Agenda item

This report presents a final summary of proposals for the measures that will be used to track performance against the Council Plan 2020/21.

Discussion:

Members considered a report which presented a final summary of proposals for the measures that would be used to track performance against the Council Plan 2020/21.

The additional measures relating to children’s services were welcomed and would help O&S Members to monitor progress.

The point was made that the Audit Committee also had an important role in identifying and minimising risks, ensuring value for money was achieved and providing an early warning of problems. The Chief Finance Officer advised that the internal audit plan for next year had an increased focus on children’s services and additional funding had been agreed for the IRO service within Children’s Services. As the difficulties in children’s services had not been identified in advance, all of the tools available to Members should be deployed to identify similar issues in the future.

A discussion took place regarding the relationship between children’s services targets in the Council Plan and Directorate targets and whether O&S Members should be able to access information on the latter where this was shared with Portfolio Holders.

Reference was made to the proposal to remove the target that measured the percentage of looked after children who achieved the required standard in GCSE English and maths. The point was made that it was still important to understand how this cohort were performing and it was suggested this should be monitored by the Corporate Parenting Board.

Reference was made to the issue raised by the Commissioner for Children’s Social Care about addressing the deficit of £10.3 million on the DSG High Needs reserve and the plan to work with the Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure NHS funding was provided in all appropriate cases. Noting that the NHS contribution to funding SEN placements in Medway had been historically quite low, the Committee asked if the Commissioner could help by raising it with the CCG, as well as the issue of high waiting lists for children’s medical services. This suggestion would be raised with the Director of People – Children and Adults Services and the outcome would be reported to Members.

Regarding partnership targets, it was argued that the proposal to remove targets because responsibility rested with a partner was misguided as there was a democratic mandate to ensure that Medway as a place functioned effectively.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)     note the proposed changes to programmes and measures of success as listed in Appendix 1 to the report,

b)     recommend that, following the proposed removal from the Council Plan of Measure N101 (the percentage of looked after children who achieve the required standard in GCSE English and maths) that performance be monitored by the Corporate Parenting Board.

c)     note that those Council Plan measures still awaiting a proposed target,

namely a proposed new qualitative measure on the calibre of social work and NI154 (net homes provided) will be further considered by the Corporate Management Team and that Full Council will be asked to delegate authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Resources, to agree the final measures.