Invitees:

 

All Members of the Cabinet and Corporate Management Board

All Overview and Scrutiny Committee Chairs

Randal Hemingway, Head of Finance

Lee Jones, Head of Regulatory and Partnership Services

Yuan Shen, Corporate Performance, Partnership and Transformation Manager

 

Chief Executives (including Resources Directorate)

 

The Chairperson invited the Chief Executive and the Head of Finance & S151 Officer to the meeting.

 

The Chief Executive confirmed that the report provided the Committee with an overview of the Council’s performance in 2015-16, compared with its commitments to delivering the Improvement Priorities in the Corporate Plan for 2013-17. He added that the report also provided the Committee with an update on the financial position as at year end 31 March 2016.

 

Members questioned the Corporate Reserves of the Authority that included the Major Claims Reserve and the Change Fund.

 

The Head of Finance and S151 Officer referred Members to page 130/131 of the report and the table entitled Moment in Reserves 2015/16. This he stated, reflected a full breakdown of the total movement regarding earmarked reserves as at 31 March 2016. As the report suggested, he confirmed that the remaining under spend of £154k had been transferred to the Council Fund.

 

A Member also referred to the above table, and the Directorate Reserves for Looked After Children (LAC) which showed no Expenditure or Additions having occurred in 2015-16, therefore outlining a closing balance of £824k as at 31 March 2016. She asked if Officers could expand upon this information.

 

The Head of Finance and S151 Officer, explained that at the start of the last financial year £824k of Reserves had been allocated to this service area, as historically, this degree of budget allocation was required to support LAC. However, due to the Directorates overall performance in terms of savings it had to make under the MTFS, there had been no requirement to draw upon this allocated funding. Therefore, it was not considered that there was a necessity to add to this estimated earmarked reserve for the coming financial year.

 

A Member making reference to the same table, referred to the expenditure incurred for 2015/16 in respect of the Major Claims Reserve, ie £3,162m. He asked what this had been spent on.

 

The Head of Finance and S151 Officer confirmed that he would obtain this information and come back to the Member outside of the meeting.

 

A Member referred to page 138 of the report and the High Risks for 2015-16. He noted that the risk of Disposing of Waste was fairly low, and he thought that this should be a higher risk, given that the Authority were going out to tender for Waste Management next year.

 

The Chief Executive confirmed that there was a meeting of Senior Management team next week, where a review of the Council’s Corporate Risks would be discussed on a Directorate by Directorate basis. He added that the risk that the Member was probably referring to, was MREC and the Residual Waste Contract. He added that these were existing risks and that risks such as these were covered corporately as they were the most important risks of the Authority. Due to this, they were specifically included as part of the Council’s Corporate Risk Register.

 

A Member referred to page 143 of the report and the number of working days per full time equivalent lost due to sickness absence (Resources), and noted that this was worse in the current year than it was last year, when BCBC were the 17th worst Authority out of the 21 in Wales for levels of sickness absence.

 

Communities Directorate    

 

The Corporate Director Communities noted that most of the Directorates business objectives were met last year, however, he was concerned regarding the extent of reduction in resources the Directorate had faced the last few years, and would continue to face in the short/medium term future. This was due to the fact that these budget reductions were having a detrimental impact in terms of front line services that the Directorate had to provide. Due to the way the Communities budget was handled however, effective services were still being provided albeit in a different way than had previously been the case. He  advised that the challenges the Directorate were facing were very much likely to continue for the next few years, and in all probability would become worse before they came better.

 

A Member referred to page 181 of the report and the underperforming indicator in terms of the percentage of total length of Rights of Way that were easy to access by members of the public. He was aware that there was a fairly high ratio of staff in this Section of the Directorate when compared to similar divisions in other neighbouring authorities, and considered that more Rights of Way above the 69% currently in operation should be accessible to the public and walking groups, such as the Rambler’s Association.

 

The Corporate Director Communities confirmed that wherever possible he and his Management team looked to improve performance indicators affecting different service areas of the Directorate, even in the face of continuing challenges. There had however been a reduction in staffing in the Rights of Way Section through employees retiring and/or leaving the Authority for jobs elsewhere, and due to cuts that had to be made, the staffing compliment had been reduced in this Section. The Sections work also involved interaction with the Council’s legal department, and some of this support work was chargeable. He had considered that this particular Performance Indicator though important, was less important than certain other frontline services provided by Communities and, in view of the fact that he was now relying on a budget of 40% less than had previously been the case, he could not maintain an improvement in P.I.’s in all areas. He also needed to ensure P.I.’s were maintained and where possible improved upon in areas where members of the public were complaining. These often led to Councillors referrals being made. These service areas were primarily grass cutting, highway maintenance and street cleaning, etc, public facing services.

 

The Member whilst appreciating the above, reminded Invitees that there was also a statutory obligation to provide and maintain public Rights of Ways as footpaths available to the public. These provided scenic walks for the public and if the public were restricted from using these, then it could be seen as having a detrimental effect upon their health and wellbeing.

 

The Corporate Director Communities assured Members that the Directorate were being as proactive as they possibly could to maintain public footpaths in order that they could be accessed by the public. However, he added that as in most other services that were provided by the local authority, these could not be provided to the same level as they had been previously, as the Council’s budget was dwindling year on year. Due to this, most services it provided were suffering to some degree or another, and maintenance of Rights of Way were no exception in this regard. He added also, that there was a considerable amount of “deskwork” involved with issues relating to Rights of Way including the serving of legal notices and the making of Orders, which as well as being time consuming also involved work being undertaken by the Legal Department in respect of the drafting of these legal documents.

 

A Member referred to page 185 of the report and a performance indicator (P.I.) that had dipped in terms of previous performance in this area of work, ie that the average number of calendar days to deliver a Disabled Facilities Grant for children and young people was taking longer than previously was the case. He asked if this was due to ongoing problems being experienced with regard to OT Assessments.

 

The Corporate Director Communities advised that this area of work had transferred from his Directorate to the Operational and Partnership Services Directorate. The main problem associated with this P.I., was that there had been a backlog of work that had accumulated in this area due to staffing limitations, coupled with an increase in OT Assessments. Staff were working hard however to clear this, and he was hopeful that the P.I. would improve in the future.

 

The Chief Executive added that the P.I. was also measured in an unconventional way in that it commenced from the date when the work was applied for, but did not end until the grant was actually signed off. The P.I. was also hindered by the fact that different areas of this work was covered by different Directorates, which affected continuity of the work as well as complete ownership of the P.I. The P.I. would also be affected if individuals who had secured a grant did not subsequently undertake the work.

 

A Member asked why there had been an overspend in respect of the Bridgend bus station.

 

The Corporate Director Communities confirmed that he would find out the reason for this, and come back to the Member outside of the meeting.

 

Education and Family Support

 

The Group Manager Business, Strategy and Performance explained that in terms of performance the report reflected a very positive picture overall with various P.I.’s mostly being on track, and this had been the trend the last few years. The RAG status confirmed that 23 of the traffic light symbols were showing green with only 8 showing red (not currently on target). In respect of the Education Department, some very challenging targets had been set through the Central South Consortia, and though some of these were showing as red, this category of P.I.’s had improved from previous periods.

 

A Member referred to page 159 of the report and one P.I. that was showing red, ie to provide 14 – 19 year olds with the advice they need to ensure they engage in the right type of qualification for them. She noted that this P.I. had failed as the commitment to it had now been cancelled. She asked the Officer to expand upon the reasons for this.

 

The Group Manager Business, Strategy and Performance expanded upon the comment shown in the report next to the P.I., confirming that the commitment had been cancelled as WEST (Wales Essential Skills Toolkit) implementation was now being pursued at a local rather than national level, through the Minister’s priorities for 2016-17. As a result of this change, the Directorate would now include appropriate activities in its 2016-17 Business Plan. Implementation of this activity had been provided locally/regionally with variable success across Wales, and this was one of the reasons why the implementation was now being taken forward at a national level.

 

The Deputy Leader advised that one of the difficulties secondary schools had faced in terms of giving career advice and guidance to pupils, was that  they had previously relied on support from ‘Careers Wales’ a Welsh Government organisation who assisted them significantly by providing this added support. However, Careers Wales had been affected by budget cuts, and schools now had to provide this information to pupils themselves. Schools were therefore working with Careers Wales to train staff at schools to be better equipped to provide this specialist advice in the future.

 

A Member noted that levels of sickness absence in the Directorate were not very good, and that up to 63% of Return to Work Interviews for staff that came back to work after a period of absence were not completed. He added that this statistic was worse in schools.

 

The Deputy Leader confirmed that he would look into this further, though he added that sickness absence levels across all service areas in the Authority needed to be addressed with a view to improving current levels. He would raise this issue in schools through their Head teachers and School Governing bodies.

 

The Group Manager Business, Strategy and Performance confirmed that management in the Directorate worked proactively to look to improve both sickness absence levels and the completion of Return to Work interviews, and all Managers were being challenged to securing these improvements. This included putting effective support mechanisms in place to encourage staff to return to work after a period of sickness absence sooner rather than later, wherever this was possible. Managers were also looking at certain “hotspot” areas of the Directorate where sickness absence levels were higher than others. Managers were also adopting more consistency in terms of dealing effectively with absence than had previously been the case, in order to tackle the problem by adopting an approach that was consistent (and fair) across all Sections of the Department. With regard to schools, the day to day responsibility in respect of sickness absence was primarily the responsibility of the Head teacher and the School’s Governing Body. Schools were also governed by the Local Authority’s Sickness Absence Policy, and they were required to ensure that the protocols and provisions of this Policy were complied with.

 

The Chief Executive added that the Council’s CPA were examining ways within which Return to Work interviews were undertaken consistently across the whole of the Authority. There wasn’t any protocol in place however, that could effectively measure the quality of Return to Work interviews by the Manager who was responsible for the employee who had been absent from work due to being unwell. He added that schools were autonomous to a degree, in that they operated externally to other service areas of the Council. Notwithstanding this though, he periodically contacted all schools to ensure that Return to Work interviews were carried out.

 

The Deputy Leader advised Committee that he would also link in with schools to ensure that they are once more reminded of their obligations in relation to sickness management, and also advise them that they need to put adequate procedures in place that will look to achieve an improvement in sickness absence statistics. He acknowledged that sickness absence in schools could be improved upon, but added that the percentage of absenteeism in the Wellbeing Directorate was currently worse than in schools.

 

A Member referred to page 165 of the report and the P.I. relating to the percentage of final statements of special education need issued within 26 weeks (EDU015a) which was showing red on the RAG status, ie target not having been reached, as the percentage was 81.7% actual with the target for 2015-16 having been set at 100%. She asked why this P.I. target had been set so high.

 

The Group Manager Business, Strategy and Performance confirmed that this P.I. target was very aspirational and never likely to be fully met. The reason for this, was that it included all cases processed including those where a valid exception to the 26 week timescale applied. A truer measure of the success of activities relating to this P.I. was given by EDU015b, a related P.I. also shown at page 165 of the report. The current 100% performance for this PI was identified as being a testament to the work of the Education and Family Support Directorate to ensure all statements without valid exceptions are delivered within 26 weeks. 

 

A Member added that the welsh average for this P.I. last year was 64.5%, so therefore the Education Department were certainly not underperforming in terms of this P.I.

 

A Member noted from page 175 of the report that that there had been an overspend in the financial year 2015/16 regarding Coety/Parc Derwen Primary School, and she asked Invitees to explain the reason for this.

 

The Deputy Leader advised that he was not fully aware of the situation regarding this, in that it may be a case of a slippage and overspend or just a modest overspend. He was sure however, that there were no major issues in respect of this particular project. He assured Members that he would look into this issue however, and in turn come back to all Committee Members outside of the meeting. He was aware that the school itself was showing a deficit position, which was due to the fact that it was still growing in terms of its capacity due to its catchment area increasing in size. When the school had reached full capacity, the Deputy Leader stated that this will be reflected in the School’s budget which will be more balanced and stable than perhaps now was the case.

 

Social Services and Wellbeing

 

A Member referred to page 195 of the report, and the last paragraph on that page, ie at year end Adult Social Care had showed an underspend of £648k, Children’s Social Care an overspend of £433k and Sport Play and Active Wellbeing an overspend of £39k, leaving a total underspend of £186k for the Directorate. She asked the Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing if she could expand upon this any further.

 

The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing advised that at the end of the last financial year, the Directorate had an overall underspend of £186k. She confirmed that the major overspend of £433k was due to the fact that further placements had been required in respect of Looked After Children (LAC). Despite there also being a slight overspend in another area of the Directorate, this was off-set by the larger underspend also. The overall total of underspend of £186k however, did not remain within the Directorate but was instead committed to the Corporate budget held centrally.

 

A Member wished to point out to the Invitees, that the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate was the worst Directorate of the Council for managing staff sickness absence as reflected on page 59 of the report, with a target of 11.30 days per full time employee (FTE) in 2015/16, and an actual for this period of 18.63 days per FTE. He also added that the only Directorates in the Council showing an improvement in terms of sickness absence from last year were Communities and Resources. The Directorate also had the worst percentage of Return to Work forms not being completed, which was double the figure of some of the other Directorates. He suggested that an improvement was required in respect of both these work areas.

 

The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing accepted that sickness absence was too high in her Directorate, and she was actively looking to improve this with assistance from her Heads of Service and Managers linking in with the Human Resources Department to look at ways to improve the current situation. Cases of long term sickness absence were being concentrated upon in particular she explained, with a view to also reducing the number of these cases. She added that the Directorate were improving with regard to adhering to the sickness absence policies and procedures of the Council, including regular Return to Work interviews now being carried out, with the quality of these also being monitored.

 

The Chief Executive advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee obviously wished, as part of its role, to look at outcomes and achievements and to that end, a clearer picture would emerge later this year when a benchmarking exercise would be undertaken, examining how BCBC compared with certain other local authorities in Wales in respect of levels of sickness absence.

 

He added that the report before Members in respect of the Council’s performance against its commitments gave for positive reading overall though, as the assessment it had received from the Wales Audit Office in terms of its performance in 2015-16 had been very good. He stated that he would welcome any interest shown by Members in attending Directorates Performance Management meetings, in order to see how performance data was collated and established.

 

The Cabinet Member Resources closed the debate on this item, by acknowledging that the collation of information to form P.I.’s was obviously important, as if you did not look at methods of measuring performance then you would not become aware how you were comparing with other like organisations, resulting in there being a lack of information to gauge whether or not an organisation was improving (ie in comparison to others). He reminded Members that the Council’s budget had decreased by £34m in the last 4 years, however, notwithstanding this, the Authority were still aspiring to not just setting but also improving its targets. External assessments such as those given by the Wales Audit Office, confirmed that practices and processes in the Authority were sound, and that its finances were also fit for purpose. Sickness absence was difficult to manage, particularly in large organisations such as local authorities. He was confident when the appropriate comparable data became available, that there would not be a great deal of difference between levels of sickness absence in local authorities across Wales.

 

Operational and Partnership Services

 

As there were no questions in respect of the report relating to the above Directorate, the Invitees were not summoned before the meeting.

 

As this concluded the debate on this item, the Chairperson thanked all the Invitees for attending in turn to speak on their section of the report.

 

Conclusions:   

 

1.    The Committee requested that they receive a copy of the Major Claims reserve assessment in order to understand what the money is being set aside for.

 

2.    Members also asked for a breakdown of the expenditure in the Major Claims budget of £3.1m.

 

Communities

 

3.    The Committee expressed concern over the Performance Indicator for the percentage of length of Rights of Way that are ‘easy to use’, as well as the comments regarding staffing issues in this section.  The Committee requested further information on the current staffing numbers within Public Rights of Way against the number of Km of paths that they have responsibility for in the County Borough.

 

4.    The Committee asked for the latest figures associated with grass cutting in the County Borough.

 

5.    The Committee asked for further explanation of the £50,000 overspend reported for Bridgend Bus Station.

 

6.    The Committee expressed concern over the apparent acceptance of issues associated with waste collection services when a contract was nearing its end.  The Committee stressed that whilst the contract was still in place, the obligations of the contract should be maintained.

 

Education

 

7.      In relation to the performance indicator EDU015a, the Committee commented on the target being unachievable.  Whilst recognising the need to be aspirational, Members questioned the purpose of having an unreachable target.  The Committee recommended that the target be revised to a more achievable, realistic, whilst still aspirational, target given that performance is never going to reach 100%.

 

8.      The Committee requested further explanation of the £93,000 overspend that has been spent on Coety/Parc Derwen Primary School.

 

      Social Services and Wellbeing

 

9.      The Committee reiterated their concerns over the level of Sickness Absence within the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate, recommending specific focus to this service area with particular attention to how it is being managed and ensuring Return to Work forms are completed and returned.