Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD. View directions
Contact: Bryony Gibbs, Democratic Services Officer 020 8937 1355, Email: bryony.gibbs@brent.gov.uk
No. | Item |
---|---|
Declarations of personal and prejudicial interests Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting any relevant financial or other interest in the items on the agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
|
Deputations (if any) |
|
Minutes of the last meeting held on 25 January 2012 PDF 130 KB The minutes are attached. Minutes: The minutes of the last meeting of the One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 25 January 2012 were approved as a correct record. |
|
Matters arising Minutes: There were no matters arising. |
|
Direct Services Transformation PDF 93 KB The report is attached. Minutes: Alison Elliott (Director of Adult Social Services) presented a report to the Committee outlining the learning disabilities direct services transformation project. This project encompassed a redesign of the provision by Adult Social Care of direct or in-house day services to adults with learning disabilities in Brent. It aimed to deliver improved service outcomes, increased independence and customer choice, and the creation of more personalised services, in contrast to the existing model of building-based service delivery. As a result of this project, savings of between £1.033m and £1.118m would be achieved by August 2012 against a budget of £3.7m. Savings to date had amounted to £644k and are on track.
With reference to the report, Allison Elliott advised that the project had been designed to be delivered in four stages and at present, the project had progressed to stage three. The first stage of the project had involved a comprehensive process of consultation with service users, carers and affected staff. Methods of consultation had been tailored to the needs of the particular group. The second phase of the project included assessment of service user needs, utilising a new assessment tool and via the transparent application of the eligibility criteria. Following this, individual support plans were developed. The process was co-designed with service users and was aligned to the principles underpinning Valuing People. The third stage of the project was focussed on service transformation in preparation for the move to the new John Billam Resource Centre. Several work-streams were currently on-going to ensure that the current service delivery and operational structure was better co-ordinated and streamlined to improve service users experience and outcomes. Specifically, the centre would represent a new operating model for supporting people with disabilities in the borough by focussing on sessional based activities in the centre as well as out in the community. The final phase of the project was the construction of the John Billam Resources Centre and the transferring of services from existing centres. A Decant and Transition Plan for the move had been developed and would be implemented by June 2012. The Resource Centre was now scheduled to be completed by the autumn of 2012.
In the subsequent discussion members raised several issues. The Chair queried whether the closure of local services would reduce accessibility for some service users and sought further details about the feedback received via the consultation. Allison Elliott advised that the New Millennium Day Centre, which catered for those with physical disabilities and the Day Centre in Kingsbury which provided services for elderly people, were not part of the planned closures. However, these services would be examined within the wider review to determine how to improve service delivery. The Albert Road Day Centre in Kilburn currently provided services for individuals with high level needs and options were currently being explored to improve transport to the new resources centre. Feedback from service users and carers had reflected the concern that they would lose the respite that these building-based services represented. However, those service ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
|
Performance & Finance Review Quarter 3 PDF 87 KB The purpose of this report is to provide Members with a corporate overview of Finance and Performance information to support informed decision-making and manage performance effectively. The Performance Report for quarter three of 2011-12 is attached separately for Members. Additional documents: Minutes: A report providing a corporate overview of performance and finance information for quarter 3, 2011-12, was presented to the committee by Phil Newby (Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement). Members’ attention was drawn to the supplementary document which set out in full the performance and finance data for this period. This supplementary report reflected the improved method of performance reporting which aimed to provide more relevant and accessible data. Improvements included the provision of more meaningful data regarding public health and a more accessible format for the presentation of data regarding the shortfall of school places within Brent. Work to improve the quality of performance data was on-going and at present there was a focus on developing better local performance indicators (PIs), improving the PIs relating to complaints and revising some of the indicative PIs included for Regeneration and Major Projects. With regard to the financial data for this period, the Council was currently forecasting a breakeven position. This represented a positive development from the position reported at quarter 2 and was due principally to the improvement in the outturn position for Finance and Corporate Services / Central Cervices. At present, the main overspend pressures on the budget included the Adult Social Care transition (£980k), Children’s Social Care legal costs (£830k) and the temporarily accommodation budget (£750k); these demand costs were currently being met by a centrally held provision of £2m. The overspend on schools budget for 2011/12 continued to be about £1.5m; however agreement had been reached with the Schools Forum to bring the schools budget deficit back into balance by the end of 2014/5.
The Chair thanked the officers for their report and commented that the new format was clearer. He added that for future reports, indicators rated as high risk should be accompanied by a brief outline of the reasons for the rating and a summary of actions planned to address these.
During the subsequent discussion, members raised several issues. The Chair noted that there were several performance indicators for Environment and Neighbourhood Services that had been rated as high risk and in particular, incidences of fly tipping were increasing. He queried whether any action had been taken to address these. Phil Newby advised that the way in which the council was required to report on fly tipping was slightly peculiar as it measured both incidences and enforcement action, with a low figure being desirable for the first measure and a high number for the latter. Information on the actions taken to address the performance indicators rated high risk would be forwarded to the Chair/Committee.
Turning to the performance indicators for Adult Social Care, the Chair sought details of why NI32 and NI33 had been rated as high risk. These indicators related to the timeliness of social care assessments for mental health and the subsequent production of care packages. Phil Newby advised that there was a sizable project in operation seeking to better integrate the NHS and Social Care Services and it was hoped that this would ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
|
One Council Programme PDF 594 KB The report is attached. The One Council Programme Dashboard is attached separately for Members. Minutes: Peter Stachniewski (Head of the One Council Programme) presented a report updating the committee on the operation of the One Council Programme. The aim of this programme was to significantly improve the organisation of the council and delivery of council services. The programme offered a robust framework to support the delivery of change quickly and effectively. The progress of projects was monitored by the One Council Programme Board, which utilised a Red, Amber or Green (RAG) rating system and took an active role in ensuring that any issues or barriers to delivery were addressed. The programme had delivered gross savings of £11.6m in 2010/11 and was forecast to deliver a further £30.2m in 2011/12. The target for total savings over the four year period 2010/11-2014/15 was £90m to £100m.
Peter Stachniewski further explained that there was currently a total of 36 projects within the One Council Programme, 7 of which had been completed and formally closed, 18 were in delivery and a further 11 were in pre-delivery stages. These were a mix of single department, multi-department, cross council and partnership projects. At present, the overall rating for the programme was Amber; however this did not reflect the considerable progress made since the last update had been presented to the committee. This progress included the formal closure of two projects and the movement of several other projects into delivery. Governance across the programme had been reviewed and strengthened and this included the implementation of a revised governance structure for the delivery of the Civic Centre and associated move within which clear lines of ownership and accountability had been established. The pilot of the Environment and Neighbourhood Services Departmental Portfolio Board (DPB) was still in process and was progressing well. DPBs were still required to report to the One Council Programme board but were intended to ensure that greater departmental responsibility and ownership of One Council projects was undertaken. DPBs were designed to oversee single department projects and were required to report regularly to the portfolio co-ordinator. These reports would be copied to the Programme Management Office, which would also receive a subsequent composite report from the departmental management team regarding all projects within the departmental area.
Member’s attention was subsequently drawn to Appendices 1 to 4 which provided further detail in respect of the structure of the Programme (Appendix 1), project end dates (Appendix 2), individual projects, as presented in a dashboard form (Appendix 3), and the progress of current and new projects (Appendix 4). Appendix 2 had been provided at members’ request. With reference to Appendix 3, Irene Bremang (Manager of the Programme Management Office) explained that the programme dashboard provided key information regarding the projects and particularly focussed on changes which had taken place since the last update. The Chair noted that the One Council programme dashboard provided at Appendix 3 was a very useful and commented that it could be improved by the inclusion of project completion dates.
In the subsequent discussion, members raised several issues. Councillor Colwill ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
|
One Council Overview and Scrutiny work programme PDF 63 KB The work programme is attached. Minutes: The Chair noted that the current meeting was the last of the 2011/12 municipal year and suggested that reports on the One Council projects regarding Services for Young People and the Complex Families imitative be brought to a future meeting of the committee. |
|
Date of next meeting The date of the next meeting of the Committee will be confirmed after the annual Council meeting scheduled for 16 May 2012. Minutes: The committee noted that the date of the next meeting would be confirmed following the Annual Council Meeting scheduled for 16 May 2012. |
|
Any other urgent business Notice of items raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Democratic Services Manager or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64. Minutes: None. |