Verbal update on performance monitoring and improvement plans.

The Head of Governance, Partnerships, Performance and Policy informed the Panel that Cabinet had supported a previous request by the Panel that under performing performance indicators be scrutinised.  It had been agreed that when an indicator was reported as off target (red) for two consecutive quarters then the Lead Member would be invited to attend an appropriate scrutiny panel.  Improvement plans would also be placed on the RBWM website.

Cllr Carroll had given his apologies for being unable to attend the meeting and had asked the Head of Commissioning - Adults, Children and Health to attend in his place to discuss why the target regarding the number of residents who quit smoking for at least 4 weeks from the target cohort.  The Panel were informed that Cllr Carroll had circulated a briefing note on the targets performance and that he had established a Task and Finish Group to review performance that would report to the Adult Services and Health Scrutiny Panel.  Councillors Carroll, Jones and Ilyas were the Members on the Task Group. 

The Chairman mentioned that he was concerned that there was plenty of information regarding the dangers of smoking yet young people continued to smoke.   The Chairman asked what the greatest challenge was for meeting the target.  The Panel were informed that the targeted groups were the ones that found it the most difficult to stop smoking.  In response to questions the Panel were also informed that examples of good practice were being looked at and better use of other resources such as social workers to help reinforce the message.

Referring to the improvement plan Cllr McWilliams asked how effective had a targeted approach been via the PSHE network.  The Panel were informed that training courses had been run however schools did not keep data on how effective an impact this had.  The Task and Finish Group would be looking at how the impact might be measured.

(Cllr E Wilson joined the meeting)

Cllr Bowden mentioned that hospitals were smoke free but staff smoked outside and the Chairman asked if we also worked with private school.  It was noted that we did work with the NHS and private schools.

The Chairman thanked the Head of Commissioning - Adults, Children and Health for attending the meeting.

(Hilary Hall left the meeting)

Cllr Hill and the Head of Library and Resident Services  attended the meeting to answer any question on the % of complaints upheld indicator.  Cllr Hill informed the Panel that he wished to review the target as he did not believe it was fit for purpose and a better target would be to see complaints being reduced as service delivery improved. 

The Head of Library and Resident Services informed the Panel that in 2015 the complaint functions for both the statutory Adults and Children and corporate complaints  were brought together into one team to provide resilience and consistence across all directorates.  The formal Corporate Complaints policy was revised and published in October 2016 detailing specifically what a complaint was and reducing the stages from three to two before residents can escalate to the Local Government Ombudsman.  It was also reviewed what constituted a complaint, for example someone disagreeing with a planning decision was not a complaint.

In 2016 the online complaints system was launched and residents for the first time were able to log and track their complaint online and various templates are now used to ensure that all complaint elements are individually captured and responded to and a decision made as to whether it was upheld.

The Panel were informed that the next step would be to undertake analysis of performance against target by service area with action plans agreed with Head of Service.

The Chairman mentioned that he had visited other authorities websites and that on a lot of the sites it was not clear how to make a complaint.

Cllr Jones asked if a resident had to go through the formal complaints procedure.  The Panel were informed that the online complaints forms were sent to the complaints team who worked with service areas to asses if they are complaints or if another avenue of action was required.

It was agreed that Cllr Hill and Cllr McWilliams would meet to discuss the value of the performance indicator and if it should be modified or a different indicator being introduced. 

Cllr E Wilson mentioned that it might be more interesting in reviewing those complaints that were upheld by the ombudsman. 

(Cllr Hill left the meeting and Cllr Saunders joined the meeting)

Cllr N Airey and the Head of Schools and Education Services attended the meeting to discuss two performance indicators that had been reporting off target for two consecutive quarters;  Percentage of care leavers in education, employment or training and % of Children in Care with personal education plans (PEP).

With regards to the percentage of care leavers in education, employment or training indicator the Panel were informed that the measure represents a small cohort with a  proportion who were unable to access EET due to long term health / disability or parenthood.  There was a vacant Personal Advisor post that was being recruited to and work was being undertaken to encourage the uptake of those becoming apprentices.  Cllr Airey reiterated that it was a small cohort and that the target needed to differentiate those who were EET and those that could not undertake work, education or training.

With regards to the % of Children in Care with personal education plans (PEP) out of the 86 on role all but 1 had a plan and it was important that when the service was transferred to AFC that there was no slippage.  The Chairman asked if the numbers were expected to increase or decrease in September 2017 and was informed that the number had been stable over the last few years but there was a level of turbulence as children changed schools.  Cllr Airey reported that it was important for all Members to remembers that they are corporate parents and we need to support our children in care so their background was not detrimental to their future.   

The Strategic Director of Corporate and Community Services informed that the percentage of planning appeals lost had been wrongly reported in the performance report and that the target was just short and not off target.  The Panel were informed that the Borough Local Plan was due to go before Council in April 2017 and if approved it would go for examination before being brought back to Council later in the year.  Until the Borough Local plan was approved the Council could expect to continue to loose planning appeals and there had been a high profile appeals were significant costs were awarded.

The Chairman mentioned that Members going against officer recommendations at Panel should have material reasons and that they should be prepared to support officers at appeal hearings.

The updates were noted.