Agenda item

The Sub-Committee were advised that 15 Corporate Performance Indicators fell under the remit of the Children & Learning Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee.

Nine related to the SAFE goal and six to the PROUD goal. Nine of the RAG indicators had a status of green and six a RAG status of Red or Amber.

Members noted that the position was consistent with the end of Quarter 3 update. 

Members noted that the following areas that required improvements within the SAFE goal:

•      The percentage of care proceedings completed within 26 weeks dropped for the second consecutive quarter during Quarter 4. To improve performance, there were a number of actions taking place including reviewing the legal tracking procedure; working with the Legal department to identify and respond to training needs; reviewing the supervision policy and developing accountability of social workers so that when targets were missed there was a framework in place to act swiftly to rectify this.

•      The percentage of children becoming the subject of a Child Protection Plan for a second or subsequent time within 2 years had continued to rise as the year had progressed and was higher than at the same point last year. The Face to Face programme was providing practitioners with training to work with families in a systemic way and provide families with the tools to sustain their own progress.

•      The percentage of looked after children (LAC) placements lasting at least two years was below target and both in the last quarter and last year. As part of the Department for Education Innovation Programme, the service was working to recruit specialist foster carers who would care for 11-17 year olds with complex and disrupting behaviour patterns. These foster carers would receive heightened support and training to respond to the increasingly complex needs of our looked after children.

The report detailed the following highlights within the PROUD goal:

•      The percentage of young people leaving care who were in education, employment or training at ages 18 to 21 was above target and better than the annual outturn the previous year.

•      At 3.3%, the proportion of 16 to 19 year olds who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) and not known fell compared to the outturn for 2015/16 as participation amongst young people in Havering continued to increase.

•      The percentage of Early Years providers judged to be Good or Outstanding by Ofsted exceeded target and was better than the previous year.

•      Apprenticeship numbers at ages 16 -18; had  increased compared with the previous year, as a result of the close working between the local apprenticeship provider forum and the local school and colleges to promote the apprenticeship offer.

Members were informed that Cabinet had approved the new Corporate Plan for 2017/18 which included a list of new Corporate Performance Indicators. As many of these new Corporate PIs do not neatly fall into the remit of one of the Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committees it had been agreed that, from Quarter 2 of 2017/18, performance against the Corporate Performance Indicators would only be reported to the Cabinet on a quarterly basis, with the reports being made available simultaneously to all Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Board and Sub-Committees.

The Chairs of the Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committees would be able to request reports on performance against particular indicators as required and would also be able to commission more detailed analysis of areas within the remits of the sub-committee that may warrant further consideration.

Members noted that the new arrangements would be in place from Quarter 2 2017/18 onwards to account for the fact that the new Corporate Plan was not approved by Cabinet until May, and the Council’s Service Plans for 2017/18 also do not go live until Quarter 2.

The Sub-Committee had been requested by the Overview and Scrutiny Board to identify three indicators that they would like reported on a quarterly basis relevant to the remit of the sub-committee.

The Sub-Committee concluded that that the sub-committee was a unique group looking at the front line service where all indicators were important and statutory.

The Sub-Committee agreed to have all indicators reported to the Board for them to decide what three indicators they would like reported.