Agenda item

To consider the Quarter 1 2018/19 Council Plan Performance Monitoring Report.

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 81 to 128, which gave details of the 2018/19 Council Plan Performance Monitoring for the first quarter of 2018/19 (April to June).

Louise Griffin, Performance and Programme Management Specialist, attended the meeting to provide additional information and answer Member questions on the report.

The report stated that the performance measures, set out in the annex to the report, were designed to indicate progress in delivering the objectives in the Council Plan. For Quarter 1, 2018/19, the majority of measures were achieving the assigned target. The following performance measures were reported as being “Red” as the quarterly target had not been achieved:

·           EA1i – percentage of Wokingham Borough Local Authority maintained primary schools with a current Ofsted rating of Good or better;

·           EA2 – percentage of children who attend a Wokingham Borough school (primary, secondary or special) which is rated Good or better;

·           EA7 – percentage of infants who received a 6-8 week review by the time they were eight weeks old;

·           EA21 (Annual Measure) – Achievement gap between pupils eligible for Free School Meals and all other pupils achieving a strong pass in English and Maths at GCSE;

·           VP8 – percentage of child protection visits due in the period which were completed on time (within 10 days of the previous visit).

The report provided contextual information for each of the Red indicators and a summary of the work being undertaken to bring each indicator back on track.

The report also gave details of an indicator which was performing well and the actions undertaken to generate the improved performance. The indicator reported in the first Quarter was EA9 – percentage of children who received a 2/2.5 year review as part of the Healthy Child Programme. The 2/2.5 year review aimed to optimise child development and emotional wellbeing and reduce inequalities. Responsibility for these reviews had transferred from NHS England to local authorities in 2015. Public Health England had reported a 12% improvement in the proportion of 2/2.5 year reviews completed in the Borough post-transfer compared to pre-transfer.

The report gave details of proposed measures aimed at making the performance management information available to Members earlier in the reporting process. This would be achieved by publishing the detailed performance data on the Member Intranet pages. This would allow Members to consider specific indicators well in advance of the quarterly discussions at the Committee.

Finally, the report reminded Members about the ongoing work and public engagement to develop a new five year Borough Plan. In order to support the new Plan, commencing in April 2019, a detailed review and consultation process would be conducted in order to establish robust performance measures which would underpin the Plan. Progress on the new Borough Plan would be reported to the Committee at its November meeting.

In the ensuing discussion Members raised the following points:

·           EA1i - Percentage of Wokingham Borough Local Authority maintained primary schools with a current Ofsted rating of “Good” or better.

·           EA2 – Percentage of children who attend a Wokingham Borough school (primary, secondary or special) which is “Good” or better.

What were the reasons behind the “Red” indicators? What was the impact of the more challenging Ofsted inspection regime?

·           R1/R2/R3 – Update on Regeneration Projects: Peach Place, Elms Field and Carnival Pool Phase 2.

Why was the Wokingham town centre Market Place regeneration not included in the list of key regeneration projects?

·           R8 – Number of businesses engaged with on an individual basis.

What type of businesses were engaged with and what did “engagement” entail? Was the Council engaging with business in other towns/cities in order to encourage investment into the Borough?

·           House building rates.

Members would like to see data on house building rates against target across the Borough, including affordable housing, over the past five years.

·           VP8 – Percentage of child protection visits due in the period which were completed on time (within 10 days of the previous visit).

This indicator was reported as “Red” on a regular basis. The national target was 42 days and WBC achieved 85% of visits within 15 days. Was 10 days an achievable (SMART) target or would the indicator continue to be reported as “Red”?

·           In addition to publishing the data on the Members’ Intranet, could the information be published on the Council website to enable greater public scrutiny?

·           Earlier publication of the performance data would enable Members to formulate questions in advance of the Scrutiny Committee meetings and identify specific Officers who could then be invited to attend to provide additional information.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Louise Griffin be thanked for attending the meeting to answer Member questions;

2)     Members receive further information on the specific issues and indicators highlighted at the meeting;

3)     the proposal to publish the performance management data on the Member Intranet pages be supported;

4)     Officers give further consideration to publishing the detailed performance management reports on the Council’s website.