Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director of Resources.

RESOLVED:  That  the report be noted and Portfolio Holders continue working with officers to achieve improvement against identified key challenges.

Reason for Decision:  To enable Cabinet to be informed of performance against key measures and to identify and assign corrective action where necessary.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  None.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member / Dispensation Granted:  None.

Cabinet received a report of the Corporate Director of Resources summarising Council and service performance against key measures, including areas requiring attention.

The Leader of the Council, in his capacity as Portfolio Holder for Performance, Customer Services and Corporate Services, reflected on the past year and highlighted some of the key aspects of the report, as follows:

·                     the end of year financial position was favourable, with a net underspend of nearly £1m after transfers to various reserves;

·                     Adult Services had seen more successful Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of services, a positive expert review of safeguarding, national recognition for the quality assurance system and strong performance on key indicators, especially on personalisation where the Council was a national leader;

·                     the school expansion programme would address increases in the primary school population, with an additional 17 reception classes opening in September 2013.  A process for looking at permanent expansions would start in the autumn.  Meanwhile Ofsted inspection judgments of overall effectiveness showed Harrow schools as significantly better than both London and England figures;

·                     Harrow was one of only 11 boroughs to exceed GLA growth expectations significantly and successfully achieved its 40% affordable homes target.  Proactive planning had seen a further £1bn of new development granted permission during the year;

·                     inward investment opportunities had been pursued and Harrow was one of only two Councils represented at inception of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Kingdom and India for strengthening partnerships in urban regeneration;

·                     10 apprenticeships and 60 work placements had been facilitated by the Council and 182 supported into work through the Xcite Scheme.  Approximately, 1,009 people had attended job fairs that the Council had organised. In the face of the economic challenges that the country faced, the Council’s efforts to help get people back to work was of real importance.  Additionally, the Council continued to lobby for improvements in the performance of the DWP Work Programme;

·                     work had started on public realm improvements such as in St Ann’s Road and Lowlands Park;

·                     the take up of online MyHarrow account had exceeded expectations, with 31,000 in place at the end of March, enabling Harrow residents to access a range of Council services on line at their convenience;

·                     the performance in containing levels of homelessness was outstanding, and the best in London, but the Council was not complacent;

·                     the majority of the Priority Actions were on track at year end.

The non-voting non-Executive Cabinet Members asked about the challenges faced by the Children and Families Directorate in relation to the Workforce Strategy, including why the workforce in this service area suffered from a high turnover, and the improvement plans proposed for the Youth Offending Service.  The same Members were concerned about decision-making and the need to have a true picture of the situation to ensure effective decision-making.

The Corporate Director of Children and Families responded as follows:

·                     that there had been a high turnover of staff in Children’s Services but regular meetings were held with staff to identify problems and the issue of recruitment together with the instability of an agency workforce was being addressed;

·                     that, whilst she was not complacent, the challenges around the management in the Directorate had moved forward.  There had been growth in the overall establishment of Children’s Services and the Directorate was over the establishment to meet demand, which had been agreed by the Chief Executive;

·                     that the Chief Executive had personally been involved in the discussions with the Youth Offending Service and an Improvement Plan was being implemented.  There was room for improvement in this area.  The Chief Executive confirmed that frank discussions had taken place with staff in the Youth Offending Service;

·                      the Local Safeguarding Children Boardwas now chaired by an Independent person and, having started from a low base, improvements had been made in this area but there was still a need for further improvement;

·                     the key areas of concern related to the education of Children Looked After where Improvement Plans had been drawn up, domestic violence prevention and the Youth Offending Team where there were ‘cultural’ issues and quality of work produced needed improving;

·                     the quality assurance role had been greatly strengthened in the last three years.

The Corporate Director of Children and Families updated Cabinet and expressed her concern about the veracity, quality and reliability of past reporting of where the services were and reassured Members that a more intensive regime of quality assurance was now in place with improved quality assurance by the LSCB. She highlighted how there had always been very good quality performance data but that it had not given a sufficient view of the quality of the case work.

In conclusion, the Corporate Director of Children and Families stated that, whilst there were some variables, there had been an overall improvement in the quality of the workforce, the management team was stronger and that the Directorate was moving in the right direction but there was room for improvement.

The Corporate Director of Environment and Enterprise responded to questions from the non-voting non-Executive Cabinet Members in relation to their questions on the shortcomings of the clean and green agenda where priorities were below target.  She explained that there were many factors contributing to a drop in recycling.  The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) savings and reductions in weight of recyclable packaging were contributors.  With regard to street and environmental cleanliness, the MTFS savings were a contributing factor together with areas where the Council had no control over, such as private land.  Additionally, the number of graffiti vans had been reduced as it was considered unproductive to have two vans.  Moreover, much of the graffiti was on private land.

The Corporate Director added that recycling figures had gone down as household waste and newspaper print had reduced, the latter of which had been as a result of an increase in the use of online facilities and the reduction in the number of pages printed.  She outlined that there were proposals to establish the posts of recycling officer(s).  In relation to Neighbourhood Champions (NCs), a target of 2,000 volunteers had been set and that the Council currently had 919 trained active NCs.  A successful conference had been held in July 2012.

The non-voting non-Executive Cabinet Member enquired about the amount of money received from Capita in relation to the PRISM.  In response, the Corporate Director replied that these matters, including performance issues, were being addressed proactively.

The Corporate Director of Resources and the Chief Executive responded to questions from the non-voting non-Executive Cabinet Members on the Mobile and Flexible Working project, including how many staff were working flexibly, including senior officers and the proportion of time of the working week they spent away from the Civic Centre.  The responses were as follows:

·                     whilst individuals within a team were mobile and flexible working, no team had yet rolled out towards Mobile and Flexible Working;

·                     that staff required the technology to work in this fashion and the project would enable staff to spend more time in the community, such as social workers.  The project would enable office space to be chosen in an effective manner thereby allowing the Civic Centre site to be used efficiently.  Moreover, it was envisaged that a direct benefit was an increase in productivity of up to 8 hours;

·                     that it was for the individual to use their time effectively and ensure that the job was completed.  The place from where the individual was working from and the visibility of staff were not essentially the key criteria.  However, all staff were held to account for delivering on their respective work areas.  The Chief Executive added that he met with senior officers on a regular basis and as part of the formal appraisal process.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted and Portfolio Holders continue working with officers to achieve improvement against identified key challenges.

Reason for Decision:  To enable Cabinet to be informed of performance against key measures and to identify and assign corrective action where necessary.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  None.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member / Dispensation Granted:  None.