Agenda item

(To receive a report by Jasmine Sodhi (Performance and Equalities Manager), which presents Quarter 4 performance against the Council Business Plan)

Consideration was given to a report which presented the Quarter 4performance against the Council Business Plan.  The Council's Performance and Equalities Manager provided an online demonstration to the Committee of how members would be able to view the new style of reporting in a secure area on the Lincolnshire Research Observatory (LRO) website.

Members were advised that since Quarter 1, scrutiny committees had been receiving performance reports in the new style infographics, with the exception of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee and the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee.  It was noted that the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee receive performance indicators in addition to the Council Business Plan which were not available in the new infographic format.  In terms of the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee, there were no performance indicators in the Council Business Plan for this Committee, however it did receive project based updates.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report, and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         One member commented that they had found the new system very easy to use and move from one piece of information to another.

·         The Committee papers which were currently received only gave an overview of the performance information, but the website would allow members to view more detailed information.

·         It was requested whether everything could be kept as simple to use as possible for those who were not as computer literate as others.

·         The website would display information from the past two years to enable comparisons to be made.  However, information from earlier years would be archived and would still be available.

·         It was commented that the graphics were very useful.

·         Concerns were raised in relation to the Delayed Transfers of Care from Hospital, and members were advised that this was a very complex issue, and delays were only attributable to social care alone in around 14/15% of cases, and around 5-6% were attributable to both the NHS and social care.  The remainder were NHS related.  However, there had been a small increase in the delays attributable to the County Council.  The majority of delays were in simple discharges e.g. delays of a few hours awaiting a prescription.  Members were advised that the Adults Scrutiny Committee would be looking at this in a future meeting.

·         Concerns were also raised regarding the increase in Alcohol related Violent Crime Incidents, and it was queried whether Lincolnshire Police should be making more proactive visits to bars and pubs.  It was confirmed that this issue would be raised with the Assistant Director for Safer Communities.  Councillor R Wootten advised that he would be attending the next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel and he would be putting this question to the new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).

·         Clarification was sought regarding the exception reporting, as well as whether there was a need for grading, as under the mixed performance (p.15 of the report) all indicators met different levels of achievement.  It was suggested that the greatest priority should be given to those indicators which had gotten worse.

·         It was queried whether there was anywhere on the new system where members could see all the indicators which had not reached target.

·         It was clarified that there were three categories which were broadly used – those that were outside target range, those within target range and those that had improved but had not reached target.

·         It was noted that a lot of discussion had been had at the Economic Scrutiny Committee regarding the indicator 'Amount of External Funding attracted to Lincolnshire' as it did not show as achieving its target, as whilst the funding had been achieved, there had been delays in receiving it from central government.  Following the discussion, it had been agreed to change the target on this indicator to reflect these delays.  The Enterprise Commissioner would also be revising the commentary on the website relating to this indicator, as it was not the most appropriate measure to state that the target had not been achieved.

·         In relation to household waste recycled, it was queried whether there was any way of monitoring the other recycling schemes which were in operations around the County e.g. scouts group collecting glass.  It had now been recognised that this was not the most useful measure, and in the future it would measure what the impact of other collection schemes on recycling was.  There was recognition that there were some limitations with this measure.

·         It was noted that less green waste had been collected this year compared to last, and it was queried whether this was related to the introduction of charges by district councils for green bins.

·         It was queried whether there was anything which could be done to reduce the number of care leavers that ended up in the criminal justice system.  This query would be passed to Children's Services.

·         In relation to the Delayed Transfers of Care from Hospital, it was highlighted that there was a shortage of carers in the Boston and Stamford areas, and in an attempt to increase numbers, increased rates of pay were being offered in these areas.

·         Since the new recycling contract had been in place, an increase in contamination levels had been reported.

·         In relation to the indicator for the amount of external funding attracted to the County, it was important to recognise the achievement of the Economic Development team, as around £43m had been brought in to this council.

·         In relation to recycling, there was confusion regarding the different types of plastics which were in use, and which plastics were recyclable.  It was queried whether the numbers on the bottom which related to the type of plastic and if it was recyclable could be made bigger.  It was suggested that this could be taken up by the Environmental Scrutiny Committee, and that it could write a letter to government regarding this issue.

·         In relation to the recycling targets, it was acknowledged that there had been a big problem in Lincoln with contaminated loads.  Each contaminated load which was turned away had a cost of around £1000 to the County Council.

·         There were now much stricter rulings on what could and could not be put into green bins.

·         In relation to the number of primary fires, it was commented that cuts to funding had consequences, and it was queried whether targets would be lowered in the coming years, or whether they would remain as they are with an acceptance that they would not be met.

·         Members welcomed the statistics associated with the contact with the library service indicator, and that use of libraries continued to be popular.  It was queried whether the library footfall figures could be split between those visiting communities hubs and core libraries.  Officers agreed that they would look into this to see if the information could be broken down further.

·         In terms of targets for the Fire and Rescue Service, it was clarified that provisional targets were set before Council and when the outturn for Quarter 4 was received, those targets would be revised.

·         It was commented that the number of volunteers who had come forward in some areas to help run the community hubs had been very encouraging.

·         In relation to the targets for recycling, it was highlighted that the value of recyclables had reduced significantly, and so recycling credits paid to district councils also went down.  There was a need for local people to be more proactive in providing local recycling schemes.  In terms of green waste, people used to have their own compost bins and recycle their own green waste, and one member commented that they were pleased that South Holland District Council had started a scheme to charge people for green bins.

·         It was suggested that the indicators which had not shown an improvement were a good opportunity for scrutiny Chairmen and Vice-Chairman to approach the relevant portfolio holder to find out why the performance was not on target, and then this would feed back into the scrutiny process.

·         It was queried whether there was a correlation between areas without recycling facilities and the amount of fly tipping in that area.  It was suggested whether there was a need for a new indicator to reflect this.

·         It was suggested whether a summary of performance should be included in County News, possibly just end of year figures.

RESOLVED

1.    That the comments made in relation to the Quarter 4 Performance be noted.

2.    That Scrutiny Chairmen be encouraged to meet with relevant portfolio holders to discuss indicators which were not performing within target range.