To report performance for the period April to December 2008 against the Corporate Plan 2008-11, the Local Area Agreement and the Herefordshire Community Strategy, and other key indicators where data is available against which a RAG rating or direction of travel judgement can be made, taking account of the separate but complementary financial performance report, and progress against the action plans produced following the Crookall review.

The Committee considered performance for the period April to December 2008 against the Corporate Plan 2008-11, the Local Area Agreement and the Herefordshire Community Strategy, and other key indicators where data is available against which a Red/Amber/Green rating or direction of travel judgement can be made, taking account of the separate but complementary financial performance report, and progress against the action plans produced following the Crookall review.

The Corporate Policy and Research Manager (CPRM) presented the report.  He informed the Committee that a review of the Council’s performance reporting and management arrangements was underway.   He also reported that the results of the statutory place survey, known locally as the Herefordshire Quality of Life Survey were imminent and would make it possible to establish a number of baselines and targets.

Compared with the previous quarter’s report there were many more green indicators (on target/met target) and many fewer red targets (target unlilkely to be achieved).  19 of 32 Local Area Agreement indicators were on track to achieve target compared to 11 at the end of September. The Use of Resources score had increased from a 2 under the old assessment criteria to a score of 3 under the new and more stringent criteria.  With a view to the final Comprehensive Performance Assessment assessment scores to be announced in March he was confident these would show an improvement in the direction of travel.  It was noteworthy that improved performance had been achieved in a number of areas at a time when managers had been taking measures that had successfully brought back into line earlier projected over-spending against 2008/09 revenue budgets.

In relation to the health and well-being objective, a number of indicators were marked red because, although a meeting had now taken place with the Primary Care Trust to ensure that action would be taken, evidence about the results of this had yet to be provided.

In relation to children and young people, he highlighted the additional indicators  where performance had improved to green, including as a result of there now being no schools in special measures. There were, however, still a number of red indicators, some of which were likely to be a growing problem in the current economic climate, such as the number of 16-18 yr olds not in education, employment or training.

He cautioned that, in the case of a number of social care indicators, the assessment of performance  had had to be based on estimates or the previous quarter’s out-turn. This was because the new Frameworki system would not produce the necessary information until the end of March.

Emerging challenges included rising unemployment and other impacts of the  recession.  An action plan was being developed with partners to address them.

The CPRM also drew attention to the report on progress against the action plan prepared in response to the Crookall review of the Council’s ICT financial and contractual governance arrangements.  He reported that satisfactory progress continued to be made and had been commented upon favourably by the Audit Commission. It was, therefore, now considered appropriate for the remaining actions to be taken forward as part of service planning and associated performance monitoring. 

There was detailed discussion of the steps being taken to deliver the Council’s priority of affordable housing.

The Cabinet Member (Environment and Strategic Housing) (ESH) said that a significant amount of work was being done, albeit in a rapidly changing environment which disrupted plans.  One example of a successful scheme the Council had introduced was the Mortgage Rescue Scheme, seen by the Government as a model of good practice.

The Head of Strategic Housing provided an overview.  He commented that under the Local Area Agreement targets had been set to provide 200 new affordable homes in 2008/09, 300 more new homes in 2009/10 and a further 350 in 2010/2011.  The Council was on track to meet the target for 2008/09 with a current projection of 231 homes.  It was acknowledged,however, that this level of provision did not address the extent of the need. 

He added that developers had been mothballing sites in reaction to the recession.  There weren’t a large number of built, unsold properties but the Council was in contact with developers and Registered Social Landlords to seek to bring property into use for affordable housing where possible.

He reported that indicative programmes of development had been submitted under the Regional Funding Allocation housing programme for 907 properties in the City, 496 properties in the Market Towns and 329 for rural villages between 2009/10 and 2019.

Two reports were to be submitted to Cabinet on 19 March on the development of the former Elmhurst residential home and options for developing Council owned land.

In conclusion the position was that an ambitious programme was being submitted to the Regional Housing Partnership; officers were negotiating to bring properties into use where possible; two initiatives were shortly to be considered by Cabinet; and the service was on track to meet targets set for the current year.

The following principal points were made in discussion:

·         The position on regional funding was discussed noting that the Council had submitted bids totalling approximately £8 million but had received £1.3 million.  The Head of Strategic Housing explained that representations were being made at regional level about the criteria being used by the Homes and Communities Agency for awarding grant which currently were to the disadvantage of developments in rural areas.

·         In response to a request to publicise the actions being taken and keep Members informed the Cabinet Member (ESH) observed that he was wary of raising public expectation unduly.  He would, however, consider summarising the position for Members in Members’ News.

·         That it was important that investment was efficient.  Reference was made to the Rose Gardens Extra Care Housing Scheme, financed by public money, which it was suggested could have been delivered by the Private Sector at much lower cost.   The Head of Strategic Housing responded that the contribution of public funding was the key to creating affordable housing options.

It was noted that a request for a report on that Scheme was included in the Committee’s work programme and that report would be forthcoming in the late spring/Summer once the final accounts for the Scheme had been agreed.

·         That whilst the Council’s proposals to increase the supply of affordable housing were welcome, they would make only a limited contribution to solving the problem given its scale. 

·         Asked about the position on Homelessness the Head of Strategic Housing said that there was evidence that an increasing number of households were finding it difficult to pay mortgages and rents.  The Council did have preventative measures in place including rent deposit schemes and loans to make repairs.

He added that in terms of the use of bed and breakfast accommodation (b&b) there were currently no families with children in such accommodation.  However, the number of cases being dealt with by each prevention team worker had increased from 20 per week to 35.  He therefore foresaw pressure on temporary accommodation which was used in preference to b&b.  He noted that the LAA target matched the national target of a 50% reduction in the numbers of households in temporary accommodation by 2010 against a baseline set in 2004.  This meant the Council, over that period, had to achieve a reduction from 164 families in such accommodation to 82.  Performance in the current year against the milestone target of 109 families had been 108 families.

·         Concerns were expressed about the condition of some units of temporary accommodation and the cramped living conditions, even though rental was £200 per week.   The Head of Strategic Housing said that the Service would soon be ending the use of hostel accommodation where there were shared facilities.  Herefordshire Housing Ltd was ending use of hostels in the 2008/09 financial year and it was expected that other Housing Associations would follow suit.

He noted that it was to the Council’s financial advantage to use temporary accommodation at £200 per week rather than b&b accommodation which could cost £1,000 per week.  This was because in leasing temporary accommodation the Council was entitled to claim higher levels of housing benefit.  It was, however, necessary to ensure that the quality of temporary accommodation was appropriate.  It was noted that Housing Associations could be subject to enforcement action if necessary.

In conclusion the Chairman proposed that consideration be given to the need for further investigation of the position on affordable housing following the Executive’s planned consideration of two reports in March.

In the remaining discussion the following principal points were made (numbering cross refers to pages in the agenda papers and indicators):

·         (p24-percentage of children who were subject to S47 enquiries which led to initial child protection conferences that were held within 15 working days).  Performance against this target was queried, the outturn being worse than target and performance the previous year, the commentary noting that there had been some systemic problems in the timeliness of notifying the Planning and Review Team of Section 47 investigations.  The commentary went on to state that the Frameworki software system once fully achieved should address these issues.  However, it remained an area requiring specific attention to ensure the system achieved that aim.  The CPRM informed the Committee that an independent review of safeguarding issues had been undertaken and an action plan drawn up to address any aspects where the arrangements needed to be strengthened.

·         Members noted with concern the significant number of indicators marked red (target unlikely to be achieved/ no evidence of activity taking place) under the objective of best possible life for every child as set out on page 8 of the report including absenteeism in secondary schools and a number of targets for looked-after children.

·         (p22 indicator 221 a - percentage of young people aged 13-19 gaining a recorded outcome compared to the percentage of young people in the Local Authority area).  It was observed that performance was substantially below target and worse than in the previous year.

·         (p26)  Members also noted with concern that performance against a number of adult social care indicators including the timeliness of social care packages had been assessed as moving from amber to red. 

·         Attention was drawn to the apparent disparity between the statement on p54 of the agenda papers that “street cleanliness and waste collection continues to perform well against targets” and the statement in the commentary of the Director of Environment and Culture on p55 to the effect that, in respect of one element of the assessment of street cleanliness, namely the deposit of detritus,  performance had worsened The Cabinet Member (ESH) reported that an enforcement team was now in place.  In response to an observation about the hours worked by dog wardens he undertook to examine whether these needed to be varied to facilitate effective enforcement.

RESOLVED:

That (a)     the need for a formal report to the Committee on affordable housing be reconsidered following consideration of reports on the matter by Cabinet in March 2009;

         (b)    the Environment Scrutiny Committee be requested to consider a report on the cleanliness of streets and other public places; and

         (c)     Cabinet be advised of the Committee’s other observations on performance.