Agenda item

(To receive a report from Jasmine Sodhi (Performance and Equalities Manager), which considers a report on the 2018/19 Council Business Plan Quarter 4 performance, which will be presented to the Executive on 9 July 2019. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report by the Performance and Equalities Manager, which invited the Board to consider a report on the 2018/19 Council Business Plan Quarter 4 performance which was due to be presented to the Executive on the 09 July 2019.

The report set out the performance level of each of the commissioning strategies. Members were referred to Appendix A of the report for a summary of the measures that did not achieve their target in Q4.

Members were advised that there was an error in the report and that the Qualifications achieved by adults (Measure 70) had been reported as not meeting the target in Quarter 4, when in fact the target of 525 had been exceeded and the 2018/2019 outturn was 1,114. As a result, there would be changes to the report that would be presented to the Executive on 9 July 2019 due to an improvement in the number of commissioning strategies that had performed really well from four to five commissioning strategies as the Sustaining and Growing Business and the Economy Commissioning Strategy had now achieved all its targets.

The following changes were proposed to the reporting of performance against the Council Business Plan 2018/19:

·         'Safeguarding enquiries where the 'source of risk' is a service provider' (M114) be removed from the Council Business Plan and replaced with 'Adult safeguarding concerns that lead to a safeguarding enquiry' (M130)

·         The title of the measure 'Achievement gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers at Key Stage 4' (M42), had been amended to 'Achievement gap between pupils eligible for Free School Meals and their non-Free School Meals eligible peers nationally at KS4'

·         The title of the measure 'Achievement gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers at Foundation Stage' (M48), had been amended to 'Achievement gap between pupils eligible for Free School Meals and their non-Free School Meals eligible peers nationally achieving Good Level of Development'

Members supported the recommendations and agreed that the following comments be passed on to the Executive:

Sustaining and Growing Business and the Economy Commissioning Strategy - Qualifications achieved by adults (Measure 70)

·         The Board was informed that the Qualifications achieved by adults (Measure 70) had initially been reported in the Executive report considered by the Board as not meeting the target in Quarter 4, when in fact the target of 525 had been exceeded and the 2018/2019 outturn was 1,114.

·         The Board supported the amendment of the annual target from 525 as published in the Council Business Plan 2018/2019 to 1,000 for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Council Business Plans. As a result, there would be changes to the Executive report due to an improvement in the number of commissioning strategies that had performed really well from four to five commissioning strategies as the Sustaining and Growing Business and the Economy Commissioning Strategy had now achieved all its targets.

·         In response to a query about whether the targets were correct where the measures were overachieving all the time, it was confirmed that the targets were reviewed throughout the year to ensure there was the right of level of output and to identify any need to redistribute resources.

Readiness for School Commissioning Strategy – Achievement at a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Measure 47) and Achievement gap between pupils eligible for Free School Meals and their non-Free School Meal eligible peers nationally achieving Good Level of Development (Measure 48)

·         With regards to the two Readiness for School measures, concern was raised regarding the focus on literacy as a priority and whether there would be any negative impact on numeracy as a result.

·         In addition, concern was raised in relation to the widening achievement gap between pupils eligible for Free School Meals and their non-Free School Meals eligible peers and whether there would be more pressure on teachers if more pupils were in receipt of Free School Meals. In addition, figures were requested for numeracy and literacy in Lincolnshire including a comparison to other regions. Officers agreed to raise these queries with the service area.

Safeguarding Adults Commissioning Strategy - Safeguarding enquiries where the source of risk is a service provider (Measure 114) and Adult safeguarding concerns that lead to a safeguarding enquiry (Measure 130)

·         Concerns were raised regarding the removal of Measure 114 from the Council Business Plan and it being replaced with Measure 130. A Board member highlighted that Measure 114 was a national measure and questioned why it had been removed from the Council Business Plan. It was confirmed that it had been replaced in the Council Business Plan by the new measure to ensure that escalation was occurring at the right level.

·         The Board recommended that both measures should be included in the Council Business Plan and agreed that these measures should be referred to the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee for consideration and to reflect on the Board's recommendation at its meeting on 3 July 2019, and record its comments for the Executive's consideration on 9 July 2019.

Protecting the Public Commissioning Strategy - Adults Reoffending (Measure 14)

·         With regard to Adults Reoffending, concern was raised about the target not being met and it was queried what was being done to tackle the increase in reoffending rates, where the problems were, and what type of crimes were being committed. It was highlighted that the ARC (Assisting Rehabilitation through Collaboration) scheme was in place to help reoffenders, but officers agreed to raise these queries with the service area for a response.

Community Resilience and Assets Commissioning Strategy - Visits to core libraries and mobile library services (Measure 36)

·         In relation to the changing IT requirements at libraries, it was questioned whether this would be addressed as part of the Council's IT roll out. It was reported that a project was going through to enable GLL (Greenwich Leisure Limited) to undertake a rollout of new IT equipment.

Wellbeing Commissioning Strategy – Percentage of alcohol users left specialist treatment successfully (Measure 31)

·         It was highlighted that it had been previously agreed to separate out alcohol users and drug users into separate measures, but a measure for drug users had not been put back into the Council Business Plan. Officers agreed to check what had been previously decided in relation to this measure.

General Comment

·         With regard to those areas not performing well, it was questioned whether there was any correlation with higher levels of sickness absence and lower levels of appraisal completions. Officers reported that they would consult with HR to see if there were any correlations between these and those areas not performing well.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Board support the recommendations, as set out in the Executive Report;

2.    That the comments, as set out above, be passed on to the Executive in relation to this item.