To report on the performance indicators position and performance management initiatives for the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Divisions with in the Adult and Community Services Directorate.

The Committee considered the performance indicators position and performance management initiatives for the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Divisions within the Adult and Community Services Directorate.

The Improvement Manager presented the report. In relation to the Adult Social Care Improvement Plan he reported that four of the five workstreams had been signed off although some work remained to be done on the fifth.  Work was underway to embed the outcomes into the Service Plan.

He said that whilst the data shown in the report suggested that the Service would meet only one of the 13 targets for adult social care this was because the data had not yet been reconciled.  He considered that 9 of the targets would in fact be met.  Those which it was unlikely would be met were: C28 (households receiving intensive home care per 1000 population aged 65 or over), C32 (Older people helped to live at home per 1000 population aged 65 or over), C51 (adults and older people receiving direct payments per 100,00 population aged 18 or over), and D56 (waiting time for services.)

He highlighted success in relation to target C62 (the number of clients receiving a specific carer’s service as a percentage of clients receiving community based services), whilst noting that this did not match the upper quartile performance of authorities and D54 (percentage of equipment and adaptations delivered within seven days) where a service which had been performing poorly some 2-3 years ago was now one of the best in the Country.

In the ensuing discussion the following principal points were made:

·          In response to a question it was said that performance against target C51 (adults and older people receiving direct payments per 100,000 population aged 18 or over) had improved but had not met the stretched target the Council had set itself.

·          A question was asked about the allocation of houses to which adaptations had been made to  meet service users’ care related needs.  The Head of Strategic Housing Services replied that the allocation system did now take account when re-letting properties with significant adaptations of the benefit of allocating adapted properties to those in need of such adaptations.  There was still a need to improve the process for properties with more minor adaptations. A Housing Occupational Therapist employed by the Primary Care Trust was working with the Private Sector Housing Team to create a database of adaptations made to properties and to improve letting procedures.

·          In relation to target C28 (households receiving intensive home care per 1000 population aged 65 or over) the Director of Adult and Community Services commented that this was an expensive service and to improve performance would have financial implications.  An exercise was underway to see how other authorities assessed performance against this target.

·          The Director said that none of the performance indicators had been qualified in the past year, representing an improvement on previous years.

·          It was asked whether target 183a (the average length of stay for families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation) which was set at zero weeks was realistic.  In reply it was stated that the target was aspirational but reflected the Government’s thinking.  Whilst there was always the risk of an emergency the target was achievable.  There had already been considerable success in reducing the length of stay.  It was now a rarity for anyone to wait longer than 6 weeks whereas there had been 40 such cases in the previous year.

·          Regarding target 183b (the average length of stay for families with children in hostel accommodation) the spike in length of stay in quarter 2 was questioned.  The Head of Strategic Housing Services said that the figure in quarter 2 was attributable to one family.  As the numbers of people accommodated in hostels reduced this volatility would be likely to continue.

·          The difficulty some families had had in transferring to larger accommodation prompted a discussion of the housing allocation policy.  The Head of Strategic Housing Services explained that the focus on reducing homelessness had meant that homeless families had been given priority under the allocation system.  Now that the homelessness and housing advice service was being delivered in-house again and the number of homeless people was reducing there was increasing opportunity to meet requests for transfers.  However, whilst some 800 properties were advertised during a year there were some five to six thousand families on the waiting list.

He added that the Government was consulting on a code of guidance on choice based lettings which was likely to be helpful in resolving some complications created by the existing legislation and guidance.   It was likely that the Council would need to review its allocation policy in the light of the code and Members would be involved in that process.

·          In reply to a question about Best Value Performance Indicator 22 (the number of people sleeping rough) the Head of Strategic Housing Services explained that the count was conducted on a particular day in accordance with Government guidance. The Service Plan for 2007/08 recognised the need to do further work on this matter and to conduct a count using the new guidance which had been issued.  It was acknowledged that there were also numbers of people who were not sleeping rough but were still in effect homeless.  It was, however, very difficult to assess the numbers with any degree of accuracy.

·          A Member expressed concern that a number of private sector properties appeared to be remaining empty for some length of time.  The Head of Strategic Housing Services replied that out of the 12,000 properties in question some would be likely to be empty at any one time for example to allow repairs to be carried out or statutory checks to be conducted.  The performance of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) in relation to properties remaining empty was measured by the Housing Corporation and the Audit Commission against a national performance indicator so it was not in their interests for properties to remain unoccupied.  However, it was important that the RSLs and the Council as the Strategic Housing Authority worked proactively to deal with such matters and he proposed to raise the issue at the RSL Forum.

Members proposed that a report should be presented to the Committee’s next meeting setting out the position and the comments of the RSL Forum and a decision then taken as to whether there were any issues the RSLs needed to be invited to attend the Committee to discuss.

RESOLVED: That a report should be presented to the Committee’s next meeting setting out the position on empty private sector properties and the comments of the RSL Forum and a decision then taken as to whether there were any issues the RSLs needed to be invited to attend the Committee to discuss.