SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (SOCIAL
CARE AND HEALTH)
Minutes of a meeting held on 21st
July, 2008.
Present: Councillor Miss. S.J.C. Williams
(Chairman); Councillors J. Clifford, S.C. Egan, Mrs. M. Kelly
Owen, Mrs. M. Randall and J.W. Thomas.
164 APOLOGIES FOR
ABSENCE -
These were received from Councillors Mrs. S.M.
Bagstaff, R.J. Bertin, Mrs. V.L. Ellis and Mrs. A.J.
Preston.
165 MINUTES -
RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting
held on 1st July, 2008 be approved as a correct
record.
166 DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST -
No declarations were received.
167 CHILDREN AND YOUNG
PEOPLE SERVICES END OF YEAR MONITORING REPORT (DSS) -
The Director, in introducing the report,
referred to the importance of monitoring performance
information. He felt the report to be an opportunity to
recognise improvements made to date, whilst acknowledging those
still needed. He reminded Members that the Directorate was
now in the second year of the Social Services Change Plan. He
felt the Directorate had performed well during a turbulent year
during which capacity issues at both management, and operational,
level had been prevalent. In presenting the report and
dealing with issues raised by Members, the Director was accompanied
by Haydn Nelson, Operational Manager (Care Planning, Children and
Young People Services) and Rachel Evans, Principal Officer,
Children and Young People Services.
The report set out the details of the Service
Plan Performance against targets set for the financial year
2007/08.
During discussion on Performance Indicator
SCC2 and SCC4, Members were informed that the number of children
placed in residential care outside the Vale of Glamorgan had halved
since the beginning of the year. Reference was also made to
the benefits of being able to place children locally in the Unit at
Wentworth. With regard to PI SCC8a, whilst not having met the
target, officers considered tangible progress had been made.
In terms of the indicators covering initial assessments, the
Integrated Children's System had helped considerably in monitoring
the information. An example was given of how performance
figures themselves did not give the entire picture. A figure
of 98.3% in terms of the percentage of initial child protection
conferences held within 15 working days for the strategy
discussion, actually equated to just one child not having been the
subject of a conference within the prescribed timescale.
Officers having answered various queries
raised by Members, the Director summarised his perception as to the
progress made. In terms of assessments, he considered most
children were now provided with the facility. Whilst
accepting some issues remained regarding timeliness and quality, he
felt significant progress had been made. He considered the
field of care planning to generally be working well. The
child protection system was working as well as was possible.
Concerns had existed previously within this field, but he
considered the situation to have been turned around
completely. Reference was also made to the Directorate's own
auditing process which complimented the performance indicator
monitoring. The impact of other agencies in the work of the
division was relevant at all stages and agencies needed to remain
fully involved and to provide timely information. In overall
terms, he felt there to be a need for shared ownership of cases to
exist.
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the end of year report
for the Children and Young People Services for 2007/08 be noted and
the officers commended on the improvements made during a difficult
time.
168 ADULT SERVICES END
OF YEAR MONITORING REPORT 2007/08 (DSS) -
The Director was accompanied by Anne Lintern,
Operational Manager (Community Care and Health Services) and Keith
Lewis, Operational Manager (Community Care and Health
Services). Officers referred to the year having been a
difficult one in terms of managing the Community Care budget.
The focus of the Division was on promoting the independence of
individuals. Certain successes had been achieved in terms of
short term intervention and initial care packages. Particular
progress had been made in terms of the number of delayed transfers
of care. In presenting the information, reference was made to
the fact that in successfully achieving independence for
individuals, this, in turn, could impact on other Performance
Indicators, resulting in a misleading picture being presented in
terms of performance.
Reference was made to Performance Indicator
SCA2b and to the efforts that had taken place to reduce the number
of people supported in care homes. Other options also needed
to be developed, together with services for older people with
mental health problems. An improvement had taken place in
terms of the average number of working days between initial enquiry
and completion of care plans (Performance Indicator SCA5), albeit
the target for the year had not in itself been achieved.
Reference was made by Members to Performance
Indicator L725 which related to the percentage of managers
satisfied that they could deal effectively with stress management
issues having been on a course. The Director also
acknowledged that sickness levels within the Division were amongst
the highest in the authority and that this would be an area
targeted for improvement. In response to a specific question
he indicated that structures in place generally within the
Directorate were considered robust and capable of providing mutual
support. However, the overall picture was one of a large
number of teams, some of which were small and, therefore, not
particularly resilient. He indicated that a review of
fieldwork structures was underway.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A
T the Corporate Health and Safety Officer be requested to provide
information to Members in respect of Performance Indicator
L725.
(2) T H A
T the end of year report for Adult Services be noted and the
officers commended for the work undertaken.
169 BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT AND INNOVATION END OF YEAR MONITORING REPORT 2007/08
(DSS) -
The Director, in presenting the information,
was accompanied by Simon Salter, Operational Manager
(Strategy, Performance Management and Commissioning
Services). Reference was made to the former Scrutiny
Committee (Community Wellbeing and Safety) having asked whether
comparative figures relating to other authorities were available in
respect of Performance Indicator L516 (percentage of service users
visited within 15 working days of financial assessment being
requested). S. Salter indicated that enquiries had resulted
in no other local authorities being identified as collecting this
information. He pointed out that timescales could be
determined by family events outside the control of the
authority. The Performance Indicator was to be redefined so
that it covered the number of visits offered. The figures
relating to Performance Indicator L697 (Personal Development
Reviews/Team Development Reviews) related to the Directorate as a
whole and from 2009/10 would be split to reflect the Divisional
figure. The reason was also given as to why no information
was available in respect of Performance Indicator L702 (percentage
of complainants who felt they had been dealt with fairly).
Whilst a corporate exercise had been undertaken, no responses had
been generated from Social Services complainants.
In summary, the Director indicated that
assessment care management capacity would need to be revisited
should demand continue to increase. He acknowledged the need
to make certain teams more resilient and to the need for all other
agencies to play a full part in a co-ordinated approach to the
provision of services.
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the end of year
performance report for Business Management and Innovation be noted
and the officers commended on the work undertaken.
170 SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
PERFORMANCE PANELS (CX) -
Urgent by reason of the need for the
Performance Panels to be established in time for the September
Committee cycle
The Scrutiny Action Plan included a
commitment to “investigate the feasibility of Member development of
specialist functions within Scrutiny enabling Members to become
experts in certain subjects” (recommendation R11). In order
to progress this area of work it was agreed by the Chairman and
Vice-Chairman Group that a pilot exercise be run with the former
Scrutiny Committee (Community Wellbeing and Safety).
A pilot Performance Panel was established
in November 2007 comprising of one Member of the Committee from
each of the four political parties. Members of the Panel attended a
series of three training sessions designed to provide an overview
of how to effectively monitor and challenge the performance of
relevant service areas.
Following the initial training, the Panel
met during the December committee cycle to evaluate the performance
monitoring reports prior to their submission to the Scrutiny
Committee. This enabled the Panel to identify performance
issues and key areas of concern to formulate potential questions
that would help guide a wider discussion at the Committee.
Building on the success of the pilot
project and positive feedback from Members it was agreed by the
Chairman and Vice-Chairman Group on 30th January
2008 that Performance Panels be established for each of the
Scrutiny Committees.
It was proposed that the Performance
Panels follow the same format as the pilot group with up to four
Members being nominated to participate in each Panel.
Once appointed, each Panel would meet
during early September to undergo similar training as the pilot
group. As part of the initial training each Panel would
evaluate the performance information for Quarter 1 relevant to
their Committee’s remit in preparation for meetings at the end of
September where the quarterly performance monitoring reports would
be presented.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T
H A T a specialist Performance Panel be established, comprising one
Member of the Committee from each of the four political parties, to
examine and evaluate performance information on a quarterly
basis.
(2) T
H A T the membership of the Panel comprise Councillors
Mrs. S.M. Bagstaff, Mrs. M. Randall, Miss. S.J.C.
Williams and 1 Member to be nominated by the Labour Group.
(3) T H A
T the progress of the Performance Panel be reviewed in 12
months.