ensure information to Members was as timely as possible. Other data gaps related to validation of year end social care figures, which was the council’s responsibility.  These checks were very near completion and would be reported verbally to the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Decision:

The Committee considered the performance for 2009/10 reviewing outcomes achieved against targets and asked for the following in depth reports:

(1)       In relation to its own remit Members asked for an in-depth report on:

• The cluster of issues on NI 156 (Number of households living in temporary accommodation), H5 (Average time for non-urgent repairs) and H8 (Average time taken to re-let council dwellings).

(2)       The Committee referred to Children and Adults Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

• The cluster of indicators on the theme of the support the Council gives to vulnerable children, NI67 (Percentage of child protection cases which were reviewed within required timescales), NI60 (Percentage of initial assessments for children’s social care carried out within 7 working days of referral), NI 65 (Percentage of children becoming the subject of Child Protection Plan for a second  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17