Agenda item

Matthew Wagner (Chief Analyst, Strategy, Policy, Relationships & Corporate Assurance) was in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Wagner outlined the report for Quarter 2 (Q2) which set out the performance data up to the end of September 2023 and highlighted the changes made to the executive summary which contained the previous quarters’ RAG status. Mr Wagner said that out of the 38 KPIs contained within the Quarterly Performance Report (QPR), 15 achieved or exceeded target (rated Green), 15 achieved or exceeded the floor standard but did not meet the target (rated Amber), and 8 did not meet floor standard (rated Red). The direction of travel analysis indicated a positive trend for seven indicators (three more than the previous Quarter), 19 were stable or with no clear trend (five fewer than the previous Quarter), and 12 were showing a negative trend (two more than the previous Quarter). Mr Wagner addressed the KPIs assessed as Red and the projected direction of travel.

2.    Further to comments and questions from Members, it was noted:

·         The call answer rate for customer contact through the Contact Point had reduced due to high levels of staff sickness and staff training, resulting in its Amber rating. Despite actions taken to ensure staff availability to respond to calls, the service remained under resourced, and work was ongoing to both upskill and recruit additional staff to manage demand. Work was also underway with Agilisys to improve response times where targets were not met; however, it was key to ensure that the quality of responses were not offset by the need to achieve quantity.

·         Quarter 2 saw a 3% decrease in the number of complaints received compared with the previous quarter. Older cases continued to impact on the closure of new cases in timescale however an action plan had been put in place to reduce backlogs within the Special Educational Need (SEN) service; these would take some time to reduce, and the impact on performance in this service specifically would continue throughout the year. Response times continued to present a challenge within Adult Social Care in a number of localities, however, the service had implemented a number of actions to improve this. In regard to GET complaints, a majority of the backlog had been cleared.

·         Freedom of Information (FOI) / Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) requests, and Data Protection Act (DPA) Subject Access requests completed within timescales remained below floor standard. FOIs and DPA Subject Access Requests continued to present a challenge in terms of the accessing historical records as these were still held in manual case files as opposed to digitalised files that could be easily accessed, impacting on the number of requests completed within timescale. Work was underway to streamline the approval process, however the complexity of cases often impacts on the services’ ability to respond quickly. The service remained committed to keeping respondents informed and effectively managing delays. 

·         Within Children’s, Young People and Education, the percentage of case holding posts filled by permanent qualified social workers decreased slightly (Red), however management action was in place to address the challenge.

·         The number of citizen children in care had decreased over the last quarter which positively impacted on the Council’s financial position and was a testament to the excellent work carried out by Social Workers and Early Help Workers. Mrs Chandler thanked all staff for achieving the performance measures within challenging environments and continuing to deliver good services.

·         The KPIs for Highways and Transport, specifically in relation to the percent of routine pothole repairs completed within 28 days did not represent a true picture of the road conditions due to the timing of reports presented to Cabinet. The public continued to effectively report issues via the online reporting tool and the service remained committed to completing works promptly.

·         The percentage of Education, Health Care Plans (EHCPs) issued within 20 weeks was expected to remain below the target while the service prioritised completing the backlog of older cases for those children and their families who had been waiting the longest. In many of these cases the 20-week timescales had already been exceeded and significantly contributed to the current performance. New working practices would further help to see a reduction in the backlog and further improve the service’s ability to effectively manage new cases.

·         In response to school inspections and the placement of children with Educational Health and Care Plans (EHCP) into independent or out of county special schools. Work was underway to reduce the number of children transitioning into specialist settings, thus supporting more children with EHCPs in mainstream settings, and ensuring maintained special school places were targeted at those children with the most complex needs. Recent inspections revealed that 89% of Kent schools were judged Good or Outstanding compared to 81% nationally.

·         Work was underway to review the Public Health KPIs to ensure the service were focusing on the correct areas of challenge.

·         Adult Social Care KPIs continued to present a challenge due to demand pressures, therefore impacting on the service’s ability to achieve several of its targets. Work was underway around the recruitment and retention of staff, however the output of the services currently outweighed staffing levels. Assurance was given that the quality of work remained high and this was reflected in the metrics for those clients not returning to the service after initial intervention, indicating that they had received the correct care package or intervention required. Frontline staff were thanked and commended for continuing to provide a high quality of care in what was a challenging environment.

3.    RESOLVED to note the report.