Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Alison Spall/Alyson Grice  Overview and Scrutiny Officers

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Items
No. Item

304.

Apologies and Welcome

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Mr K D Daisley.

305.

Declarations of Interest and of any Party Whip

Minutes:

Prof J W Raine declared a disclosable interest in that, as part of his role at the University of Birmingham, he was a tutor for Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire Children First apprentices.

306.

Public Participation

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 10 March 2021).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address below.

Minutes:

None.

307.

Confirmation of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 2 February 2021 were agreed as a correct record and would be signed by the Chairman.

308.

Worcestershire Apprenticeship Strategy 2020-23 pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Transformation and Commissioning, the Strategic Director of Commercial and Change and the Assistant Director for Human Resources, Organisational Development and Engagement had been invited to update the Panel on the detail and implementation of the Council’s Apprenticeship Strategy.

 

By way of introduction, the Cabinet Member welcomed the Panel’s consideration of the topic.  The Apprenticeship Strategy helped to foster a culture for apprentices to develop their skills and knowledge in their chosen pathway with the aim of nurturing talent.

 

The Panel received a presentation from the Assistant Director for Human Resources, Organisational Development and Engagement.  In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were made:

 

·       The new Apprenticeship Strategy had been agreed in February 2020.  It was an ambitious strategy which was broadly on track.  The Council was taking a strategic approach as it recognised that having this infrastructure in place was critical for the future talent pipeline.  The Council’s workforce had an aging demographic and it was essential to target the younger members of the workforce.

·       It was confirmed that, for employers with an annual pay bill in excess of £3 million, the Apprenticeship Levy was charged at a rate of 0.5% of the pay bill.  The Council was allowed to transfer up to 25% of this levy to smaller businesses in the local economy.

·       Apprenticeships were not simply a means of obtaining a qualification but should also be seen as a clear talent and career pathway.

·       Employer Provider status meant that, as well as training, supporting and assessing apprentices, the County Council had the ability to tailor the programme and course content to make it more relevant to the Council and Worcestershire Children First (WCF).

·       It was confirmed that there was no age limit to becoming an apprentice.  Apprenticeships were open to both new entrants and members of the existing workforce, and they were available at all levels, including Director.  It was important to look beyond the benefit to the individual and also consider the benefit to the organisation.

·       The Chairman noted the age profile of the work force and highlighted the importance of encouraging recruitment and promotion from within to create entry level opportunities.  Members were reminded that career progression had been linked to the Council’s system of staff performance and review.

·       The Panel was reminded that an apprentice would spend 80% of their time in the work setting and 20% in ‘off the job’ learning.  A question was asked about the impact of Covid on this and how the ‘off the job’ learning could be ring-fenced as an apprentice became more skilled at the job and the time in the work setting became more important.  Members were informed that assessors from the Learning and Development Team were in ongoing contact with apprentices to oversee their development throughout the course.  It was confirmed that any new learning would count towards the ‘off the job’ element.

·       Members were informed that there were 7 levels of apprenticeships ranging from Level 2 (GCSE/entry level) through  ...  view the full minutes text for item 308.

309.

Performance Monitoring of Comments, Compliments and Complaints pdf icon PDF 787 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel had requested a detailed report on the declining performance of Stage 2 Children’s Social Care complaints completed within 65 days and Stage 2 Corporate complaints completed within 25 days.  The Panel had also requested an explanation of the concerns raised in the 2019/20 Annual Letter from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO).

 

By way of introduction, the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Transformation and Commissioning reminded the Panel that the work of the Comments, Compliments and Complaints Team was the result of input from local residents.  She welcomed the interest of the Panel in this work.

 

The Chairman recognised the balance between the number of complaints received and the complexity of those complaints.  He was conscious that a small number of very complex complaints could distort the figures.

 

The Complaints Manager introduced the report and made the following main points:

 

·       The Consumer Relations Unit took the Panel’s concerns very seriously as the performance indicators offered a key insight into the perception of the service.

·       As Members were aware, the complaints process overall was very complex.  Individual complaints could also be very complex.

·       The figures showed that the number of complaints received was on the whole declining.  For both Children’s Social Care and Corporate, there had been an improvement in the resolution of complaints at Stage 1.

·       Difficulties remained at Stage 2 where recruitment had been a challenge, both for Consumer Relations Officers, and Independent Investigators and Independent Persons.  The pool of Independent Investigators and Independent Persons was currently insufficient and a further recruitment campaign was planned for 2021.

·       Anonymised extracts from compliments received were included in the agenda report.  The Complaints Manager was proud of the volume and variety of compliments received and found them humbling.

·       The concerns of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman were taken very seriously.  The largest issue raised was compliance with LGO recommendations.  Of the 12 cases referred to, only one had not complied with recommendations and this was due to the complexity of the case.  She acknowledged that there were lessons to learn and a need to make sure that the process was as good as it could be.

 

The Chairman noted that performance in relation to Statutory Children’s Social Care complaints had deteriorated in the last year.  He thanked the Complaints Manager for her summary of the report and noted that the detail provided helped to quantify the challenges.  He went on to ask about the improvement programme, including what was being done to improve and when improvements would be seen.

 

The Strategic Director of Commercial and Change suggested that there was a need to look at the overall process including the available resources.  There had already been pleasing progress at Stage 1.  65 days for completion of Stage 2 may sound like a long time but these were the most complex complaints.  He suggested that there was a need to focus on conflict resolution, staffing and the creation of a complaints database.

 

The Complaints Manager suggested that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 309.

310.

Member Case Management System pdf icon PDF 466 KB

Minutes:

The Panel received an update on the development of the Member Case Management System (Member Portal).

 

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Transformation and Commissioning reminded the Panel of the intention to develop a system that would allow Members to manage issues they had raised on behalf of residents and provide an oversight of progress made in resolving those issues.

 

The Assistant Director of IT and Digital outlined progress to date including consultation with Members and the production of mocked up screens.  It was hoped that the system would go live before the County Council elections in May.

 

The Chairman told the Panel that he was delighted to see the progress made and felt that the system would be of great benefit to the new intake of councillors in tracking the progress of particular cases.

 

In response to a Member question, the Assistant Director agreed that she would discuss the system’s potential to be used across partner organisations, in particular the district councils, at the next meeting of the One Worcestershire ICT Group.

 

Members were reassured that they would retain the ability to contact individual officers to resolve residents’ issues even once the system was up and running.  The system would allow Councillors to monitor the progress made in resolving a case.  It was noted that, although the technology was important, culture was also key in determining how quickly Members received a response to a query.  The system would also be helpful to new Councillors who may not know who to contact with particular issues.

 

The Assistant Director informed the Panel that, once the system was in operation, it could potentially provide useful data which would identify ‘hot spots’ and inform policy development.

 

In conclusion, the Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member and all those involved for the excellent progress made.

 

311.

Work Programme 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel reviewed its work programme and considered whether it would like to make any amendments so that topics would remain as relevant as possible to the new Panel following the County Council elections.  It was agreed that:

 

·         An update on Performance Monitoring of Comments, Compliments and Complaints would be added to the agenda for the Panel’s next meeting (20 July at 10am);

·         Member Case Management System and Apprenticeship Strategy should be included in the induction programme for new Members following the May elections.