Agenda item

As part of its regular work programme, the Panel was updated on Quarter 4 (January to March 2019) performance and year-end financial information for services relating to Commercial and Commissioning and Community Services.

Budget Monitoring (Year-End 2018/19)

The Director of Commercial and Commissioning referred to the Agenda Papers and reminded the Panel that his area involved up to 10 separate services. 

Although there had been a Council wide financial challenge in 2018/19, the Directorate had achieved a £1.127m underspend, due to factors including additional income, lower than anticipated spend relating to repair and maintenance, deleting vacant posts and reducing the number of placements on the Graduate/Apprenticeship Programme.  In relation to Communities, there had been an overall underspend of £170,000, mainly due to one-off additional Public Health funding.

The following key points were made in the subsequent discussion:

·         The Panel was disappointed to learn that the number of placements on both the Graduate and Apprenticeship Programme had been reduced, but was pleased to hear that the Cabinet Member acknowledged the value of utilising the Apprenticeship Levy

·         A Member questioned when recruitment to the Apprenticeship Programme would open again, the Director confirmed the Council’s commitment to the Programme, but it was unclear when exactly recruitment would commence, hopefully, within the next 12 months

·         In response to the suggestion that it was important to consider care leavers for the Apprenticeship Programme, the Panel was advised that this did happen, but there was more work to do

·         In relation to the Graduate Programme, although there had been several success stories, it was important that the financial situation was considered and the organisational re-design completed prior to further recruitment

·         Although figures had not been verified, it was reported that Quarter 1 (April to June 2019) was broadly on budget

·         The Panel commended the Director and Cabinet Members on their positive year-end position

Performance Monitoring (Quarter 4 January to March 2019)

Members referred to the Agenda Papers and during general discussion, the following key points were made:

·         It was questioned why Agency Spend had increased to £10,484,558 (from £8,290,459 in the previous quarter) when reliance on agency staff was generally decreasing. The Panel was advised that this was a very complex situation and it was not possible to reduce agency spend totally.  The costs related to Adult and Children’s Social care (although the situation was improving) and some specialist services, such as consultancy for example to assist with the organisational re-design

·         Although the figure was high, the Director was satisfied that there was a good reason for every element of spend.  There had been short term specialist need, such as the project to bring IT Services back into the Council and it was pleasing to report that most Children’s Services staff were now permanent, with an 85% rate of retention in Social Workers, in comparison to 54% last year

·         Members noted that Staff Turnover had increased in Quarter 4, to be informed that there had been some redundancies, some of which were voluntary.  In addition, new Human Resources policies had been introduced, primarily around sickness and productivity, which may have contributed to the higher figure

·         The Director agreed to check and report back to the Panel about why the Staff Turnover PI (page 17 of the Agenda) was 2.05% in 06/18 compared with 10.97% for 03/19

·         The Panel noted that the Civica Contract for Customer Service was being re-commissioned.  Recently, there had been a shift in residents contacting the Council, with telephone communication reducing by 50%

·         It was suggested that some residents may give up trying to make contact via the central Customer Contact centre as specialist knowledge was sometimes required. The example was given of Worcester City Council, who had reverted to calls being passed directly to relevant departments, eg a Planning query being transferred to the Planning Department

·         The Chairman asked whether Scrutiny could assist in respect of the re-commissioning of the Civica Contract.  The Director suggested that it would be helpful if Scrutiny could look at how other Local Authorities provided Services and examples of best practice

·         In relation to Libraries, Members agreed that there was a huge opportunity for growth and learned that partnership working had resulted in different organisations working out of libraries providing a wealth of different services to residents.  The Panel noted that as a result of the recent Cabinet decision on Library re-design, resident communications were being developed

·         It was confirmed that ‘Museums Worcestershire’ comprised The Commandery in Worcester, Worcester Art Gallery and Museum and the County Museum at Hartlebury Castle.  The joint service with Worcester City Council also undertook outreach support to a number of other County museums

·         The Panel noted the deterioration in targets relating to registration of deaths and still births.  In response, it was reported that although regrettable, Bank Holidays had an impact on the targets and although appointments may be available within the target time, not always at the customer’s choice of venue

·         Members agreed that complaints were a source of intelligence about the Council’s Services, which they would wish to learn more about. It was agreed that Compliments and Complaints handling would be added to the Panels work programme for future Scrutiny.