Agenda item

Rachel Kennard was in attendance for this item.

1.            Miss Carey introduced the report which presented performance for the first quarter to the end of June 2019.  Of the 35 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) contained within the report 24 were rated as Green, 7 were Amber and 4 were Red. 

2.            Three KPIs had moved to Green in this quarter, these were:

                                  i.    Customer Services – Percentage of complaints responded to within timescale.

                                ii.    Children, Young People and Education (CYPE) – Percentage of children in care with 3 or more placements in the last 12 months.

                               iii.    Adult Social Care – Number of admissions to permanent residential and nursing care for older people – rolling 12 months. 

3.            The number of KPIs rated red had increased from 3 to 4, these were:

a.    CYPE

                                  i.    Percentage of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) issued within 20 weeks – rolling 12 months

                                ii.    Percentage of 16-18 year olds who start an apprenticeship

                               iii.    Percentage of cases closed by Early Help Units with outcomes achieved. 

b.    Environment and Transport

                                  i.    Percentage of routine pothole repairs completed within 28 days.  (However June performance was back above target). 

4.            Overall performance was positive the majority of indicators were green but there was a small number below acceptable and this would continue to be monitored closely. 

5.            Mr Gough, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education commented on the strong areas of performance such as the 91% of schools in Kent which were, in June, Good or Outstanding compared to the national figure of 86%.   Whilst there had been a decline in apprenticeships this had been less than the national decline, the report set out the range of activity undertaken in this area.  Referring to Early Help, cases closed with outcomes achieved this was due to a higher than usual number of families declining support at first contact and disengagement from support at a later stage in the pathway.    The EHCP measure was the most concerning and the Council was extremely focussed on this.  The report set out two elements in relation to EHCPs, one was caseworker capacity and the other was the delay in Educational Psychology assessment. 

6.            The Leader referred to the high number of other local authority children in care placed into Kent and the failure of the system to have any impact on the agreement with London Boroughs that children would be placed closer to home. 

7.            Overall there had been a significant and positive improvement on some vitally important areas of business for the Council. 

8.            Matt Dunkley considered that it would be useful to ensure that the ‘Percentage of cases closed by Early Help Units with outcomes achieved’ indicator should be reviewed to ensure it reflected the work of Early Help supporting complex young people.  This was supported by the Leader but he confirmed that the performance management information was independent of the Senior Management Team and Members. 

9.              Mr Dance referred to Broadband, Kent had achieved 95.7% coverage on superfast broadband.  Fibre to the Premises was now being delivered to households and 5000 new connections were starting in January 2020 in rural areas with slow or no broadband.  To ensure 100% coverage would cost £100million.  In addition a voucher scheme using share gain money earnt with broadband takeup allowed remote houses to club together to approach broadband providers. 

10.         Mr Whiting explained that the pothole red rating referred to April and May 2019 due to a spike in demand and a gap in available resource.  By June/July 2019 the KPI was back to over 93% and current performance at 94% with the average routine pothole being filled within 14days.  Mr Whiting congratulated the team for this achievement. 

11.         Miss Carey commented that the good performance level was being achieved with less resource and this should be commended.

12.         The Leader commented that the Local Growth Fund and Capital Projects should be monitored closely.  He considered that an item should be included on the growing places fund. 

RESOLVED that Cabinet note the Quarter 1 Performance Report.