Agenda item

The Commission considered a report of the Chief Executive concerning an overview of current performance against the “Enabling Economic Growth” and “Safer Communities” themes of the County Council Strategic Plan 2014-18, along with a summary of overall progress against corporate priorities. A copy of the report marked “Agenda Item 9” is filed with these minutes.

Arising from a discussion, the following points were noted:

Investment in Place – Building the Infrastructure for Growth

·                It was acknowledged that paragraph (b) on page 42 erroneously referred to the Lubbesthorpe development contributing to improvements to the public realm in Hinckley;

·                It was regrettable that the Lubbesthorpe development had suffered delays. Though requirements could be written into agreements to ensure that work was carried out on time, there was little the Council could do to enforce this, though there was the costly option to pursue legal action. The Chief Executive offered to provide members with a note of the latest position with respect to this development;

·                It had been made clear by the Government that the Council would only get a full suite of devolved powers if they had an elected mayor. It was unknown at this stage whether an elected mayor would be a requirement of any Devolution Deal;

·                As the Strategic Growth Plan (SGP) developed, the Executives of the County Council and each local planning authority would be consulted on the hey stages as outlined on page 44. This would include consultation with the Scrutiny Commission. Local Plans would be aligned to the SGP;

·                The Council’s Infrastructure Plan (as referred to on page 43) would be developed by the summer and would cover all capital infrastructure provided in support of economic growth. The Council would consult with stakeholders and via Scrutiny on the content of this document prior to Cabinet approval;

·                Further details on the national context of Leicestershire’s 25% take-up of superfast broadband (as referred to on page 43) would be circulated to members following the meeting;

Investment in People – Employment and Skills support

·                Comparative pupil examination performance had not improved to the extent as had been hoped for however it had to be noted that, in the era of academies, the Council had a greatly reduced role in school performance. Changes, including a general tightening of examination assessments, had also impacted on achieving the previously set target levels. Though some aspects had improved such as recent progress in maths. Legislation prescribed that the Local Authority had a role to make “arrangements” for school improvement but was not required to “deliver” the improvements in isolation. The Leicestershire Education Excellence Partnership, which maintained an ongoing dialogue with academies to ensure good performance was reviewing the current picture and was due to report to the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee in June. A briefing on school funding would also be held in the coming months which all members were encouraged to attend;

Safer Communities

·                Detailed crime statistics were available for the County. It was noted that overall crime levels were broadly similar to last year, though vehicle crime levels remained a concern. It was suggested that these could be considered alongside the Commission’s annual discussion with the Chairman of the Police and Crime Panel which was due to take place at the Commission’s 6 July meeting.

General

·                Though the Council had traditionally maintained good services, a question was raised whether budget reductions were beginning to impact on public satisfaction owing to the generally poorer response times for queries via telephone and email and the increase in time taken to rectify complaints. The Chief Executive reported that many complaints received during this quarter had been in relation to Adult Social Care issues, which were known to be generally more complex in nature than others received and therefore required more time to rectify. It was felt that any trends in terms of performance should become more identifiable in Quarter 4;

·                Increasing hospital admissions (as referred to on page 58) reflected an overall reduction in performance. This was felt to be a particularly challenging area in Leicestershire, though the Urgent Care Board and Better Care Fund Plan was known to be tackling this. The health sector was rich in data and this could be made available to members as required.

RESOLVED:

That the Quarter 3 Performance Report 2015/16 be noted.