To invite Cabinet Members to review performance for the period to end September 2012.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services presented the report of the Assistant Director People, Policy and Partnerships and made the following points to Cabinet:

·         Agreed changes to corporate performance arrangements were approved by Cabinet in July of this year.

·         Appendix A to the report provides an overview and refers to progress being made on projects that were agreed to be done in order to achieve the six high level themes in the Joint Corporate Plan. 

·         Also  included is performance against key indicators for operational areas of the Council – customers, employees, finance and directorate service areas.  Appendices B to F of the report cover the areas in more detail.

·         Satisfaction with the Council through the quality of life survey has increased from 33 to 55%.

·         Good progress has been made on the accommodation strategy, which includes the civic hub and Plough Lane refurbishment.

·         There has been an unqualified opinion by the auditors on the Council’s accounts.

·         There has been some difficulty in recruiting commercial and procurement staff.  A range of other resourcing options are being used to ensure that the important complex projects do not slip.

·         Customer services performance has dipped due to an increased number of calls and staffing absenteeism.  Overall this is against an improving picture, which includes avoidable contact being kept at a low 17%.

Cabinet made the following comments:

·         It was noted that incidents of domestic violence was still higher than the set target and represented 19.4% of all domestic crime.  This was a serious issue particularly for the children involved and how it affected them.  Agencies would continue to address the issues and work together.

·         Across both directorates there was interest in getting people on bicycles and walking and consultation on the transport plan concluded on 15 November. 

·         With regard to GCSE results schools had not performed as well as expected, although this was a national issue.  Schools would be appealing against exam results as would schools across the country.

·         In referring to empty homes, which was raised at the last Council meeting.  The Cabinet Member stated the Council had a good record for bringing empty homes back into use.  In addition referring to the number of families in temporary accommodation, it was added that officers were working hard to rectify the situation.

·         The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing stated that under safeguarding of older people, the delayed discharge of older patients from hospital was low. 

·         In health and wellbeing it was noted that the take up of personal budgets by those qualifying was now at 50%, which was an increase on the previous year.  Being responsible for your own budget allowed people to decide themselves how they used their funding.

·         In referring to the recent Ofsted inspection the Cabinet Member stated there would be a report to cabinet as soon as feed back had been received.  It was noted that the new chair of the Children’s Trust had been appointed.

·         In referring to page 21 of the report, delivery plan project exceptions, the Leader stated he did not believe it had been written clearly and advised that the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) referred to could be done under regeneration powers.  It was hoped that it could be progressed with the use of a CPO.

·         A question was raised on the number of staff with less than 1 years service in the People’s Services directorate.  The director confirmed the number of posts were reducing, but there was also a recruitment campaign in social care as the authority was not always able to retrain and retain staff.  Recruitment retention in social care was difficult not only in Hereford but in the whole of the West Midlands and authorities were competing with one another to retain social workers.

·         It was noted that the number of fixed term staff in the authority had gone down in number significantly and the number of permanent staff had not decreased that much.  In response to a question on staffing costs it was stated that agency staff did not always cost more.

·         Reference was made to the number of vacant shops in high town and how the new retail development would affect this.

·         Under corporate service it was noted that there would be a reprioritisation of work plans.

·         The Leader thanked everyone for their comments and the points made on language and style were noted.

RESOLVED:  That Cabinet noted performance for the period to end of September 2012.