Agenda item
Performance and Finance Review - Quarter 4 2008/09
This report summarises the Council’s spending, activity and performance in the final quarter of the 2008/09 financial year and highlights key issues and solutions to them. It takes a corporate overview of financial and service performance and provides an analysis of high risk areas. The report is accompanied by appendices providing budget, activity and performance data for each service area, the Local Area Agreement, ring fenced budgets and the capital programme. Vital Signs trend data and graphs are also provided along with the council’s overall budget summary.
Appendices to this report are attached separately.
Minutes:
Duncan McLeod presented the Finance aspect of the report which detailed the situation as of the end of 2008/09. Duncan McLeod begun with the General Fund Budget, the 2008/09 Statement of Accounts having been approved by the General Purposes Committee on 30th June 2009. However, these figures were provisional as the accounts were subject to audit and would be presented to the Audit Committee in September 2009. The overall position of the Council had provisionally registered a slight improvement of £41,000 against the previously assumed year end position. The recession and events with regard to child protection had placed considerable pressure on the 2008/09 budget and it was anticipated that these would continue to be major factors on the 2009/10 budget.
Cathy Tyson then presented the Performance element of the report and advised Members that overall good progress had been made in delivering the Corporate Strategy in Quarter 4 of 2008/09, with the majority of Vital Signs indicators considered critical to success performing broadly in line with the targets, with 63% on or just below target and 27% well below target. The performance results for Local Area Agreement (LAA) 2006/09 were in the process of being audited, however it was anticipated that the Council would secure a significant proportion of the total Performance Reward Grant on offer. Cathy Tyson referred to the LAA 2006/09 priority stretch targets that had been met as detailed in the report, advising that many had significantly exceeded their targets. The 3 stretch targets that had not achieved their targets or were at high risk included Adults Participating in Sport and Physical Activity, Disadvantaged Groups into Employment – BME Jobs Achieved and Smoking Cessation – 4 week quit NFR Areas and 13 week quit. Turning to the LAA for 2008/11, Cathy Tyson advised that an annual refresh had been undertaken with the Government Office for London, where a number of changes had been negotiated because of the present economic circumstances affecting a number of performance indicators. A change to the calculation of the Performance Award Grant had been made, which meant for example that 40% of the grant would be received if an average of 60% was achieved across all LAA targets, increasing the importance of achieving individual targets as lower performance on an indicator would increase the need to achieve better performance on other indicators.
Cathy Tyson advised the Select Committee that a 3 star and improving strongly rating had been achieved for the final Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) for 2008/09. The new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) that had replaced the CPA had commenced on 1st April 2009. To date, the feedback received from the Audit Commission to other local authorities, including Brent, had been mixed. However, it was clear that the standards had been raised, particularly in respect of use of resources. Cathy Tyson then highlighted some specific performance issues that were being addressed, including performance in the 1st quarter of 2009/10. With regard to Youth, Members heard that for the 1st quarter of 2009/10, there had been a reported improvement in the number of Black African and Caribbean youth subject to remand and young people visiting Council sports facilities. For schools, Brent had been ranked in the top 20 of 150 local authorities for GCSE results and although there had been an improvement in school places, there were still a relatively high number of children waiting more than 6 weeks for a school place. Members heard that there was a rising number of requests for Special Educational Needs, crime had decreased by 21% compared to last year, whilst domestic violence was also being successfully tackled. The number of library visits had risen slightly, however the target had not yet been met primarily due to refurbishment works at libraries in the southern part of the borough. There had been an improvement in performance in staff absences due to a review of the sickness policy, whilst there had also been a reduction in the percentage of agency staff.
During discussion, Councillor Bessong enquired whether the overspend in Adult Social Care for 2008/09 was primarily due to problems experienced by Brent teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT) and enquired whether the situation was likely to improve in this area. He also sought reasons for the delay in reporting the performance indicator, Improving Sexual Health: Under 18 Conception Rate and whether a downward trend could be confirmed. Councillor Mendoza acknowledged the different criteria for the CAA in comparison with the CPA and sought further information with regard to the impact on the Council’s focus under the new form of performance assessment.
The Chair asked what steps were being taken to balance costs and revenues in respect land charges in the Environment and Culture budget and with regard to the overspend for the Wembley Manor Primary School scheme. He queried the suggestion in the report that funding for schemes in the South Kilburn Regeneration Area could at a later stage produce capital receipts that could be used to re-invest in the Wembley Regeneration Area. The Chair also sought a further explanation as to how crime performance could be measured as successful.
In response, Duncan McLeod advises Members that initially issues involving PCT had been a major factor in placing pressure on the Adult Social Care budget in 2007/08, however the PCT’s financial situation had since improved, although discussions with them with regard to sharing redundancy costs on a particular scheme were taking place. The budget had continued to be under pressure for a number of reasons, most related to increased demand. Duncan McLeod agreed to provide a written response to the Chair in respect of the possibility of capital receipts from the South Kilburn Regeneration Area being used for the Wembley Regeneration Area.
Cathy Tyson advised the Select Committee that the Audit Commission was likely to take a robust stance with local authorities in respect of the CAA, including challenging information presented to them. The CAA focused on strategic partnerships of the local authorities and their partners, and although Brent had received some initially positive feedback, the assessment was more narrative based and it was harder to predict what type of assessment Brent would ultimately receive. Cathy Tyson advised that the latest information regarding Improving Sexual Health was from 2007 and the official results of the most recent surveys were awaited, although it was anticipated that there would be a fall in the Under 18 Conception Rate. With regard to crime, the Select Committee was advised that victims of domestic violence were now being encouraged to make statements which could lead to arrests on site and such a measure helped reduce reoffending. In addition, a specialist Domestic Violence Court had been created.
The Chair indicated that information on child protection structures and what was being undertaken to promote foster care be provided at a future meeting of the Select Committee.
Supporting documents: