To note the contents of the report.

Cllr Hunt informed Members that the report looked at the performance of the Council’s revised medium-term financial strategy, focusing on the impact of Covid19 and government policy and how this had affected the focus of the Council’s interim strategy. Hilary Hall advised the Panel that the indicator relating to annual reviews of residents with long-term healthcare packages had dropped below anticipated delivery levels during quarter two as a result of the peak of dealing with Covid19. However, this was now on an upward trajectory and was likely to be on target by the end of quarter three and achieved by the end of the year.

Cllr Sharpe asked if there was anything in the report that was of major concern to officers. Hilary Hall said there was nothing to cause concern in the adult care sector, although some of the performance indicators had dropped during quarter two as a result of the impact of some services needing to be redeployed in order to help combat Covid19. Although levels of formal reviews of carers had dropped during this phase, interactions between the Council and carers had been done on a more informal basis and services had not been negatively impacted. In some cases, support for residents had been accelerated and enhanced. Kevin McDaniel agreed there was nothing in the children’s service area that caused him concern. Although more action was required to help with education, employment and training of care leavers, this was partly attributable to an increase in the number of children in crisis.

Lin Ferguson told the Panel that a Performance Board met on a monthly basis, and scrutinised the full set of performance indicators applicable to Children's Social Care and Early Help. This had concluded that whilst individual performance indicators may shine a light on a particular issue, they should not be seen in isolation. Lin Ferguson said that when individual indicators are viewed alongside other indicators and trends over time, as happened at the Performance Board, they were more valuable. Lin Ferguson said this monthly scrutiny gave assurance that there were no systemic issues that would give cause for concern. She added the three performance indicators listed as red in the report were for those areas that had been most significantly impacted by Covid19. Particularly challenging had been training and employment opportunities for some care leavers as they either worked zero hours contracts or had part time jobs, often in industries such as entertainment that had been most badly affected by Covid19. Regarding the number of families who had re-referred to children’s social care within 12 months, Lin Ferguson said a similar pattern was being noticed at other local authorities. This related to families who did not have the resilience to be able to manage with the issues affecting them and had referred themselves as they needed additional support. Cllr da Costa said this could be viewed as a positive, because families were seeking the support they needed rather than suffering and not getting the appropriate levels of care.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Panel noted the report and:

i) Noted the 2020/21 Adults, Children and Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel Q2 Performance Report in Appendix A.

ii) Requested the Lead Member, Directors and Heads of Service maintain focus on performance.