Agenda item
Performance and Finance Review, Quarter 4, 2010-11
The Council has refreshed its performance management framework and a series of complementary initiatives have been introduced to enable improved performance monitoring. A set of departmental performance scorecards have been introduced to strengthen internal monitoring and a more flexible service planning framework has also been rolled out.
Appendices to this report are attached separately.
Minutes:
Cathy Tyson (Assistant Director – Policy, Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement) introduced the report and advised that although the Local Area Agreement had been abolished, the report still included some partnership indicators as these were important measures by which the council’s performance with its partners and its objectives could be considered. The report’s format continued to evolve, however financial data now appeared alongside performance data and work continued with regard to how these would be presented. Cathy Tyson stressed that the council continued to face challenging circumstances with very large savings targets to be achieved. In addition, the council faced rising demand in many areas, such as benefits, children’s social care, school places and Special Educational Needs and these were all difficult to forecast demand for. Overall, the borough continued to face rising unemployment and low income levels, whilst the introductions of the Housing Benefit Cap and limit to Universal Credit would impact significantly. However, despite these considerable challenges, the council was committed to improving performance and efficiency.
Turning to the 2010/11 outturn, Cathy Tyson advised that the overall forecast had improved due to overspends in some areas being outweighed by underspends in the Central Services, leaving the council’s balance at £7.5m. This represented a considerable achievement in view that the council had lost around £6m of in year grants. With regard to performance, Members heard that 56% were on or just below target, 24% significantly below target and 20% having insufficient information which was attributable to some council partners reporting processes. Cathy Tyson advised that the council was taking a more robust approach to insufficient information.
Cathy Tyson then advised the committee of areas that were deemed high risk and this included Adult Social Care which had been caused in part by the quality of data and was being addressed in a One Council programme project. In Children and Families, the re-offending rate and number of 18 year olds subject to a Child Protection Plan and Child Adolescent Mental Health Services where there was insufficient information were also risk areas. Serious acquisitive crime and number of active library book borrowers remained risks, as did recycling rates, however a number of measures were already in place to address this. The number of households living in temporary accommodation was exacerbated by the number of people moving into Brent from Central London reducing the amount of suitable private accommodation available. The percentage of working age people on out of work benefits was rising especially amongst women, however Job Centre and other agencies were working with the council to address this.
Cathy Tyson then informed Members of indicators that were on target, and these included:-
· Creation of affordable homes
· Teenage conception rate
· Childhood obesity rate
· Sports visits by young people
· Reduction in first entrants to the crime system
· Reduction in complaints to BHP, the Planning Service and Housing and Benefits
During discussion, Councillor Harrison enquired whether overspends in Children and Families could be addressed through more early years intervention activities and whether the transfer of public health funds to the council would assist in this respect.
The Chair expressed concern about the performance in Adult Social Care and Mental Health and he requested that a report on these be provided at the next meeting. He also enquired whether there were plans to provide Mental Health services at the day centre on the former John Billam site as he understood that residents had previously been informed that there were no such proposals.
In reply, Councillor Butt (Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Resources) stated that he would ask the Lead Member for Adults and Health to clarify the situation with regard to the day centre at the former John Billam site.
Cathy Tyson advised that some local authorities were working on financial models in respect of early years intervention and to see if these could make a long term impact, however children’s centres would continue to face demand pressures. She added that 0-5 years intervention would remain a Central Government activity and therefore an opportunity for local authorities to tackle this issue with proactive approaches had been missed.
RESOLVED:-
that the report on the performance and finance review, quarter 4, 2010-11 be noted.
Supporting documents: