Minutes for Cabinet Member - Performance and Governance meeting, Dec 2 2009, 9.00AM official page

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Barber.

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

No declarations of interest were received.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 30 September be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) on the progress made towards the achievement of Sefton’s Corporate Plan Objectives, Local Area Agreement (LAA) and National Performance Indicators (NI.s) as at 30 September 2009.

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This report identified the key issues from the full monitoring report and summarised for Members the progress being made towards the achievement of Sefton’s objectives and targets.

The report indicated that 48 of the 60 Corporate Plan actions were on target, 7 had been completed and 5 were overdue or delayed; that progress had been made towards the achievement of the Council’s eight Corporate Objectives; that the information given in annexes 1 and 2 of the the report now needed to be considered in depth by the relevant service managers as part of their performance management arrangements; and that Departments would now be required to look at their performance in 2009/10 alongside those planned improvements and consider the need to adjust their service plans as required.

The Senior Corporate Support Officer reported that overall, progress was good and that most of the possible indicators capable of being monitored had been updated and indicated good progress with the NI.s, particularly as officer comment was now included to give a more complete picture.

Children’s Services were now being monitored more effectively and, following the appointment of the Youth Offending Manager, that area was improving and monitoring was on schedule.

The Cabinet Member commented that the sustainability of any new developments was an issue and there was a need for the Sustainable Communities Strategy to be in place. 

The Officer suggested a meeting before January with the members and agreed to arrange this.

The Cabinet member expressed his satisfaction that, overall, the report was the most encouraging for some time and wished to acknowledge the hard work put in by all staff concerned.  

RESOLVED:

That the level of progress in relation to Corporate Performance monitoring as at 30 September 2009 be noted.

Report of the Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Chief Executive in relation to the performance monitoring results as at quarter 2  of 2009/10.

The report indicated that the performance monitoring and review processes were required to ensure the timely identification of performance issues and the necessary corrective action that could be taken in line with the approved Escalation Policy, which would continue to develop as the year progressed.

Attached to the report as annex 1 was a summary of progress made by departments against the Corporate Plan, Departmental Plans and the NI.s

The Senior Corporate Support Officer (SSCO) presented the report and indicated that the figures in annex 1 had continued to show improvement and that Sefton’s most recent performance showed favourable comparison with NI.s.  There was now more information going into the reports, showing not just percentages but comments and supporting information (78% of reports had additional comments).

The Corporate Plan indicated that every action item showed information on actions taken / progress made and the NI.s also indicated significant improvements from Quarter one.

The Cabinet Member was concerned that annex 1 (Page 57) contained items for which there was no reported information and the SSCO informed the meeting that the deadline for certain officers had been reduced by two weeks owing to the requirements of the Strategic Directors. The Assistant Chief Executive (Management) commented that this might indicate a staff training need.

The Cabinet member suggested that this be noted for the January meeting. 

RESOLVED:

That the progress on the Corporate Plan, Departmental Service plans and

National Indicators be noted.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) on progress in relation to the relevant parts of the Chief Executive’s Departmental Service Plan for quarter 2 of 2009/10.

The Chief Executive’s Departmental Plan had been approved earlier this year. The purpose of this report was to update the Cabinet Member on performance for the Performance and Partnership Team and Communications Unit against the Departmental Service Plan (3 year strategic objectives) and Annual Service Plan (ASP) as at the quarter 2 of 2009/10. This reporting frequency and approach had been recommended for all portfolio areas.

As part of the performance management framework, all Departmental Service Plans, and Annual Service Plans were entered into the Council’s SPRINT performance management system and officers were required to update progress within that system. A copy of the Departmental and Annual Service Plan quarter 2 update on performance was attached to the report.

Annex 1 of the report gave more detailed information of the quarter 2 2009/10 monitoring for the Department Service Plan that was relevant to the Performance and Governance Portfolio.

The Senior Corporate Support Officer spoke to the report, indicating that updates had been made for all aspects of the funds partnership and the Community Management Team; that an updated version of the Sprint System was being tested, which included improved comparators in the system and would be more user- friendly.  She further stated that officers were not always up to date and that this may indicate a training need, as the system was complex and there could be too much focus on the detail and not enough long term, strategic vision.

The Cabinet Member informed the meeting that Sefton had only just reached compliance state; that the system should be moving on from that situation and that more feedback was useful, as some people felt that the system was not user-friendly.

The Spokesperson had concerns with the communications strategy and the Cabinet Member stated that these could be addressed under agenda item 9

The Cabinet Member expressed concerns that information on targets mentioned on pages 84 to 86 of the annex 1 had not been agreed by Members and he further stated that as the Member responsible, issues should be brought before himself and other Members, for example, he had not been informed of any of the July deadlines mentioned.  Also, he stated that none of the information which was a matter of concern was covered by the Freedom of Information Act

The Assistant Chief Executive (Management) informed the meeting that a number of work streams had been agreed and brought to Cabinet previously and this was now an opportunity to further examine them; that some items were not appropriate for a public meeting and suggested a meeting with the Cabinet Member and the Spokespersons to look at these issues. 

The Spokesperson agreed with the suggestion for a meeting and further stated that there was a lack of resources and that different communication expenditure streams could be sought, for example, by using the shared expertise of the Strategic Borough Partnership to avoid duplication.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Communications) informed the meeting that information on the areas in question had been brought to Cabinet Members and that the Transformation Strategy will look at the use of advertising, marketing ,sharing of staff and other media to achieve economies of scale.

The Cabinet Member commented that some Local Authorities achieved good communication streams without comparable expenditure but that, broadly speaking, performance was satisfactory.

RESOLVED:

That the progress in respect of the Performance and Governance portfolio’s responsibilities within the Chief Executive’s Departmental Service Plan be noted.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) updating on the current position in relation to the Governance Review and providing a summary update to ensure that progress was reported through the Cabinet Structure and explain how the review would progress in the coming months.

The Governance Review Working Group continued to meet to provide a steer to the workstreams identified in the Governance Review Baseline document produced and consulted on at the end of the last calendar year.  There were a number of workstreams which were linked and had interrelated dependencies.  An example of this was the Area Management Workstream and the Sefton Borough Partnership Workstream. The development of the Governance arrangements of the two would now be dependent on each other.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Management) spoke to the report, giving details of the Area Management workstream, which were to go to Area Committees and would be reported back to the Joint Chairs’ meeting in January 2010.  Cabinet Members were to be consulted and comments brought back to the Governance Review Group on the constitution of the board and changes to executive arrangements. 

The Cabinet Member asked that details be brought back to him before going to Cabinet. He further stated that the Area Management was now a key workstream and that the conventions needed to be made public at the appropriate time.

The Spokesperson expressed the view that the model for consultation was key, as the review group appeared to be different to what was envisaged and that there was a need to engage with the community, although the definition of community was not precise. He was concerned that there was a need for effective monitoring, otherwise there was a danger of Members being by passed.

The Cabinet Member expressed concerns that there had been a number of significant issues which had been reported but that officers had not fully consulted Members prior to this, which was embarrassing for Members.  He further stated that there was a need for clarity and that a report back to this meeting was required prior to the Cabinet Meeting

The Assistant Chief Executive (Management) indicated that there was no agenda for the Borough Partnership to extend its role and that the best model to use would need to engage at both strategic and local levels but that the model could not be decided without bringing the policy before Members – an early meeting was suggested.

RESOLVED:

That progress in relation to the Governance Review be noted

Joint report of the Chief Executive and Finance and Information Services  Director

The Cabinet Member considered the joint report of the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance and Information Services on the quarterly forecast position, based on information as at 30 September 2009, in relation to the Portfolio’s 2009/10 revenue budget.

Details of the Performance Portfolio budgets that were monitored and reported on the risk-assessed basis were indicated in Annex A to the report, in accordance with Cabinet’s overall approved process for monitoring the Council’s budgets. 

Where budget pressures had been identified, Service Directors had reviewed their departmental budgets for compensating savings.  Departments had also been asked to consider whether or not all other controllable budgets could be contained with the resources allocated by the Council for 2009/10.

The Performance and Improvement Officer reported in detail, indicating that the budget position was satisfactory and that there had been significant progress. The narrative contained in reports was positive and reported in a way that was clear to understand. 

The Assistant Chief Executive (Management) indicated that departments had been robust in defending their position and had put energy into making improvements whenever possible.

The Senior Corporate Support Officer also spoke to the report and informed the meeting that generally the budgets were on target.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Communications) confirmed this and reported that additional incomes were being generated by seconding staff to partner organisations and the recruitment freeze was having a beneficial effect in terms of savings.

The Cabinet Member was pleased to hear this and stated that he was conscious of the hard work put in by staff to achieve this position and the Spokesperson agreed that this was very positive and that good practice should be publicised. He further stated that additional narrative in the reports would be useful in helping publicise this.

RESOLVED:  

That the progress on the Performance Portfolio’s revenue budgets that are subject to risk based monitoring be noted.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Communications)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Communications) on Public Relations Activity in relation to the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA).  The purpose of the report was to provide an overview of how the results of the CAA would be presented to the media, following the embargoed announcement by the Audit Commission on 10 December 2009.

The report indicated that the way in which the assessment of public services took place had been changed by the Audit Commission and that CAA would replace the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) and examine how all partners worked together - not just Local Authorities.  Residents would be able to see how well local authority services were being delivered when the first “Oneplace” reports were published.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Communications) reported on the variety of methods to be used to publicise results; internally via the intranet and externally via the internet, as well as the traditional media such as the press.  He further stated that meetings had been held; positive actions implemented and that there was now a need to inform the public of the good work being carried out and how areas of poorer performance were being tackled.

The Cabinet Member stated that it was clear that people were working hard to achieve improvement and that it was important to get that message across  to external stakeholders, even though this was the responsibility of the Audit Commission.

RESOLVED:

That the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Communications) be noted.