Agenda and minutes

1010

Councillor Liz Brighouse will introduce a short discussion on the remit and direction that the committee will take.

Councillor Brighouse in introducing the item referred to the recent Governance Review and highlighted the differences between this new Committee and how scrutiny had operated previously. She hoped that it would be about objective data and how it can be used across the Council to improve performance. She proposed that the Committee should set its own outcomes and review progress against the Committee’s own project plan and performance indicators.

During discussion there was general support for the aspirations of the new Committee.

1020

Research and Major Programmes Manager, Alexandra Bailey will present an overview of the way performance and risk is managed across Oxfordshire County Council.

Alexandra Bailey explained the new approach to managing performance and detailed how the information would be used. She emphasised that the new information would provide a more complex picture that linked the performance information to the financial information.

In response to a question about the quarterly nature of the information the Committee was assured that if there was an area of concern that this would be raised with the Chairman and brought to the Committee in advance of the quarterly monitoring information if necessary.

During the discussion it was agreed that

1040

Each Directorate will present proposed key performance indicators (paper to follow) which will form the basis of directorate reporting on performance to the Performance Scrutiny Committee for 2013/14.

The Committee had before them a paper setting out proposed key performance indicators. They considered the presentation from each Directorate on the  indicators in the context that they would provide the basis for  reporting on performance to the Performance Scrutiny Committee for 2013/14. The Committee adjourned at 10.45 an reconvening at 11.12 am following the flag raising ceremony for Armed Forces Week.

During discussion the following general points relating to all performance information across the board were raised:

1)     It would be helpful to have some indication of the context of performance indicators and targets. Were they nationally or locally set.

2)     Some concern was expressed about the number of indicators and it was suggested that the information should show those that were statutory and those that were discretionary.

3)     The Committee would want to explore the story behind some of the figures. For example the Council could be meeting its targets for assessments but this did not tell the Committee about the quality of those assessments.

4)     When looking at the appropriateness of indicators some consideration should be given to how far they were in the control of the County Council but it was still reasonable to scrutinise performance.

Children Education & Families

1)     With regard to education this Committee was focussed on performance. Attainment would be for the Education Scrutiny Committee to consider and any matters that came to light through this Committee would be referred back to the Education Scrutiny Committee..

2)     With regard to getting behind the indicators on keeping children safe Jim Leivers commented that there was a full range of audit information available mostly through the Safeguarding Board. Members queried whether it was possible to drill down through the information to find for example the number of child protection reviews and the number of children referred. Following discussion it was AGREED that a flow chart of the process be produced. It was possible to produce the numbers coming in to the process and the outputs with percentage shifts over time.

3)     Following further discussion on the story behind the figures in relation to thriving families he suggested that it would be possible to produce the figures and a few sentences to explain the current position.

Social & Community Services

1)     The Performance Indictors currently would not pick up issues of poor care in homes such as Winterbourne View or in individual’s own homes. There was discussion about how the right information could be obtained around a range of issues such as direct payments, individual living fund, safeguarding and thresholds. It was AGREED that a seminar be arranged for members on these issues and that an item on a future agenda looks at how to get the right performance data to ensure issues are dealt with. The Chairman referring to Item 9 on the agenda commented that this was an area that she wished to look at and that would take it forward with officers in consultation with Councillors Fawcett and Stratford.

2)     Lucy Butler undertook to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3/13

1130

An overview of the way financial performance will be reported to the Performance Scrutiny Committee for 2013/14.

The attached provisional outturn report for 2012/13 summarises the Council’s financial performance for 2012/13 for Scrutiny to consider how they wish to engage in scrutiny in this area in future.

The Committee received a brief presentation on financial reporting and its links to the service and resource planning process which is was AGREED be circulated to Committee Members.

There was discussion on what information would be most useful to the Committee. It was AGREED that dashboard style reports that would highlight any concerns would be best suited to the Committee’s needs. This could be supplemented by further reports on specific matters of concern as necessary. The Chairman referred to the importance of getting at the financial performance indicators from the previous report and linking this to the performance monitoring of service areas.

12.00

Research and Major Programmes Manager, Alexandra Bailey will present a paper (attached) outlining the Council’s performance against the objectives outlined in the Corporate Plan for the fourth quarter of 2012/13.

The Committee had before them the corporate plan performance report for the fourth quarter of 2012/13. Members noted that this would be the last report based on the old approach and it gave some indication of why changes were necessary. There was some discussion over the lack of context about the level of need/demand and a lack of clarity over what the figures were being measured against. The use of RAG reporting was supported but it would be helpful if there could be some indication of the direction of travel.

There was some discussion about how main contracts could be measured to ensure they were meeting key success factors. The Committee accepted that it was a complex picture and that they could not be directly involved in direct contract monitoring. However they needed to get an assurance that performance management of contracts was being done correctly and perhaps to consider it in terms of gap analysis. It was suggested that the Committee could look at a very large contract that directly impacted the public. A number of suggestions were put forward and a member asked whether it would be possible to provide a list of contracts banded by price. The Chief Finance Officer advised against assuming that there was a problem with contracts as she did not believe that generally this was the case. In response to the Chairman referring to a number of performance indicators that were the responsibility of contract but not being met Alexandra Bailey replied that the starting point was where outcomes were not being met however provided and whether we had the right information to have confidence that performance issues would be managed.

12.20

Chairman, Cllr Liz Brighouse to introduce plans to launch a commission on Adult Social Care across Oxfordshire.

The Committee agreed that the Chairman take this forward with officers in consultation with Councillor Fawcett and Councillor Strateford.

1230

Chairman, Cllr Liz Brighouse will chair a brief discussion on the protocol for Call-Ins.

The Committee noted the call-in protocol.

1240

With the agreement of the Committee the Chairman withdrew the item commenting that detailed scrutiny of the Forward Plan was not the role of this Committee.