Agenda and minutes

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None

Richard Rowlands – Corporate Performance Manager

Quarter 2 2017/18 Performance Monitoring Report.

·         Richard Rowlands attended to present the Q2 PMR focussing on areas showing RED performance.

·         In relation to corporate performance against target, most targets have been met but overall performance has declined compared to the same period last year.

Priority 1 – Safeguarding

·         The Chief Social Services Officers’ commentary Officer’s overview commentary states that demand for statutory adult and children services remains high.

·         CFS16 (initial core group meetings held within 10 days of the initial child protection conference) is the lowest result since records 2015/16 due to the high level of child protection work.

·         CFS19 (number of children on the CPR) has increased compared each quarter since last year, which is also attributed to an increase in the amount of child protection work.

·         Measure 24 (assessments completed for children within statutory timescales) is showing a declining trend. The decline at Q2 is ascribed to the increase in referrals in Q1 filtering through to the assessment stage.

·         Despite some difficulties Social Services has a lot of positive performance on the preventative work being done.

·         For example, AS14 (those who had completed reablement that are no longer receiving care or are receiving less care 6 months later), improved by 89% compared to the same period last year.

·         Chair explained that there are specific panels for adult services and child services and if members want further information they should refer questions to these Panels

·         Cabinet Member Clive Lloyd commented that the measure for members completing the safeguarding training has improved and this was pleasing.

Priority 2 – Education and Skills

·         Performance for both primary and secondary school attendance shows the lowest Q2 result since 2015/16 and for primary schools, the lowest overall result since Q2 2014/15. However, performance remains positive when viewed over the 5-year period.

Priority 3 – Economy and Infrastructure

·         No significant performance issues to report.

Priority 4 – Tackling Poverty

·         Nearly all targets were met.

·         HBCT01A/02A – there has been a decline in the speed of processing housing benefit and council tax reduction claims since Q4 last year.  For this quarter, a combination of staff shortages and errors were cited in the report as reasons for dips in performance.

·         SUSC1 (peoples satisfaction with their area as a place to live) and SUSC3 (people agreeing that theirs is a place where people from different background get on) are both showing a downwards trend since Q3 last year – although performance remains better than 2015/16.

Priority 5 - Transformation & Future Council

·         CHR002 – staff sickness levels are showing an improving trend.

·         CUST5 and CUST6 (customer satisfaction) - these public perception surveys are showing the lowest results since records.

·         FINA6 (savings and income) remains a concern; this was addressed by the Section 151 Officer at the last panel meeting.

Clive Lloyd – Cabinet Member for Transformation and Performance

Andrew Taylor – Complaints Manager

Tracey Meredith – Head of Legal, Democratic and Business Intelligence

·         Andrew Taylor came to present the Complaints Annual Report

·         This has been the busiest year on record. Complaints are increasing each year with last year seeing an increase of 16% - this is thought to be in large part to the austerity measures which are taking place

·         There are specific procedures for following complaints as they come in depending on the subject of the complaint

·         There are designated officers dealing with specific queries e.g. social services

·         Complaints are different to service requests. Service requests require a service to complete or undertake a task they are supposed to. A complaint looks at the quality of a service or a repeated failure to meet standards. The difference is identified by the team upon contact

·         The team have adopted the ‘All Wales’ complaints model

·         There are different stages in the complaints process. Stage 1 aims to resolve the issue within 10 working days via a senior member in the service departments, if this cannot be done to the clients satisfaction then it can be progressed to stage 2 which has a more in depth investigation by the Complaints Team

·         Some complaints are complex and take longer than the preferred 10 working days but the client is kept informed of this

·         The figures include all complaints made directly to the service departments too as there is a central shared database which everyone contributes to and the data is gathered from there

·         The complaints team try and be as independent as possible and work with the departments to try and resolve matters quickly

·         There are differences between ‘complaints’ and ‘criticisms’ and these are distinguished by the complaints team upon contact

·         43% of complaints are either partially or fully justified

·         Stage 2 complaints increased by 37% - the team are small and have had staff losses. If they cannot meet the deadline, the team explain why

·         The team also keep records of Welsh language complaints. Whether they be about the use of Welsh language or whether the complaint itself is made in Welsh

·         There is a slightly different and specific way of recording Social Services complaints

·         The Ombudsman did not investigate any of the issues referred to them from Swansea – this is pleasing

·         Compliments are also received and these are reported to Corporate Management Team monthly

·         People who make detrimental comments on social media are difficult to deal with but there are circumstances where Swansea Council have got the police involved so any member who has a negative experience should inform the Council

·         If anonymous complaints are made about safeguarding, they are not ignored

·         Discussed exemptions relating to Freedom of Information Requests

·         3 complaints ended up with the Information Commissioner

·         Andrew Taylor is the Freedom of Information reviewing officer

·         There are standards of behaviour expected from clients accessing Swansea Council services. This means that staff members are not exposed to abusive or inappropriate behaviour

·         Members were reminded that they can refer any complaints they receive to the complaints team too

·         The Social Services Annual Complaints Reports for Children’s Services and Adult Services were referred into the appropriate Panels

·         Complaints are increasing each year

Ben Smith – Head of Financial Services and Service Centre

·         The Convener had sent Ben Smith a list of questions to answer in relation to the draft budget proposals

·         The Highways and Transportation Commissioning Review will come to the Panel early February

·         The budget scrutiny will take place on 6^th February