The Lead Member for Environmental Services (including Parking, Flooding, Housing and Performance Management) introduced the report regarding the performance of commissioned services for 2017 to 2018.

Cabinet were informed that the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead was committed to the delivery of high quality services that residents value.  The council commissioned 20 providers to deliver 90 percent of the council services.

The Annual Report on commissioned services 2017-2018, set out how these arrangements had performed in 2017-2018 and the outcomes achieved.  Although performance was good there was still room for improvement and the Royal Borough has worked in partnership with the range of delivery partners to secure high quality services and to address issues as they have arisen.

The Chairman asked how Tivoli were performing.  The Member for Culture and Communities (including Resident and Business Services) responded that the original contract was with ISS Landscape but in June 2018 the grounds maintenance part of ISS was purchased by Tivoli.  Work has been undertaken with Tivoli to improve performance and by the end of November 2018 performance was expected to be on track.

The Chairman asked the Lead Member who was responsible for rubbish collection and was informed that Tivoli was responsible for  collection from park bins whilst Veolia was responsible for domestic waste and recycling. It was noted that there would be a report presented to Cabinet in November 2018 on Big Belly Bins which would have greater capacity and more environmentally friendly.

The Chairman asked for an update on NSL, if it was possible to increase the number of enforcement officers on our streets and if residents could contact NSL directly to report instances.  The Head of Commissioning and Communities informed that NSL were performing well with all targets now currently being met.  The contract allowed the number of officers and hours on the streets to be varied.  Residents are provided with an email address to contact NSL when problems are reported and residents can also report via the RBWM website where officers can monitor responses.

The Chairman asked the Lead Member for Children’s Services how Achieving For Children (AFC) were performing and was informed that the contract was performing well.  Progress was being made on the secondary school expansion programme with the final school, Furze Platt Senior School due to be completed in 2019.  The number of schools rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ was being reported at 85% against a 84% target with the level currently at 90%.  It was noted that there was no school in the Royal Borough that was rated as ‘Inadequate’.  Work was being undertaken to mitigate pressures due to agency staff spend and child placement costs.  These were national issues and it was important to protect our vulnerable young people by getting the right placements. 

The Chairman asked how Optalis were performing.  The Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health informed that the contract was still relatively new but there had been positive performance.  The Lead Member highlighted delayed transfers to care attributed to falls being at zero since November 2017.  They were currently looking at further improvements to prevention and support to allow residents to live in their homes for longer.  The Lead Member also informed that there were many good examples of excellent work being undertaken such as Allenby Care Home recently receiving a ‘Good’ CQC rating.

The Chairman said that there had been some negativity over the Volker Highways contract and asked for an update.  The Lead Member for Highways, Transport and Windsor said that the report was up to March 2018 and that there were a few missed targets, however he could confirm that today they were all up to date and doing a great job.  The company had been very flexible in their work and he gave the example of a team working late on a Friday digging a trench to prevent an excursion by travellers onto a site.

The Lead Member for Environmental Services (including Parking, Flooding, Housing and Performance Management) mentioned that he had previously been a member of the Adult Services and Health O&S Panel when the contract to Ways Into Work was implemented and that he was pleased to see how well they were performing.

The Chairman mentioned that this was an excellent report and that it should be more prominent on the RBWM website.

Resolved unanimously that:Cabinet notes the report and:

i)          Endorses the commissioning function’s priorities for 2018-2020.

ii)         Requests an annual report 2018-2019 to Cabinet in October 2019.