Agenda item

To receive and consider a report giving details of key performance indicators.

The Committee received the Children’s Services Performance Indicators report which was set out in agenda pages 13-22.  The Chair invited Members to comment and raise questions.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·           Councillor Younis was interested to understand the criteria for selecting the indicators;

·           Judith Ramsden explained that some indicators were set nationally and others were local targets set by the senior leadership team.  She informed that there was now an opportunity to update the indicators, discussions had already started at Executive Briefing;

·           Judith Ramsden believed that the Committee had been provided the rationale behind the selection of indicators in previous meetings.  Members felt that it would be useful to include a brief explanatory note in the report;

·           Members agreed that it would be useful to differentiate between national and local targets in future reports;

·           Councillor Younis was curious to know how often the targets were reviewed and how they linked to the 21 Century Council;

·           Judith Ramsden stated that it was important to set targets and to allow time to analyse the statistics.  She explained that much more detailed information was available to the leadership team and these information was used to understand the local needs.  She offered to bring an explanation about the target setting to enable the Committee to consider it;

·           In response to a question Lisa Humphreys, Head of Social Care and Intervention informed that in relation to Social Care, real time information was already available.  The system was refreshed on a 12 hour cycle, accurate information was obtainable anytime, this was not linked to 21^st Century Council programme;

·           Officers recognised that the information contained in the Key Performance Indicators reports was produced quarterly and therefore it was not always the most recent set of data being presented to the Committee.  It was suggested that the in the future, meetings should be scheduled to coincide with the production of quarterly data to enable the Committee to analyse the most recent set of data;

·           Councillor Miall expressed concern over the %Child Protection visits due in the period that were on time (within 10 days of the previous visit) indicator.  Lisa Humphreys explained that the statutory duty was 42 days, but the local target was 10 days.  Members were informed that part of the reason this indicator was ‘red’ was due to Social Workers having difficulty accessing the children, this related to two families.  Members were assured that all appropriate and proportionate steps were being taken to safeguard the children in accordance with the level of risk and the children’s plan.  Lisa explained that Social Workers did not have a legal right to see the children without parental consent, therefore sometimes a visit may have taken place but if the child was not seen by the Social Worker, this visit could not count as a CP visit.  Lisa assured Members that the children were well protected and that clear guidelines were followed;

·           Lisa sated that with regards to referrals, following a notification, in the majority of cases a visit was undertaken within two to three hours, the requirement in law was for 24 hours;

·           Councillor Miall sought clarification on the Local Authority’s responsibility in relation to children from neighbouring authorities who moved into Wokingham.  Lisa Humphreys stated that this depended on the arrangement and where the referral had been generated.  Usually the authority were the child lived remained responsible even when the child had to be placed with different authority.  If the family moved and the child was subject to a child protection order, there would be an arrangement to move the responsibility;

·           Councillor Blumenthal questioned why Care Leavers were included in the Permanency 1 indicator.  Lisa Humphreys explained that there had been much debate amongst Officers to try and cut the data in different ways.  However, because this related to such small numbers, it was very difficult to cut the data differently;

·           Judith Ramsden stated that it was important to have continuity of indicators to enable its analysis over a period of time. The regulator should be able to see the performance and the narrative would give a more rounded view, where ‘red’ was identified this meant the service was curious about it and looking to promote improvement;

·           Members noted the achievement of an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating by one of the primary schools and asked that a letter of congratulations be sent to the school;

·           In response to a question Jane Winterbone informed that it was expected that Northern House would be inspected sometime in the next two years.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Future meetings of Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be scheduled to coincide with the production of the key performance indicators quarterly reports;

2)     An explanatory note about the criteria used for setting key performance indicators will be included in future reports and the indicators will be marked ‘national’ or ‘local’ and

3)     The report be noted.