CHESHIRE WEST AND CHESTER REPORT TO CABINET
Date: 28 November 2018
Report Of: Laurence Ainsworth, Director of Public Service Reform
Cabinet Member: Councillor Louise Gittins, Deputy Leader
Title: 2018-19 Mid-Year Review of Council Plan Performance
1. What is this Report About?
1.1 This report is a review of progress against the Council’s priorities for the first six months of the 2018-2019 financial year and includes data about performance measures and the associated actions.
1.2 This report should be considered alongside the mid-year review of financial performance report that is also included on the Cabinet agenda.
2. Recommendations:
1. To review the performance information relating to the Council’s ten priorities at mid- year 2018-19 (Appendices One, Two and Three). 2. To endorse actions planned for tackling areas of underperformance relating to Key Performance Indicators and areas of significant challenge (Appendix Four).
3. Reasons for the Recommendations
3.1 To ensure the Council is producing performance information which enables the Cabinet, Scrutiny, wider Members and the public to be assured that their priorities are on track for delivery and that any issues are being addressed.
4. Report Details
4.1 The Council Plan - Helping the Borough Thrive – sets out the 10 priorities of the organisation for the four year period 2016-20. The detail around work being undertaken to meet these 10 priorities is found within 10 individual outcome plans that set out the performance measures. Collectively, the ten plans include 162 indicators with 267 supporting actions.
4.2 2016-17 was the first year of monitoring performance within the framework. To provide assurance about the robustness of the approach, the Cheshire West and Chester Overview and Scrutiny Committee formed a task group to review the framework. As well as ensuring that its recommendations were implemented, there was additional learning regarding the level of detail that should be reported to Directors and Elected Members at the end of each quarter. To this end, it was agreed by Scrutiny Members and Cabinet that the Quarter One and Quarter Three reports are ‘by exception’, reporting on the ‘Red’ indicators from the previous quarter, with a full review of measures conducted at Quarter Two and Quarter Four, for mid-term and year-end reporting respectively.
4.3 The Performance Management Framework was designed to be kept under continual review to ensure that measures adhere to best practice principles of performance management. Following the 17-18 financial year, in order to update the framework, a review process took place in parallel with the Quarter One 18-19 report. Proposed changes from the refresh were discussed and shared with Members of the three Scrutiny Committees. A number of Scrutiny Members commented on the timings of adjustments and suggested any changes to targets should happen earlier in the year. This feedback was valued and reinforces why Scrutiny Members were briefed in advance of publishing changes. With this feedback in mind it was agreed by Cabinet that changes should only be revisited once the full performance year is complete. 1
4.4 Future proposed changes will be revisited as part of the end of year report so appropriate indicators are in place for the next financial year. This process will ensure that the performance framework remains fit for purpose.
4.5 2018-19 Mid-Year Review of Performance against the Ten Priorities
4.6 As the Council’s priorities cover a four-year period 2016-2020, a wealth of information is collected to track progress. This report provides a full analysis of the latest available performance information for Quarter 2, 2018-19 across all available performance indicators and the corresponding action milestones in the six months to September 30 2018.
4.7 A summary of performance is included in Appendix One and a more detailed analysis for each priority is included in Appendix Two. An online performance dashboard (www.performancecheshirewest.co.uk) will be available on the date of publication of Cabinet papers to illustrate the information in this report.
4.8 Performance Indicators: Overall Reported Mid-Year Status
4.9 The table below provides an overview of: the overall status of indicators, the direction of travel for all indicators (i.e. whether there is positive progress being made since previous reporting), and the key performance indicator status.
Category Total Green Amber Red M
Overall Status (Latest Available 58 12 32 N/A 102 Data) (56.9%) (11.8%) (31.4%)
Overall Status 58 12 32 60 Including ‘M’. 162 (35.8%) (7.4%) (19.8%) (37%)
1 For technical reasons, however, three indicators will be removed which are no longer possible to measure. Two relate to unemployment where changes due to the introduction of universal credit mean the previous indicators relating to out of work benefits were no longer possible to measure, and the third is a cycling indicator that is no longer measured by central government. It is also not possible to achieve the original Ofsted primary school measure due to the changes in the schedule of school inspections, so data will be reported but the indicator will not be given a rating in 2018-19.
Overall Direction of Travel (Latest 111 59 25 27 N/A Available Data) (53.2%) (22.5%) (24.3%)
Key Performance 36 Indicator Status 17 4 15 (56 including N/A (Latest Available (47.2%) (11.1%) (41.7%) M) Data)
4.10 Looking at the measures reporting a status (Green, Amber or Red) at the end of Quarter 2, of which there were 102 indicators, overall a mixed level of performance can be reported. Over half (56.9%) of indicators that are reporting latest data are reporting ‘Green’ status, meaning they are on-target. An Amber status has been achieved for 12 measures (11.8%). Amber is applied if the target has almost been reached – this is defined as being within 5% of the agreed target. If the target has not been met by more than 5%, the status assigned is Red. Approximately a third, 32 - (31.4%) of these indicators are reporting ‘Red’ status, which indicates that they are not currently on-track to meet their target. Indicators are also tracked regarding their direction of travel since they were last recorded, Green indicates improving performance, Amber represents maintained performance, while Red represents declining performance. 111 indicators have reported direction of travel at mid-year, with 59 (53.2%) of indicators improving performance, 25 (22.5%) maintaining prior performance, and 27 (24.3%) declining in performance.
4.11 It was agreed in 2016 at the launch of this performance management process that a smaller number of Key Performance Indicators (‘KPIs’) from the full suite be identified for further analysis. The table below illustrates the performance of these 56 priority measures. Looking at the Key Performance Indicators, 47.2% of these measures report as ‘Green’, and a higher proportion are reporting ‘Red’ status at mid-year than found overall, at 41.7%. This is displayed in the table below.
4.12 There are 60 indicators which are rated as ‘M’ (“in measurement”) where data is not currently available. This recognises measures that either report annually or do not have updated data to report this Quarter. In line with the agreed Performance Management Framework, the approach is that any indicators that cannot be reported against at the end of the Quarter in terms of Red, Amber or Green are given ‘M’ status. Analysis of overall data including indicators in measurement is included in the table below.
4.13 The complete list of performance indicators and their current status can be found within Appendix Three of this report, while full details can be found alongside the wider performance dashboard online.
4.14 Areas of Positive Performance
4.15 Analysis has been undertaken to identify areas of positive performance within the performance management framework. The six indicators in the table below are derived from the two areas of most positive performance in the Council’s three directorates, based on extent to which the Quarter Two report has exceeded (or is on track to exceed) the year-end target.
Indicator Direction of Directorate Performance Target Status Description Travel Increase Parent/Carer satisfaction with the Maintained 100% 80% Green final SEND Education Performance People Heath and Care Plan (Adult (EHCP) Services, Increase the Children’s proportion of children Services, who are prevented Public from becoming Maintained Health) 92.3% 77% Green looked after (not in Performance care six months after Edge of Care has completed) Delivery of approved Improving 90% 90% Green capital programme Performance Improved service Corporate availability, a defined Services suite of ICT services Maintained 99.5% 99.5% Green and applications, Performance availability within agreed service hours Number of new homes delivered (net 2,542.0 1,100 Improving dwellings per annum) (2017-18 (17-18 Green Performance – 6 month time lag on Performance) Target) publication. 2 Places Maintain household Services waste at appropriate levels, measured by Improving 110.7 480.0 Green the residual waste per Performance household in kilograms
Other examples of positive performance include: • Children in Need: The rate of children in need is now ‘Green’ at 291 per 10,000, against a target of 310, and has improved significantly since Quarter Four 17-18, when it stood at 322.8 per 10,000. This represents better performance than the Council’s statistical neighbours. • Recycling performance remains exceptionally high. The proportion of waste that is diverted from landfill through recycling or treatment stands at 100%, an increase of 2% from performance at the end of Quarter Four 17/18. The Council was recognised as having the fourth highest rate of recycling in the country in figures recently released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). • Cheshire West and Chester continues to benefit from high employment, 3% of residents are unemployed, a reduction of 0.8% from Quarter Four 17/18.
2 This figure relates to full-year performance on new homes delivered during 2017-18. This data is collected via a survey of developers and did not report until June 2018, and therefore could not be reported as part of the Quarter Four 2017-18 report. As such, this is now being reported in the first full performance report of 2018-19. • 806 new businesses have been supported by the Council’s Economic Growth service, against a target of 480 for 2018/19. • The number of empty homes brought back into use is on track to significantly exceed the full- year target, demonstrating excellent performance. 154 homes have been brought back into use in the first six months of 2018-19, compared to a full-year target of 190. • The Council has performed well to deliver 361 affordable new homes in the first six months of 2018-19, against a full-year target of 250.
4.16 Areas of significant challenge:
Analysis has been undertaken to identify areas of significant challenge within the performance management framework. These six indicators are derived from the two most significant areas of challenge in the Council’s three directorates, based on the Quarter 2 actual result’s distance from the year-end target3.
18/19 Direction of Additional Directorate Indicator Description Q2 18/19 Status 4 Target Travel Context Reduce the proportion of The Council has People referrals to children’s performed better (Adult social care that are Maintained regional, national and 20.8% 16.0% Red Services, within 12 months of a Performance statistical Children’s previous referral comparators. Services, Public Increase the number of The prevalence of e- Health) people engaging with cigarettes has led to smoking cessation a structural shift in Declining services in CWaC who 193 1,330 Red how people are Performance successfully quit choosing to quit smoking. smoking, measured at 4 weeks Improved timeliness of Both measures have provision of high-level demonstrated Improving estimates (ICT Projects), 58% 75% Red improved Performance proportion responded to performance in within 5 working days Quarter Two from Quarter One. Corporate Services ICT Shared Service Proportion of (ICT) Improving Senior Management projects delivered to the 40% 75% Red Performance Team is meeting agreed milestones monthly to monitor and support improvements. Number of households There are action
in temporary Declining plans available in Places 75 45 Red accommodation per Performance Appendix Four Services quarter (snapshot) identifying the
3 This method also adjusts for Indicators which are cumulative, and for measures which are impacted by data quality issues or significant changes to national definitions; red templates are available for these indicators, specifically, the number of Homeless Preventions and the Number of Carers supported in Appendix Four. The measure regarding the number of carers supported is particularly impacted by data quality issues and there is a plan to resolve this outlined in the action plan in appendix four. 4 A brief summary of available context derived from the Action Plans (Appendix Four) relating to these measures. increased levels of Rough sleeping estimate complexity in cases (annual snapshot of the being presented, Declining alongside a national number of individuals 31 5 Red Performance picture of increasing sleeping rough on a demand on given night) homelessness services.
4.17 Action plans setting out how the issues outlined above will be addressed are included in Appendix Four alongside the other Red indicators. While the Council has agreed all the measures that are included within the outcome plans and in this report, it is not solely or wholly responsible for the delivery of each performance measure and action milestone. In many cases these are delivered across multi-agency partnership arrangements. The Council is a key part of these arrangements however, and acts as an enabler for the delivery of the outcomes as set out within the outcome plans and across the agreed performance management framework.
4.18 Progress against actions and milestones
4.19 Within the ten outcome plans there are 267 specific actions with identified leads and timescales, which link to the performance indicators. Analysis shows that a significant majority of actions have been initiated and remain on target for completion by the deadline set over the next two years. The Outcome Plans look to provide a balance of actions across each year to 2020, but naturally have a particular focus on the shorter and medium term and so it is to be expected that many of the milestones will have at least been initiated.
4.20 Over 80% of actions have are on-track for delivery, or have been delivered at mid-year 2018-19. These are all actions that are on-track or have been delivered in that time. Actions delivered during 2017-18 having been removed from the plans. A number of actions are planned to start in a future quarter in advance of 2020. 6% of actions are classed as beginning in a future quarter.
4.21 Less than 15% of actions overall have required re-phasing in terms of their timescale for completion since the plans were agreed. These are shared across the outcome plans and are outlined in more detail under Appendix Two of this report.
4.22 Looking forward through the rest of 2018-19:
4.23 The ten outcome plans set out the main areas of focus for the Council through to 2020 and key actions for the years ahead include:
• The second Poverty Truth Commission will be formally launched in January 2019 at the Storyhouse. There will be a greater focus on young people’s perspective in the second Poverty Truth Commission, and work on this is already underway with Winsford Academy. • The development of robust apprenticeship training support for care leavers will continue, in partnership with Spectra First. • Work will continue to close the gap between the attainment of children receiving free school meals and those who do not. This priority, which will support improved social mobility and life chances for young people, is taken forward via the Strategic School Improvement Fund grant and reserve funded projects to implement new approaches to support the Closing the Gap strategy. • The implementation of digital channel shift across Council services to improve the accessibility of services. • Chester HQ building will be occupied by new tenants to achieve savings and improve the utilisation of the corporate estate, and supporting the roll out of Flexible Mobile Working across the Council. • In Adult Social Care, an assets-based approach, which considers resident’s strengths rather than working from a ‘needs-led’ model of social care assessment, will be rolled out across services for vulnerable adults as part of packages of care. • A partnership approach to tackling childhood obesity will be further developed, alongside a range of initiatives supported to improve children’s health and wellbeing.
5. Feedback from Cheshire West and Chester Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
5.1 The report was received by Cheshire West and Chester Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13 November 2018. The recommendations of the report are included at Appendix Six. Taking on board the recommendations, additional clarification has been added to table 4.15 regarding the new homes delivered indicator, and further information has been added to the Park and Ride, and IT project delivery action plans in Appendix Four. Furthermore, the Council can report that comparator data is captured for 46 of the 162 indicators, and is included in the action plans in Appendix Four where available.
6. How does the decision contribute to the Council’s Plan?
6.1 The decision provides data to track progress against Council Plan Priorities and related outcome plans across 2018-19.
7. How does the decision contribute to closer working with Partners?
7.1 This performance management framework and outcomes monitoring report reflects a number of shared priorities, joint actions and measures of success held in common with key partners such as the NHS and Police.
8. What will it cost?
8.1 There are no direct costs arising from this report, although performance against annual priorities informs budget planning.
9. What are the legal aspects?
9.1 There are no direct legal aspects. Local Authorities have a duty to demonstrate Best Value and the Council Plan performance management framework is line with this legislation.
10. What risks are there and how can they be reduced?
10.1 Due to the large number of information and plan owners involved, there are risks that data and indicators are not collected consistently across the outcome plans and vary in quality and accuracy. The Insight & Intelligence function has recently conducted a data quality exercise to further increase the reliability and rigour of data collection, and continue to explore additional systems to improve the data collection process, reduce duplication and improve data quality.
11. What is the impact of the report on Health Inequalities and Equality and Diversity issues?
11.1 The performance information links to the Council’s vision to tackle disadvantage and to support the Borough to thrive. A number of indicators are about measuring the gap in outcomes between more and less disadvantaged groups and geographies.
For further information:
Cabinet Member: Councillor Louise Gittins, Deputy Leader Officer: Laurence Ainsworth, Director of Public Service Reform Tel No: 01244 977147 Email: [email protected] APPENDIX ONE: OVERVIEW OF COUNCIL PLAN PERFORMANCE:
This appendix has been designed to present a summary of the current performance against the ten priorities in the Council Plan and related ten Outcome Plans. This includes the following information: • Performance against all measures contained within each Outcome Plan. • Performance against the Priority ‘Key Performance Indicators’. • The progress of performance as a Direction of Travel.
1.0 Outcome Reporting: (All Performance Measures): The table below illustrates the performance of all ten outcome plans against performance measures.
Number of Overall Overall Overall Overall Outcome Plan performance performance performance – performance - performance
measures – Green Amber Red - M All of our families, children and young people are 1 18 9 2 6 1 supported to get the best start in life. People are well educated, skilled and earn a 2 16 0 3 1 12 decent living. Vulnerable adults and children feel safe and are 3 18 7 2 6 3 protected. Older people and vulnerable adults are 4 compassionately supported to lead fulfilled and 17 4 2 5 6 independent lives. Vibrant and healthy communities with inclusive 5 20 10 1 1 8 leisure, heritage and culture opportunities. Cleanest, safest and most sustainable 6 17 5 0 0 12 neighbourhoods in the country. Good quality and affordable housing that meets 7 15 7 1 6 1 the needs of our diverse communities. 8 A well connected and accessible borough. 13 3 1 2 7 9 A great place to do business. 14 8 0 2 4 Our resources are well managed and reflect the 10 14 5 0 3 6 priorities of our residents. Total: 162 58 12 32 60 Percentage: 100% 35.8% 7.4% 19.8% 37.0%
2.0 Outcome Reporting: (Key Performance Indicators): The table below illustrates the Performance of the Outcome Plans against the key performance indicators.
Overall Overall Overall Overall Number of Outcome Plan performance - performance – performance - performance KPIs Green Amber Red - M All of our families, children and young people 1 4 3 0 1 0 are supported to get the best start in life. People are well educated, skilled and earn a 2 8 0 1 1 6 decent living. Vulnerable adults and children feel safe and are 3 4 1 0 3 0 protected. Older people and vulnerable adults are 4 compassionately supported to lead fulfilled and 6 0 2 4 0 independent lives.
Vibrant and healthy communities with inclusive 5 4 2 0 0 2 leisure, heritage and culture opportunities.
Cleanest, safest and most sustainable 6 6 2 0 0 4 neighbourhoods in the country. Good quality and affordable housing that meets 7 8 4 0 4 0 the needs of our diverse communities. 8 A well connected and accessible borough. 8 2 1 1 4
9 A Great Place to do Business. 4 2 0 0 2
Our resources are well managed and reflect the 10 4 1 0 1 2 priorities of our residents. Total: 56 17 4 15 20 Percentage: 100% 30.4% 7.1% 26.8% 35.7%
Further information on performance against the Council’s priorities can be found on the Council’s online dashboard: www.performancecheshirewest.co.uk
3.0 Outcome Reporting: (Direction of Travel): The table below shows how many measures are performing better or worse than the baseline contained in the Outcome Plan.
Number of Improved Maintained Declining Plan Title M outcomes Performance Performance Performance 1 All of our families, children and young people 18 11 3 2 2 are supported to get the best start in life. 2 People are well educated, skilled and earn a 16 3 3 2 8 decent living. 3 Vulnerable adults and children feel safe and are 18 9 3 4 2 protected.
4 Older people and vulnerable adults are compassionately supported to lead fulfilled and 17 6 6 2 3 independent lives.
5 Vibrant and healthy communities with inclusive 20 6 1 5 8 leisure, heritage and culture opportunities. 6 Cleanest, safest and most sustainable 17 4 0 1 12 neighbourhoods in the country. 7 Good quality and affordable housing that meets 15 5 3 6 1 the needs of our diverse communities. 8 A well connected and accessible borough. 13 2 3 1 7 9 A Great Place to do Business. 14 8 1 1 4 10 Our resources are well managed and reflect the 14 5 2 2 5 priorities of our residents. Total: 162 59 25 27 51 Percentage: 100% 36.4% 15.4% 16.7% 31.5%
Further information on performance against the Council’s priorities can be found on the Council’s online dashboard: www.performancecheshirewest.co.uk
APPENDIX TWO – OUTCOMES AND ACTIONS PROGRESS AGAINST EACH PRIORITY PLAN
1. ALL OF OUR FAMILIES, CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE ARE SUPPORTED TO GET THE BEST START IN LIFE
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Nicole Meardon Outcome Owner (Officer): Helen Brackenbury (Director of Early Help and Prevention)
Key Performance Indicators
Future 2017-18 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Targets Indicator Description 2018/19 2019/20 Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Direction of Travel Target Target Target Reduce the rate of children in need per 291.4 10,000 population 0-17 (all children aged 322.8 322.8 (1930 310.0 300.0 Improving Performance Green 0-17 with an open referral, CIN, CPP and Children) CIC) Increase the number of complex families achieving significant and sustained 560 921 1,049 1,400 1,820 Improving Performance Red outcomes Increase the take up of free early education for eligible 2 year olds living in 132% 97% 100% 91% 95% Improving Performance Green the top 30% most deprived areas in the borough Increase Parent/Carer satisfaction with the final SEND Education Heath and Care 98.1% 98.1% 100% 80.0% 80.0% Improving Performance Green Plan (EHCP)
Analysis and Issues:
The table above shows that the Council is on track to achieve the annual targets set for three of the four key performance indicators.
Cheshire West has experienced a significant reduction in the number of children in need, currently at 291.4 per 10,000, below the target of 310 per 10,000. This is attributable to high quality practice, a strengthened interface between Early Help and Social Care, and a range of interventions, such as the expanded Edge of Care Service, a new, more intensive model of support for Children in Need, and Family Group Conferencing – an evidence based intervention designed to build on family strengths to keep families resilient and stable.
While there continues to be an increase in the number of Troubled Families achieving sustained outcomes, the mid-year total is currently not on track to reach the annual cumulative target. The local approach taken is regarded as robust however, both locally and nationally and confidence remains in achieving the overall target of 1820 by 2020. The claim window for the Troubled Families Programme is open until the end of October and opens again in November for a rolling window until the end of March. The local authority will be able to submit claims in these time windows which will allow the targets to be met with families who have achieved their outcomes. In March 2018, Cheshire West was awarded Earned Autonomy status by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. With this award which recognises Cheshire West’s high performance in this area, Cheshire West received an additional payment of £655,000 to invest in the further transformation of services in support of the programme through to 2020. This funding will help with a whole range of support for families with multiple problems, including anti-social behaviour, truancy, unemployment, mental health issues and domestic abuse.
The second measure that has reported green is the take up of free early education for eligible 2 year olds from the 30% most deprived wards. This measure has experienced improved performance since this year, at 100% (104% actual, taking population changes since the 2013 figures that are used for this measure into account), exceeding the target of 91%. Two year old places are targeted at families on low income and in the majority of cases are likely to be the families living in the top 30% area of deprivation. Although the birth rate has not changed dramatically over the last few years the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) for areas and numbers of families accessing benefits have changed considerably. This coupled with the transient nature of population will impact on the overall take up of 2 year funding within an area.
In relation to parent/carer satisfaction with Education, Health & Care Plans, the target for this year so far has been exceeded, at 100%, and shows continued improved performance since 2017/18. It also compares well to the results of a recent national survey by the Department for Education of 13,000 parents and young people. This asked what impact the Education, Health & Care Plan had for them and 62% of respondents agreed that it would achieve the outcomes agreed for the child or young person.
The Cheshire West Troubled Families Model is seen as an example of good practice nationally, as reflected in the successful Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spot check in 2017/18.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Within the wider performance indicators contained in this Outcome Plan, there is high and improving performance to report regarding ensuring children in the borough achieve a good level of development. 72% of children are achieving a good level of development at mid-year, against a target of 71%.
Actions:
Analysis and Issues:
The positive progress reported for 2017-18 has continued into 2018-19 overall. At this stage, over 75% of actions are on-track or have been delivered, and six have been re-phased. Key highlights from the last six months from those actions that continue to make progress towards completion to target include:
• In line with the NHS Transformation Plan, collaborative work is underway to ensure improvements in mental health services. The Council’s Public Health service have played an active role in the work of the borough-wide multi-agency Children’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing Board, which was set up to implement ‘Future in Mind’. Public Health is also leading on developing an all-age Mental Health Strategy for the borough. A paper is being drafted for the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting in November 2018, for the Board’s approval and support to proceed with this initiative. • Work to secure relevant information to ensure service resources are targeted at mental health needs has continued during the last six months. Public Health is working with voluntary sector agencies on a Time to Change Bid. Time to Change is a social movement run by charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. Time to Change want to embed their social movement into local communities, through the establishment of local ‘Time to Change Hubs’. A Time to Change Hub is a partnership of local organisations and people who are committed to ending mental health stigma and discrimination. Hubs are aligned to Local Authority boundaries and there are currently 16 funded Hubs across England. Time to Change is now inviting areas to bid for the final round of one-off funding (£25,000) to establish one additional Hub per Time to Change region. The funding available will be for a period of 18 months and will provide a champions fund alongside funds to administer the champions fund and coordinate the Hub. This will be presented at the October 2018 Health and Wellbeing Board meeting, to gain approval and support to proceed with the bid. • Work to ensure that all frontline workers from Early Help and Prevention are initiating and contributing to team around the family assessments and e-team around the family processes has continued. Significant training has been undertaken to ensure that youth workers, community safety wardens and community safety officers now have access to electronic Team around the Family (e-TAF system) in order for them to be able to document their interventions with children, young people and their families. • The implementation of cultural change in relation to team around the family initiation within the starting well service, nurseries, and schools and within Further Education has continued. Additional capacity to promote early intervention in the form of school team around the family advisors and Senior Practice Leads came into post in April 2018. Positively, 5 schools who have previously not engaged with the team around the family process have now initiated 16 team around the family processes. • The extension of provision to 25 years old for young people with special educational needs and disabilities over the next 4 years has continued. West Cheshire College has improved personal care facilities to allow access to provision in borough. The College Learner Network is established and well-attended; its purpose is to develop education provision in borough for learners with special educational needs and disabilities post-16. Supported internships are in place and planning is ongoing to increase these post-16 and post-19 using the newly awarded Department for Education grant funding (January 2018). Preparation for Adulthood remains a focus of the send Strategy Group, and the Council has recently submitted a bid to support Careers Education for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. • The implementation and promotion of the use of Personal Budgets has continued, building on learning from the Integrated Personal Commissioning Programme, which has trialled personal budgets for children and young people with Learning Disabilities. In order to continue to embed this approach, resources have been agreed for a Project Manager to support this work.
Examples of actions that have been re-phased include: • The development of a road map of services to understand the complexity of services and initiatives currently undertaken by the Council, particularly services which address poverty, has been re-phased due to the development of the new local offer website. Once the migration to the new Local Offer is complete this will be used as the starting point for the road map. • Working with a range of providers to further develop provision, pathways into adulthood, supported internships and employability skills, across the 16-19/25 age group has been re-phased. Positive progress on this work continues, with joint working with providers continuing with college and specials schools to identify pathways to employment. Special schools are exploring moves to provide supported internships, and a pathway has been developed with providers, and now needs to be further developed with young people and families. • Work to improve inclusion in mainstream schools in partnership with the Cheshire West Education Improvement Board through the sharing of data, intelligence and evidence of the pattern of need/provision across the borough, seeking greater school ownership within this process is underway, with further work re- phased to the next quarter. The Council has continued to promote inclusion with local schools and at partnership forums.
Three actions have been delivered so far in 2018-19, these are: • Improvements in capturing outcomes for Troubled Families from further local authority and partner services. Following the award of Earned Autonomy status from April 2018, which recognises the Council’s good practice in the delivery of the Troubled Families programme, an ICT Solution has been developed to facilitate partner agencies directly inputting onto the case management system. This will further improve case working overall and capturing outcomes for Troubled Families. Earned Autonomy funding has also supported the introduction of additional roles in the front door from partner agencies that will facilitate the capturing of outcomes in particular with Probation and also Adult Community Nursing and Mental Health Services, while resource to support the developing Winsford Hub arrangements should support capturing multi-agency outcomes with particular focus on sustained employment outcomes. • The parenting information site for service users has been significantly enhanced. The website has been made more accessible and easier to search for information and resources. The site now opens as a Parenting Platform with access to banners offering support, information and advice; free on line support, Parenting Tips, Triple P, Services available, Support available in local schools, 123 Magic, Youth Connect 5, Family Therapy, Incredible Years, Cygnet, Relationship Realities and more. • Early Help and Prevention staff have implemented the use of Cheshire Child a Talker approach (C-CAT) in the assessment of speech and language in children under the age of 5.
2. PEOPLE ARE WELL EDUCATED, SKILLED AND EARN A DECENT LIVING
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Nicole Meardon Outcome Owner (Officer): Mark Parkinson (Director of Education)
Key Performance Indicators:
2017/18 Future 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Performance Targets Indicator Description 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Target Target Travel Target KS2, proportion of pupils achieving the Expected At least the At least the Standard, Reading and Writing and Maths – same as the same as the Data available Data available - 29 - Reduce the gap between Disadvantaged and national national January 2019 January 2019 Non Disadvantaged Children average average KS2, proportion of pupils achieving the Expected At least the At least the Target Data Standard, Reading and Writing and Maths – same as the same as the Improving 20 23 21 available Reduce the gap between Children In Care and national national Performance January 19 All Pupils average average At least the KS2, proportion pupils achieving Expected same as the Improving Standard, Reading and Writing and Maths – 59% 59% 63% 64% Amber national Performance Result for All Pupils average At least the At least the KS4, Progress 8 Score – Reduce the gap Target Data Available Jan same as the same as the Data available between Disadvantaged and Non +0.68 - available 2018 national national January 19 Disadvantaged Children January 19 average average At least the At least the Target Data KS4, Progress 8 Score – Reduce the gap same as the same as the Declining -0.96 +0.61 +0.94 available between Children In Care and All Pupils national national Performance January 19 average average At least the At least the Target Data same as the same as the Declining KS4, Progress 8 Score – Result for All Pupils -0.04 -0.05 -0.1 available national national Performance January 19 average average Increase the proportion of Care Leavers who are Maintained 59.3% 50.3% 52.7% 60.0% 60.0% Red in Education, Employment or Training (EET) Performance Increase the proportion of the working age Annual measure Annual measure population with NVQ Level 3 or equivalent - 57.7% - 61.0% 62.0% data available Q4 data available qualification or above (ONS Annual Population 18/19 Q4 18/19 Survey)
Analysis and Issues:
The table above shows that six of the eight Key Performance Indicators are reporting as in measurement. For five of the six measures, the data will be available from January 2019.
For two Key Stage 2 measures Cheshire West, can report improving performance compared to March 2018. Target data for the two Key Stage two measures reporting as ‘M’ will be available in January 2018 when national data is published. One reports as Amber, being within 5% of the target. This measure is Key Stage 2, the Expected Standard for all pupils, which has now reached 63%, within one percentage point of the target of 64%. Two Key Stage 4 measures report declining performance, regarding reducing the gap between Children in Care, and the Progress 8 Scores for all pupils. The proportion of Care Leavers who are in Education, Employment or Training (EET) has maintained performance since it last reported in June 2018, and performance has improved since March 2018, however the measure continues to report as Red, at 52.7% against a target of 60%.
Of the 79 care leaver individuals who are NEET, 15 are due to disability/illness, 14 for pregnancy/parenting and 50 for other reasons. In respect of those care leavers who are currently NEET for other reasons there are currently 10 young males (of the 29 in this cohort) who are in custody. In order to support care leavers, the leaving care team: • Regularly monitor care leavers who are NEET for other reasons. Work is then undertaken to motivate and support those likely to gain EET destinations. • Have recruited additional Personal Advisors to assist in increasing the EET population. This will give Personal Advisors a slight reduction in their caseloads, which will allow them to provide more direct support to those requiring it in order to gain EET status and reach their true potential. • Are in the process of developing a bid for European Social Fund funding to gain funding for EET Support Workers posts to support care leavers as they enter and become acclimatised to being in the work place. • Are working with Spectra First (a service commissioned by the DfE to forge links with the business industry to develop apprenticeship/employment opportunities for Care Leavers) to promote EET opportunities for care leavers in Cheshire West.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Within the wider performance indicators, the measure - increasing the proportion of children and young people attending a good or better secondary school, measured by Ofsted results – reports as Amber, having narrowly missed its target at mid-year, at 96% against a target of 96.4%.
Actions:
Analysis and Issues:
Strong progress is being made to meet the actions set out within this outcome plan. Examples of the progress made across actions which are on-track or delivered within this outcome plan in the first six months of 2018-19 include:
• The Council’s Education Service and Edsential continue to work closely together to ensure that the professional development activity offered by Edsential on a traded-basis and the statutory work of the Council are aligned. Mental health and well-being is a good example of this. There has been significant joint working in the area of school governance. • Work is underway to develop the second West Cheshire Poverty Truth Commission (PTC). A range of new Community Inspirers have been identified and have had initial meetings, supported by the team and Inspirers from the first Commission The first group of inspirers will now act as Ambassadors for the second Commission. Planning work will continue during the winter prior to the formal launch on January 31st 2019. Once launched, the work of the Commission will be agreed and led by the Inspirers themselves. Opportunities to use the work of the Commission to help provide holistic support to families will be explored and implemented where appropriate. The second commission will be working with Winsford academy to capture the voice of young people and better understand the impact of poverty on them and their families. The achievements from the first PTC are documented in the final report which demonstrates how the Inspirers have influenced project and services to improve the support that families affected by poverty access such as the hub in Wyvern House, Winsford, the Local Offer and standard letters issued to DWP clients. • Work Zones are operating strongly with year on year increases in registrations and job outcomes. The Council are on target to over-achieve on our annual target for job outcomes and improve on last year’s strong performance. The Council now have a range of additional Employment Support contracts operating out of Work Zones across the borough targeting vulnerable groups (e.g. adults in primary and secondary mental health care and adults with learning disabilities and autism). All Work Zones have an integrated health element within their operating model and the Council has an effective suicide prevention strategy in place as part of our disclosure processes. Through the Inequalities budget, the Council has additional access to Counselling and Wellbeing Services in Ellesmere Port and Winsford. • The Learning Disability Partnership Board’s Employment sub-group has been established to bring coherence to the pathways of employment support for both young people and adults with LD and an activity plan for 18/19 has been developed to map progress. • From April 2018 the new Local Living Wage rate of £8.75 for the period April 2018 – March 2019 has been agreed. From April 2018, all directly employed staff, aged 18 or over are paid a minimum of £8.75 per hour. A piece of work has commenced to align the pay structure for April 2019 to resolve the new NJC pay spine and to include consolidation of current and future Local Living Wage rates. • A new procurement protocol is in place. Corporate procurement processes have been amended to include the council’s ambitions linked to the Local Living Wage.
Next Reporting Period: The key milestones which are expected to be delivered in the second half of 2018-19 include:
• Development of teaching school alliances, including working with the West Midlands Teaching School Council, in line with the priorities of the Council and Cheshire West Education Improvement Board (CWEIB). • The development of an offer of holistic support for families through working with the Poverty Truth Commission.
3. VULNERABLE ADULTS AND CHILDREN FEEL SAFE AND PROTECTED
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Nicole Meardon, Councillor Paul Dolan Outcome Owner (Officer): Emma Taylor (Director of Children’s Social Care)
Key Performance Indicators:
2017/18 2017/18 Future 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Performance Performance Targets Indicator Description Year End 2018/19 2019/20 Status vs Mid-Year Mid-Year Direction of Travel Target Target Target 15.5% Reduce the proportion of children who 16.6% (42 out of Improving become subject of a Child Protection 12.9% (50 out of 302 14.0% 13.0% Red 271 Performance Plan for a second or subsequent time children) children) 20.8% Reduce the proportion of referrals to 19.0% (573 out of Maintained children’s social care that are within 12 22.1% (535 out of 2813 16.0% 14.0% Red 2759 Performance months of a previous referral children) children) Reduce the rate of Looked After Children 71.0 Improving (children in care) per 10,000 population 72.3 74.4 (470 66 64 Red Performance 0-17 years old Children) Increase the proportion of cases where Maintained action was taken and the risk was 96.3% 97.7% 96.3% 92.0% 95.0% Green Performance reduced or removed
Analysis and issues:
The table above outlines that this Outcome Plan has seen improved performance for two of the four indicators, while two indicators have maintained previous performance levels.
The proportion of children subject to a second or subsequent Child Protection Plan has demonstrated improving performance, but remains red at 15.5% against the target of 14%. This measure has demonstrated improved performance over two quarters, reducing from 16.6% in March 2018, to 16.1% in June, to 15.5% in September. Nationally there is an average of 18.7% of repeat child protection plans, regionally this is 18.4% and statistical neighbours are also higher at 19.4%. Therefore, while local performance is below target, it is significantly better than national, regional and statistical comparators, as such, this target may need to be revised at year end.
Child Protection cases continue to be closely monitored by the service. The service will be undertaking an audit of the 7 sibling groups subject to repeat plans. The audit will also review whether there are any links between the cases being large sibling groups and the reason they have repeated. An audit of cases that step up and step down from Children’s Social Care was recently undertaken. The audit showed that decision making was appropriate and risk is being managed appropriately. The Safeguarding Unit has also looked at Children in Need cases and there were no suggestions that there are inappropriate cases going up to Child Protection. Of those children on a Child Protection plan ending within the last 12 months, 27% ended due to the child entering care, 2% transferred to another local authority and 71% ended due to the risks being reduced.
The percentage of children who are referred to Children’s Social Care within 12 months of a previous referral increased in quarter two to 20.8%. This is a lower level of performance since June 2018, when the reported figure was 20.4%. Performance is based on the last 12 month data, in line with statutory reporting. Cheshire West and Chester’s result of 20.8% remains better than the averages for England (21.9%), the North West region (21.7%) and the Council’s statistical neighbours (21.2%).
The rise in quarter two comes as a result of a high proportion of repeats during the first quarter of 2018-19. During quarter one, the service received a monthly average of 58 repeat referrals, and during quarter two this dropped to an average of 46 repeat referrals over the three months. The volume of re-referrals has reduced from 175 in quarter one to 140 in quarter two. Good performance against this indicator relies on multiple services and a number of partner agencies at statutory level and below - actions are being implemented in relation to the early support interventions that are undertaken by the Council and its partners in order to provide children and families with appropriate support and mitigate repeat referrals. Further information is available in Appendix Four.
The rate of rate of children in care is currently at 71 per 10,000, which although above the target of 66 is an improvement on the rate of 74.1 in June 2018, and 74.4 in March 2018. For 2016/17, the latest available national data, the average rate for the Council’s statistical neighbours was 58.1; for the North West region it was 86.0, and for England it was 62.0. The Children’s Social Care service continues to embed and review the performance of a number of complementary delivery models which should have a positive impact on the number of children in care. These include: a new model of support for Children in Need that is more intensive than previous delivery models, an expanded Edge of Care Service to work with a wider cohort of Child Protection and Pre-Proceedings cases in order to sustainably ‘step down’ cases, Family Group Conferencing (FGC) to assist families to build on their strengths, and work with legal services to ensure that plans presented to Court are comprehensive and robust to prevent children remaining with their parents whilst still technically in care.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Within the wider performance indicators, performance on increasing the proportion of children who sustainably step down to early help and prevention is high and improving. The measure reports as green, a positive sign which demonstrates that high-quality work is undertaken at Children in Need and Early Help and Prevention to support children and families and prevent escalation of need. This measure currently reports at 86.8% against a target of 82%.
Actions:
Analysis and Issues:
Over 75% of the actions have been delivered or are initiated and are on track for delivery to timescale. The key headlines of progress to note include:
• The Adult Social Care case management review system has been developed in Liquid logic and was piloted in September 2018 with the Principal Social Worker and Director of Adult Social Care via monthly sessions with four randomly chosen cases. Practice Managers have been piloting its use in supervision. • A sub regional bid has been submitted to attempt to secure funding to develop programmes to address issues of domestic abuse. • The Fostering Better Outcomes high intensity foster care service has launched, which supports children to ‘step down’ from or avoid entry to residential care. • The Fostering Collaboration marketing and recruitment hub, between Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Warrington and Halton Councils began delivering services in April 2018. • Both Special Guardianship Orders and Child Arrangement orders are actively considered as an early plan for to secure permanent placements for young people when alternative care arrangements are required, especially for young children. The Connected Peoples Team members regularly attend children’s social work meetings to raise awareness; social workers have attended Permanence workshops which actively promotes this practice. • Three workshops have been held for staff to raise their awareness of the strategy to promote permanence of placement for children and young people. A member of the Council’s graduate scheme has worked closely with teams to shape the multi-agency strategy culminating in a partnership event held in September 2018. • A care leaver event was held in spring 2018 to promote the engagement of local businesses in providing apprenticeship and employment opportunities for care leavers. The Council’s Senior Economic Growth Manager is assisting in the building the network between the Leaving care Service and the borough’s business community.
A number of actions have been delivered during the first six months of 2018-19. These include:
• The Children in Need project was evaluated and findings considered, which formed the basis of a new business case for in house delivery. The proposed business case for developing a new service within children in need was supported, and a new intervention service will be launched in October 2018. • A new joint approach to managing need & risk has been developed, with a view to extending this across children’s workforce. • An escalation process has been embedded between children’s social care and Health. Health colleagues now escalate any late requests to the relevant Locality Manager. • A new approach to children’s social care strategy meetings has been developed, including the use of virtual strategy meetings.
In relation to the action milestones that have been re-phased, examples include:
• The development of a new approach to peer challenges across the sub-region has been re-phased, however, regional offers of help, support and peer challenge from each North West Councils have been confirmed. • The development of further integration with sub-regional fostering partners has been re-phased to spring 2019 to ensure the performance of phase 1 is fully understood prior to additional integration. • The refresh of the Children’s Social Care Workforce Strategy require Management Team sign off prior to this strategy being finalised. • Work is underway to promote the use of advocacy and how the voice of the child can influence service improvements. • Improvements to the profile of private fostering will be delivered in-line with a refreshed sub-regional approach.
Next Reporting Period: The key milestones which are expected to be delivered in the second half of 2018-19 include: . • The Leaving Care Service is working in partnership with Spectra First (commissioned by the Department for Education) to broker apprenticeships/employment for care leavers with local businesses) – this work will commence in November2018. • A new therapeutic residential care home for young people will be established. • All relevant professionals will be trained in WRAP3 (Workshop to Raise Awareness of PREVENT). • The recommendations of the review of the integrated access and referral team will be implemented.
4. OLDER PEOPLE AND VULNERABLE ADULTS ARE COMPASSIONATELY SUPPORTED TO LEAD FULFILLED AND INDEPENDENT LIVES
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Paul Dolan Outcome Owner (Officer): Jennifer McGovern - Director of Integrated Health and Social Care
Key Performance Indicators:
Future 2017-18 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Targets Indicator Description 2018/19 2019/20 Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Direction of Travel Target Target Target Reduce the number of Delayed Better Care Transfers of Care (DTOC) from hospital Improving 6,846 12,342 4,509 8,667 Fund Monthly Red for residents of CWaC (total number of Performance Target days delayed) Reduce the number of Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) from hospital Better Care Improving for residents of CWaC where the 3,244 5,068 1,252 2,554 Fund Monthly Red Performance responsibility for the delay was social Target care only (total number of days delayed) Increase the number of carers who are given information and advice and/or Declining 299 469 171 965 1,000 Red signposted to other universal services at Performance the completion of an assessment Reduce the number of older people who Declining have a permanent admission to a 218 419 239.0 435 427 Red Performance residential or nursing care home Increase the proportion of people receiving community-based social care Maintained 100.0% 100% 99.8% 100% 100% Amber services who receive self-directed Performance support Increase the proportion of adults with a Maintained learning disability who live in their own 89.9% 88.2% 85.8% 88.3% 90.0% Amber Performance home or with their family
Analysis and issues:
The Older People and Vulnerable Adults Outcome Plan is reporting four measures as red, and two as amber overall. The picture in terms of direction of travel is mixed, with two measures improving, two declining, and two maintaining previous performance.
The Amber measures include performance regarding the proportion of adults with a learning disability who live in their own home or with their family, which is at 85.8% against the target of 88.3%. Secondly, the proportion of adults with a learning disability who live in their own home or with their family has maintained performance at 99.8% against the target of 100%.
Four key performance indicators have a Red status. Two of these indicators relate to delayed transfers of care (DToC), looking at both overall Cheshire West numbers and those in particular attributable to Adult Social Care. Two measures are included in recognition of this as a significant performance issue locally and nationally.
In 2017/18 the Council and its partners were set challenging targets as part of the Better Care Fund (BCF) submission by the Department of Health. These targets were agreed by the CWaC Health and Wellbeing Board. (Total delays target – 11,302. Social care delays target – 5,014.)
New Targets for 2018/19 have only recently been released by the Department of Health and Social Care and subsequently approved by the Health and Wellbeing Board. The expectations are further challenging compared to last year’s target and emphasis for the reduction is weighted to social care delays. (Total delays target – 8,667. Social care delays target – 2,554.)
Though August figures have now been released and have been included in the figures in the main tables above, the totals for August are broadly in line with July figures and have not met the monthly target set. At the time of writing this red template the latest published data was for July activity therefore narrative below is based on July 2018 delayed transfer data.
Ambitious targets representing significant reductions from 17-18 have been set to reflect the importance of this measure. The total figure of 4,509 overall represents a significant improvement in performance when compared to the same period in 17-18, when the number of delayed days was 6,846. However, the measure is projected as red against the full-year target of 8,667. The number of delays attributable to Adult Social Care has reduced significantly, which represents improved performance. There have been less than half as many delayed days attributable to social care in 18-19, at 1,252 compared to 3,244 delayed days at mid-year 17-18, however the measure is still Red contrasted to the full-year target. A significant amount of additional investment and programmes have been put in places to reduce delayed transfers, including;
• Additional elderly mental infirm (EMI) nursing bed capacity; • Additional Social Worker resource to support seven day and bank holiday working; • Social Care assessor support for intermediate care facilities; • Mental health input into community assessment units and MH liaison support at home; • Enhanced transport services for timely discharges.
Further information is available in Appendix Four.
The third red key performance indicator looks at the total number of carers given advice, information or signposted is on course to miss the target set for the year of 965, having reached 152 by mid-year. This is also significantly below the overall figure achieved in 2017/18 of 469, which was itself under the 17-18 target of 931. A detailed set of actions has been agreed to improve performance on this measure, including:
• Data cleansing. An extensive exercise has begun which is identifying and correcting errors in the recording and loading of over 4,000 individual records. This will be an ongoing exercise, with completion planned prior to March 2019. • It is anticipated that this exercise will highlight a larger number of carers who the Council has already supported and signposted to appropriate support. The Community Access Team has been briefed on what they are required to load in order to capture carer activity in reports. • Clear and updated user guides have been re-issued to all teams to address the inconsistent loading. These user guides have been issued and full briefings will take place with all teams throughout Quarter Two and Quarter Three. • Adult Social Care Performance Team and Carer liaison support have a programme through Quarter Two and Quarter Three 2018 of delivering team by team briefing and training on carer recording on Liquidlogic. • Identification of carers is included in the revised case file audit, which will identify correct data loading and capture. This will contribute to identifying any further training needs. Revised file audits are now in place and ongoing. • On 2 January 2018 the new integrated Carers service became operational. Since that date an additional 1300 carers have been identified within the borough by a variety of partner organisations on the recording system of Upshot. The fourth red key performance indicator measures the number of older people who have a permanent admission to a residential or nursing care home. Performance on this measure has declined, with 239 admissions to care in 18-19, contrasted to 218 admissions during the same period in 17-18. Furthermore, the target is red compared to the full-year target of 435 admissions.
An extensive review of the quality of the data that is used to calculate the permanent admissions indicator has been undertaken. Some of the issues identified included some temporary placements mistakenly being recorded as permanent, and some historic code removed from the report that compiles the base data that was dropping some of the placements. The net outcome of these issues being resolved was an increase in recorded placements. These issues have now been rectified and account for the increase from 31 to 80 placements from May to June 2018. The table below illustrates this increase:
Measure Last 6 month trend (per month) 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 Projection Change year end year to year end year end against from last Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18 Jul-18 Aug-18 Sep-18 result date total projectio target target month The number of permanent Number of people 13 31 80 49 42 24 419 239 516 435 +81 -18 placements into residential and nursing care homes (65+) - Rate per 100,000 customer care plan population 18.2 43.4 112.0 68.6 58.8 33.6 595.8 334.5 733.7 608.8 +124.9 - information. Chart 2 from
Data quality is improving in the service and awareness of the correct categories means that fewer respite placements will be incorrectly loaded. This may account for some of the reduction seen, as the number of placements has dropped from 80 at June 2018, each month to a current figure of 24 for September 2018.
Service
The current population is forecast to increase by about 10% to 367,000 by 2035. Older age groups will see the biggest increase, with the number of residents aged 65 plus expected to increase by 28% and the numbers of people aged 85 and over forecast to more than double. The shift to a more elderly population with more complex need has contributed to increased admissions to residential and nursing care homes.
A significant programme of work is in progress to reduce the number of permanent admissions, such as: • Further data quality work being done with teams and to raise awareness of the importance of correct recording. • Service and commissioning teams are improving work with Extra Care Housing providers with the intention for them to accept more complex cases at the higher bands of need, thus not requiring permanent admissions to care homes. • Work is being undertaken with carers council-wide to improve support for long-term main carers of service users. Predictive analytic work is being reviewed with the intention in preventing temporary or permanent carer breakdown, to alert ahead of time where carers may be reaching the limits of their ability to cope. This should have the effect of removing some preventable admissions through carer support. • Further investment is being made in domiciliary care services to help providers and care workers support more vulnerable and complex people at home.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Looking at the wider performance indicators in this Outcome Plan, six measures report as Green, compared to five which report as Red. Positive performance has been achieved on measures such as supporting residents in need of reablement, with 69.4% of residents requiring no ongoing support against a target of 70.5%.
Actions:
Analysis and Issues:
Over 75% of actions have been delivered or are on-track for delivery. In terms of examples of actions which have been delivered or where progress is being made to deliver to timescale, key areas of progress to highlight include:
• The complete re-design of Safeguarding and Domestic Abuse Team. • Asset based training continues to be rolled out across the organization. Initially all staff affected under phase 1 of the WCO underwent the training. This proved so successful that it was agreed to roll it out to all staff. • Implementation of the priorities of the Falls Strategy : o The multi-agency Falls Prevention Group is chaired by Public Health with representation from a wide range of partners including NHS West Cheshire and NHS Vale Royal Clinical Commissioning Groups, Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the Older People’s Network, Brio Leisure and Healthbox CIC. The Group has developed an Action Plan and rated current falls prevention performance against the Public Health England 'Falls and fracture consensus statement: resource pack'(PHE, 2017). o As a result of this work, a Falls Operational Group, chaired by NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been developed in the West Cheshire CCG footprint. The group allows practitioners to share and reflect on current practice and learn from each other. It has resulted in a clearer understanding of the current falls pathway and service provision, both of which have been shared within Primary and Secondary Care. A similar approach is being taken in NHS Vale Royal and the advent of the Integrated Care Partnership will allow the opportunity to develop a single falls pathway for Cheshire West (i.e. the local authority footprint). o Work is also being undertaken to explore the possibility of creating a specific field for falls within the Cheshire Care Record, to allow practitioners to record falls. o Colleagues in the Countess of Chester and Leighton Hospitals have been working to raise awareness of falls prevention within secondary care, though the delivery of falls prevention training to staff. o Since 1 February 2017 the Cheshire and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service have been undertaking falls risk assessments as part of their Safe and Well visits to householders over 65. Between 1 April and 30 June 2018, 65 referrals via this assessment process, were made to falls prevention services in Cheshire West and Chester. o Initial discussions have taken place with Clinical Commissioning Group and Local Authority colleagues across Cheshire to develop a Cheshire wide Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for Falls Prevention. Initial work has started to progress this work, which will enable a better understanding of why the Council continue to be a national outlier in relation to hospital admissions for falls in people aged 65 and over. • Procurement of a new Drug and Alcohol recovery service was completed, in advance of go-live in April 2019. The new provider is the Westminster Drug Project (WDP). A cross-party member working group is providing oversight of this process.
Regarding actions that have been re-phased, phase 1 of the West Cheshire Offer went live on 1st March. This saw new pathways for the Gateway team which has been rebranded as the Cheshire West Community Access Team. Furthermore, it included the introduction of a review team to ensure yearly reviews are completed and new pathways for the Patch Teams which will reduce the number of duplicated processes. Progress to report in September includes the approval of the Business case regarding phase 2. There are a series of briefings planned as well as a full staff consultation. The timeframe for implementation is now June 19.
Examples of actions that have not yet been initiated, and are scheduled for delivery further into the four-year plan, include: • The completion of a new Review of Mental Health provision; • The development of further links with voluntary and community sector organisations within the Community Access team.
Next Reporting Period: Examples of key milestones which are expected to be delivered in the second half of 2018-19 include:
• Further implementation of Falls Strategy priorities. • Embedding the ‘Practice Point’ model of workforce planning, training and development across children’s and adult services. • Development of outcome-based care plans, and rolling these out across domiciliary care services.
5. VIBRANT AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES WITH INCLUSIVE LEISURE, HERITAGE AND CULTURE OPPORTUNITIES
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Louise Gittins Outcome Owner (Officer): Ian Ashworth (Director of Public Health)
Key Performance Indicators:
2017/18 Future 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Performance Targets Indicator Description 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Target Target Travel Target National National methodology methodology Reduce the proportion of adults who are classified as changed changed - 61.2% 60.0% overweight or obese (excess weight in adults) - data no data no longer longer available available Annual Annual Reduce the number of adults who are self-reported measure measure smokers (smoking prevalence in adults, Office for - 11.7% - 13.0% 13.0% data data National Statistics Survey) available Q4 available Q4 Improving Increase the number of people who engage with libraries 893,523 1,447,475 1,476,424 Green 789,688 1,968,963 Performance Increase the number of people who engage with Declining 89,947 142,564 71,243.0 130,873 140,000 Green museums Performance
Analysis and issues:
The measure on self-reported smokers is an annual measure that will report in the year-end report for 2018/19. The measure regarding excess weight’s methodology has changed and alternative options to capture this data will be reviewed in the year-end refresh process. The measures regarding the number of people engaging with libraries and museums are on-target.
Almost 895,000 people have engaged with libraries in the first half of 2018/19, an increase of more than 100,000 on the same period in 17-18, meaning that by the end of 2018/19 Cheshire West is on target to significantly exceed the target of 1,447,475.
The continued success of Storyhouse has contributed to this figure. By September 2018, the mid-year figures for Storyhouse were:
• 72,020 items of stock borrowed • 27,157 items of children’s stock borrowed as part of the Summer Reading Challenge • 540 participated in the Summer Reading Challenge
Wider Performance Indicators:
In terms of the wider measures, there are eight Green measures, one Amber and one Red indicator to report. The Red indicator is the number of people engaging with smoking cessation services who successfully quit smoking, measured at 4 weeks. The mid-year result is 193 against an end of year target of 1,330. This reflects a recognised national trend over recent years and the impact of e-cigarettes, which are now by far the most common method of quitting tobacco. This may suggest that the target may need to be revised in future. The Amber indicator is the proportion of successful completion of treatment for alcohol-using clients which stands at 42.96% against the target of 44%.
Examples of green measures include high levels of physical activity in the borough, with almost 2.5 million residents projected to use Brio Leisure venues by year end. Furthermore, the borough has attracted more than five million more visitors than the target, at 36.26m against the target of 31.2m, significantly contributing to the local economy.
Actions:
Key highlights of progress within the first 6 months of 2018-19 regarding the initiated action milestones include: • The Cultural Strategy has identified a place–based approach that is aligned to the four regeneration and locality priority areas across the authority: Chester, Ellesmere Port, Mid-Cheshire and Rural Area and Market Towns • The Natural Health service was shortlisted for a national APSE award, and a report on the first stages of the service has been published. • Chester: Chester Heritage and Visual Arts strategy: • CH&VA Strategy: one year on workshop held May 2018 • Chester Castle temporary opening summer 2018 – programme of events and local artists installation of artworks • Visual Arts Commissions: FLOAT – final installation of Maelstrom due February 2019 • Storyhouse digital commissioning programme - the second artwork commission will be launched in May 2019 • Supporting emerging artists with professional development • Lead artists collaborated with design team to produce proposals for Archives/ History Centres • Winsford • Seven Sisters artwork, by Liam Hopkins installed in Winsford Town Park • Lead artist appointed for Winsford and project in its initial stages; steering group includes local arts organisation and members of local community • Northwich • Supported local initiative for Visual Arts Festival that took place in July 2018 • NOW Northwich, an international street arts festival developed in partnership with Cheshire Dance and Deda, in October 2018 • Ellesmere Port • Supporting ambitious capital development scheme for Whitby Hall, home to Action Transport Theatre • Cultural delivery across the borough: • Support for professional arts organisations: o Storyhouse; Action Transport Theatre; Cheshire Dance; Rural Touring Arts; Theatre in the Quarter • Slant – Cultural Destinations sub-regional partnership led by Marketing Cheshire. • Members of Local Cultural Education Partnership (LCEP) • Support the Cheshire West Voluntary Arts Network • Implement the actions supporting each priority area within the Eat Well Be Active Framework. o An update on the progress of Eat Well Be Active was presented at the September Health and Wellbeing Board. The action plan has been approved and work is progressing across all strands of work. Highlights include: . Smile for a Mile - The local mile a day initiative ‘Smile for a Mile’ delivered in partnership between Cheshire West and Chester Council, West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group and Active Cheshire, engaged over two thirds of schools with the programme, with over a third (34 schools) signing up. This is an extra 5,676 children and 288 staff completing an extra 15 minutes of activity every day. A local evaluation is currently being carried out and early emerging results using data from the National Child Measurement programme (NCMP) show promising results, which are reinforced by school case studies and feedback. . Reducing sugary drink consumption – Kind to teeth and Give up Loving Pop (GULP) campaigns – Eat Well Be Active partners promoted the Food Active Kind to Teeth campaign during National Smile Month (14 May to 14 June 2018). The aim of this campaign was to help promote healthier drink choices for under 5’s in Cheshire West and Chester. Locally there was good press and social media coverage of the campaign. The Council Youth Service promoted the GULP campaign as part of their summer provision and Pop up Youth Zones and gave away refillable water bottles and educational material. Discussions are currently ongoing about running GULP campaigns in primary and secondary schools across the borough, in partnership with the School Sports Partnerships. • Implement the priority actions within the Physical Activity Growth Strategy with key partners: o Public Health is working closely with Active Cheshire, who developed the Physical Activity Growth Strategy. The five pillars of the Strategy are collectively called the Blueprint. This was launched as the Part of the MOVEment 2 Conference in October 2017. It sets out the collective ambition for Cheshire & Warrington, who are stepping up efforts to tackle physical inactivity locally focused on supporting people to become happier, healthier, more prosperous and likely to live longer through physical activity and sport. • In line with NHS Transformation Plan, work collaboratively to ensure improvements in mental health services and support. o Public Health is leading on developing an all-age Mental Health Strategy for the borough. A paper is being drafted for the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting in November 2018, for the Board’s approval and support to proceed with this. Discussions with commissioners and other partners (in particular, health and the voluntary sector) are underway to start scoping this out, once approval is gained from the Board. • Implement the actions from the agreed Dementia Strategy o Members of the Dementia Strategy Group continue to work closely with NHS West Cheshire and NHS Vale Royal Clinical Commissioning Groups, services and partners to develop a more joined up approach to awareness, prevention, diagnosing well, supporting well and planning well. o The Group’s key priorities for September 2018 to September 2019 are: . Gold-level communications campaign: raising awareness, prevention and Dementia Inclusive Communities . Continued development of a Dementia Joint Strategic Needs Assessment . Improving dementia diagnosis. Diagnosis rates have improved markedly in both CCG areas, although they remain slight under the national target at present. However, the trend is in the right direction and is very promising. o An update on dementia is to be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board in October 2018.
An example of an action which has been re-phased relates to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid for the Archives project, which was submitted June but was unsuccessful. The Council are in discussions with HLF about their new funding framework to be launched January 2019, and the project remains live.
Key areas of focus in the next reporting period in 2018-19 will include:
• Implementation of actions supporting the priority areas within the Eat Well Be Active framework. • Further embedding the Natural Health Service. • The development of a measure of natural capital and evaluating the significant benefits that green spaces provide to our communities.
6. CLEANEST, SAFEST AND MOST SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBOURHOODS IN THE COUNTRY
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Karen Shore Outcome Owner (Officer): Maria Byrne (Director of Place Operations)
Key Performance Measures:
2017/18 Future 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Performance Targets Indicator Description 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Target Target Travel Target Maintain household waste at appropriate Improving levels, measured by the residual waste per 450.0 440.0 110.7 480.0 488.0 Green Performance household in kilograms M (annual M (annual Cleaner streets: Combined Litter & Detritus – measure, data measure, Increase the proportion of sites inspected - 92% - 90% 90% available for data available that meet the acceptable standard (Grade B Year End for Year End or above) report) report) M (annual M (annual Cleaner streets: Fly-tipping – Increase the measure, data measure, proportion of sites inspected that meet the - 97% - 92% 92% available for data available acceptable standard (Grade A) Year End for Year End report) report) M (annual M (annual Cleaner streets: Graffiti – Reduce the measure, data measure, proportion of sites inspected that are below - 0% - 1% 1% available for data available the acceptable standard (Grade B) Year End for Year End report) report) M (annual M (annual Cleaner streets: Grounds Maintenance – measure, data measure, Increase the proportion of sites inspected - 99.1% - 90% 90% available for data available that meet the acceptable standard (Grade B Year End for Year End or above) report) report) Borough wide CO2e emissions continue to Declining decline. Baseline of 29% reduction at Dec - - 39.85% 39.0% 34.0% Green Performance 2013 against 1990 level of 6658ktCO2e.
Analysis and Issues:
The Key Performance Indicator table above shows that four of the six measures are annual. The two measures that report at mid-year are the maintenance of household waste at appropriate levels and reducing borough-wide CO2 emissions. The measure regarding household waste shows improved performance, down to 110.7kg per household, against the full-year target of 480kg. The reduction has come through a range of factors, including new arrangements introduced by the Household Waste and Recycling Centres since March 2017 that have lowered the overall volume of waste collected and the residual waste tonnage, as well as a drive to divert more recyclable waste from the residual waste stream. Reducing CO2 emissions continue to report as Green and are on-track to achieve the target of 39% reduction by end of year. Actions to support this include:
• Work with industry to establish heating networks in the borough; • Work with residential park homes to improve energy efficiency; • Electric Vehicle strategy to support transition to low carbon transport; • Roll out of LED street lighting across the borough.
The other annual measures will report in the 2018/19 year-end report. These relate to cleaner streets measures. For these measures, to ensure appropriate coverage of the borough, and to mitigate concerns that only certain areas may be inspected, Streetscene use a Land Audit Management System Annual Inspection Matrix (LAMS Matrix for short). This ensures that each of the 46 Wards are inspected three times a year on a scheduled basis (each Ward is inspected once every 4 months), with 11 or 12 Wards throughout the LA being inspected each month. Within each ward, the aim is to carry out 20 inspections per occasion per ward based on land class. No area within the ward is scheduled to be inspected twice within same year to ensure widest spread across the wards. The inspections are carried out from within the commissioning team which is independent to the delivery team. Surveys have been carried out across Cheshire West and Chester to inspect standards of street cleansing and ground maintenance to inform the final accumulated results.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Looking at the wider performance measures under this outcome, the proportion of total household waste diverted from landfill through recycling and/or treatment has achieved very high performance, reporting at 100%, exceeding the target set of 98%. Performance has also been high on the proportion of waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting. The Council was recognised as having the fourth highest rate of recycling in the country in figures recently released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Performance at the end of Quarter 2 was 64%, against the target of 59.5%. A second CO2 measure, looking at emissions from Council assets and services has reported improved performance compared to previous measurements and exceeded the target set.
Actions:
Analysis and Issues:
More than 85% of actions are on-track or have been delivered during 18-19. No actions have been re-phased. So far in 2018-19, examples of actions that are on-track or have been delivered include:
• The redesign of Street care, grounds maintenance & Highways has been delivered, following an extensive process of co-design with residents. 500 assets have been mapped onto geographic information systems. These assets will be transferred into the new IT solution for Streetcare, Confirm by December by 2018. New routes based on the efficient allocation of resources against demand will be built into Confirm, with new service standards also to be produced. • The development of an effective approach towards community assets has seen significant progress during 2018-19, including o A detailed financial review of assets, budgets, and costs has been undertaken; o A Value for Money and Quality Appraisal Model has been developed (July 2018); o Assets are in the process of being evaluated against the value for money and quality model. o The implementation of a Waste Reduction Volunteer project which utilizes approximately 60 volunteers to promote waste reduction messages around food and composting. • The development of the borough’s enforcement approach on following principal issues: littering, dog fouling, fly tipping; business waste; various PSPO offences. • The delegation of enforcement powers to third parties, such as parish councils was included in the dog control PSPO consultation that took place earlier in 2018, and a trial was approved by Cabinet on 12th September.
Next Reporting Period: In the second half of 2018-19, the focus will be on a delivering a range of actions, including:
• Promotion of the Council’s corporate social responsibility policy to support volunteering activities; • Embedding the internal Streetcare programme, enabling frontline staff to report issues; • Review of the outcomes of the Streetcare pledge.
7. GOOD QUALITY AFFORDABLE HOUSING THAT MEETS THE NEEDS OF OUR DIVERSE COMMUNITIES
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Angela Claydon Outcome Owner (Officer): Lisa Harris (Director of Places Strategy)
Key Performance Measures:
2017/18 Future Performanc 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Targets Indicator Description e 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Target Target Travel Target Number of empty homes that are brought back into use (as at July 2015 there were 1,795 homes empty Improving 98 250 154 190 190 Green 6 months or more; target to achieve 720 in total by Performance 19/20)
Number of new affordable homes delivered per Improving 255 623 361 250 200 Green annum Performance
Number of households in temporary Declining 52 62 75 Red accommodation per quarter (snapshot) Performance 45 45
Number of households in B&B accommodation per Declining 20 27 39 Red quarter (snapshot) Performance Average length of stay in temporary 10 weeks or Maintained 5.56 4.32 4.5 9 Green accommodation (weeks) less Performance Average length of stay in B&B accommodation 4 weeks or Declining 2.73 2.31 2.7 4 Green (weeks) less Performance Number of homeless preventions (data collection Declining 1,187 2,116 316 2,350 2,400 Red changed during 2016/17) Performance Number of vulnerable residents able to remain in Declining their own homes (through grant provision, Disabled 55 176 55 175 175 Red Performance Facilities Grants)
Analysis and Issues:
The table shows that two of the key performance indicators, relating to empty homes and the delivery of affordable homes report as Green with improving performance.
Improvements in returning empty homes to use have resulted in the measure being on track to significantly outperform the full-year target at mid-year. The Empty Homes Team has processed a back log of questionnaires which has resulted in an increase in the reported numbers of properties being brought back into use. This is mirrored in terms of the number of new affordable homes delivered, where 361 homes have been delivered at mid-year compared to the full year target of 250. Two further measures report as Green, length of stay in temporary accommodation, and length of stay in B&B accommodation, though these measures are reporting maintained and declining performance respectively. Three measures, households in temporary accommodation, households in B&B and the number of vulnerable residents able to remain in their own homes are not on track to meet their annual targets at Quarter Two, and have seen declining performance. Another measure, the number of homeless preventions is Red and reporting declining performance. This is linked to changes to guidance on the definition of homelessness prevention, and changes to the criteria for data to be collected. From April, only cases dealt with by the Housing Options Team can now be included in the prevention figure, whereas previously work done by other teams within the LA or commissioned by the LA would also be included. For example, the award of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) by the Council’s Housing Benefit service can prevent rent arrears and homelessness, however these awards are no longer included in the new Homelessness Prevention figures even though the service continues to prevent homelessness.
There has been a significant and long-term trend of increasing demand on temporary accommodation. National data states that “On 31 March 2018 the number of households in temporary accommodation was 79,880, up 3% from 77,220 on 31 March 2017, and up 66% on the low of 48,010 on 31 December 2010”.
The Homelessness Reduction Act was introduced in April 2018. This was a significant change to the legislation and placed additional legal responsibilities on the Council. The new legislation increased the definition of ‘threatened with homelessness’ from 28 to 56 days and placed a new duty on councils to proactively work with households threatened with homelessness. In line with national trends the number of households presenting as homeless to the council remains high as does the demand for affordable housing generally.
The service is also seeing an increase in the number of customers with high support needs. The options available to prevent homelessness can be limited for some customers due to affordability and supply and demand factors, in particular a shortage of one bedroom flats in the social and private sector. In addition factors such as a history of anti-social behaviour, rent arrears or a need for specific requirements in terms of location or property type reduce the housing options further. When homelessness can’t be prevented a homeless application is opened and temporary accommodation may be required. Move-on from supported accommodation can also be difficult for some customers for the reasons stated above. This can result in a shortage of available beds which also increases pressure on the statutory service.
In order to address these factors, a comprehensive action plan is in place, including the following examples:
• A new support contract started in April 2018. The service has been aligned to the new Homelessness Reduction Act with an increased focus on homelessness prevention and closer working with the Council’s statutory service. Service developments will start to be implemented from April 2019. There is also a performance management framework to improve throughput within the contract. • The support service includes a range of accommodation options which will be developed and increased. • West Cheshire Homes has been reviewed due to the Homelessness Reduction Act. Work is currently ongoing to improve the ICT, change and increase the staffing structure and establish pathways for vulnerable groups. • A review of current temporary accommodation provision and future requirements has been completed. • The annual review of the Homelessness Strategy and action plan has been completed.
Furthermore, performance on the number of vulnerable residents able to remain in their own homes is Red. An action plan is available in Appendix Four, and it should be noted that applications for support increase during Autumn and Winter months, and that this indicator has reported at Red at Q2 and achieved its target by year-end for the last two years.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Across the wider performance measures, significantly, performance has been maintained around the number of homeless acceptance cases, with the mid-year figure meaning Cheshire West is on course to achieve the annual target of 90 and so this indicator is reporting as Green at this stage. The number of people sleeping rough on a given night is significantly over-target, at 31 against a target of 5. There is more detail on the steps taken to address this in Appendix Four, which outlines a summary of the Council’s plan to end rough sleeping. The number of new homes delivered is an area of very high performance, with 2,542 homes delivered (Q4 2017/18 figure), against the full-year target of 1,100.
Actions:
At mid-year, key highlights of progress around the actions that have been delivered or have been initiated and remain on target include:
• A significant amount of affordable housing has been delivered with 167 units completed during Q2, giving a half year total of 361 units. • 450 landlords and agents were sent the July-September edition of the Landlord Newsletter. This edition included features on: empty homes, latest news and information, and 24 landlords attended a Safe Homes Workshop. Furthermore, 290 Landlords have now signed up to the Private Landlord Service which provides advice and support to landlords who house people on the Council`s housing waiting list. • Relating to local regeneration and housing need projects – two gateway sites in Chester and three potential rural community housing opportunities have been identified. • Significant progress has been made on the development of the vision and asset management strategy for the Council’s Housing Stock. • The new homeless support service delivered by Forfutures provides outreach services for rough sleepers and direct access emergency accommodation. The Council are currently working with Forfutures and the voluntary sector to review the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) looking at new options for winter 2018/19 to avoid the use of B&B. The homeless support contract has been in place since 1 April 2018 and the new service is delivered by Forfutures. Support is provided to homeless households through floating support, supported housing, direct access emergency accommodation and outreach support in the community for rough sleepers. • The Outreach service has been reviewed and restructured and an audit of supported housing carried out. • 400 landlords were contacted regarding the Government’s extension of mandatory house of multiple occupancy licensing legislation and the need for them to get a house of multiple occupancy license in place by the beginning of October 2018. A press release featuring the successful conviction of a Northwich based landlord who was fined £2,495 for failure to comply with an improvement notice was sent to the media in September. • The Cheshire and Warrington Traveller Team now carry out a service for Warrington Borough Council and are negotiating with Cheshire East to deliver a service. This will ensure a fair and consistent approach to unauthorised encampments and to support services. • Work has commenced on daughter documents to the new strategic economic plan, launched in Q2. A registered providers and Cheshire West and Chester Council workshop was held in March with Local Enterprise Partnership appointed consultants who are developing the Sub Regional Housing Strategy due in April 2018. In September 2018 work has commenced on developing the Local Enterprise Partnership’s Digital Strategy.
The sole action which has slipped relates to updating the housing need evidence base. The bid submitted to the local government association to fund new housing needs research was unsuccessful. The Council are investigating other funding opportunities. Furthermore, the Insight and Intelligence team are supporting Housing to draw all data together in preparation for the Local Plan Part 1 review in 2020.
Items which are due to be delivered in the next reporting period include:
• The implementation of eligibility criteria and new monitoring arrangements for self-build register; identify suitable sites for Custom and Self Build Act duties • The development and implementation of an Asset Management Strategy for the Council’s housing stock to ensure it is fit for purpose, meets housing need and is sustainable. • Further embedding the support and accommodation contract to ensure that homeless households receive the support and accommodation they need, particularly those with multiple and complex needs.
8. A WELL CONNECTED AND ACCESSIBLE BOROUGH
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Karen Shore Outcome Owner (Officer): Maria Byrne (Director of Place Operations)
Key Performance Measures:
2017/18 Future Performanc 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Targets Indicator Description e 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Target Target Travel Target Reduce the number of Killed and Seriously Injured (KSI) Declining 47 101 62 168 164 Green road traffic casualties Performance No higher Reduce the number of Child Killed and Seriously Injured Maintained 3 7 3 7 than previous Green (CKSI) road traffic casualties Performance year M (annual M (annual measure, measure, “A” road condition – percentage requiring structural No more No more data data - 1% - maintenance than 3% than 5% available for available for Year End Year End report) report) M (annual M (annual measure, measure, “B&C” road condition – percentage requiring structural No more No more data data - 3% - maintenance than 8% than 8% available for available for Year End Year End report) report) M (annual M (annual measure, measure, “U” road condition – percentage requiring structural No more No more data data - 7% - maintenance than 9% than 9% available for available for Year End Year End report) report) M (annual M (annual measure, measure, Increase the proportion of residents who are satisfied with data data - 49% - 58% 60% highways overall (NHT Survey) available for available for Year End Year End report) report) Increase the use of Park and Ride in Chester, measured Declining 178,703 352,602 166,862 500,000 609,186 Red by the number of P&R passengers per annum Performance Increase the availability of superfast broadband, Improving measured by proportion of premises able to access 93.1% 93.9% 94.7% 99% 99% Amber Performance superfast broadband (>30Mbps)
Analysis and Issues:
Overall, four of the eight Key Performance Indicators within this Outcome Plan are reporting as M at this stage, due to being annual measures that report at the end of the financial year. Two measures report as Green at mid-year, relating to road safety. The number of people and children killed or seriously injured is projected to be lower than the full-year end target of 168. Due to a data error, this target was misreported in Q4 2017/18; the 168 target is consistent with the original PMF and outcome plan but was not included in Q4 in error.
The number of passengers using Park & Ride to access Chester City centre has not reached its target. Strategic initiatives to address this reduction include: • The service has now become the focus of a cross directorate service review. • Economic/Financial Impact Assessment brief being developed and potentially procured to understand how offers such as loyalty discount will affect the service income. • Measures are being taken to look at how the contractual arrangements and service levels could potentially be varied more in line with demand. • A cost saving options appraisal has been developed and will be decided upon and implemented subject to approval.
There is more detail on the factors behind this and the mitigating actions within the specific template on actions being taken around this indicator found within Appendix Four. The availability of superfast broadband has continued to increase and is now available to 94.7% of properties and businesses across Cheshire and Warrington. This is within the 5% tolerance of the 99% target and so at this stage is Amber.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Across the wider performance measures, the use of Community Transport significantly exceeded the target of 7,573, with current performance at 8,234 trips per month. However the availability of Digital Services is at 32% and so at this stage is not on course to meet the year-end target of 35%.
Actions:
In the Well Connected outcome plan, more than 75% of actions have been initiated and remain on target to timescale. Headline progress made in the first half of 2018- 19 to report from within these actions include:
• The development of a road scheme to improve access between Winsford and M6 Motorway (Mid-Cheshire Towns Transport Strategy) is progressing well, and work has been completed on Mid Cheshire Town Study – phase one report. • Work has commenced on joint commission with Welsh Government to review the Chester to Broughton growth corridor taking in the Welsh partnership scheme. The scheme brief for the relief road has been drafted jointly and consultants were appointed in late summer 2018. • The 20 mph first year evaluation report has been prepared and was presented to Scrutiny Committee in September 2018. The evaluation of the first year schemes was shown to be very positive. • Appropriate wording has been incorporated into the Local Plan part 2 to promote digital connectivity. “Developers are required to make provision for the installation and maintenance of information connection networks, such as superfast broadband, within new developments. New development should be accessed by fibre to the premises (FTTP) or similar technology enabling access to superfast broadband speeds of at least 30 megabits per second (or the most recent Government requirements, if higher). Where this is not possible, adequate ducting should be provided to enable fibre to premises connection at a later date, unless it can be shown that this is not economically viable in this location.”
The action that is considered no longer viable is securing funding to convert the Park and Ride Fleet to fully electric vehicles and convert to electric vehicle fleet. A bid was submitted and successful but could not be implemented due to contractual and procurement restrictions. The Council are considering other potential bids, and options including retrofitting.
Actions that have been re-phased include: • The development of an updated Coach strategy – including funding for coach pickup, drop off, facilities, marketing and improvements. Currently, the Coach strategy is being reviewed to identify delivery actions for Highways and regulatory services to be taken forward. • The delivery of infrastructure improvements at the Park and Ride sites has been re-phased. These improvements will include modular buildings to deliver a more cost-effective scheme. • The Wi-Fi strategy implementation plan. This is linked to the ongoing work to deliver a Wi-Fi service in Chester. Given the unique nature of Chester compared to other towns across the borough, it is believed Chester can be used as an opportunity to learn and inform the wider Borough strategy. While this is marked as re-phased, it has been re-phased for less than a month. • The alignment of mobile connectivity to the property asset strategy and Council strategy on public Wi-Fi service - the original tender for a service failed to award as the preferred bidder did not pass financial back ground checks. The delivery route has been changed to leverage the Council’s Wide Area Network Contract. Negotiations have progressed quickly and final proposal for delivery of a service to Chester are expected 18/19 with delivery in 19/20.
Next Reporting Period: The following are examples tasks and milestones expected to be completed in 2018-19:
• Implementation of key actions from the Northwich Transport Strategy; • Work with Highways England to further develop M56 priorities. • Scheme development of the Chester to Broughton growth corridor with the Welsh Government; • Implementation of the Council’s digital programme, to recognise the opportunities and benefits of becoming a digital Council.
9. A GREAT PLACE TO DO BUSINESS
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor Brian Clarke Outcome Owner (Officer): Lisa Harris(Director of Places Strategy)
Key Performance Measures:
2017/18 Future 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 Latest Status Performance Targets Indicator Description 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Target Target Travel Target M (annual M (annual measure, measure, Increase the number of business start-ups in data - 1,935 - 1,900 2,000 data available CWAC (two year time lag, ONS data) available for for Year End Year End report) report) M (annual M (annual measure, Increase the proportion of new businesses, measure, data over £68,000 turnover, surviving beyond two - 77.0% - 79% 80% data available available for years (two year time lag, ONS data) for Year End Year End report) report) Increase the rate of people in CWaC who are Improving employed (Annual Population Survey data - 73.6% 74.7% 74.0% 75.0% Green Performance based on population aged 16-64) Decrease unemployment among CWaC residents (Annual Population Survey data Improving - 3.8% 3.0% 3.7% 3.5% Green based on economically active population aged Performance 16+)
Analysis and Issues:
The table above shows that two Performance Indicators are exceeding their targets. Two measures, regarding business start-ups and survival of new businesses beyond two years, are annual measures that reported at the end of 2017/18 and will again at the end of this financial year.
The rate of people who are employed is taken from Annual Population Survey data of the economically active population, aged 16-64, and the target for this year has been exceeded by 0.7 percentage points at 74.7%. The result for the previous year was 73.6%. Similar survey information is used to calculate unemployment among the economically active and within this indicator performance is improving and the target exceeded by 0.7 percentage points, at 3.0%.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Performance on wider performance indicators is positive overall. Of 10 measures, 6 are Green, two are in Measurement and two are Red. Examples of Green indicators include the amount of commercial floor space created by Council and partner schemes (Northgate, Baron’s Quay, Winsford Industrial, Ellesmere Port Enterprise Zone, City Place), which currently stands at 170,100sqft against the target of 150,000. The number of businesses supported by the economic growth service has also significantly outperformed the full year target at mid-year, at 806 against a target of 480. The Red measures relate to the number of businesses with which the Council has a primary authority agreement (where the Council provides nationwide regulatory compliance advice to a business), which is 6 against the target of 7, and the proportion of businesses which receive a food hygiene rating of 5 at initial inspection, which has improved from 63% at the end of 17/18 to 66.3% at mid-year, against the target of 70%.
Analysis and Issues:
The key highlights from across these of progress in the first half of 2018-19 include:
• The North Wales and Mersey Dee Skills and Innovation Symposium was held on 28th September and was well supported by speakers and delegates from private and public sector and academia from both sides of the border. • The cross border skills focus group will meet in November to analyse the outcomes and consider the next steps. • To address economic growth more broadly, the Mersey Dee Alliance is proposing to develop a Mersey Dee Investment Programme to deliver the priorities in the Mersey Dee Growth Prospectus. This will include the investment required to deliver the cross border road connectivity improvements to complement the rail investment campaign. • Relating to Growth Track 360, there have been successful allocations in Wales & Borders Franchise, business case development is on-going for Growth Track 360 projects, and Chester station project work is ongoing. • Cabinet considered the revised proposals for Ellesmere Port in October 2018. The consultation on the Ellesmere Port Town Centre Masterplan was launched in October. • Winsford Masterplan: the town park project was completed in summer 2018. Winsford Industrial estate is also meeting its targets. An unconditional sale was agreed with tiger trailers on the land they will develop. Tiger Trailers has also secured planning permission for a new 125,000 sq.ft. unit. • There is a significant achievement to report regarding Broadband access to rural homes, as this is now being delivered to 97% of these homes. • Delivery of Action Plans is on-going in each of the four Regeneration Programme Areas. Progress on delivery is reported and monitored by respective Regeneration Boards. • Following the approval at Full Council to approve the next stage of Northgate project, work on developing the business case and design continues through 2019, with a start on site planned for early 2020, with a target of scheme open Spring 2021. The decision to start on site is subject to further Council approval.
Less than 15% of actions in the plan have slipped. Examples of actions which have experienced challenges include the delivery of a joint property vehicle across the public sector, which is under review with the Local Enterprise Partnership. An additional action which has experienced slippage is the delivery of new business premises created under the European Regional Development Fund programme, where a European Regional Development Fund confirmation delay between September to November has affected progress.
Next Reporting Period: The following tasks and milestones are expected to be completed in 2017-18:
• Continued prioritisation of economic activity around transport and skills through Growth Track 360 and Mersey Dee Alliance • Ongoing delivery of the actions contained within the refreshed Growth Strategy under the priorities of Enterprise & Business; Infrastructure; Employment & Skills; Enabling Behaviours. • Redevelopment of Watling Street and interim works to Weaver Square in Northwich • Ongoing delivery of phase 2 of the Winsford Masterplan
10. OUR RESOURCES ARE WELL MANAGED AND REFLECT THE PRIORITIES OF OUR RESIDENTS
Outcome Owner (Councillor): Councillor David Armstrong Outcome Owner (Officer): Mark Wynn (Chief Operating Officer)
Key Performance Measures:
2017-18 2017-18 Future 2018-19 Latest Status Performance Performance Targets Indicator Description 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Mid-Year Year End Mid-Year Target Target Travel Target Survey in Increase staff engagement, based on staff 19/20. Data Data - - - 60% survey responses Targets to be available Q4 available Q4 agreed. Improving Deliver a balanced revenue outturn position Balanced Balanced Balanced Balanced Balanced Green Performance Declining Delivery of savings proposals 91% 85% 76% 90% 90% Red Performance Survey in Survey every Survey every Improve resident satisfaction with aspects of 19/20. 4 years last 4 years last - - - No Survey their local area (Residents Survey) Targets to be survey survey agreed. 2016/17 2016/17
Analysis and Issues:
One of this outcome plan’s key performance indicators is reporting as Green. This relates to the delivery of a balanced revenue outturn position. More information on this measure is provided in the accompanying Q2 report of financial performance. The measure on delivery of savings proposals is reporting declining performance and is Red against the target of 90%. Further information is available on this measure in Appendix Four and the Q2 report on financial performance. The other two indicators have been assigned ‘M’ status for this reporting period in recognition of being annual and four-yearly survey information measures regarding staff engagement and resident satisfaction respectively.
Wider Performance Indicators:
Looking more widely at this outcome’s performance measures, the timeliness of provision of high-level estimates, proportion responded to within 5 working days is reporting as Red, although performance has improved significantly this year, with the ICT Senior Management Team now directly involved in the project commissioning and estimating process. This has helped to address the backlog and establish a more efficient project estimating process. Positive performance was initially demonstrated in Q1 and this continued for a period in Q2, reaching a high of 90% in July, though performance challenges and the small number of projects (making this a highly variable measure) impacted on attainment in August and September, outlined in the table below. The delivery of projects to agreed milestones also reports as Red; however it should be noted that this measure is highly variable and is dependent on a limited set of projects. During Q2, it demonstrated performance between 71.4% to 26.3%. This is illustrated in the table below.
KPI Target Description Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep No % Provision of high level estimates/ response % Achievement 83.3 100.0 70.0 53.8 30.0 85.7 66.7 75.0 80.0 90.0 25.0 50.0 2A 75.0 within 5 working days Volume 6 8 10 13 10 7 12 12 5 10 8 8 % Achievement 30.0 27.3 41.7 37.5 14.3 34.8 31.3 27.8 60.0 26.3 71.4 41.7 3A Delivery of projects to agreed milestones 75.0 Volume 10 11 12 8 7 23 16 18 15 19 7 12 Service Availability: a defined suite of ICT % Achievement 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.9 100.0 99.1 98.6 99.9 100.0 99.9 99.8 100.0 4A services and applications available within 99.5 Volume 0 0 0 3 0 2 4 1 1 2 1 0 agreed service hours
Furthermore, analysis has shown that of the 23 project requests for which the ICT Shared Services did not meet the projected end date, the average project budget for these projects was less than half than the budget of the 15 projects that they did meet the target for. This suggests that smaller projects are more at risk of slippage, with larger projects delivering more reliably. The service are also now piloting a new method of evaluating delivery, a project satisfaction questionnaire. This will ask questions which gauge and measure customers’ level of satisfaction with the way the project has been managed and delivered. It is hoped that this will provide a more meaningful measure of the effectiveness of project delivery. Further information regarding IT project estimating and delivery is available in Appendix Four.
High levels of service availability have been maintained for a defined suite of core ICT services and applications, with 99.5% service availability within agreed service hours against the target set of 99.5%. This indicator is reported on monthly and is based on downtime affecting an agreed list of priority 1 systems, such as the core social care system, Liquidlogic. The figure of 99.5% was achieved as an average across the previous three months.
Progress is being made towards the intended aim of rationalising the corporate office estate to a desk ratio of 1:1.8. This is a transient position dependent on the commencement date of various leases and licences. The proportion of Transactional Service Centre queries resolved at the first point of contact is exceptionally high, at 99% against a target of 85%. Reducing the number of Transactional Service Centre queries that have been received is no longer a strategic objective due to the implementation of new Enterprise Resource Planning software.
Actions:
Analysis and Issues:
Over 75% of actions within the Resources Outcome Plan are either on track to be delivered as scheduled, or have already been delivered.
Examples of delivered actions include: • The Digital Channel Shift business case has been approved and implementation is underway. • High level Digital Design Principles and a short term plan have been developed. A detailed action plan has been developed and is included in the digital business case in relation to channel shift. • Preparations for the implementation of new data protection laws were delivered, and were reported to Audit and Governance committee as part of an audit report.
Examples of the highlights of progress made during the first two quarters of 2018-19 around those actions that remain on target include: • The Finance service has undertaken an extensive process of Zero Based Budget reviews. These reviews scrutinise spending in services and ensure they are achieving value for money. 31 reviews have been completed to date, with 16 partially completed and 6 due to be finalised by November 2018. Once complete these will have reviewed more than £75m of the Council’s net budget. To date the project has highlighted proposals that could deliver up to £0.5m of new savings and contributed to the delivery of a wider set of savings against existing targets. • All ‘Gold’ level communication campaigns for 18-19 will have a full strategy developed incorporating research, objectives, implementation and evaluation. Many of these have been developed and are being delivered against, with plans in place to develop the remaining strategies. • Preparations for new ward boundaries taking effect are well underway. In order to deliver elections with the new boundaries there are a number of steps that need to be taken. The first is to fully redraw all of the polling districts in the borough to take into account the new ward boundaries, whilst still representing the parish and parliamentary constituencies. All polling districts have a polling station allocated to them that meets the necessary standards. The consultation on this fully revised polling scheme will commence 10 October until 7 November. The report will then be submitted to Audit and Governance Committee in November before going to December Council for approval. All those who have a change in polling station will be written to and offered an application form to vote by post. The new registers will then be available ready for use for nominations 1 March 2019. • The Council has worked closely with Vivo to help support the company as it implements improvements in quality assurance and training across its care settings. The Council has provided additional financial support to ensure the company can operate within its funding in 2018-19 and directly supplemented the management team to provide capacity to develop and implement longer term strategies. Following the progress made in addressing service quality issues, improvements in Care Quality Commission ratings at key sites and assurance over the companies cost base, proposals are being made to Cabinet to extend the Vivo contract until April 2020. This will provide further stability for the company and allow further consideration of the most effective use of the company as part of the Council’s longer term care strategy. • The Staff Survey began on 8 October, and will gather valuable information about staff perception regarding the working environment of the Council. This will be accompanied by an extensive communications campaign and will be followed by an action plan to address any areas of underperformance. • The Community Engagement Scrutiny review has met in order to understand what constitutes best practice in community engagement, has received advice and support from expert external witnesses, and is on-track to produce an interim report in November. • The commercial management team has completed approximately 85% of its contract reviews and is on target to meet the expectations of the contract review programme that concludes in December 2018. As a result of the programme recommendations have been made to commissioners on how to improve contract management and the contract management service has taken over the commercial management of a number of key contracts. A new governance arrangement has been implemented to oversee the re-commissioning of services that will ensure the outcomes of the reviews are incorporated into contractual arrangements as they are procured.
In terms of the actions that have been re-phased there are a number of updates regarding these to highlight. Significant progress has been achieved in the Best for Business programme, which is supporting the de-commissioning of the Council’s legacy Oracle system and its replacement with a new system, Business World. This includes progress on the design, build and testing of the new system, however there is significant complexity in the implementation of new enterprise resource planning software and this has led to re-phasing. The development of an improved Open Data offer will be taken forward in Quarter three and four, as part of the development of a wider Information Strategy for the Council.
Next Reporting Period: The following are on track to be delivered by the end of 2018-19:
• Completion of the Zero based review programme. • Implementation of digital channel shift across Council services to improve the accessibility of services. • Development of an improved Open Data offer. • Development of recommendations to improve digital inclusion, recognising that not all residents have the technology or skills to engage via digital channels and improving the accessibility of services for these residents. • Roll out of Flexible Mobile Working across the Council. • Chester HQ building will be occupied by new tenants to achieve savings and improve the utilisation of the corporate estate.
APPENDIX THREE – ALL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS – QUARTER 2 2018/19 SUMMARY
KPIs are included in bold. 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Reduce the rate of children in need per 291.4 Improving 10,000 population 0-17 (all children aged 0-17 323.5 322.8 - (1930 310.0 300.0 Green Performance with an open referral, CIN, CPP and LAC) Children) Increase the proportion of Team Around the Maintained Family (TAF) assessments that are closed with 51.3% 62.0% - 60.2% 70% 75% Red Performance outcomes met Increase the proportion of families accessing services in Children’s Centres, for families with Declining 68% 95% - 43% 75% 80% Green children 0-5 years old living in the top 30% most Performance deprived areas of the borough Increase the number of complex families achieving significant and sustained Improving 391 921 - 1,049 1,400 1,820 Red outcomes (reported cumulatively over 4 Performance years) Increase the number of complex families Improving achieving sustained employment outcomes 66 119 - 127 225 364 Red Performance (reported cumulatively over 4 years) Maintain the take up of free early education Improving for eligible 2 year olds living in the top 30% 101% 97% - 100% 91% 95% Green Performance most deprived areas in the borough Improving Increase the take up of free early education for 97% 90% - 100% 91% 95% Performance Green eligible 2 year olds in the borough
Increase the take up of free early education for Maintained eligible 3-4 year olds living in the top 30% most 79% 121% - 100% 85% 90% Green Performance deprived areas in the borough Increase Parent/Carer satisfaction with the Improving final SEND Education Heath and Care Plan 92.4% 98.1% - 100% 80.0% 80.0% Green Performance (EHCP) Reduce the proportion of primary school age Improving children with SEND who have an EHC Plan who 48.5% 48.8% 49.87% 46.5% 43.5% 41.3% Performance Red are not taught in mainstream provision Reduce the proportion of secondary school age Improving children with SEND who have an EHC Plan who 69.9% 68.9% 71.38% 69.6% 56.0% 48.0% Red Performance are not taught in mainstream provision Increase the proportion of children eligible for Declining Free School Meals achieving a Good Level of 50% 57.1% - 53% 52.5% 54.0% Green Performance Development at the Early Years Stage 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Increase the proportion of all children achieving National Improving a Good Level of Development at the Early Years 71% 70.5% - 72% 71.0% Green Average Performance Stage Increase the proportion of infants that are Improving 36.2% 38.9% - 41.2% 41.7% 43.8% Amber breastfed at age 6-8 weeks Performance Reduce the proportion of children aged 4-5 Improving 20.5% 20.6% - 19.8% 20.0% 20.0% Green years who are classified as overweight or obese Performance Reduce the proportion of children aged 10-11 Improving 33.6% 32.7% - 31.9% 30.6% 30.0% Amber years who are classified as overweight or obese Performance Improve the emotional health of looked after children – measured by the child’s Strengths and Maintained 14.1 - - 14.2 13.0 13.0 Red Difficulties Questionnaire score (a lower number Performance is a better result) Annual Reduce child poverty in under 16 year olds – Annual data data measured by the percentage of children in low 15.9% 13.1% - - 14.1% 13.2% available Q4 available income families for under 16s Q4 16.6% Reduce the proportion of children who 15.5% (50 out of Improving become subject of a Child Protection Plan for 16.0% 16.1% (42 out of 14.0% 13.0% Red 302 Performance a second or subsequent time 271 children children) Reduce the proportion of referrals to Maintained children’s social care that are within 12 19.9% 19.0% 20.4% 20.8% 16.0% 14.0% Red Performance months of a previous referral Increase the proportion of front door decisions Improving 64% 55% 42.9% 79.9% 80% 85% Amber that are made within 24 hours Performance Increase the proportion of single assessments Declining 81% 76% 75.5% 66.3% 90% 95% Red that are completed within 45 days Performance Increase the proportion of children who sustainably step down to IES (not in receipt of Improving 80% 80.1% - 86.8% 82% 83% Green CSC services six months after being stepped Performance down) Reduce the rate of Looked After Children 71.0 Improving (children in care) per 10,000 population 0-17 73.4 74.4 74.1 (470 66 64 Red Performance years old Children) Increase the proportion of looked after children who had an annual health assessment (for Declining 89% 92.6% - 84.9% 91% 95% Red children who were looked after continuously for Performance at least 12 months) Increase the proportion of children who are Maintained 76% 92% - 92.3% 77% 77% Green prevented from becoming looked after (not in Performance 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 care six months after Edge of Care has completed) Increase the proportion of looked after children who are in the same placement for 2+ years (for Declining 66.0% 76.6% - 69% 70.0% 70.0% Amber children who are aged under 16 and in care for Performance over 2.5 years) Reduce the proportion of looked after children Declining who are placed out of the borough and 20+ 13.2% 15.2% 14.7% 17.0% 12.8% 12.6% Red Performance miles from home Increase the proportion of children who wait less Annual than 16 months between entering care and Annual data data 59% 60% - - 59% 59% moving in with their adoptive family (3 year available Q4 available average, 1 year time lag on data) Q4 Increase the proportion of care leavers who are Improving 97.0% 94.5% - 97.0% 97.0% 97.0% Green living in suitable accommodation Performance Increase the proportion of cases where Maintained action was taken and the risk was reduced or 95.8% 97.7% - 96.3% 92.0% 95.0% Green Performance removed Increase the proportion of cases where the Improving individual’s desired outcomes were fully or 81.0% 54.7% - 95% 90.0% 93.0% Green Performance partially achieved Increase the number of concluded Section 42 Increase Increase Improving 242 287 - 163.0 Green Safeguarding Enquiries of 5% of 8% Performance Adult Adult Reduce the proportion of beds in ‘Inadequate’ or Safeguar Safeguar Improving ‘Requires Improvement’ Care Homes, measured 28.6% 30.5% 23% No target ding Unit ding Unit Performance by CQC inspections. to confirm to confirm Increase the proportion of people that use adult social care services that feel safe (annual Improving 71.6% - - 75% 74.5% 76.0% Green survey; provisional results May, confirmed Performance results Oct) Reduce the proportion of domestic abuse Data not available incidents that are within 12 months of a previous Cheshire Police change of 20.2% 17.0% - - 15-30% 15-30% incident (total repeat incidents recorded by software Cheshire Constabulary) KS2, proportion of pupils achieving the At least At least Expected Standard, Reading and Writing and the same the same Data Data Maths – Reduce the gap between 27 29 - - as the as the available available Disadvantaged and Non Disadvantaged national national January 19 January 19 Children average average KS2, proportion of pupils achieving the 41 23 - 21 At least At least Improving M 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Expected Standard, Reading and Writing and the same the same Performance Maths – Reduce the gap between Children In as the as the Care and All Pupils national national average average At least KS2, proportion pupils achieving Expected the same Improving Standard, Reading and Writing and Maths – 53% 59% - 63% 64% as the Amber Performance Result for All Pupils national average At least At least KS4, Progress 8 Score – Reduce the gap the same the same Data Data between Disadvantaged and Non +0.57 +0.68 - - as the as the available available Disadvantaged Children national national January 19 January 19 average average At least At least the same the same Data KS4, Progress 8 Score – Reduce the gap Declining +1.63 +0.61 - +0.94 as the as the available between Children In Care and All Pupils Performance national national January 19 average average At least At least the same the same Data Declining KS4, Progress 8 Score – Result for All Pupils +0.04 -0.05 - -0.1 as the as the available Performance national national January 19 average average Increase the proportion of children attending a Improving good or better primary school, measured by 90.0% 91.9% - 93% - 100.0% M Performance Ofsted inspection results Increase the proportion of children attending a Maintained good or better secondary school, measured by 92.0% 96.0% - 96% 96.4% 100.0% Amber Performance Ofsted inspection results Annual Increase the proportion of children who are Annual Data Data offered their first preference of primary school 91.8% 91.0% - 93.9% 95.0% available Q4 available (annual measure) Q4 Annual Increase the proportion of children who are Annual Data Data offered their first preference of secondary school 93.7% 89.4% - - 94.0% 95.0% available Q4 available (annual measure) Q4 Increase the proportion of Care Leavers who Maintained are in Education, Employment or Training 58.0% 50.3% 53.9% 52.7% 60.0% 60.0% Red Performance (EET) 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Annual Increase the proportion of the KS4 SEN cohort Annual Data Data 88.8% 87.7% - - 84.9% 86.0% who are EET at 17 years academic age Available Q4 Available Q4 Annual Reduce the proportion of young people who are Annual Data Data Not in Education, Employment or Training 2.4% 2.6% - - 2.7% 2.7% Available Q4 Available (NEET) Q4 Increase the proportion of the working age Annual population with NVQ Level 3 or equivalent Annual Data Data 55.2% 57.7% - - 61.0% 62.0% qualification or above (ONS Annual Available Q4 Available Population Survey) Q4 Increase Increase Annual Increase the average earnings by residents of by at least by at least Annual Data Data CWaC, measured by the average gross weekly £547.00 £555.50 - - the rate of the rate of Available Q4 Available pay for full time workers (ONS Survey) inflation inflation Q4 Increase the proportion of CWaC staff paid the Maintained Local Living Wage (staff paid via the CWaC 97% 97% - 97% 99% 100% Amber Performance payroll) Better Reduce the number of Delayed Transfers of Care Care (DTOC) from hospital for residents of Improving 13,510 12,342 2,380 4,509 8,667 Fund Red CWaC (total number of days delayed, 6 week Performance Monthly time lag on data) Target Reduce the number of Delayed Transfers of Better Care (DTOC) from hospital for residents of Care Improving CWaC where the responsibility for the delay 4,940 5,068 - 1,252 2,554 Fund Red Performance was social care only (total number of days Monthly delayed, 6 week time lag on data) Target Increase the number of carers who are given information and advice and/or signposted to Declining 897 469 88 152 965 1,000 Red other universal services at the completion of Performance an assessment Survey in Increase the Carer-reported quality of life score, 19/20. Data Next survey Data reported via the Carers Survey (max score is 12, 8.0 - - 8.0 Targets to Available 2018/19 Available Q4 survey conducted every 2 years) be Q4 agreed. Reduce the number of older people who have Declining a permanent admission to a residential or 456 419 - 239.0 435 427 Red Performance nursing care home 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Increase the proportion of people receiving Maintained community-based social care services who 100.0% 100% - 99.8% 100% 100% Amber Performance receive self-directed support Awaiting Awaiting People People Improving Maintain the number of people receiving telecare 615 2,463 2,688 2,867 No target Commissi Commissi Performance oning oning Data Data Reduce the number of injuries due to falls in Awaiting Awaiting Available Available people aged 65 and over (NHS data, 6 month 1,722 - - - Public Public February February time lag on publication) Health Health 2019 2019 Increase the proportion of new clients who Improving received reablement where no request was 58.5% 68.6% - 69.4% 65.5% 70.5% Green Performance made for ongoing support Increase the social care-related quality of life Maintained score, reported via the ASC Survey (max score 19.4 - - 19.4 19.4 19.4 Green Performance is 24) Increase the proportion of adults with a Maintained learning disability who live in their own home 85.1% 88.2% - 85.8% 88.3% 90.0% Amber Performance or with their family Increase the proportion of adults in contact with Maintained secondary mental health services who live 67.7% 61.4% 61.8% 60.09% 75.9% 80.0% Red Performance independently with or without support Improving Increase the proportion of adults with a learning 5.5% 5.9% - 6.1% 5.9% 6.0% Performance Green disability who are in paid employment
Increase the proportion of adults in contact with Maintained secondary mental health services who are in 5.8% 6.8% - 6.7% 6.4% 6.7% Green Performance paid employment Awaiting Awaiting Increase the number of people accessing early People People Maintained intervention services through community / 3rd 6,614 10,474 - 9,998 No Target Commissi Commissi Performance sector providers (to be reported at end of year) oning oning Awaiting Awaiting Increase the number of visitors to the CWaC People People Improving Local Offer website for adults and children 150,295 411,234 - 354,277 No Target Commissi Commissi Performance (reported as total per year) oning oning Screening Awaiting Awaiting Screening Screening Increase the number of people completing adult tool offline People People tool offline – tool offline social care self-assessments online (to be 183 - - – online in Commissi Commissi online in – online in reported at end of year) 19/20 oning oning 19/20 19/20 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Reduce the proportion of adults who are National National classified as overweight or obese (excess - - - 61.2% 60.0% methodology methodolog weight in adults) changed y changed Annual Reduce the number of adults who are self- Annual data data reported smokers (smoking prevalence in 13.1% 11.7% - - 13.0% 13.0% available Q4 available adults, ONS Survey) Q4 Latest data Latest data Admission episodes for alcohol related available – available – conditions per 100,000 population (PHOF 587 632 - - 529 513 data data narrow definition) available available December December Increase the proportion of adults achieving at National National least 150 minutes of physical activity per week - - - - 66.0% 68.0% methodology methodolog (Active People Survey) changed y changed Annual Reduce the life expectancy gap between the Annual data data most deprived and most affluent areas of the 10.0 9.4 - - 9.4 9.2 available Q4 available borough (Men) Q4 Annual Reduce the life expectancy gap between the Annual data data most deprived and most affluent areas of the 8.7 8.8 - - 7.8 7.6 available Q4 available borough (Women) Q4 New service Increase the proportion of people engaging with Oct 2018 first Data Data weight management services in CWaC who 56% 61% - data set 55% 55% available Jan available achieve at least a 5% weight loss available Jan 2018 Jan 2018 2019 Increase the number of people engaging with Declining smoking cessation services in CWaC who 975 866 93 193 1,330 1,330 Red Performance successfully quit smoking, measured at 4 weeks Increase the proportion of successful Declining completions of treatment for alcohol-using 43 45.85 - 42.96 44 44 Amber Performance clients At least Increase physical activity levels, reported via same as Improving 2,574,500 2,424,763 656,996 2,455,189 2,424,763 Green numbers of visitors to Brio Leisure previous Performance year Increase the number of people who engage Improving 1,377,760 1,968,963 - 893,523 1,447,475 1,476,424 Green with libraries Performance Increase the number of volunteers engaged 190 201 - 202 217 226 Improving Green 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 through libraries Performance Increase the number of people who engage Declining 122,307 142,564 - 71,243.0 130,873 140,000 Green with museums Performance Increase the number of volunteers engaged Declining 69 106 - 66 65 70 Green through museums Performance Increase the number of people who engage with Improving 1,570,130 2,821,828 - 852,439 1,649,617 1,690,857 Green archives Performance Increase the number of volunteers engaged Improving through archives (reported as number of hours, 2,939 3,241 - 1,531 2,937 3,000 Green Performance not individuals) Survey in Resident satisfaction with borough Culture and 19/20. Leisure facilities. Result based on various 4 Yearly 4 Yearly 4 Yearly No 6.1 Targets to No Survey No Survey questions in Residents Survey, result is average Survey Survey Survey Survey be score out of 10. agreed. Improve mental health outcomes through the use of green spaces for health improvement Maintained - 12 12 12 8 8 Green activities (measured via the Natural Health Performance Service) Improve physical health outcomes through the use of green spaces for health improvement Declining - 48 - 36 30 30 Green activities (measured via the Natural Health Performance Service) Improving Increase the number of visitors to the borough 35.6 - - 36.26 31.2 31.25 Green Performance Survey in Annual 19/20. Increase staff engagement, based on staff Annual Data Data 59% - - - 60% Targets to survey responses Available Q4 Available be Q4 agreed. 0.3%, 0.9%, 1.0%, Annual Increase staff performance, based on staff 0.6%, 68.3%, 66.2%, 64.1%, 64.0%, Annual Data Data appraisal ratings (Unsatisfactory, Performing - - 28.7%, 2.4% 30.9%, 30.0%, 30.0%, Available Q4 Available Well, Exceeding Expectation, Outstanding) 0.3% 5.0 5.0 Q4 Improve utilisation of corporate estate, based on Data not Data not staff to desk ratio (target is 1 desk per 1.8 staff 1 to 1.6 - - 1 to 1.8 1 to1.8 available available members) Maintain the Level 3, Excellent Level, for the Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Maintained - Green Equality Framework for Local Government Level Level Level Level Level Performance Improving Green Deliver a balanced revenue outturn position Underspent Underspent - Balanced Balanced Balanced Performance 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Declining Red Delivery of savings proposals 89% 85% - 76% 90% 90% Performance Improving Green Delivery of approved capital programme 90% 77% - 90% 90% 90% Performance 2017/18 Reduce the overall number of Transactional Declining No Target - 5998 1,937 4,670 - to inform Service Centre (TSC) helpdesk queries Performance targets Increase the proportion of Transactional Service Improving Centre (TSC) queries resolved at first point of - 96.0% - 99% 85% 90% Green Performance contact Data Data Data Data Improved user experience (customer satisfaction To be To be - available - available available available survey) confirmed confirmed 2019 2019 2019 2019 Improved timeliness of provision of high-level Improving estimates, proportion responded to within 5 18% 53% 72% 58% 75% 75% Red Performance working days Proportion of projects delivered to the agreed Improving 64% 32% 39% 40% 75% 75% Red milestones Performance Improved service availability, a defined suite of Maintained ICT services and applications, availability within 97.7% 99.7% - 99.5% 99.5% 99.5% Green Performance agreed service hours Survey in 19/20. Improve resident satisfaction with aspects of No 54.0% - - - Targets to No Survey No Survey their local area (Residents Survey) Survey be agreed. Number of empty homes that are brought back into use (as at July 2015 there were Improving 150 250 - 154 190 190 Green 1,795 homes empty 6 months or more; target Performance to achieve 720 in total by 19/20) Number of new affordable homes delivered Improving 457 623 - 361 250 200 Green per annum Performance Number of new homes delivered (net dwellings Improving 2,017 - - 2,542.0 1,100 1,100 Green per annum) – 6 month time lag on publication. Performance Number of private sector properties achieving Maintained Decent Homes Standard (through grant or loan 24 31 - 9 20 20 Red Performance provision) Number of households in temporary Declining 39 62 53 75 45 45 Red accommodation per quarter (snapshot) Performance Number of households in B&B Declining 11 27 21 39.0 45 45 Red accommodation per quarter (snapshot) Performance 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Average length of stay in temporary 10 weeks Maintained 5.42 4.32 - 4.5 9 Green accommodation (weeks) or less Performance Average length of stay in B&B 4 weeks Declining 2.77 2.31 - 2.7 4 Green accommodation (weeks) or less Performance Number of homeless preventions (data Declining 2,258 2,116 114 316 2,350 2,400 Red collection changed during 2016/17) Performance Improving Number of homeless acceptance cases 99 105 10 30 90 90 Green Performance Rough sleeping estimate (annual snapshot of Declining the number of individuals sleeping rough on a 7 18 20 31 5 5 Red Performance given night) Number of vulnerable residents able to Declining remain in their own homes (through grant 180 176 - 55 175 175 Red Performance provision, Disabled Facilities Grants) Proportion of Council tenants satisfied with Maintained 89% 89% - 88% 89% 89% Amber housing management services Performance The percentage of dwellings where Category 1 Improving Hazards have been resolved within 6 months of 40% 80% - 82% 80% 80% Green Performance HHSRS inspection The proportion of households living in fuel poverty (target % reduction against 2014 Data Data baseline, 10% of households living in fuel +0.1% - - - -3% -4% available available Q4 poverty in CWAC, 14,461 households, BEIS Q4 Statistics 2014) Data Increase the number of business start-ups in Data 1,810 1,935 - - 1,900 2,000 available CWAC (two year time lag, ONS data) available Q4 Q4 Increase the proportion of new businesses, Data Data over £68,000 turnover, surviving beyond two 76.9% 77.0% - - 79% 80% available available Q4 years (two year time lag, ONS data) Q4 Amount of new investment secured through Improving council-lead programmes (City Place, Science - 1.35 - 1.4 1 1 Green Performance Corridor, Mid-Cheshire and ERDF workspace) Amount of commercial floor space created by CWaC and partner schemes (Northgate, Barons Declining 204,000 448,896 - 170,100 150,000 160,000 Green Quay, Winsford Industrial; Ellesmere Port Performance Enterprise Zone, City Place) Proportion of commercial floor space occupied in CWaC and partner schemes (Northgate, Barons Improving 48% 72% - 80% 67% 67% Green Quay, Winsford Industrial; Ellesmere Port Performance Enterprise Zone, City Place) 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Increase the number of businesses directly Improving 450 647 - 806 480 500 Green supported through the Economic Growth Service Performance Increase the number of businesses to whom Improving 28 164 - 81 100 200 Green consultancy services provided Performance Increase the number of businesses with whom Maintained 4 6 - 6.00 7 8 Red the Council has a Primary Authority Agreement Performance Increase the proportion of businesses that Improving 60% 63% - 66.3% 70% 80% Red achieve a hygiene rating of 5 on initial inspection Performance Increase the rate of people in CWaC who are employed (Annual Population Survey data Improving 73.5% 73.6% - 74.7% 74.0% 75.0% Green based on population aged 16-64, 6 month Performance time lag on publication) Decrease unemployment among CWaC residents (Annual Population Survey data Improving 3.6% 3.8% - 3.0% 3.7% 3.5% Green based on economically active population Performance aged 16, 6 month time lag on publication) Maintain the number of job starts via CWaC Improving - 692 - 398.0 480 480 Green Work Zones Performance Number of apprenticeship starts amongst 16-18 New New baseline year olds in the borough (Apprentices that are baseline 3,474 3,786 1,227 - 5,500 6,500 available Jan 16-18 years old at the start of the available 2020 apprenticeship) Jan 2020 Increase Increase Annual Increase the level of Gross Value Added (GVA) at least at least Annual data data – measured as income per head of population at £27,011 £27,900 - - above above available Q4 available current basic prices (18 month time lag) rate of rate of Q4 inflation inflation Reduce the number of Killed and Seriously Declining 128 101 - 62 168 164 Green Injured (KSI) road traffic casualties Performance No higher Reduce the number of Children Killed and than Maintained Seriously Injured (CKSI) road traffic 7 7 - 3 7 Green previous Performance casualties year Increase the number of 20mph speed limits on Annual residential roads and outside schools, measured Annual Data Data 25% 50% - - 65% 80% as the proportion of identified sites that have Available Q4 Available been converted to 20mph (four year programme) Q4 Annual “A” road condition – percentage requiring No more No more Annual Data Data 1% 1% - - structural maintenance than 3% than 5% Available Q4 Available Q4 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Annual “B&C” road condition – percentage requiring No more No more Annual Data Data 4% 3% - - structural maintenance than 8% than 8% Available Q4 Available Q4 Annual “U” road condition – percentage requiring No more No more Annual Data Data 6% 7% - - structural maintenance than 9% than 9% Available Q4 Available Q4 Annual Increase the proportion of residents who are Annual Data Data 54% 49% - - 58% 60% satisfied with highways overall (NHT Survey) Available Q4 Available Q4 Annual Increase the proportion of residents who are Annual Data Data 38% 40% - - 50% 55% satisfied with highways condition (NHT Survey) Available Q4 Available Q4 Annual Increase the proportion of residents who are Annual Data Data satisfied with highways maintenance (NHT 52% 52% - - 60% 62% Available Q4 Available Survey) Q4 Increase the use of Park and Ride in Chester, Declining measured by the number of P&R passengers 416,403 352,602 84,660 166,862 500,000 609,186 Red Performance per annum Increase the use of Community Transport, 7,573 (per measured by the number of trips (average per 8,385 8,340 - 8,234 7,573 month Maintained Green month) average) Performance Increase the availability of superfast broadband, measured by the proportion of Improving 91.7% 93.9% - 94.7% 99% 99% Amber premises able to access superfast Performance broadband (>30Mbps) Increase the availability of services through Maintained 17% 23% 32.99% 32.00% 35% 50% Red Digital Technology Performance Maintain household waste at appropriate Improving levels, measured by the residual waste per 462.0 440.0 - 110.7 480.0 488.0 Green Performance household in kilograms Increase the proportion of total household waste Improving diverted from landfill through recycling and/or 99% 98% - 100% 98% 99% Green Performance treatment Increase levels of recycling, the proportion of Improving 57.99% 58.0% - 64% 59.5% 59.5% Green waste sent for Reuse, Recycling or Composting Performance Improvements in Waste Collection Service No Survey No Survey - - 93% Survey in Annual Data Annual 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Customer Satisfaction (Survey every 3 years) 19/20. Available Q4 Data Targets to Available be Q4 agreed. Cleaner streets: Combined Litter & Detritus – Annual Increase the proportion of sites inspected Annual Data Data 96% 92% - - 90% 90% that meet the acceptable standard (Grade B Available Q4 Available or above) Q4 Annual Cleaner streets: Fly-tipping – Increase the Annual Data Data proportion of sites inspected that meet the 99% 97% - - 92% 92% Available Q4 Available acceptable standard (Grade A) Q4 Annual Cleaner streets: Graffiti – Reduce the Annual Data Data proportion of sites inspected that are below 0% 0% - - 1% 1% Available Q4 Available the acceptable standard (Grade B) Q4 Cleaner streets: Grounds Maintenance – Annual Increase the proportion of sites inspected Annual Data Data 99% 99.1% - - 90% 90% that meet the acceptable standard (Grade B Available Q4 Available or above) Q4 Borough wide CO2e emissions continue to decline. Baseline of 29% reduction at Dec Declining 42.5% - - 39.85% 39.0% 34.0% Green 2013 against 1990 level of 6658ktCO2e (2 Performance year time lag on results). Lower levels of CO2e emissions from the Council’s assets and services. 2014/15 original Improving scope baseline - 41108.58 tCO2e. Updated: 36,472 - - 33,405 41,317 38,055 Green Performance 2014/15 increased scope baseline: 54365 tCO2e. Targets updated. Annual Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) - Annual Data Data achieve the 2019/20 AQMA target for Ellesmere 40.0 36.0 - - - 40.0 Available Q4 Available Port Q4 Annual Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) - Annual Data Data 48.7 45.5 - - - 40.0 achieve the 2019/20 AQMA target for Chester Available Q4 Available Q4 Annual Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) - Annual Data Data 42.2 40.5 - - - 40.0 achieve the 2019/20 AQMA target for Frodsham Available Q4 Available Q4 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 2019/20 Direction of Status vs Indicator Description Performance Performanc Performance Performance Target Target Travel Target Q4 e Q4 Q1 Q2 Data not Data not currently currently available - Number of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) reported available - alternative incidents (note: information from Cheshire 2,146 1,185 - - - - alternative data Police, recording changed during 2016/17). data collection in collection in developme development nt Data not Data not currently currently available - available - Number of alcohol related Anti-Social Behaviour alternative 197 93 - - - - alternative (ASB) reported incidents data data collection in collection in developme development nt Survey in Residents Survey – proportion of positive 19/20. responses to the question: How safe or unsafe No 61% - - - Targets to No Survey No Survey do you feel when outside in your local area at Survey be night? agreed. Survey in Residents Survey – proportion of positive 19/20. responses to the question: How satisfied or No 84% - - - Targets to No Survey No Survey dissatisfied are you with your local area as a Survey be place to live? agreed. APPENDIX FOUR – OUTCOME TRACKER ACTION PLANS Outcome Measure: Increase the number of complex families achieving significant and sustained outcomes (reported cumulatively over 4 years) Lead Director: Helen Brackenbury
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Improving Red 43 560 921 1049 1400 1820 Performance
What are the reasons for current performance? This is a cumulative target across the year and would not be expected to be achieved by Quarter 2. The number has increased from 921 to 1049 and is expected to continue increasing over the remainder of the year. The authority is at 74.93% against the annual target (cumulative) and 57.64% against the 5 year target.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? The service will continue to ensure that cases are closed in a timely manner to allow for all successful family outcomes to be claimed at each relevant quarter so that the target can be met.
Through the award of Earned Autonomy for Cheshire West and Chester, a range of different projects have been initiated utilising this additional resource that will support outcomes for families and achieving future targets. This includes additional staff resource in the iART front door service; the development of an ICT solution to enable partner agencies to directly input and view the electronic case management system; and further resources to support the Winsford Hub.
In addition the authority will be offering further training and guidance to partner agencies including the Starting Well Service in November and tailored training on the system as the ICT solution is launched.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? It is projected that the local authority will come in on target for this KPI by the end of the financial year. The claim window for the Troubled Families Programme is open until the end of March 2019. The local authority will continue to submit claims on a quarterly basis in the time window for families who have achieved their outcomes and allow the authority to meet its local target by the end of the financial year.
Outcome Measure: Reduce the proportion of children who become subject of a Child Protection Plan for a second or subsequent time Lead Director: Emma Taylor
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Improving 12.9% 16.6% 15.5% 14% 13% Red 14.5% Performance Number 50 out of 42 out of (where rate N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 302 271 or %).
What are the reasons for current performance? At the end of quarter two 2018-19, 15.5% of children who started on a child protection plan had a previous plan. Performance is measured based on the last 12 months data, in line with statutory reporting. Performance on this measure continues to be better than national, regional and statistical neighbour comparators.
Nationally there is an average of 18.7% of repeat child protection plans, regionally this is 18.4% and statistical neighbours are also higher at 19.4%.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? Child Protection cases continue to be closely monitored by the service. The service will be undertaking an audit of the 7 sibling groups subject to repeat plans. The audit will also review whether there are any links between the cases being large sibling groups and the reason they have repeated.
An audit of cases that step up and step down from Children’s Social Care was recently undertaken. The audit showed that decision making was appropriate and risk is being managed appropriately. The Safeguarding Unit has also looked at Children in Need cases and there were no suggestions that there are inappropriate cases going up to Child Protection. Of those children on a Child Protection plan ending within the last 12 months, 27% ended due to the child entering care, 2% transferred to another local authority and 71% ended due to the risks being reduced.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? There has been a decrease in the number of repeat child protection plans, and volumes are now generally low (11 new repeat plans in quarter two). However there were 19 in March and April 2018 which are still impacting the reported data as it averages over the last 12 months of data.
Given the Council is performing better than national, regional and statistical comparators, this measure will be considered for review at end-of-year.
Outcome Measure: Reduce the proportion of referrals to children’s social care that are within 12 months of a previous referral Lead Director: Emma Taylor
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Maintained 19.7% 22.1% 19% 20.8% 16% 14% Red Performance Number 535 out of 573 out of (where rate N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 2759 or %). 2813
What are the reasons for current performance? The percentage of repeat referrals to children’s social care increased at quarter two of 2018/19, to 20.8%, compared to 19.0% during 2017/18. Performance is based on the last 12 month data, in line with statutory reporting. Cheshire West and Chester’s result of 20.8% remains better than the averages for England (21.9%), the North West region (21.7%) and the Council’s statistical neighbours (21.2%).
The rise in quarter two comes as a result of a high proportion of repeats during the first quarter of 2018-19. During quarter one, the service received a monthly average of 58 repeat referrals, and during quarter two this dropped to an average of 46 repeat referrals over the three months. The volume of re-referrals has reduced from 175 in quarter one to 140 in quarter two.
Cheshire West and Chester use a Think Family approach at the front door, which means that repeat referrals could be in respect of different children within a family group. An audit of re-referrals was undertaken in November 2017 which showed that by including all children in the referrals received, this is impacting on re-referral numbers and identified that re-referrals are around 20% higher as a result of the whole family approach.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? Actions are being implemented in relation to the early support interventions that are undertaken by the Council and its partners, in order to provide children and families with appropriate support and mitigate repeat referrals.
• Team around the family (TAF) audits are being undertaken by TAF advisors on all the TAFs that have been open to partner agencies for over 12 months. This is to ensure that TAF plans remain robust and address any drift. In addition, senior managers are undertaking two TAF audits each month on cases where the Council are leading the TAF to ensure that TAF plans are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). • Activity with partners is being monitored by the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) and the Children’s Trust. Investigations are being conducted to drill down into the areas and partners where there is low activity. There has been an additional emphasis with professionals in respect of TAF and the need to intervene early within families and prevent the escalation of needs. The LSCB is also overseeing activity around partners’ use of assessment tools that inform assessments and referrals. • Family group conferencing (FGC) assists families to build on their strengths at the beginning of the TAF intervention. It is a nationally evidence based process that has demonstrated increased resilience and stability in families. • Work to enhance the interface between Children’s Social Care and Early Help and Prevention has been developed with a new approach rolling out in respect of step up and step downs between these service areas. • Amended iART criteria seeks for a TAF to be in place prior to escalation unless an urgent safeguarding need identified; a focus on earliest possible support at the earliest possible time. This is early into roll out but is hoped to reduce the re-referral rate by ensuring early intervention is priority for all partners leaving only those requiring statutory intervention escalating to the front door.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? The rise in repeat referrals noted in quarter two indicates that it may be difficult to meet the stretching target set for this measure. Numbers and trends will continue to be monitored closely.
Given the Council is performing better than national, regional and statistical comparators, this measure will be considered for review at end-of-year.
Outcome Measure: Reduce the rate of Looked After Children (children in care) per 10,000 population 0-17 years old Lead Director: Emma Taylor
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Improving 73 72.3 74.4 71 66 64 Red Performance Number (where rate N/A 496 children 470 children 437 children N/A N/A N/A or %).
What are the reasons for current performance? The number of looked after children, LAC (also termed ‘Children in Care’, CIC) is a national challenge and an issue that has been well-publicised. A pertinent factor locally which contributes to this challenge is that in some cases, the plan presented to court by CWaC Children’s Social Care has not been accepted, leading to children being placed at home with their parents, while still technically being ‘in care’. Regional research has shown that the North West has a higher proportion of children in care placed with their own parents than other regions and in Cheshire West and Chester, this accounts for 13.4% of the Looked After Children population. This issue is currently being addressed by Councils and colleagues within the Family Court system, and the proportion of children placed with parents has continued to reduce in Q2 (Jul- 68, Aug-66, Sept-63).
Cheshire West and Chester had a large increase in the numbers of looked after children between 2012/13 and 2014/15 where the rate increased from 58 to 75 (the number of LAC per 10,000 population aged 0-17), taking it above the national average in the process. By the end of 2015/16 this had reduced to 70, but increased by the end of 2016/17 to 73. For 2016/17, the latest available national data, the average rate for the Council’s statistical neighbours was 58.1; for the North West region it was 86.0, and for England it was 62.0.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? The strategy to help reduce the numbers of children entering care includes a number of complementary delivery models. The progress and the impact of these models are regularly monitored by managers. Models are listed below:
• An expanded Edge of Care service who are working with a wider cohort of child protection and pre- proceedings cases in order to sustainably ‘step down’ cases to child in need (CIN) and team around the family (TAF) levels; • A model to support children in need (CIN) via intensive, evidence-based interventions; • Family group conferencing (FGC) – an evidence based intervention designed to build on family strengths, enable family decision-making and to help keep families resilient and stable; • A more consistent approach to risk perception and management has been developed, to keep children with their families where this is safe and appropriate; • The Targeted Family Support Service that is working with a targeted cohort of new entrants to care, child protection cases and cases considered to be at risk of being on the edge of care; • Children’s Social Care is working closely with Legal Services to ensure that assessments and care plans presented to Court are robust and evidence-based, to prevent children remaining with their parents while still technically in care.
There is also a strong emphasis on ensuring that exit planning for those in care is clear and that children can leave the care system in a safe and timely manner, when necessary. More recent work at management level includes a review of how teams manage and deal with risk. The aim here is to adopt a more consistent approach to risk management in casework, based on a clear set of principles that are applied consistently across the Borough. Work is also underway with partners to develop a common approach to practice, where a joint approach to risk management is agreed across the whole of the continuum of need.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? Given the likelihood of rapid changes being achievable to the number of looked after children, it is not anticipated by the service that this year’s target will be met.
Outcome Measure: Increase the proportion of Care Leavers who are in Education, Employment or Training (EET) Lead Director: Emma Taylor
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Maintained 59.3% 50% 52.7% 60% 60% Red 57% Performance 79 out of 88 out of N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 159 167
What are the reasons for current performance? At 30 September 2018, 52.7% of care leavers were in employment, education or training (EET).
Of the 79 individuals who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), 15 are due to disability/illness, 14 for pregnancy/parenting and 50 for other reasons. In respect of those care leavers who are currently NEET for other reasons there are currently 10 young males (of the 29 in this cohort) who are in custody.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? • The Leaving Care team strives to support care leavers with the affecting issues in order to reduce the impact and achieve positive outcomes. Actions taken to address this include: • The team regularly monitor care leavers who are NEET for other reasons. Work is then undertaken to motivate and support those likely to gain EET destinations. • Additional Personal Advisor positions will assist in increasing the EET population. This will give Personal Advisors a slight reduction in their caseloads, which will allow them to provide more direct support to those requiring it in order to gain EET status and reach their true potential. • A bid for the European Social Fund is being made to gain funding for EET Support Workers posts to support care leavers as they enter and become acclimatised to being in the work place. • The Leaving Care Team are working with Spectre First (a service commissioned by the Department for Education to forge links with the business industry to develop apprenticeship/employment opportunities for Care Leavers) to promote EET opportunities for care leavers in Cheshire West.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? The additional Personal Advisors will support a more positive trajectory and early signs of this are noted.
Outcome Measure: Increase the number of carers who are given information and advice and/or signposted to other universal services at the completion of an assessment Lead Director: Jennifer McGovern
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Declining Red 638 299 469 152 965 1000 Performance
What are the reasons for current performance? There has been a substantial drop in the number of carers who were given information and advice or signposted due to not being recorded on Liquidlogic. There were 152 carers recorded on Liquidlogic as being given information and advice from April – September 2018, compared to 299 for the same period last year.
There appear to be a combination of issues impacting on this measure:
• Historic data quality problems resulting in unreliable numbers of carers recorded on the adult social care case management system. The unreliability of current figures is caused by historic poor data transition and inconsistent current loading of carer records. • Information, advice and signposting is being completed at front door prior to assessment, but is not always captured on Liquidlogic due to the teams’ workload pressures. • There was no clear guidance around expectations of what the workers should record in Liquidlogic in relation to carers.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? There are two ongoing areas of work that are in progress to improve the situation, these are:
Data Quality: • Data cleansing. An extensive exercise has begun which is identifying and correcting errors in the recording and loading of over 4,000 individual records. This will be an ongoing exercise, with completion planned prior to March 2019. • It is anticipated that this exercise will highlight a larger number of carers who The Council has already supported and signposted to appropriate support. Community Access Team has been briefed on what they are required to load in order to capture carer activity in reports. • Clear and updated user guides have been re-issued to all teams to address inconsistent loading.
Service Improvement: • A new online training course - ‘carer awareness training’ has been created and is being launched summer 2018, this will lead to better quality assessment, better identification of carers, and better signposting for carers. • The Carers liaison officer and Data quality officer are visiting all social care teams to brief about their responsibilities in relation to carers, ensuring a consistent service is offered to all carers. • On January 2 2018 the new integrated Carers service became operational, this service brought all existing carers service under one umbrella, and ensured that there was one point of contact for carers. • Since that date an additional 1300 carers have been identified within the borough by a variety of partner organisations on the recording system of Upshot. These figures do not feed into Performance reporting from Liquidlogic. • It is intended that the Council’s new Local Offer website will provide immediate access to advice and support for carers.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? As detailed above, there is an extensive programme of data cleansing alongside training and support to teams to improve future performance. Improvements should be visible from Q4. Outcome Measure: 4.01 - Reduce the number of Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) from hospital for residents of CWaC (total number of days delayed, 6 week time lag on data) Lead Director: Jennifer McGovern
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q1 Result Q2 Target 2019/20 Travel Target 18/19 4,509 Improving Red (Apr-Aug18) Performance 1,679 Better (Apr-May18) Projected YE Care (due to 8,959 6,846 12,342 total of 8,667 Fund projected 2,380 (Apr to 10,822 Monthly YE total) Jun18) (based on 5 Target months data)
Outcome Measure: 4.02 - Reduce the number of Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) from hospital for residents of CWaC where the responsibility for the delay was social care only (total number of days delayed, 6 week time lag on data) Lead Director: Jennifer McGovern
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target 1,252 Improving Red (Apr-Aug18) Performance Better Care (due to Fund - 1,121 4,940 2,554 projected YE Projected YE Monthly total) total of 3,005 Target (based on 5 months data)
What are the reasons for current performance? In 2017/18 the Council and its partners were set challenging targets as part of the Better Care Fund (BCF) submission by the Department of Health. These targets were agreed by the CWaC Health and Wellbeing Board. (Total delays target – 11,302. Social care delays target – 5,014.)
New Targets for 2018/19 have only recently been released by the Department of Health and Social Care and subsequently approved by the Health and Wellbeing Board. The expectations are further challenging compared to last year’s target and emphasis for the reduction is weighted to social care delays. (Total delays target – 8,667. Social care delays target – 2,554.)
This is an even bigger challenge for local partners in 2018/19 in further reducing the delays against a backdrop of funding pressures and growing demand. In essence the new targets mean that adult social care can only have 7 delays per day across any hospital location for CWaC residents awaiting a discharge.
Though August figures have now been released and have been included in the figures in the main tables above, the totals for August are broadly in line with July figures and have not met the monthly target set. At the time of writing this red template the latest published data was for July activity therefore narrative below is based on July 2018 delayed transfer data.
During July 2018 the total number of delayed days for CWaC was 1,106 days which is above the target of 736 days (below target is better), and a deterioration on the June result of 701 days. This compares to the average result for the last 12 months (August 2017 to July 2018) of 919 days. (For information, August 2018 total delayed days are 1,023, which again are over the target of 736).
In Cheshire West the overall increase (between June and July 2018) was 57.8%. The number of Adult Social Care attributable delays increased by 42.0% between the two months and NHS attributable delays has increased by 24.0%. In the same period ‘joint delays’ have decreased by 279.0%, from 76 in June 2018 to 288 in July 2018.
People awaiting a care packages in their own home remains the main reason for delays over the 12 month period July 2018, with 517 days for this reason during July 2018 (a 96.6% increase from June 2018).
When looking at the individual hospital trusts the largest reason for delays at The Countess of Chester in July 2018 (555 days in total) ‘awaiting a care package in the home’ delays at 60% (331 out of the 555 days) Leighton hospital accounted for 76 of the delayed days in total. Delays at other hospitals accounted for 477 delayed days in total, with 37% of these (177) being due to ‘awaiting a care package in the home’.
The number of ASC delays at the Countess increased from 136 days in June 2018 to 173 days in July 2018. The number of ASC delays at Leighton decreased from 39 days in June 2018 to 13 days in July 2018. The number of ASC delays at Other hospitals increased from 63 days in June 2018 to 152 days in July 2018.
The local health and wellbeing area are ranked across 151 areas in the country with 151st being the worst. In July 2018 the CWaC rankings were as per the below; · Overall ranking 119th (June 2018: 74th) · NHS ranking 90th (June 2018: 64th) · ASC ranking 114th (June 2018: 97th)
Monthly performance figures are shown below over a 6 month period. Performance peaked in March 2018 with 1,050 delayed days. Overall figures did start to improve since then, meeting the target by 11 days in June 2018, however this then worsened again in July 2018.
Last 6 month trend (per month) Reduce the number of Delayed Transfers of Care Mar Apr May May Jul Aug 18 18 18 18 18 18 Total Target 827 712 736 712 736 736 Total Delayed Days Delayed Days 1,050 916 763 701 1,106 1,023 Variance -223 -204 -27 11 -370 -287 ASC Target 382 210 217 210 217 217 ASC Attributable delayed days *subset Delayed Days 251 251 177 238 338 248 of above Variance 131 -41 40 -28 -121 -31
At the end of July 2018 the result was above the target in all categories, for ASC, NHS and Jointly attributable delays (below the target is better).
Delays attributable to the NHS were 21 days above the target, jointly attributable delays were 228 days above the target and the delays attributable to ASC were 121 above the target.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? As part of the Better Care Fund , health and social care partners agreed to ring-fence delayed transfers of care (DToC) investment fund to pilot new schemes, or expand on ones that are known to be making a difference over the winter period.
Given the pressures experienced over winter these schemes were carried forward and continued from April 2018. Whilst this has had a positive impact on delayed transfers for some months of the period, it only shows part of the picture as each organisation funds services and schemes outside of this in support of timely discharges. An initial review allowed partners on the Steering Group to ensure that only the effective schemes were being continued, this includes; • Additional EMI nursing bed capacity • Additional Social Worker resource to support seven day and bank holiday working • Social Care assessor support for intermediate care facilities • Mental health input into community assessment units and MH liaison support at home • Enhanced transport services for timely discharges
The BCF Steering Group are currently undergoing a review of schemes with key evaluation criteria being the impact that the scheme has on reducing delayed discharges and on admission avoidance.
The outcome of the independent capacity and demand work in the West has concluded that additional domiciliary care is one key factor that needs to be explored. Adult Social Care are working with the domiciliary care market to move a significant number of hours of care from reablement (maintenance packages) to the domiciliary care market, thus freeing up capacity to meet further demand coming through from hospital wards. At this stage the details of how this will be reached has not been agreed or finalised.
Monitoring is also taking place to look at the delays at “other” hospitals where there have been marked increases in delays. The Senior Manager for Hospital Social Work has been provided with this information and the main hospitals where the delays are most occurring, and will be provided this information on a monthly basis.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? Performance issues will be addressed through an integrated response between the Council and its partners. It is acknowledged that this is a system wide problem for health and social care that cannot be fixed solely at the point of discharge.
4.01 - Total delays If the result that has been achieved from April to August 2018 of 4,509 delayed days was maintained in performance, then the year end projection would be 10,822 days which would be markedly less than the 17/18 year end result of 12,342 delayed days. However, due to the much tighter targets for 18/19, this would not meet the overall target of 8,667 for the full year.
4.02 – ASC delays If the result that has been achieved from April to August 2018 of 1,252 ASC delayed days was maintained in performance, then the year end projection would be 3,005 days which would be an improvement on the 17/18 year end result of 4,940 delayed days. However, due to the much tighter targets for 18/19, this would not fall below the overall target of 2,554 for the full year.
Additionally, it is recognised that performance is likely to be better at this time of year due to seasonal variations relating to winter pressures, meaning performance may deteriorate further as the winter months approach. This measure will be monitored carefully in line with any new or extended services to ensure that the delays are kept as low as possible and the effectiveness of services can be measured.
Outcome Measure: Reduce the number of older people who have a permanent admission to a residential or nursing care home Lead Director: Jennifer McGovern
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target
Declining 527 218 419 239 435 427 Red Performance
What are the reasons for current performance?
Data Quality
An extensive review of the quality of the data that is used to calculate this indicator has been undertaken. Some of the issues identified included some temporary placements mistakenly being recorded as permanent, and some historic code removed from the report that compiles the base data that was dropping some of the placements. The net outcome of these issues being resolved was an increase in recorded placements. These issues have now been rectified and account for the increase from 31 to 80 placements from May to June 2018. The table below illustrates this increase:
Measure Last 6 month trend (per month) 2017/18 2018/19 2018/19 2018/19 Projection Change year end year to year end year end against from last Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18 Jul-18 Aug-18 Sep-18 result date total projectio target target month The number of permanent Number of people 13 31 80 49 42 24 419 239 516 435 +81 -18 placements into residential and nursing care homes (65+) - Rate per 100,000 customer care plan population 18.2 43.4 112.0 68.6 58.8 33.6 595.8 334.5 733.7 608.8 +124.9 - information. Chart 2 from
Data quality is improving in the service and awareness of the correct categories means that fewer respite placements will be incorrectly loaded. This may account for some of the reduction seen, as the number of placements has dropped from 80 at June 2018, each month to a current figure of 24 for September 2018.
Service
The current population is forecast to increase by about 10% to 367,000 by 2035. Older age groups will see the biggest increase, with the number of residents aged 65 plus expected to increase by 28% and the numbers of people aged 85 and over forecast to more than double. The shift to a more elderly population with more complex need has contributed to increased admissions to residential and nursing care homes.
A reduction in the Delayed Transfers of Care figures (for delays due to waiting residential and nursing home placements) may have contributed to an increase in placements.
Cheshire West and Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 4 month Chester total Total awaiting 199 300 307 316 1,122 placement (di) and (dii) e) Awaiting care 288 381 338 329 1,336 package in own home
From January to April 2018, total delays in CWAC due to awaiting placements (nursing and residential homes) were 1,122 days, which has reduced to 1,016 days for May to August 2018.
The team are closely monitoring to question if the support the Council give to clearing acute hospital beds is therefore having the effect of an increase in long-term placements.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation?
• Further data quality work is being done with teams and to raise awareness of the importance of correct recording. • Service and commissioning teams are improving work with Extra Care Housing providers with the intention for them to accept more complex cases at the higher bands of need, thus not requiring permanent admissions to care homes. • Work is being undertaken with carers council-wide to improve support for long-term main carers of service users. Predictive analytic work is being reviewed with the intention in preventing temporary or permanent carer breakdown, to alert ahead of time where carers may be reaching the limits of their ability to cope. This should have the effect of removing some preventable admissions through carer support. • Further investment is being made in domiciliary care services to help providers and care workers support more vulnerable and complex people at home.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months?
• Following the above data quality exercises, over the past three months from July to September 2018, the average number of placements per month is 38. If similar performance can be maintained for the next 6 months, the year-end projected total may reduce from 519 to 467 (against a target of 435)
Outcome Measure: Increase the number of people engaging with smoking cessation services in CWaC who successfully quit smoking, measured at 4 weeks. Lead Director: Ian Ashworth
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Declining 479 924 193 1330 1,330 Red Performance
What are the reasons for current performance? An explanation of why performance has not reached the targeted level. Cheshire West and Chester’s quit rate (the number of quits per 100,000 smokers) is the fourth highest in the North West (latest data available 2016/17) and has been above the England rate for two of the last four years (see graph below – blue line is Cheshire West and Chester, black line is England).
Source: PHE tobacco profiles https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/tobacco-control • Nationally, there has been a large fall in the number of people attending stop smoking services in the last few years. This has resulted in a decreased number of successful quits. • Cheshire West and Chester is seeing the same trend as the national one. • E-cigarettes as a regulated and commonplace alternative to smoking have had a major impact on this trend. • Vaping is now the number one quit method in the UK5 and this has led to record levels of quits in the general population.6 • The quit target set for the stop smoking service was set at 1330 in 2015. This target did not take account of the recent national trends described above.
Another point to note is current smoking population characteristics. Cheshire West and Chester has the 3rd lowest rate of smoking in the North West (12.7%) and commissioning stop smoking services delivering a high standard of evidence-based support has contributed to this success. This also means that those who continue to smoke tend to have higher levels of dependence and more complex needs, for example around other substance misuse, mental health or a long-term health condition.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? A list of bullet points that describe each of the actions being taken to improve the situation. • Public Health commissions an Integrated Wellbeing Service from Brio. This service consists of weight management, smoking cessation and exercise on prescription. • Between the end of Q1 and the end of Q2, CWaC Public Health and relevant commissioners undertook a
5 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-smoking-and-quitting-in-england/smoking-and-quitting-in- england 6 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/highest-smoking-quit-success-rates-on-record review of the current smoking cessation service. • 2017/18 service data showed that of the 2,700 smokers referred to the service, 2,000 set a quit date. This equates to 5.8% of the total smoking population (34,0987) in CWAC, exceeding the NICE target of 5%. • 924 (45%) of the 2,000 who set a quit date stopped smoking (NICE target = 35 %). The service is therefore delivering successful outcomes based on national target recommendations.
• In 2018-19, the Integrated Wellbeing Service contract value was reduced from £1,085,000 to £680,000. A revised service began on the 1st October 2018, reflecting the reduced financial envelope. The service is available to residents with a targeted (free) offer to the most vulnerable. • For smoking cessation, the original target of 1,330 (set in 2015) is now redundant in the new, more limited service and a new target needs to be set.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? • The Service has been redesigned and criteria have been set for accessing the service. • It is anticipated this may result in reduced numbers of service users accessing support for smoking cessation. • The Council is currently’ baselining’ the service • Any new indicators/targets will therefore need to reflect the number and characteristics of the targeted groups, many of whom often struggle to engage with services. • Public Health is working with Commissioning, Contracts and Performance and the Insight and Intelligence Team to develop a new indicator for the revised service.
7Annual Population Survey 2017, reported on PHOF , last updated 2 October 2018 Outcome Measure: Improved timeliness of provision of IT project high-level estimates, proportion responded to within 5 working days Lead Director: Laurence Ainsworth
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target
Improving 45.8% 53.3% 58% 75% 75% Red Performance
What are the reasons for current performance? Performance has seen a steady improvement over the last few quarters, this is related to improvements in the process and governance with in ICT Shared Services, hosted by Cheshire East Council; through the adoption of an ongoing focus on performance at the ICT Senior Management Team meeting and monthly reviews of failures at ICT Delivery Assurance (ICTDA) meetings attended by ICT Shared Services and CW&C ICT Client team managers.
The significant drop of performance shown in August and September related to a small number of projects (making this a highly variable measure), the cause of this is down to a number of factors including absence and leave within ICT and the complex nature of a number of the projects commissioned i.e. Power Business Intelligence Reporting Pilot – which is a significant project to evaluate a new approach to reporting and dash boarding and Data Migration projects which involved dialogue with multiple specialisms in shared services and suppliers.
There are further improvements planned which will help see a further move towards the indicator target of 75%, these include earlier engagement and dialogue between ICTSS and the Council before projects are commissioned ensuring all parties understand requirements fully and the introduction of a jointly managed Service Improvement Board which will monitor performance and sanction improvement plans where performance continues to be below agreed targets.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? · Continuing ICT Shared Services Senior Management Team focus on this performance indicator. · ICT Shared Services conduct a review of each estimate that is not delivered on target. · A new group named ICT Joint Service Improvement Board has been set up, meeting monthly, to review ICT Shared Services performance against the targets set out in the revised performance management framework. The group will be attended by key managers from ICT Shared Services and from ICT Client teams in CW&C and Cheshire East ICT. · Review of the end to end project commissioning and delivery process as part of the development of the new ICT Shared Services Target Operating Model which will develop new ways of working and establishment of an ICT Shared Services Project Management Office. · A review of ICT Shared Services governance is also being conducted alongside the development of the new ICT Shared Services Target Operating Model. This will include a more robust escalation procedure for any KPI failures.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? It is anticipated that performance will improve by Q4 however it is recognised that the new joint governance and service improvement will take time to embed fully, the 75% target will be should be achievable in the next 6 to 12 months.
Outcome Measure: Proportion of IT projects delivered to the agreed milestones Lead Director: Laurence Ainsworth
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Improving Red 75.0% 31.6% 39.5% 75% 75% Performance
What are the reasons for current performance? The performance problems relating to ICT project delivery are linked to a number of issues within ICT Shared Service ,hosted by Cheshire East Council, that relate to current ways of working and resources. It is anticipated that these will be addressed as part of the Cheshire East Council led ICT SS target operating model implementation.
Furthermore, analysis has shown that of the 23 project requests for which the ICT Shared Services did not meet the projected end date, the average project budget for these projects was less than half than the budget of the 15 projects that they did meet the target for. This suggests that smaller projects are more at risk of slippage, with larger projects delivering more reliably. The service are also now piloting a new method of evaluating delivery, a project satisfaction questionnaire. This will ask questions which gauge and measure customers’ level of satisfaction with the way the project has been managed and delivered. It is hoped that this will provide a more meaningful measure of the effectiveness of project delivery.
The positive improvement seen in quarter 1 hasn’t been sustained in to quarter 2. Standard project process are not being applied consistently which is leading to failures in a number of areas. This issue is recognised by Senior Management in the ICT SS and the senior team is continuing to closely monitor performance in this area.
Earlier engagement and dialogue between ICTSS and the Council before projects are commissioned will help put in place more achievable project delivery dates which will improve delivery performance in some cases. A jointly managed Service Improvement Board which will monitor performance and sanction improvement plans where performance continues to be below agreed targets.
It should be noted that this measure is highly variable and is dependent on a limited set of projects. During Q2, it demonstrated performance between 71.4% to 26.3%. This is illustrated in the table below.
Additional information has been added following Cheshire West and Chester Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday 13 November, to address the Committee's question regarding the financial impact of project slippage. This information is as follows:
IT PROJECT DELIVERY – FURTHER INFORMATION
JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2018
DEFINITION AND CONTEXT The indicator measures the proportion of IT projects delivered against the latest agreed timescales. It is defined in line with standard IT project management practice. Any project that has not released the closure report by the latest agreed end date automatically drops in to the ‘fail’ category, even if the project is actually complete or live and operational. This also happens to projects that have not been managed according to agreed project standards, i.e. the project continues to overrun after the plan has been updated following a change request. The scope of projects can change during the life of the project or unforeseen complexities can lead to the need to change the plan and delivery date. This indicator measures projects that have not met their latest, agreed delivery date. IT projects are inherently complex and challenging and range from small, through medium, to large scale pieces of work. They often involve multiple suppliers, the ICT shared service hosted by Cheshire East, partners, different Council services and are also sometimes part of a wider Council change programme. Equally, technologies themselves are complex and some Council systems include different modules to support a variety of business processes and as a result, have complex data structures. These are often different to new systems, and challenges arise where data needs to be migrated from one system to another. Security issues are also often very complex given the wide range of sensitive client information the council manages across multiple systems and the ever present threat of cyber attack. Increased partnership working and the need to collaborate to improve outcomes for residents is challenging current practice. Nonetheless, current performance is not an acceptable level. The current definition does not yet take customer satisfaction with delivery into account. This is being addressed as part of the new shared service performance management framework currently being introduced. This will request a satisfaction rating for recently closed projects and will provide a clearer indication of positive or negative business impact of a piece of work. This measure could be included in future financial years.
RISKS TO EFFECTIVE PROJECT DELIVERY New governance and more effective monitoring is now in place with Cheshire East and ICT SS following the joint ICT review in 2017. This is providing improved oversight of programme delivery and a number of risks are being actively managed with ICT SS on a monthly basis. Risk Description Mitigation Resourcing ICT SS delivery teams are currently The estimating process is currently being responsible for both estimating and brought in to a separate team to provide project delivery. clarity for the delivery teams working on projects. More considered estimating should lead to more realistic timescales / budget and therefore less slippage. Estimating Project estimating has a 5 day delivery A revised approach is being discussed milestone which is challenging in where an initial project checkpoint relation to medium to large pieces of meeting will be held within the 5 days for more complex work. This can lead to medium to large pieces of work. A date optimistic estimates for complex by when the estimate will be provided will projects. be agreed at that point. Process Time management of documentation The newly structured CWaC ICT client and sign off processes needs to be team includes two business relationship maintained to ensure projects aren’t managers and a performance, policy and flagged as a ‘fail’ on a technicality. standards manager. Their responsibilities include regular monitoring of performance reports and also the monthly project reports to ensure the project is pro-actively managed. Where projects are identified as being in exception these are escalated and managed through the improved governance process.
PROJECT SLIPPAGE JULY TO SEPTEMBER – FINANCIAL AND SERVICE IMPACT Over the second quarter, 37 projects were due to complete. 23 projects were identified as missing the agreed timescales and the remaining 15 completed successfully. Of the 15 projects that successfully closed, these projects achieved the agreed timescale and closed within the agreed budget. One project failed and then completed within the same quarter. It is recognised that whilst the slippage may have slowed down new ways of working, current systems were maintained during the slippage and current service activities have not been significantly impacted. In all 23 cases the reason the project has fallen in to the ‘fail’ category is due to the project closure form not being submitted to the client by the estimated close date as shown in the tables below. In some cases this does not have a direct business impact nor does it have a financial impact as the project is already effectively closed, with the new technology live and work is only charged for as the activity is delivered. Some projects are showing as still open and these are currently being reviewed to ensure a plan is in place to bring the project back on track. In terms of the scale of slippage, it varies between 0 and 2.5 months since the latest timescale agreed with the service. A further indicator of slippage is cost overruns since the initial budget estimate was agreed at the start of the project. This is often a result of the scope changing during the project, either due to changing business requirement or additional necessary technical work, so is not purely an indicator of inaccurate initial estimates and slippage. The total cost overrun across the 23 projects was £61,244 with an average per project of £2,663 for quarter 2. By comparison, the 15 successful projects all completed within the agreed timescale and returned budget to the council of £115k with an average cost reduction per project of £7,699. Where project costs have increased against the original baseline estimate, it is helpful to place projects in three categories: additional cost of £0-5k, additional cost of £5-10k and additional cost of over £10k.
PROJECT SLIPPAGE £0 – 5K There were 18 projects (78% of slipped projects) costing an additional £0-5k. These pieces of work were generally operational and ranged from updating street detail in the Confirm system to decommissioning a legacy diary system. Existing services continued in operation and there was no major impact on services as a result of this slippage. As these are mostly operational pieces of work they are delivered by technical resources with limited project manager oversight in order to minimise additional cost. In the majority of cases, the projects are often completed on time but the closure form is not submitted by the end date. Project Slippage Additional Comments within budget Quarter since required latest agreed since timescale project estimate SQL Server Reporting Services 1 Month £0 Closed – project complete (SSRS) Technical configuration changes to SQL reporting server. Decommissioning of ICT 2 days £0 Closed – project complete Network Removal of network provision at Station Masters House, Hadlow Road, Willaston. Fountains Building CWP to 2 Months £0 Open – the baseline end date is CWAC Site to Site Virtual currently being revised. This Private Network piece of work involves Health Project to explore the possibility partners and agreeing a of establishing a site to site virtual technical solution has been private network (VPN) connection challenging. Other options for with the Cheshire Wirral staff working from this building Partnership (CWP) are also being considered through other pieces of work currently underway. Active Cheshire Wyvern House 3 weeks £0 Closed – project complete Re-location 2018/19 Exploratory work to better understand the options and costs invvolved in moving the Active Cheshire team to Wyvern House 1st Floor. CWAC Stopford Diary 1 Month £0 Open – this project has Decommission for Registrars encountered issues with data Decommission and Data migration to the new provider. Migration to External Provider This is currently being reviewed and a revised end date to be agreed. Social Care Electronic 5 days £0 Closed – project complete Document Record Management System - Technical Specification Support for Procurement Activity Technical input from ICTSS to support the development of a tender specification. Street Gazetteer Management 2 Months £0 Closed – project complete in Confirm Implementation of integrated street gazetteer management solution provided by Pitney Bowes as part of the confirm On Demand Highways asset management system to replace very old legacy in-house solution. Idox Uniform Planning System 3 Weeks £0 Closed – project complete GDPR Module Implementation of new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) module for existing Idox business system used by Planning. Data Protection Officer 2 Days £0 Closed – project complete Extranet SharePoint Site Development of an external SharePoint site to facilitate the provision of a data protection service offering for schools that our Information Governance team will provide. IBM SPSS V25 2 Months £0 Closed – project complete Upgrade to latest version of SPSS statistical analysis software for Insight and Intelligence team. Idox Uniform and TLC 1 Month £0 Closed – project complete Upgrades Upgrade to Planning's business system Regional Adoption Agency 3 weeks £315 Closed – project complete remote access Project to implement remote access solution to facilitate access to Liquid Logic for members of the RAA including Wigan, Halton, Warrington and St Helens councils. Mobile handset refresh 0 Days £788 Open – a change request has ICTSS support for the roll-out of now been agreed for this piece new mobile phones of work and a plan is now in place to deliver the technical requirement by the end of the financial year. The ‘fail’ status was due to the change request not being agreed by the baseline end date as the plan is now in place. Winsford Integrated Public 1 Month & 2 £1,165 Closed – project complete Services HUB - DWP Weeks Project to support the move of DWP staff re-locating into Wyvern House and ensure that their ICT needs are met without compromising information security for the Council or the DWP. Community Centre Booking 2 Months £2,063 Closed – project complete invoicing To establish a similar invoicing capability at Lache Community Centre to that previously set up for the community Centres in Ellesmere Port. Wyvern House network 1 Month £3,597 Open – this work was delayed upgrade due to another piece of critical Implementation of a second network activity to improve circuit at Wyvern House to network resilience across the provide additional resilience in council. This created a timing the event of network connectivity issue and also a minor cost problems. increase due to additional testing being needed. This work is also reliant on a third party supplier. AutoCAD new version 1 Month £4,410 Open – this required a hardware Implementation of new version of change to 64bit computing highways design software before the new version could be installed. Once this has been done the work can complete. Becrypt replacement 1 Month £0 Open – this is a project to Replacement of legacy solution support schools access to highly that facilitates joined up working sensitive data in the eTAF across Council social care staff system. There has been a and teaching staff in schools. resourcing issue in ICT SS and also a number of technical options that needed to be considered due to the security requirements around access. A solution is currently being considered by schools and a revised plan will be agreed and implemented if this is deemed suitable. It will also require third party supplier support to implement this.
PROJECT SLIPPAGE £5 – 10K There were 3 projects (13% of slipped projects) costing an additional £5-10k. These are more medium sized pieces of work and relate to system improvements and new ways of working. Project Slippage Additional Comments since latest budget agreed required timescale since project estimate Digital Enforcement - 2 months £7,260 Open – this project is on-going Implementation of a new CCTV/ with a change request currently Automated Number Plate under discussion to agree Recognition based system to remaining scope and timeframe enforce effective traffic with all parties. There was management in the vicinity of the additional technical complexity new Chester Bus Station. with this piece of work and delays from the external supplier, Siemans, in delivering the detailed requirements for the operating environment. NEET Reporting – 2 months and £5,104 Closed – This project is now Development of an annual report 2 weeks closed with the closure report for the Integrated Early Support issued on 25/10/2018. A and Education Teams which change request was not collates a number of different submitted ahead of the datasets from across the previous expected end date authority to provide insight into which caused this project to the 'Not in Education or Training' flag as a ‘fail’. Additional (NEET) cohort within Cheshire technical challenges were West. being worked through and the project was re-defined in August. This project has since been closed. Galileo Audit System Upgrade - 2 months £5,670 Open – The project report for Upgrade to Galileo audit October 2018 notes that management system to ensure expected delivery cost is system remains in support with £11,337 and the revised total the supplier. estimate of £13,077 is too high. Only work done will be billed which would reduce the additional budget amount to £3,930.
PROJECT SLIPPAGE £10K+ There were 2 projects (9% of slipped projects) costing more than £10k than was originally estimated. The estimating phase is critical to ensure the initial budget allocation is accurate. This is often where projects are impacted due to complexities becoming apparent through delivery which are then managed through the agreed project governance. The first project was Confirm-on-Demand. This is a new highways asset management system which is cloud hosted (i.e. managed by the supplier rather than the IT shared service). Technical complexities were revealed during the project which extended timescales and the required budget. The service continued to use its existing system and complete the majority of its transformation activity. Additional budget, however, of £14k was required to finalise the work compared to original estimates. It should also be noted that this project did go on to complete within the quarter. It was flagged as a ‘fail’ in the August monthly report because the formal closure report wasn’t issued by the agreed date of 27/07/2018. A revised date of 24/08/18 was agreed but the closure report was actually issued on 1/08/18 so was noted as a ‘pass’ in the September report. The second requiring additional budget over £10k was the Xpress system implementation. This is the new Democratic Services system brought in to support administrative processes. The system has been live and operational since April this year but its formal transition in to support has been delayed due to discussion around different options for how system updates should be managed. This has not jeopardised operational service but has taken longer to resolve than expected. A change request was submitted but was not approved by the CWaC ICT client team until a plan was agreed between the external supplier, ICT Shared Service and the business. Additional cost has been incurred of £19.5k. Project Slippage since Additional budget Comments latest agreed required since timescale project estimate Confirm On Demand 1 Day £14,051 Closed – This Move of existing highways asset project has now management system (Confirm) closed. from internally hosted environment (managed by ICTSS) to to externally hosted environment (managed by the Confirm system supplier Pitney Bowes Ltd) CWaC Electoral Management 2 Month £19,530 Open – An options System XPRESS paper has been Implementation produced by ICT SS Implementation of new elections to agree a support management system following model and close the the procurement of a new project. system. CONCLUSION The analysis above provides further information on the detail behind the performance indicator. There has been some improvement since the last quarter and there was some further improvement in October with 50% of projects on target. Nevertheless, this has been a volatile indicator that has underperformed for some time so measures continue to be taken by the council and the ICT Shared Service to improve project governance and delivery.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? · Continuing ICT Shared Services Senior Management Team focus on this performance indicator. · ICT Shared Services undertake a review of each project that has failed the target criteria. · A new group named ICT Joint Service Improvement Board has been agreed as part of the new governance model, meeting monthly, to review ICT Shared Services performance against the newly agreed performance management framework. The group will be attended by key managers from ICT Shared Services and from ICT Client teams in CW&C and Cheshire East ICT. · Review of the end to end project commissioning and delivery process as part of the development of the new ICT Shared Services Target Operating Model which will develop new ways of working and a proposal to establish an ICT Shared Services Project Management Office. · A review of ICT Shared Services governance is also being conducted alongside the development of the new ICT Shared Services Target Operating Model. This will include a more rigorous escalation procedure for any KPI failures.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? Improvement is expected within this calendar year as the new governance model and project management framework are established. This could then improve further depending upon how quickly the new ICT Shared Services Target Operating Model can be agreed and implemented and the speed with which subsequent improvements can be realised. The establishment of the new ICT Joint Service Improvement Board will help to accelerate this process. However it is unlikely that target levels can be achieved and sustained before Q4 at the earliest.
Outcome Measure: 6.07 – Delivery of Savings Proposals Lead Director: Debbie Hall
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status vs Result Q2 Result Q4 Result Q2 Target 18/19 2019/20 Travel Target Declining Red 91% 85% 76% 90% 90% Performance
What are the reasons for current performance? The target relates to the delivery of all savings proposals across the organisation. In 2018-19 the agreed savings target is £11.2m and delivery is forecasted to be £8.5m (76%).
The shortfall in meeting the in year target of 90% equates to approximately £1.6m and can be primarily attributed to policy options that suffered delays in the start date of the relevant service and contract review. These are now expected to be delivered from 2019-20.
Overall, £2.5m of savings have slipped and are expected to be delivered in future years and £0.2m is considered to be non-deliverable. The supporting appendices to the Finance report provide further detail for each savings target that has slipped or is considered non deliverable.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? The Council has a history of strong financial management and has a robust budget setting process which considers the deliverability of all savings proposals in detail. Given the scale of funding reductions which the Council has faced over a number of years the savings are becoming more challenging to deliver and in many changes require significant transformation.
A review of savings proposals and a risk assessment for 2018-19 and future years was undertaken in March 2018 and this is reviewed on a quarterly basis at budget planning sessions and also as part of the monthly financial monitoring process. Action plans are then identified for those savings which are flagged as high risk of non -delivery.
It is anticipated that those savings targets that have slipped will still be delivered although phasing will be different to that originally planned.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? • It is anticipated that those savings targets that have slipped will now be delivered in future years • Regular review of the delivery of savings proposals is undertaken as part of budget planning sessions and monthly financial monitoring
Outcome Measure: Number of vulnerable residents able to remain in their own homes (through grant provision, Disabled Facilities Grants) Lead Director: Lisa Harris
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 Performance Target Direction of Status Result Q4 Result Q2 Result Q1 Result Q2 Target 2019/20 Travel vs 18/19 Target
Declining 175 185 55 14 55 175 175 Red Performance
Explanation of Current Performance Position: Background: Cheshire West and Chester Council is required by law to provide Disabled Facilities Grants for major adaptations to the home such as stair lifts, adapted kitchens, level access shower facilities and ground floor bedrooms with bathing facilities. Adaptations make homes safer, reduce the burden on the NHS and reduce residential and home care costs. Adaptations increase the dignity and independence of residents and importantly provide much needed relief for informal carers.
The factors influencing the number of Disabled Facilities Grant completions are as follows:
• Demand. The number of referrals for Disabled Facilities Grant made by the Occupational Therapy Team at the end of quarter two is 97, which is similar to 2017/18 (101), and more than in 2016/17 (88). The waiting time for assessment has also reduced from 16 weeks in 2017, to 11 weeks currently.
• The performance of the Council’s home improvement agency, Home Assistance Hub, operated by Liverpool Mutual Homes. The Hub is responsible for processing Disabled Facilities Grant referrals, submitting formal grant applications to the Council and for completing the necessary works. Grant applications have been submitted to the Council at the expected rate. At the end of quarter two, 85 applications have been approved compared to 86 at the same stage in 2017/18. However, the completion of works following grant approval has been slower than expected.
• The number of complex cases. A higher proportion of complex and more costly cases in-year will reduce the number of completions, as the overall budget is fixed. The volume of such cases can fluctuate but has increased in recent years, particularly in respect of children’s cases.
• Grant applicants have 12 months to complete the works. Grants approved in the latter part of the year may not be completed until the following financial year.
Mitigating Actions: The following actions are being taken to improve performance:
• Increasing the number of referrals for Disabled Facilities Grant. The Occupational Therapy team will target the assessment waiting list, which will increase the number of referrals for Disabled Facilities Grant.
• Partnership working. Key members of staff in Strategic Commissioning, Strategic Housing and the Occupational Therapy Team have regular meetings with Liverpool Mutual Homes to discuss progress and ways of improving programme delivery.
• Performance Monitoring. Programme delivery and performance is monitored closely via monthly budget, programme monitoring reports and contract key performance indicators. .
Future Performance Trajectory:
• Historically, demand and therefore programme delivery has not been linear throughout the financial year. Referrals for Disabled Facilities Grant increase in the autumn and winter months.
• The budget allocation for Disabled Facilities Grant in 2018/19 is £1.88m. At the end of quarter two, £1.52m has been committed in terms of approved Disabled Facilities Grant applications. Expenditure stands at £544,000.
• In 2016/17 the mid-year position was 56 Disabled Facilities Grant completions and the out-turn 180. In 2017/18 the mid-year position was 55 completions and the out-turn 185. In 2018/19 there have been 55 completions and again the majority of completions will be in quarters three and four.
• In addition, there are 73 cases where Disabled Facilities Grant applications have been approved and are at various stages with a value of £950,000. These cases are either awaiting start on site, are in progress, or are completed awaiting submission of invoices and final paperwork. The majority of these cases will completed by year end.
• There are also 61 referrals where a Disabled Facilities Grant application is pending from the Home Assistance Hub. Further referrals for Disabled Facilities Grant will be made by the Occupational Therapy Team during the remainder of quarters three and four. A proportion of these referrals will also be approved and completed by year end.
Outcome Measure: Number of homeless preventions Lead Director: Lisa Harris
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Target 2018/19 Performance Target Target Direction of Statu Performan 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 Travel s vs ce Targe Result Q4 Result Q1 Result Q2 t Declining 1433 2116 2260 114 202 2350 2400 Red Performance
The Homelessness Reduction Act was introduced in April 2018. This is a significant change to the legislation and places additional legal responsibilities on the LA. The new legislation increases the definition of ‘threatened with homelessness’ from 28 to 56 days and places a new duty on councils to proactively work with households threatened with homelessness.
The national guidance on the definition of homelessness prevention has also changed as has the criteria for data to be collected. From April, only cases dealt with by the Housing Options Team can now be included in the prevention figure, whereas previously work done by other teams within the LA or commissioned by the LA would also be included. For example, the award of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) by the Council’s Housing Benefit service can prevent rent arrears and homelessness, however these awards are no longer included in the new Homelessness Prevention figures. Of the total number of households that were prevented from becoming homeless last year the Housing Options Team prevented 1052 cases and 1064 cases were prevented by other teams. This restriction of the number of cases that can now be included has had a significant impact on the indictor and reduced the outturn position. It is important to note that other teams and commissioned services continue to prevent homelessness, but are not included in the indicator.
In addition to this restriction the cases previously included under this heading have now been split into prevention and relief cases. Prevention now includes just cases where the household is able to remain in their own home and relief cases are those where a household has been found suitable alternative accommodation. Both figures have been included in the outturn position for this year but it is suggested that is reviewed for 2019/20 to remain in line with the national return.
The options available to prevent homelessness can be limited for some customers due to affordability and supply and demand factors, in particular a shortage of one bedroom flats in the social and private rented sector. In addition factors such as a history of anti-social behaviour, rent arrears or a need for specific requirements in terms of location or property type reduce the housing options further.
Move-on from supported accommodation can also be difficult for some customers for the reasons stated above. This can result in a lack of available beds which also increases pressure on the statutory service.
The service is also seeing an increase in the number of customers with high support needs.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation?
• A new support contract started in April 2018. The service is being aligned to the new Homelessness Reduction Act and will therefore customers whose homelessness is prevented will be included within this indicator. Service developments will start to be implemented from April 2019. There is also a performance management framework to improve throughput within the contract. As the services develop, the number of homeless prevention cases will increase.
• The support service includes a range of accommodation options which will be developed and increased over the next few years. New properties have been identified and are being brought into use; these include the Council housing stock, private rented properties and empty properties. 30 units of accommodation have been introduced and there is a further 29 in the pipeline. Further work will be undertaken to identify other suitable properties, including the potential for new build.
• West Cheshire Homes has been reviewed due to the Homelessness Reduction Act. Work is currently ongoing to improve the ICT, change and increase the staffing structure and establish pathways for vulnerable groups.
• Annual review of the Homelessness Strategy and action plan.
• A new duty for public bodies started October 2018. This requires organisations to refer households who are homeless within 56 days to the Housing Options Team.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months?
The number of cases prevented from becoming homeless will not meet the target for 2018/19.
Outcome Measure: Rough sleeping estimate (annual snapshot of the number of individuals sleeping rough on a given night) Lead Director: Lisa Harris
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Target 2018/19 Performance Target Target Direction of Status Performance 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 Travel vs Result Q4 Result Q1 Result Q2 Target Declining Red 5 18 5 20 31 5 5 Performance
What are the reasons for current performance? There was an increase in the number of rough sleepers found in Cheshire West and Chester on the estimate night last autumn. The figure rose from 7 in October 2016 to 18 in November 2017. Due to the significant increase a further two estimates have been completed. In April 2018 20 rough sleepers were found and this increased further in August when 31 rough sleepers were found.
Nationwide, there has been a significant increase in the number of rough sleepers since 2010, as demonstrated by the graph below.
The number of people sleeping rough normally increases in the summer months and the increase is reflected across the UK with a national increase of 15%. National benchmarks are set in winter, the Council completes quarterly counts in order to ensure a consistent focus is applied to this key issue, however it is the norm that the volume of rough sleeping increases in summer months and decreases in winter months. The Council’s latest count demonstrates a significant reduction from the Q2 figure of 31. This is yet to be submitted to Government and once verified will be included in Quarter Three data.
There was a change in contract provision for housing related support in April 2018. The new homeless support service delivered by Forfutures combines the four previously delivered support contracts including the FENW contract for single homeless people and rough sleepers. This change in provider included the TUPE of over 80 staff, and review of the accommodation portfolio.
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? • New homeless support service delivered by Forfutures launched April 2018 • Since launching in April, the forfutures team has helped almost 80 people that had been sleeping rough into direct access accommodation, and nearly 50 people have moved from direct access into support housing. • Review of the outreach team completed September extended the hours and staffing resource, now operating 6.30am-midnight every day. • A multi-agency case management approach of all identified rough sleepers to improve engagement and access to supported accommodation • Review of the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) with partners with the intention of developing more SWEP spaces for Winter 2018/19 via a ‘pop-up’ model within church halls • A new Rough Sleepers Strategic Group set up to oversee all work in this area • Delivery of a rough sleepers action plan • Official rough sleepers estimate in October 2018 and ‘Spotlight’ counts to continue every 4 months to ensure continuity of evidence that is consistent and robust. (This is based on the good practice within the 2018 Homeless Link guidance) • Continue and extend the sub-regional Upstream service funded till March 2019 by Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government to include those sleeping rough and provide statistical returns to improve national data on rough sleeping • Investigation of accommodation options to increase supply including emergency accommodation and homes within the private rented sector.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? Cheshire West and Chester Council are committed to ending rough sleeping. The Council are working with our partners to reduce the number of people sleeping rough and would expect the number to reduce in the next 6 -12 months.
Outcomes Plan Good quality, affordable housing that meets the needs of our diverse communities Lead Director Lisa Harris Outcome Measures 7.05: Number of households in temporary accommodation per quarter (snapshot) 7.06: Number of households in B&B accommodation per quarter (snapshot)
Current Performance Position:
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Target 2018/19 Performance Target Target Direction of Status Performance 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 Travel vs Result Q4 Result Q1 Result Q2 Target 45 or Declining Red 59 in TA 45 or less less in 75 in TA 45 or less Performance (of which in TA and TA and (of which in TA and 42 62 25 were in B&B per B&B per 39 were in B&B per B&B) quarter quarter B&B) quarter
Explanation of Current Performance Position: In line with national trends the number of households presenting as homeless to the council remains high as does the demand for affordable housing generally.
Similarly to the nationwide picture in terms of rough sleeping, there has been a significant and long-term trend of increasing demand on temporary accommodation. National data states that “On 31 March 2018 the number of households in temporary accommodation was 79,880, up 3% from 77,220 on 31 March 2017, and up 66% on the low of 48,010 on 31 December 2010”.
The service is also seeing an increase in the number of customers with high support needs. The options available to prevent homelessness can be limited for some customers due to affordability and supply and demand factors, in particular a shortage of one bedroom flats in the social and private sector. In addition factors such as a history of anti-social behaviour, rent arrears or a need for specific requirements in terms of location or property type reduce the housing options further. When homelessness can’t be prevented a homeless application is opened and temporary accommodation may be required.
Move-on from supported accommodation can also be difficult for some customers for the reasons stated above. This can result in a lack of available beds which also increases pressure on the statutory service.
The Homelessness Reduction Act was introduced in April 2018. This is a significant change to the legislation and places additional legal responsibilities on the LA. The new legislation increases the definition of ‘threatened with homelessness’ from 28 to 56 days and places a new duty on councils to proactively work with households threatened with homelessness.
Mitigating Actions: • A new support contract started in April 2018. The service has been aligned to the new Homelessness Reduction Act with an increased focus on homelessness prevention and closer working with the Council’s statutory service. Service developments will start to be implemented from April 2019. There is also a performance management framework to improve throughput within the contract.
• The support service includes a range of accommodation options which will be developed and increased over the next few years.
• West Cheshire Homes has been reviewed due to the Homelessness Reduction Act. Work is currently ongoing to improve the ICT, change and increase the staffing structure and establish pathways for vulnerable groups.
• Annual review of the Homelessness Strategy and action plan completed.
Future Performance Trajectory: The number of households in temporary accommodation per quarter is unlikely to meet the target for 2018/19. This is due to the significant change in the homeless legislation and increased demand.
Outcome Measure: Increase the use of Park and Ride in Chester, measured by the number of P&R passengers per annum Lead Director: Maria Byrne
Current Performance Position: Baseline 2017/18 Target 2018/19 Target Target Direction of Status vs Performance 2017/18 Performance 2018/19 2019/20 Travel Target Result Q4 Result Q2 Maintaining Red 574,502 352,602 430,000 166,862 500,000 609,186 Performance
What are the reasons for current performance? Over the last few years the service has failed to hit its target due to a number of contributing factors: Major events necessitating route changes Delays in the development of loyalty passes (similar to the oyster card) and an associated online payment facility; Intermittent unauthorised encampments on P&R sites; Despite the introduction of CCTV, there have been ongoing incidents of theft of cash from payment machines involving vandalism at Sealand and Boughton Heath – causing disruption to service whilst machines are refitted and repaired.
The above is limited to current/recent factors and excludes factors such as the decision to no longer accept concessionary fares, notwithstanding the fact that they have an ongoing impact.
Direction of travel:
Park and Ride nationally have been in decline and the subject of much scrutiny over the last 10 years. Reversing a significantly declining trend is difficult to achieve, however, for the last 9 months, it is evident that the service has now stabilised, although it is still below target. Patronage hits a steady average of ca. 26,000 per month (with a deviation of +/- c2000 passengers during peak and off peak months). Examples of other comparator schemes are provided in the table below:
P&R patronage Authority 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 yearly total Chester 549,917 414,927 352,602 York (commercial 4,610,000 4,570,000 4,250,000 contract operated by First Group) Shropshire (internal 831,735 687,342 633,200 minimum costs subsidised contract with Arriva as incumbent operator)
It is apparent from tabulated data above, across both council and commercially operated Park and Ride contracts, that services across the nation are experiencing declining trends in patronage.
Shropshire Park and Ride:
Decreasing internal budgets have led to reductions in funding for the likes of publicity and marketing. Service frequency has had to be dropped from every 10 minutes to every 20 minutes to bring the contract expenditure more in line with demand. However, this action has also in effect contributed to patronage reduction. The service is managed by Arriva, who manage the ticketing and payment process on behalf of the Council with monthly returns for income and data. Discount fares are offered to students and those with concessionary passes, as well as group tickets (which may potentially be removed soon).
Cambridge’s Park and Ride There has been a 15% decline in passengers using Cambridge’s Park and Ride and guided bus way routes, since additional parking charges (in additional to the bus fare) of £1 were introduced by Cambridgeshire County Council in 2014. From April 2018, motorists will be able to park for free at the seven sites, before taking a bus into Cambridge city centre as the parking charges have been dropped.
Arrowe Park Hospital and Sainsbury's Upton, Wirral Park and Ride Due to a significant reduction in passenger numbers, the Park and Ride service between Arrowe Park Hospital and Sainsbury’s in Upton ceased operation in July 2017. An independent viability survey, identified investments in alterative travel modes e.g. upgrade of the bus interchange facility as well as further availability to onsite car parking at Arrowe Park Hospital meant patients and visitors were able to access the site with greater ease. Therefore, the Park and Ride service was withdrawn.
Expanding on the reasons for poor performance:
The results of a recent, large-scale consultation exercise indicated that factors affecting patronage and customer satisfaction with the service include: availability of city centre parking, the longer journey time (compared to the car), the time taken to purchase a ticket and the lack of facilities on site. The lack of bus lanes on some routes into the city centre – on certain routes the journey time into the city centre is longer than by car, and is less convenient. This could be mitigated by reduced cost, but if there is more than one person in the car, the current price difference is not significant enough to warrant a change in behaviour towards using Park and Ride Lack of appropriate and detailed signage, along arterial route ways, immediate access roads to stations and also on site (under development) Removal of concessionary travel offer Intermittent traveller encampments – criminal damage to site infrastructure and also customer vehicles – creating negative perception from long standing and new customers – fear of criminal damage to customer vehicles Vandalism and theft (not relating to traveller encampments) from the ticketing machines based on site in isolated locations – causing damage to ticketing machines – preventing customers temporarily from purchasing tickets; some evidence of poor driver response to take cash payment that is allowed for in such circumstances
What actions are being taken to improve the situation? Strategic: • Park and Ride has now become the focus of a cross directorate service review • Service specific workshops are being held • Proposals for service development and cost savings under consideration • Economic/Financial Impact Assessment brief being developed and potentially procured to understand how offers such as loyalty discount will affect the service income • Measures are being taken to look at how the contractual arrangements and service levels could potentially be varied more in line with demand
Operational: • Promotion in the Council’s Talking Together publication which goes out to 400,000 addresses • Support of Clean Air Day • Introduction of concessionary fare where two children can travel with a fare-paying adult for free. • Free after 2pm on Wednesdays has resulted in an increased numbers of passengers • Park and Ride livery sponsorship deal with Brio Leisure generating £3,000 income • Signage review (covering arterial routes, approach routes and on site signage) • Ongoing work with the Countess of Chester has yielded a new customer base – currently ca. 150 NHS staff/visitors a month are regularly using the Park and Ride for this purpose • Work is underway to understand the impact of the Council’s accommodation programme, specifically, moving staff out of Chester HQ Building, on Park and Ride patronage. • Development work with the University of Chester over summer months, including hosting an undergraduate student placement for eight weeks has led to an interest in developing a student ticket offer across PR1 and PR2 for the various University buildings based across the city. This will not only have the effect of increasing patronage but also tackling the student parking issues.
Further information on work taking place to support the service following Cheshire West and Chester Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
• The business development plan is under constant review (please see table below and section 4.) • Current suppliers and competing suppliers have been approached for their views on how the service could be designed and developed to reduce cost efficiencies and increase patronage • First cross-directorate workshop of senior officers held Friday 12th October 2018 with the second scheduled for early January 2019 • Ideas under discussion and/or development include:
Short term Medium term Long term Changes to increase Develop group ticket to Raise awareness of air On site concessions and patronage compete with city centre quality issues mini business opportunity parking costs particularly affecting the – e.g. car Web site enhancement Chester Air Quality washing/valeting Management Area and Additional advertising use the recently and publicity e.g. bus approved Low Emission rear adverts Strategy to develop and introduce incentives for Invest in site Park and Ride use as infrastructure and well as zero emission maintenance (facilities vehicles. and signage)
Implement Develop a loyalty card recommendations of and reward scheme. signage review
Work with digital and Exploring links with city marketing colleagues to centre businesses ensure Park and Ride is through the properly promoted and CH1ChesterBID. prioritised through internet searches
Allow devolvement of service based social media to service manager
Contract management Ongoing contract Ongoing contract Ongoing contract performance meetings performance meetings performance meetings with both major suppliers with both major with both major suppliers (Stagecoach and suppliers (Stagecoach (Stagecoach and Newpark) to monitor and Newpark) to Newpark) to monitor performance and resolve monitor performance performance and resolve any issues and resolve any issues any issues Contractual and Change the ticket Change/omit/renew the service supplier cost purchase arrangements, service routes and savings possibly to on-bus, to stations speed up the process Consider a reduction in Possible reduction of service frequency service frequency/fleet number
Further information is available regarding resolutions to the issues raised at Places Scrutiny Committee, as follows:
Issue noted at scrutiny Practical resolution 1 The target of increasing patronage by 50% Estimated patronage for 2018/19 is was not viable. 315,000.against a target of 500,000. This is a challenging target. Since May 2017 much effort has gone into preventing further decline in patronage. Declining figures have now stabilised and the service (for the past 10 months) is achieving c.a. 26,000 passengers per month +/- c.a. 2,000 passengers due to seasonal variations. Further annual declines are not anticipated. 2 Best practice from other cities should be Benchmarking visits have taken place to York and explored. are also proposed for Shropshire, however, it should be noted that there some significant differences (e.g. York’s P&R service is a commercial operation) 3 Confirmation was sought that the contract A new service fleet comprising Enviro 6 clean tech renewal in 2016 would mean that new engines, Wi-Fi and air con was introduced in 2016 generation vehicles would be brought in to upon contract commencement. use. 4 Chester has 30 million visitors a year, could Comments and suggestions were made by scrutiny look at how more of these visitors can Scrutiny Members (please see below) be encouraged to use the Park & Ride. 6 Concern was raised at offers of free city centre Availability of city centre parking is a significant parking on Sundays when the Council is trying factor for Park and Ride services. Recently, the to promote its Park& Ride service and the Chester Race Company has withdrawn its free impact this has on patronage. after 2pm offer at Linenhall. 7 It was suggested that Officers should This is a possibility and discussions will be initiated undertake further exploration of enabling in the early New Year. coaches and their passengers using the Park & Ride. 8 Officers were encouraged to continue looking Please see point 2 above. at how other Local Authorities operate Park & Ride services. 9 The Committee was pleased to note that the The service is priced at a level that means it can Countess of Chester Hospital’s parking offer compete with parking charges when two people was successful and alleviating parking travel together. problems in the area for local residents. 10 Officers to continue advertising of the Park & Park and Ride has a ‘Gold’ standard support Ride service to encourage people to use it package from the Council’s marketing and before they visit Chester and to explore communications team. A budget has been making the Park & Ride part of the visitor identified to allow publicity exercises to continue experience. The Council’s digital team are now regularly tweeting and posting on Facebook about Park and Ride.
A full signage review has been completed and we now look to implement changes to signage along strategic arterial route ways, approach roads and on-site.
The service also recently released an article in the council’s ‘talking together’ publication which is sent to over 400,000 households. 11 The use of discounts and special offers on the A group ticket is under development which will Park & Ride to encourage repeat journeys. compete with the tariffs associated with city centre car parking for a group of up to four people travelling by car.
A loyalty card and reward scheme are products currently under development – but priority needs to be given to assessing the best ticket purchase method before we can implement a digital solution 12 Members discussed some residents’ reported Apart from two occurrences, across c.a. 600,000 fear of being locked out of the Park & Ride car passengers – there has been no issue with barriers parks on an evening and could more be done preventing customers leaving the site. to promote how the Park & Ride works to dispel such myths especially amongst older age groups. 13 The Committee were keen for Officers to Park and Ride evening extensions have not been continue pursuing running of the Park & Ride well used. (Evidence includes patronage figures later in to the evening and how this can help from the ‘Head Out Not Home’ event developed by the night time economy. CH1ChesterBID in 2017)
By contrast, extensions for major events that attract significant numbers of people have been very well used (e.g. the Sunday extension for the Tom Jones concert in August). Major events will be a key (although not the only) focus for future service
extensions.
What is the projected future performance for the next 6-12 months? It is unlikely that targets will be met within the next six months, in light of the historic decline and general improving direction of travel.
APPENDIX FIVE – CHESHIRE WEST & CHESTER CORPORATE SCORECARD, MID-YEAR 2018-19
APPENDIX SIX
Recommendations from Cheshire West and Chester Overview and Scrutiny Committee (13 November 2018)
Quarter 2 Performance Update:
(1) The Committee: a. Raised concerns that the Park and Ride (Increase the use of Park and Ride in Chester, measured by the number of P&R passengers per annum) usage was not improving, the effectiveness of interventions and the lack of understanding about the apparent root cause of the decline; b. Would like to see proposals to turn around the performance of the Park and Ride; c. Asked that council ensures that the impact of staff moving out of HQ in Chester is understood on the Park and Ride service.
(2) The committee requests that further information is provided regarding the ICT indicator (Proportion of (ICT) projects delivered to the agreed milestones) including financial information and impact of non-delivery.
(3) The committee indicated that it would be helpful to understand how our performance figures compared to statistical neighbours where available.
(4) Further explanation is required regarding the table in section 4.15 with regards to the number of new homes delivered (Number of new homes delivered (net dwellings per annum), setting out the time period reported.