Agenda item

Report attached.

The Sub-Committee received the quarter three performance indicators (PIs) update. The PIs are the standards by which performance of services are measured within the Council. The update provided an overview of performance against the eight performance indicators selected for monitoring by the Sub-Committee in 2019/20. 

The report outlined that five of the indicators have been given a RAG status; one had a status of Green, one had Amber and three indicators have a Red.

The report provided the following highlights and potential areas for improvement:

1. The  percentage of 16-18 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), or not known remained at 3.5%, which was lower than the same period last year The service was confident that the continued tracking and recording of Havering learners would improve the performance further.

Areas for improvement:

2. The percentage of initial child protection conferences held within 15 days had improved during the third quarter but remains just outside of the accepted target tolerance. The figures are impacted by a slight increase in reconvened conferences due to the conference not being quorate. There have also been instances of late notification when an initial child protection conference was required. The service was now exploring ways in which Safeguarding Standards Unit (SSU) could be notified earlier via early alerts of section 47 investigations. 
3. The percentage of looked-after children who ceased to be looked after as a result of permanency (Adoption and Special Guardianship Order) was behind target at 12.4%. It was outlined that the two component parts of the indicator were also measured and the percentage leaving care for adoption was within the agreed tolerance level of 8% (Q3 performance is 7.6%). The percentage leaving care due to Special Guardianship Order had been considerably lower this year than last year. The upward trajectory seen in the last quarter was anticipated to continue considering the children who were presently in the ‘Family finding’ process.
4. Foster carer recruitment across London and nationwide remains a challenge. Between April and December 2019, three new in-house foster carers were approved. There were five further foster carers awaiting final approval. The service had increased its advertising to the public to promote the opportunities. The service was also exploring a range of additional benefits in line with other LAs, which the Council might consider in order to retain and recruit foster carers. 
5. The percentage of care leavers in education, employment or training (EET) at the end of Quarter 3 was below target at 45%. The statutory DfE methodology includes care experienced young people who were not receiving services and whose EET status is therefore not known, which reduces the percentage considerably.  It is important to note that the number of care experienced young adults requiring a service has doubled in the last 2 years with the extension of duties.  EET performance based only on young people receiving services was higher at 60.2% and this figure compared well based on the latest available data for our Statistical Neighbours, Outer London and England.
6. The Sub-Committee noted from the report that there was no data available for the number of apprentices aged 16?18 and aged 19+ recruited in the borough. The report indicated that there was no long term direction of travel provided as the monthly data was not directly comparable to annual published data.

The report informed that data on apprenticeships had been flagged up with the Department for Education and it was envisaged that data would be available for reporting in quarter 4.

The Sub-Committee noted the report.