Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Community Partnerships, Public Protection and Maidenhead

To note the report and review the Quarterly Assurance Report setting out progress against the performance indicators and risk register.

Cabinet noted the report and reviewed the Quarterly Assurance Report setting out progress against the performance indicators and risk register.

The Chair, Councillor Werner, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Community Partnerships, Public Protection and Maidenhead, introduced the Quarterly Assurance Report to Cabinet. He said that this was the 2nd new and improved report to come to Cabinet and that despite the financial challenges that were being seen, the Council was continuing to see strong performance across all services. Growing staffing concerns within the Council meant that the Council were quite reliant on agency staff, which of course came with an extra cost. He admitted that the borough struggled nationally, as the borough’s salaries were very much out of step with other local authorities. Another key issue was housing, with cost of living rises and a growing number of asylum seekers, being seen to continually put strain upon the service. The draft budget was very much dependable on the transformation programme and that the Cabinet were working very hard with officers to fix the mess.

Councillor Del Campo, Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Housing Services, commended the well written report, including the metrics and the data that was clearly set out. She said that permanent staff were of course always preferred compared to the use of agency staff, however acknowledged that this was not always possible to ensure safe levels of working.

Councillor Del Campo then said that something was being trialled in the adult social care team, which was to use small amounts of long-term underspend to increase pay. The aim of this was to reward loyalty and reduce dependencies on agency staff. In addition to this, there had recently been good news in terms of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) ratings, which rated persons perceptions of adult social care. She then placed on record her thanks to the teams in Optalis and RBWM, especially during the recent flooding, where colleagues worked to ensure vulnerable residents were cared for.

Kevin McDaniel, Executive Director of Adults, Health & Communities, wished to talk to the ASCOF report, that Councillor Del Campo mentioned. He said that 275 RBWM residents took part in the survey and ranked the borough highly nationally for adult social care. The borough were ranked 4th for overall satisfaction and 1st for the value added to quality of life.

Councillor Bermange, Cabinet Member for Planning, Legal & Asset Management thanked the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Panel for their comments on the previous report that had gone to Cabinet and said that this was a very valuable contribution. He then spoke on planning specifically and the progress that was being made to identify flaws in the system. He drew Cabinet’s attention to table 4 of the report. 

Stephen Evans wished to echo the comments of Councillor Bermange around scrutiny and said that good governance was essential, which he had seen strong examples of so far during his time so far at the borough.

AGREED: Cabinet noted the report and reviewed the Quarterly Assurance Report setting out progress against the performance indicators and risk register.