Agenda item

Report of Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Finance

The Leader of the Council introduced the Integrated Performance Report for Quarter 2 2023/24 which summarised the Councils performance and financial position against the Strategic and Delivery Plans.

The report detailed the main challenges facing each of the four service areas, notably Children in Care, SEND, Adult Social Care demand and Highway performance. The report also detailed the forecast overspend of £7.7m (1.1%) compared to the quarter 1 forecast overspend of £9.5m (1.39%).

The main issues discussed at the meeting were:

·       The timeliness of sourcing social care brokerage was acknowledged as being the best performance for 3 years.  The impact of this benefited clients and partner organisations.

·       It was felt that the quality of the data was more informative, but the tolerance on some of the graph axis’s could be changed so that it started at a number closer to the actual e.g. started at 90 if the data started at 94 and not zero.  This would make the data more visible.

·       There had been addition funding for Educational psychologists, with 7 new posts now filled.  It was hoped that this would help to improve the Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) delays.

·       It was suggested that more narrative could be included on the unemployment section as this was a successful area. 

·       However, youth unemployment showed a gap of 2%.  It was hoped that the changes to the LEP could help to focus efforts on specific areas.

·       The full list of schemes which had applied for covid funding as well as the successful ones was requested.

·       Early intervention with families would hopefully identify and support children with additional needs, which may lead to reduced need for support in later years.

·       Preventative highway maintenance, such as gully clearing was priority to ensure that avoidable damage to roads was reduced.

·       A Chatterley Valley slippage update would be sent to Councillor Yates directly.

·       A piece of work was taking place on Special school places; demand; SEND transport; and working with mainstream schools.  A report would be considered by Cabinet within the near future.  Members were reminded that Cabinet had recently considered a report entitled “SEND Accelerated Progress Plan: Enhanced Assess-Plan, Review Pathway, Strategy for Special Provision and the Staffordshire Children and Young People’s Framework” which addressed some of the committees concerns and this would be sent to members for information.

·       Ofsted had been lobbied to look at SEND provision and inclusiveness as part of their inspection regime.

·       School SENCO’s qualifications and workload was highlighted as an area which was being worked on with schools to see if any support could be offered.

·       High Needs Block funding needed to be addressed by Central Government.

·       The family network pilot results would be reported to Safeguarding O&S Committee in due course.

·       Disabled Facility Grants need a more sophisticated approach to distribution throughout the county.

·       County council members needed to interact with their Highway managers to ensure that local issues are being appropriately addressed.

·       Safeguarding contacts (paragraph 6 of the report) and the temporary extra resource to review its pathways was noted. 

·       Extra resources provided to carryout Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DOLS) orders was in place awaiting changes in legislation which will see new arrangements replacing DOLS.

·       Volunteers provided a huge benefit to the social care offer and were much appreciated.  A financial cost could not be estimated at the present time.

·       The financial impact of the new online financial self-assessment portal, as mentioned in Paragraph 41 of the report, was requested.

·       The Committee felt that Economic trends in the County were doing well.

Resolved:

a)   That the Quarter 2 2023/24 Integrated Performance Report be noted.

b)  The tolerance on graph axis’s should be changed, wherever practical, so that it starts at a number closer to the actual e.g. started at 90 if the data started at 94 and not zero. 

c)   That the following information be provided to the committee:

·       The full list of schemes which had applied for covid funding as well as the successful ones.

·       A copy of the Cabinet (20/09/23) report entitled “SEND Accelerated Progress Plan: Enhanced Assess-Plan, Review Pathway, Strategy for Special Provision and the Staffordshire Children and Young People’s Framework”.

·       The financial impact of the new online financial self-assessment portal, as mentioned in Paragraph 41 of the report.

d)  An update on the Chatterley valley scheme slippage be sent to Councillor Yates directly.