rt hon eric pickles mp contact: howard monk - doncaster and scrutiny management... · 1 rt hon eric...

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Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP

Secretary of State

Department for Communities and Local

Government

Eland House

Bressenden Place

London

SW1E 5DU

Dear Secretary of State

Contact:

Tel:

E-Mail:

Date:

Howard Monk

Tel No 01302 736911

[email protected]

24th January 2014

Doncaster MBC Intervention

I have pleasure in presenting the Recovery Board’s annual assessment of

the Intervention in Doncaster MBC, as discussed at the Board’s meeting of

11th December 2013.

In addition to the Commissioners Annual Report, the Board also

considered a draft report on the Recovery Plan, prepared by the Council’s

Chief Executive, Jo Miller. Due to illness Jo had to submit apologies for the

meeting and therefore the draft report was tabled on the day for comments

and has been finalised since her return to work after Christmas.

I have attached the Intervention Commissioners annual report, together

with the final Chief Executive’s report and a progress update of each strand

of the Recovery Plan.

There is no doubt that the Council has again made progress this year and

the arrangements put in place since the Election of the new Mayor are

providing encouraging signs for the future.

In addition to Children’s Services, on which we are linking with the new

“Children’s Commissioner”, Alan Wood, the Commissioners feel that there

are 3 key areas that the Council must focus on in the coming year. They are

the budget, industrial relations and completion of the Boundary Review. All 3

are explored in more detail in our report. Strong and effective leadership will

be required to make and implement the relevant necessary decisions.

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The Commissioners are conscious that the Mayor and Cabinet have only

been in place for a short time and the current positive climate could

change. However we do feel that there is cause for some optimism that

governance in Doncaster is not now beset with the fragilities of the past. We

are gathering evidence over the next few months on whether the Council

has the capacity and determination to deliver on the plans it is making and

hence that our hope is well founded.

I would be happy to discuss these matters directly with yourself or one of

your colleagues at your convenience.

Yours sincerely

Rob Sykes Lead Commissioner

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Intervention Commissioners

Assessment of Intervention at Doncaster Council December 2013

Introduction

1. This paper sets out the progress that has been made during 2013 and

highlights the key challenges that will need to be tackled during 2014. The

Annual Report provided by the Chief Executive of the Council, Jo Miller and

the specific performance report of each area of the Recovery Plan have also

been appended for reference purposes.

2. There have been significant changes at the Council over the past 8 months

with a change in political administration and changes in the senior

management of Children’s Services. The new Mayor, Ros Jones and her

Cabinet have hit the ground running and are starting to make good progress

in building productive relationships and dealing with the significant issues that

the Council faces.

3. The recovery reports produced by the Council present a clear honest picture

of the headway being made. The culture of objectivity in the Council’s

reporting of progress has continued through the year and has improved on

last year. The main areas of focus from the initial Corporate Governance

Inspection continue to be addressed and emerging issues are being dealt

with appropriately and effectively by the Council’s new Executive.

Relationships appear to be strong both internally within the Council and

externally across the Partnership structure. However it is early days for the

new regime and the next few months will undoubtedly test their resolve.

4. Signs are good for the future performance of the Council. There is renewed

vigour in terms of performance management across the organisation. The

Mayor has set clear priorities and her Cabinet is focussed and determined to

achieve them. Senior management has reacted well to the political changes

and is working closely with portfolio holders to improve services through

transformation. There is also a healthier regard for partnership working and

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the advantages it can bring, particularly to children’s services and in dealing

with the pressures resulting from reduced resources.

5. There is no doubt that the council is in a different place than when the

Corporate Governance Inspection was undertaken in 2010. With the

exception of Children’s Services the improvements in other areas have been

significant. Commissioners have made it clear that, notwithstanding recent

increased potential, clear evidence of further improvement is required and

this will be monitored closely in the coming months. We will continue the

ethos of the past year by highlighting areas of risk and providing robust

challenge wherever necessary. Our presence at the Council will continue to

provide a catalyst for the continued improvement achieved since intervention

began.

6. Whilst details of progress on improving children’s services is better left to our

Commissioner colleague Alan Wood, the new “Children’s Trust” is worthy of

comment. Establishing the Trust will be a complicated piece of work and will

involve many governance challenges during 2014. Work has now started in

earnest and the Council is working hard with the Department for Education

and the consultants employed to help support the project. We are impressed

with the commitment the Council is showing to the initiative and we will use

our influence to aid progress and help to overcome obstacles.

7. We feel that there are now 3 significant areas that the Politicians and Officers

at the Council must concentrate their efforts on. All three are key tests of the

leadership of the Council, the progress it has made so far and its capacity to

transform in the future. They are, the budget for the next 3 years, industrial

relations and the Boundary Commission review and our assessment of each

of them is set out in the paragraphs below.

Key Challenges

Budget - (Control of spending during 2013/14 and preparation of the 2014/15 to

2016/17 Budget)

8. The Council deserves credit for the way it has managed finances over the

past year. The 2012/13 accounts were completed and signed off within

required timescales and delivered a small underspend despite having to

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deliver £30 million in budget cuts during the year. The external auditor

KPMG has issued an unqualified audit opinion on the financial statements

and the Value for Money conclusion. This opinion was formed after

considering the financial standing of the Council, the Digital Region project

and Children’s Services. The Auditors felt that the problems in Children’s

Services were not representative of the continued progress that the Council

had made in 12/13 in relation to the costs, efficiency and/or productivity of

the majority of its activities.

9. For 2013/14 the savings target is £26 million. At this stage the signs look

positive in terms of delivering these savings and therefore keeping net

expenditure within the overall budget. At the end of September the projected

outturn for the year was essentially to break even, which would be a very

good outcome given the level of savings that the Council has to make in the

year. The 3rd quarter projection is imminent but no significant change to the

September figures is expected.

10. Whilst delivering the budget that is currently in place is obviously important,

the most pressing financial issue is to develop, agree and implement the

financial strategy for the next three years. It is therefore pleasing to note that

the Mayor has produced her 3 year strategy (yet to be agreed by Full

Council), which delivers £92 million of the £109 million in savings required

between 2014 and 2017. Clearly Councillors and Officers will also need to

show focus and application to deliver the planned savings on time and

identify the remaining savings gap.

11. The Commissioners have questioned the Mayor and Deputy Mayor directly

on the way the financial strategy is being developed and have been

reassured by their philosophical but determined response. They have

assured us that their final proposals will be supported by the majority Labour

Group and that the required changes will be implemented, working with the

Trade Unions. We asked whether there is a danger that Members will

support the overall proposals but that this support will fragment once their

specific wards are affected. Again the Mayor has reassured us that since the

burden has been shared across the Borough, she is confident that

propositions will be backed.

12. We have also been encouraged by our discussions with the Leaders of the

Conservative and Liberal Democratic Groups who are similarly philosophical

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about the financial situation and equally determined to work as a team to

solve it.

13. Agreeing a budget, though vitally important, is merely the beginning. Once

the major political decisions have been made, Officers will need to be ready

to implement the scale of change that major budget cuts will require in the

tight timescales available.

Industrial Relations

14. As the Council goes through significant transformation over the next 3-4

years, to reduce its overall spending, achieve savings and deliver value for

money services, there will be a significant number of employment related

issues to address. Key changes across the Council can take too long to

implement and it has been suggested to us that in the past progress has

been hampered by the industrial relations processes and the approach of the

Trade Unions. The Council has committed itself to developing and

implementing a new Industrial Relations Framework and the subject will be a

standing item on the agenda of monthly Commissioners meetings.

15. The Mayor and Cabinet are working hard with the relevant Trade Unions,

relationships are good and there is open communication about the scale of

change required. The Chief Executive is committed to improving employee

relations across the Council. As an immediate priority the Council needs to

review the operation of the Employee Relations Committee, since this forum

is currently pivotal to employee based changes. The Mayor and Chief

Executive have assured us that a full review of the Committee has now

started, with Cabinet involvement and the results will be reported to us in

January 2014.

16. We have been very clear that without effective instruments in place, in the

form of workable employee based policies and procedures, rapid major

change will be unattainable. We await the conclusions of the review with

interest.

Boundary Review

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17. We have been very encouraged by the way that the Council has contributed

to the Boundary Commission’s review of council size in Doncaster.

18. Following our initial comments to the Boundary Commission in April that

the number of councillors should be reduced to 40-42, the Council has

developed its approach to the proper future role of councillors, scrutiny

committees and the council itself into the future. The virtually unanimous

submission to the Boundary Commission to reduce the number of

councillors represented a positive step forward in collaborative working, not

seen for many years at the Council.

19. Requests for further explanation and information from the Boundary

Commission were met by detailed and well supported arguments. This

together with the prospect of a Council refresh and a focus on the future

role of Councillors, on both of which we have sought and received

assurances regarding the commitment of the Council’s leadership to

delivering change, led to us revising our opinion and supporting the

Council’s proposal for a reduction in the number of councillors to 54.

20. We are also pleased that the government has accepted our

recommendation that Doncaster move to all-out elections, held

concurrently with the Mayoral election, as we feel this will bring much-

needed stability and strategic focus to the council as a whole.

21. The next milestone on the review will be the agreement of new ward

boundaries to correspond to the reduced number of Councillors. This will

be a difficult exercise as it is an opportunity for the Council and other

interested bodies/persons to put forward reasoned cases for the new

boundaries and there will clearly be an impact upon some individual

Members. Although we are conscious that it is unlikely that full consensus

will be achieved, we are looking for the cross party working group to work

sensibly, maturely and constructively together on the issue.

Recovery Plan

22. In addition to the main 3 pressing issues detailed above there are other

important aspects of the Recovery Plan that are worthy of discussion. Our

summary of these is set out below.

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Effective leadership, relationships and behaviours

23. A year ago the main question relating to leadership, behaviours and

relationships was whether they would remain sufficiently stable so as to

firstly enable a viable budget to be set for 2013/14 and then remain secure

in the build up to the mayoral election in May 2013. The budget was set

without issue and the mayoral election ran smoothly and resulted in the

election of the Labour candidate Ros Jones. The new Mayor and her

Cabinet of 8 Labour Councillors have now been in place for 8 months and it

is fair to say that they are tackling the issues Doncaster faces with energy

and purpose. It has been reported to us that it is a long time since

behaviours and relationships in Doncaster have been as good as they are

at the moment. The main question now relates to making and implementing

the necessary difficult budget decisions. There will be a real sign of

progress once this has been achieved and that will put the Council in a

similar position to most other local authorities and indeed in a better

position than some.

24. There have been specific aspects of leadership that we have focussed

upon during the year and most of these are set out within the contents of

this report. However, managing attendance in particular is worthy of

specific attention here due to the difficulties of the problem and the impact

on the Council’s ability to make necessary progress in the future

25. Staff sickness has been an ongoing problem over many years and indeed

before any form of intervention was put into place. The number of days lost

to sickness has hovered around 14 days per employee and was in fact

13.98 at this time last year. The Council has made a concerted effort over

the past 12 months, particularly to raise the profile of managing attendance

with managers and ensure that they are applying the policy effectively.

This together with the use of better data and improved reporting

arrangements has resulted in a pleasing reduction in lost days. The latest

figure reported as at the end of September was 9.33 days lost per

employee, a significant improvement and a good example of better

management practice.

26. There has been further evidence of effective leadership in the way that the

Council has delivered major capital projects. The development and

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occupation of the new Civic Office was particularly successful and the

facilities continue to be exploited in the move to more diverse ways of

working. The White Rose Way project was completed 5 months ahead of

schedule and within budget. The road is now open and has improved

accessibility to the town centre and will therefore increase business

opportunities. The Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route

Scheme has also commenced. This project is ultimately planned to create

a link between the M18 and Robin Hood Airport, whilst also improving

access to Rossington and Finningley and catering for new developments

such as the Inland Port.

Council and Partnership plans

27. The latest strategic plans for the Council and the partnership were put in

place without any problems. The Council (Corporate) Plan was

unanimously agreed at the Full Council meeting in February and includes

relevant priorities that were developed and agreed cooperatively between

members and Officers. Partnership priorities were developed at the annual

stock-take event and agreed by partnership Chief Officers. The challenge

now is to produce plans for the coming year and beyond, that truly reflect

the Council’s capacity to deliver them, given the financial environment and

the subsequent impact upon available resources.

28. It is worth mentioning here the progress that has been made in terms of

partnership working in Doncaster. Last year a new partnership structure

had just been put in place which built on the arrangements installed

previously by the Interim Chief Executive, Rob Vincent without

fundamentally changing them. The main aim at that stage was to increase

involvement of the Mayor and Cabinet, improve coordination and to

increase focus on stronger communities. A year on and the partnership is

measurably stronger and more effective with much broader engagement

and healthier relationships. The improvement has been brought about by 3

key factors at the Council; the change in political arrangements; the buy-in

to partnership working; and a new bespoke Partnerships Team. The

experience of the past year together with a health check survey and

feedback from the recent highly successful “Stock-Take” event, have

provided the Council with the knowledge on which to base the next stage in

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the Partnership’s development. Further changes are planned that will

increase harmony and improve the interactions between partners and the

Mayor and Cabinet. It is also important to strengthen links with the private

sector if projects relating to employment and promoting Doncaster are to be

successful. The strength and potential of the partnership must not be

wasted, as joint working should provide a more viable means of providing

services into the future. We are pleased with the progress made this year

and welcome the plans to increase the pace in the coming year.

Elected member commitment

29. The commitment of Members in general, but particularly to the Council’s

change agenda, together with their engagement with key improvement

areas, has been an issue since intervention began. Progress has been

slow over the past 3 years but has picked up pace significantly since the

election of the new Mayor. There is a distinct change in attitude towards

the training and development of Members, particularly within the Cabinet.

It is essential that the Council does not waste the opportunity to build upon

this solid start to the new regime. A new Member Development Framework

has been approved by Full Council that gives focus to improving Members’

engagement with the key improvements and changes that the Council

needs to make, including key areas like safeguarding and equalities. There

are also positive signs in Cabinet use of mentoring and their involvement

with other Councils and external programmes such as the National

Children’s Services Leadership Programme. The ingredients for faster

paced improvement are now in place, the Council needs to use them

positively to get the best out of Councillors. Again, a key test will be

provided by the current budget process, both in terms of making tough

decisions, but also in actually implementing them. We are clear that this

area remains a priority and it will be monitored closely as the new

administration matures.

Customer Service and ICT Strategies

30. Great efforts have been made to improve the experience of Council

customers and modernise information technology, both of which are

barriers to the changes and savings that must be made.

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31. Major advances and “firsts” for Doncaster include; the implementation of a

new and rationalised integrated front office for the whole organisation (one-

stop-shop), a much improved and fully transactional website, a mobile app

and a new telephone contact centre model.

32. There is clearly strong ambition to modernise the Council and progress is

being made. We feel that many aspects of the relevant projects are crucial

catalysts for future transformation and hence the savings that must be

made. More headway must be made really quickly for the Council to keep

pace with the financial challenges of the next 3 years.

Political leadership, learning from others

33. We have been impressed with Mayor Jones on each occasion that we have

met her. It is evident that she has a clear understanding of what is required

during her term in office and she has assembled a strong Cabinet to help

her to achieve it. Whilst some decisions that will need to be made will

doubtless be unpalatable, there is acceptance that they will nevertheless

need to be made. It is clear to us that the political leadership understands

that the Council cannot become isolated and that external help will be

sought and used to best advantage.

34. The whole Council is now engaging much better with external bodies,

including the Local Government Association, other Councils and peer

Officer and Member groups. The LGA is providing mentoring and advice to

Cabinet Members and the Cabinet Members with specific responsibilities

for Children’s Services and Health and Adult Social Care are visiting other

Local Authorities and have plans to expand their links. The Lead Cabinet

member for Children’s Services is also undertaking the National Children’s

Services Leadership Programme at Warwick University.

Improved use of intelligence and information

35. For the Council to truly become a commissioning organisation and to

ensure that important decisions are made in the right way, it must make

better use of available information. This priority is largely dependent on the

other modernisation initiatives currently underway, but also relies on

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instilling a knowledge culture throughout the organisation. Relevant

information systems are now largely in place but in some cases are not

fully operational or engaged with. These systems must be used more

effectively, particularly those that are linked with social care.

36. An ambitious project is underway to establish a more central repository for

Council information that can subsequently be used by all departments and

also across the partnership. This project must be well managed to ensure

that relevant information is available to fully inform the difficult decisions

that will need to be made in the future.

Financial viability in Children & Young Peoples Service

37. The financial situation in Children’s Services has not changed significantly

over the past 6 months. The latest projected figure for the current financial

year is an overspend of £3.6 million, which is very similar to the outturn

position last year. The main issue still relates to the placement of children,

either out of authority or within foster care.

38. At this stage the Council is covering the overspends in Children’s Services

by making savings in other areas. Clearly this option will be less viable in

the future and therefore the current initiatives to reduce costs must be

rapidly bolstered.

Public Health contribution to wider Doncaster objectives

39. The integration of Public Health into the Council and the establishment of

the Health and Wellbeing Board is a real success story. The transition has

been seamless and has been acknowledged as good practice. Full

advantage must be taken of the positive start to ensure that the Council

fulfils its new public health responsibilities for the benefit of the health and

wellbeing of all the citizens of Doncaster.

40. The Council has volunteered for a peer challenge review of its Health and

Wellbeing arrangements, which is a positive step in itself. The initial

feedback from the review has highlighted many strengths and areas of

notable practice. The final report is now available and is, as expected, very

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positive on the Council’s implementation of its new statutory health

responsibilities.

Fewer Council buildings

41. The Council currently has too many buildings and acknowledges that

reductions must be made. Assets based projects are likely to form a

significant part of future budget proposals and therefore the rationalisation

of facilities and buildings needs to be a focus of attention, with clear plans

and initiatives put in place quickly. The closure of some buildings is likely to

raise emotive issues and therefore speed of planning and decision-making

is of the utmost importance, to ensure that appropriate consultations can be

undertaken.

42. Commissioners are aware that a new Asset Plan is being developed and

have asked to see it as soon as a worthwhile document is available

Safety of Children

43. Much has been written about Children’s Services in Doncaster, during the

past year and in previous years. This report is not the forum to explore the

detail of the issues and neither is it our responsibility to be involved in the

detailed service matters of this specific service. We are however interested

in the various governance matters that have played out, particularly since

the beginning of 2013.

44. At the beginning of 2013 there was a period of relatively low activity on

transforming Children’s Services. This largely resulted from the undertaking

of Professor Le Grand’s review and the anticipation of Government

decisions, together with a local political reluctance to make major changes,

despite the enthusiasm of the Chief Executive. From June 2013 there has

been a burst of intense activity with many strong actions being agreed and

taken by the Chief Executive and the Mayor. Principal amongst them are

the appointment of an improvement partner (iMPOWER) and the

appointment of a new Director of Children’s Services. We were very

impressed with the swiftness and decisiveness of these actions and by the

attitude and buy in to the need for these changes. The actions have made

an impact and the future for quality services to Doncaster’s children already

looks brighter.

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45. We have long held the view that the 2 interventions currently in place at the

Council have not operated closely enough in the past. Last year we set out

proposals to improve this situation, including a request for a 4th

Commissioner. We were therefore very pleased to welcome Alan Wood as

Commissioner for Children’s Services and can report that there is already a

more collaborative feel to our work. Alan will be reporting separately to the

Secretary of State for Education.

Conclusions

46. We are conscious that the new Mayor and Cabinet have only been in

place for 8 months and the current positive situation could change. There

are also serious challenges ahead that will require extremely strong

leadership to navigate. However, there is reason for some optimism that

governance arrangements in Doncaster no longer appear to be beset with

the fragilities that have existed in the past and we are hopeful that this will

continue.

Doncaster Council Commissioners

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Recovery Board Annual Report – Chief Executive December 2013 Purpose This report and annex provides a summary of recovery progress made by Doncaster Council during 2013, the third full year of recovery. It is set out against the priorities that make up the Council‟s Recovery Plan. Background The Recovery Board agreed a revised Recovery Plan for Doncaster Council in December 2012. This was incorporated into the “Council Plan” for 2013-14. The Recovery Board considers quarterly reports and provides the Secretary of State with an annual report of progress. This summary document supports the annual report. The annex attached to this document captures the recovery plan elements from the Council Plan, shows direction of travel and assesses progress made against the measures identified. Summary Intervention in Doncaster Council has now been in place for 3 full years and it has been widely acknowledged that significant progress has been made. To properly assess progress over that time, it is necessary to reflect on, as a baseline, the reports presented to Recovery Board and the Secretary of State in October 2011, after the first full year of intervention. Those 2011 reports stated: Intervention Commissioners (Lead, Sir John Harman); “We commend the Recovery report to the Board and to Ministers. We agree that it presents convincing evidence of real progress, and we are in no doubt that the main areas of failure identified in the Audit Commission’s CGI report of April 2010 have been, and continue to be, successfully addressed” “The progress has in fact been quite remarkable, but it seems to us to be fragile and could easily be lost” “The appointment of the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is in our view the most significant immediate decision, and his or her performance will be what will enable the Council to make a successful exit from Intervention.” Interim Chief Executive (Rob Vincent); “Of the eleven, the Housing Improvement Plan and Partnership Working are the two where current progress appears most fragile.” (The original Recovery Plan set out 11 “Recovery Strands” on which the Council‟s improvement would be gauged. They were; Children‟s Service Improvement Plan;

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Housing Improvement Plan; Transformation of Adult Care; Narrowing gaps and reducing dependency; Capital Investment Plans; Change Agenda; Skills, behaviours, relationships and decision making; Review of appointment processes; Effective Overview and Scrutiny; Partnership working; Leadership.) It is without question that the Council is now in a better position than it was in October 2011 and indeed October 2012. The headway made in that first year continued at pace during 2012 and has intensified during 2013, with the vast majority of issues eradicated. Plainly, the appointment of a Chief Executive, housing improvement and partnership working are no longer areas of concern and the danger of fragility is no greater in Doncaster than anywhere else. My report in the pages below sets out the progress that has been made over the past year against the current Recovery Plan, but this improvement also contributes significantly to the requirements of the original Corporate Governance Inspection, upon which the intervention is based. Evidence and assessment of the current situation suggest that the concerns raised by the 2010 Inspection have now largely been addressed. I feel that there are now 3 key remaining issues that the Council must deal with in the coming year and they are clearly recognised by the current leadership.

3 year Financial Strategy – The fact that the Council has managed to satisfy the initial Recovery Plan requirements and successfully set budgets for the last 2 years and control spending within them, is clear evidence of recovery. However, the bar has been raised for the next 3 years and in common with most northern local authorities deliverable budgets will be difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, there is acceptance of the situation and determination to resolve it.

Industrial relations - The 2010 Recovery Plan required us only to “review appointment processes”, which was accomplished during the first year and is no longer a problem. There are however wider ranging industrial relations issues that if not effectively addressed will restrict our ability to transform and operate within our financial constraints. I will shortly be working with the Mayor and key Cabinet members to fully review the Council‟s employee relations arrangements and ensure that effective change can happen in collaboration with Trade Unions and the workforce.

Improving Children‟s Services – The latest position in terms of improvement is set out in the report below. The Council is working with partners and the 4th Commissioner, Alan Wood to establish the Children‟s Trust, in line with the Direction of the Secretary of State for Education.

My ultimate conclusion is that the immediate challenges that Doncaster Council faces and that I have highlighted above are not dissimilar to those faced by other Councils of a similar size in our geography. I have agreed with the Mayor that we will commission an independent assessment of progress through a “peer review” of recovery and I have already made initial contact with the LGA on this matter. The plan is to undertake the review in June 2014 and publish the resultant report, so that the findings can be used to inform any decisions on the future shape of intervention. It is my view that it is becoming time for the Council to stand on its own two feet and face the future with confidence, and not to rely on intervention as a control and crutch.

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Recovery Priorities

Priority - There is effective leadership, relationships, behaviours and development leading to increased confidence and better morale The run-up to the 2013 Mayoral Election was largely uneventful and ran as smoothly as any election could. There was the expected level of political tension but this was well behaved and the election was completed without any significant issue. Improvements in relationships and behaviour between Councillors have been recognised by the Commissioners. As part of their updated submission to Local Government Boundary Commission for England in July 2013 they stated:

“Commissioners have been very encouraged that the Council has contributed to the Council Size debate and has made a virtually unanimous submission to the Boundary Commission. They feel that this represents a positive step forward in collaborative working amongst councillors. They have also given credit to the Council for accepting the need for change and recommending smaller scrutiny committees to bring Doncaster more into line with national practice”

The Commissioners also recognised the success of collaborative working between elected members in responding to subsequent requests for information by the Boundary Commission. This contributed to the Commissioners decision to support the Council‟s submission for 54 councillors. More detailed cross party work is currently on-going with a view to producing an agreed submission that sets out ward boundaries to correspond to the new size of the Council. A Staff Survey took place between 28th February and 22nd March 2013. Directorates have developed action plans in response to the specific results for their service areas. Evidence that local actions have worked will be tested when next staff survey takes place in February 2014. Controlling sickness absence is a main priority for the Council, particularly given the inevitable future reduction in available resources. Historically for many years this has been an area of poor management and sickness levels have been much higher than is acceptable. Over the past year we have made a concerted effort to ensure that our Managing Attendance Policy is effectively applied by managers and we have improved our reporting systems. It is really pleasing therefore to report that the reductions seen at the end of 2012/13 (down from 14 to 11.38 days per full time equivalent employee), have continued in 2013 (see chart below). The latest statistics indicate that we are on track to reduce by another 2.05 days to 9.33 days by the end of the year. This is better than our target of 9.8 days and is real evidence of improved management practice. We will not take our foot off the pedal on this important issue and intend to achieve further reductions as the year progresses.

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Risks relating to cultural climate, confidence and morale are likely to continue, in direct correlation with the uncertainties that major change brings and will doubtless be mirrored in public service organisations throughout the country. Changes to structures, service delivery, further staff reductions and budget implications will all follow the launch of the „Doncaster 2017 – A Council Looking to the Future‟ improvement programme. Our survey of managers throughout the Council highlighted that awareness, and therefore compliance, with some of our key governance policies could be improved on. We have emphasised the governance message and taken steps to ensure our policies and procedures are fit for purpose and embedded, to build on our current improved position. Key policies and procedures are now pulled together the intranet for ease of reference and a new compliance tool will be introduced in the new year. This will record all relevant policies and procedures that officers need to be aware of and will enable officers and Members to access the tool and refresh their knowledge of key policies and procedures before “signing” that they understand and comply with them. The compliance tool, along with strengthened induction material and induction training will help us to improve accountability and therefore improve governance. We have also been focusing efforts across the Council to ensure that we take action on our inspection recommendations (whether they are internal or external inspections). We performance manage this and report to our Audit Committee and Governance Group to demonstrate our commitment. This focus has meant we have significantly increased the number of external audit recommendations that have been fully dealt with. We are continuing our focus on anti-fraud and corruption. We actively participate in the National Fraud Initiatives data matching service and undertake anti-fraud reviews of services where fraud risks, due to the nature of the work undertaken, are higher than average. This work is published via the annual report which is presented to Audit Committee at the end of the financial year. Priority - Well focussed Council and partnership plans, which recognise the wider national picture relating to the public sector, are adopted and implemented The Council Plan was agreed by Full Council, as scheduled, in February and delivery is progressing well with specific monitoring reports produced on a quarterly

0

5

10

15

20

2011/12 2012/13 Q12013/14

Q22013/14

Days Lost

Period …

Sickness Absence

FTE DAYS LOST PER FTE

TARGET

5

basis. It has been linked with the new portfolio areas and Cabinet members are committed to cross cutting delivery of the agreed objectives. Preparations are under way for the 2014/15 plan. Our annual Partnership Stocktake event held in November was a great success. There was a fantastic atmosphere with a lively agenda packed with different approaches to stimulating discussion and generating ideas. It was a great opportunity to catch up with partners across the Borough and cement our strong commitment to boost the wellbeing of Doncaster. The partnership projects agreed at last year's Stock-Take were reassessed and are still the key priorities. Specific partnership projects are also in place to deal with Troubled Families and Welfare Benefit Reform. The refresh of the strategic partnership has been completed and a new structure has been agreed by the Partnership Chief Officers. This will see greater strategic involvement of the Mayor and Cabinet in partnership activities. The new arrangements will be presented to Cabinet shortly. They are based on recommendations arising from the „Partnership Health Check and Partnership Annual Stock Take‟. The refreshed and newly branded „Team Doncaster Strategic Partnership‟ will bring clarity and more accountability to collaborative working to address issues highlighted by recent partnership engagement events. A new „Children & Families Strategic Partnership‟ is now in place and will have a significant role in driving forward the Children‟s & Families improvement agenda. An engagement event with the Voluntary & Community Sector held on 21st October was highly successful and committed to specific „time out‟ events throughout 2014 to assist in developing ambitions for children and families. The exact form and function of the Children and Families Strategic Partnership will shift fully as the Children‟s Trust Board comes into operation. Priority - Increase Member commitment to the Council’s change agenda and their engagement in driving improvements in Children’s services and other key priority areas The Mayor has taken responsibility for leading the change agenda and Cabinet members are taking an increasingly active role in their portfolio areas. Significant changes have been made in the Children and Young People area, which now has two Cabinet Member portfolio holders: one for safeguarding and families; and one for education & skills. The portfolio holder for Health and Adult Social Care is the chair of the Doncaster Health and Well-being Board. Cross party Member working groups have worked together very well to develop proposals to revise the Overview & Scrutiny function, produce the Member Development Framework and produce submissions for the Local Government Boundary Commission‟s review. Members have become much more engaged in change and improvement during the year. Thoughtful, challenging and robust conversations have taken place. The challenge now is to make the necessary decisions to initiate that change and to ensure the relevant projects are successful. Priority - Control spending during 2013/14 and robustly prepare the 2014/15 to 2016/17 Budget Finances are being managed well and this is evidenced by the small underspend achieved during 2012/13 and the encouraging picture for the current year.

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There is currently an overall projected underspend of £0.2m for 2013/14 (based on quarter 2). Quarter 3 figures will be available soon and we are not expecting the positive position to change. There is still considerable concern about expenditure on Children‟s Services which is projecting an overspend of £3.6m (although this has reduced since quarter 1), and is a major focus of activity with the Director of CYPS and iMPOWER. Customer Services reductions and procurement savings are also yet to be delivered. To assist with the delivery of the savings in future years, in particular to establish sufficient funding for staff reductions, through careful planning the Council has set aside £5.6m one-off funding held within central budgets. This funding is required to provide funding for one-off costs e.g. costs associated with staff reductions, potential delays in delivering the savings and providing up-front funds to implement the necessary changes. The Mayor has now announced her budget proposals, which are based over 3 years and contain plans for £92m out of the £109m budget savings that are required between 2014/15 and 2016/17. The proposals have been put together thanks to a lot of hard work and rigorous thinking by Members and Officers working together as a team. There does need to be a focus on identifying further savings options and the achievement of those already proposed, but our current position would be the envy of many local authorities. Assuming the budget is agreed by Full Council, actually achieving the changes required to meet the financial challenge will require full engagement in the change process from our elected Members. We have a clear understanding that the final proposals from our budget discussions will be difficult to implement without improving the way we manage industrial relations. We need to work with the Trade Unions to speed up important employee related decisions. A review of industrial relations is currently underway and key to this will be a reassessment of the way in which the Employee Relations Committee operates. This work will be led by the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, Enforcement and Trading Services who has great experience in this field. Our external auditors have reported a much improved view of performance in producing the Council‟s annual statement of accounts. In 2010/11 working papers were not of the required standard, whereas in 2012/13 the external auditor reported that quality has improved and the working papers do now meet specified standards. We recognise that further improvements can be made and are working towards this. Priority - All Services Reviews completed that identify scope for service change and maximise Value for Money All Services are now reviewed, analysis of each service area is complete and services are in the process of implementing some of the agreed changes. This work has helped identify the major and minor improvement projects to be implemented over the next 3 years and will provide the main focus to deliver the required changes. The more significant changes are in the process of being formally agreed with Cabinet and are likely to form part of the budget proposals. Value for Money actions have been taken to control the budget, improve responses to queries and complaints, develop an Organisational Development Strategy and improve Housing Services. However, the activity relating to improvements in Children‟s Services is on-going.

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Priority - Implementation of the Customer Service Strategy The implementation of the Customer Service Strategy 'Putting Our Customers First' continues to progress. The essential objective is to greatly improving the experience of our residents/customers by offering consistent single point of contact, right first time services, open up more cost efficient channels, modernise the way we work and realise significant efficiencies. The new one-stop shop continues to function well and has blended well into the town centre, becoming the accepted one place for all to visit the Council. The mobile app is proving popular with downloads increasing every month and positive feedback from residents and elected members. The improvement of the website continues with a range of services now fully accessible 24/7. We continue to extend the range of services available online. The Customer Access programme was due to deliver total savings of £3.7m, with almost £1m delivered already and a further £1.6m due to be achieved by the end of the financial year. The significance of the progress achieved on customer services should not solely be judged on the financial savings made. Many of the improvements and initiatives are major “firsts” for Doncaster and will be vital catalysts for further transformation. Priority - Implementation of the ICT Strategy The ICT Strategy is vital to achieving the changes needed to modernise the council. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system has been implemented and captures, tracks and performance manages customer contact and service delivery for a range of Council services. The CRM system also integrates with the other aspects of the Customer Services Strategy described above. A new HR system, a Revenues & Benefits system and phase one of a new finance system are all in place and the old mainframe technology is being decommissioned. New desktop technology has been implemented throughout the new Civic Office including facilities for hot-desking, remote and flexible working. This will now be implemented borough wide. The whole Council network is also moving from a dated hub and spoke model to a modern cloud connectivity solution by April 2014 and many other key projects are progressing. Another key deliverable in the last quarter was a Digital Assumed proposal for the whole authority that has been considered informally by Cabinet and Overview and Scrutiny. This set of proposals will move the authority towards becoming a digital authority by 2016. Priority - Political leadership drives improvement and implementation, learning from others We recognise that there is a need for Councillors to continue to develop and improve and to do so they will need on-going support. It is important that this support is not limited to briefings and workshops but is flexible and utilises a variety of methods that are accessible to all Councillors. A cross party working group has produced a new “Member Development Framework” which is fully supported by the new Mayor and Cabinet and has been approved at Full Council. The Framework includes sessions on Councillors „Future Community Leadership Role‟, Social Media and how to be a Networked Councillor, as well as important aspects of safeguarding children, such as corporate parenting. Councillors will further develop their skills including facilitation, networking, influencing and negotiation, in order to successfully support their communities in the future. This is the first time formal arrangements for Member development have been put in place and the working group itself will drive the initiative forward and monitor progress.

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The Centre for Public Scrutiny has held sessions with Elected Members who sit on scrutiny Panels, and the LGA has been utilised more effectively, providing mentoring support to the Mayor and Cabinet Members.

We are getting better at responding to recommendations from audits and inspections. When the Council‟s Governance Group first scrutinised the implementation of audit recommendations in 2011, it found that arrangements were weak. By implementing tracking and progress reporting to the Audit Committee, the Governance Group is providing the impetus needed to ensure that recommendations are properly addressed. Priority - Improve the use of intelligence and information to inform strategic planning and service delivery Through a combination of the Policy, Performance and Research (PPR) review and the associated Data and Intelligence review the Council will shortly have all it needs to improve the use of intelligence and information. The PPR review will put the relevant structures in place and the Data and Intelligence review will provide an effective model to ensure that all Council data is effectively used and combined with wider partnership information through a "hub and spoke" model and revised Data Observatory arrangements. The Doncaster Partnership Chief Officer Group has endorsed this approach which includes the production of strategic needs assessments across a wide range of service areas together with a "knowledge management" role and the ability to commission specific intelligence reports. Public Health have engaged in the National Learning Network and developed an up-to-date, evidence-based approach to priority setting in Doncaster‟s first Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The Strategy is underpinned by priorities in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and wide consultation. A revised Data Quality Strategy includes a new Data Quality Toolkit that will be combined with policy compliance arrangements to improve accountability for the quality of the data used. Progress has been made on Data Protection: a new Breach Process fully investigates and identifies changes that are required to prevent further breaches occurring. Following an Information Commissioner‟s Audit, training is now role based in line with the new Information Governance Structure. Most training is e-learning based, although classroom based training is available to staff who require more in-depth knowledge. All of the above has already vastly improved, and will continue to improve, the Council's ability to commission services more efficiently and effectively and ensure that strategic and operational decisions are evidence based. Priority - Create financial viability in Children & Young Peoples Services Despite some variations within the budgets for CYPS, the overall CYPS overspend forecast is likely to remain around £3.6m in 2013/14. Notwithstanding the progress made, the Placement budget and Agency spend are the main areas that exceed budgetary limits.

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The Improvement Partner (iMPOWER) and new Director of Children‟s Services have been in place since 1st July, the Improvement Plan has been refreshed and a financial plan is being finalised. This sets out the efficiencies needed to reduce the CYPS overspend in line with budgets and deliver savings in line with corporate budget setting requirements for the next three years. The move to Trust status may have significant financial implications and work is underway to identify which services will be affected and could move to the Trust. Priority - Maximise Public Health contribution to wider Doncaster objectives The integration of the Public Health Directorate into the Council has been identified by the LGA and Department of Health as an example of good practice. It included a deliberate focus on successful outcomes, which enabled the identification and shaping of opportunities to protect and improve the wellbeing of local communities. This is being delivered through a series of programmes, and the integration of objectives and commissioning arrangements with other council functions. We also invited the Local Government Association to review our new Health and Wellbeing arrangements, the integration of Public Health into the council and partnership working for health and wellbeing. They recognised our enthusiasm, energy, commitment and strong ambition when it comes to improving the health and well-being of residents and commended our joint working and “One Team” approach. They feel that the public health specialist team is well integrated into the council and making a positive impact. Significantly, they also said that we have many examples of success that we should celebrate more and spread our learning to other parts of the country. Priority - Fewer Council buildings, used more efficiently and effectively As part of the scoping document for the Council's Improvement Programme a short term accommodation plan to reduce the number of Town Centre buildings has commenced. The number of operational office buildings in the town centre will be reduced to a maximum of 5 over the short to medium term. We aim to reduce the number of assets held by up to 70% over the next three years. However the amount of savings realised to date is substantially beneath ideal levels. A number of issues have been identified including various current external factors preventing the disposal of buildings. Our new Assets Plan will be presented to Cabinet and the Commissioners shortly.

Priority - Children are safe The Secretary of State for Education has issued a direction notice to establish an independent trust to deliver services to young people and children, which will be designed and commissioned by the Council, partners and the newly appointed Commissioner for Children‟s Social Care. The Mayor has stated that there must be urgency about providing services for children that are the best they can be and that progress must be accelerated. Work to establish the Doncaster Children‟s Services Trust is already underway and we are working with all relevant parties to ensure that the best possible outcome for Doncaster is achieved. Progress on improving children‟s services was made from January 2013 but it was slower than was desirable, due to the need to wait for instructions from the Secretary of State for Education and the undertaking of the review of social care carried out by Professor Le Grand and Alan Wood. From the spring onwards there has been rapid and significant change in Children‟s Services. A new Director of Children‟s Services

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has been appointed and the Council has entered into an improvement partnership with iMPOWER. A more objective view of the service has been adopted which is supported by much stronger working relationships with the Council‟s corporate services. There has been significantly better performance management and increased accountability and compliance within the CYPS service. The new quality assurance framework has been effective in uncovering problem areas. The main focus has been on changes to the duty and assessment service into social care (CMARAS) to improve its effectiveness and efficiency, better performance monitoring, identifying the barriers to recruiting social workers, reducing reliance on agency staff, reduced caseloads and developing early help. A refreshed Improvement Plan was agreed in October which identifies the key strategic and operational issues that need to be addressed in CYPS, across the council and across our partner agencies.

The political leadership of Children‟s Services has also been significantly strengthened. The new Mayor is determined that the service will rapidly improve and has appointed two Cabinet Members, one for safeguarding and families and one for education & skills. We are now seeing improving trends in performance. Notably there has been a reduction in the number of children in need, which has led to a reducing case load for our social workers.

Children in Need per 10,000 population

Additional Sources of Evidence - Internet links Public Health Annual Report http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/db/chamber/default.asp?Nav=Report&ReportID=15553 Health and Wellbeing Peer Review Report Health & Wellbeing Peer Review Feedback Report Alan Wood report to Recovery Board and Secretary of State for Education Children's Services Update - Recovery Board 11th December Local Account Doncaster Adult Social Care 2012 – 2013

http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/db/chamber/default.asp?Nav=Report&ReportID=15553


http://www.doncasterrecoveryboard.org.uk/meetings.asp

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http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/db/chamber/default.asp?Nav=Report&ReportID=15482 St Leger Homes of Doncaster – Directors Report and financial Statements http://www.stlegerhomes.co.uk/pdf/AGM%20-%20Annual%20Accounts.pdf St Leger Homes of Doncaster – End of Year Performance Report http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/db/chamber/default.asp?Nav=Meeting&MeetingID=6312 Statement of Accounts http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/sections/councilanddemocracy/policiesplansandperformance/councilfinances/The_Statement_of_Accounts.aspx Audit Opinion – 2012/13 ISA 260 - Report to those charged with governance Mayor's Budget Proposals

Jo Miller Chief Executive, Doncaster Council


http://www.stlegerhomes.co.uk/pdf/AGM%20-%20Annual%20Accounts.pdf

http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/db/chamber/default.asp?Nav=Meeting&MeetingID=6312

http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/db/chamber/default.asp?Nav=Meeting&MeetingID=6312

http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/sections/councilanddemocracy/policiesplansandperformance/councilfinances/The_Statement_of_Accounts.aspx

http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/sections/councilanddemocracy/policiesplansandperformance/councilfinances/The_Statement_of_Accounts.aspx


http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/mayor/my_proposed_budget/my_budget_proposals.asp

Recovery Board Meeting 11 December 2013 Recovery Plan Progress Update

P6 - Obj 01 There is effective leadership, relationships, behaviours and development leading to increased confidence and better morale

Position Statement Agreed actions are on track at quarter 2. Specifically, sickness absence improved significantly in 2012/13 in comparison to 2011/12, however further reductions are still required to bring Doncaster in line with the national average. Directorate action plans are in place for the next 12 months focusing on teams where levels of absence are particularly high. The sickness reporting and monitoring process is now fully automated on the HR Portal allowing for appropriate challenge and action to take place where needed and for non-compliance with the procedure to be addressed. Figures from Quarter 1 are positive indicating a projection of further reductions for the 2013/14 year. In relation to the survey performance indicators, the full results from the staff survey were communicated corporately to staff in May. Since then directorates have been tasked with cascading communications on the results at local level and to start drawing up action plans in response to the specific results for their directorate / service area. Evidence that local actions have worked will be tested when next staff survey takes place in Feb 14. Evaluation of training and development satisfaction levels is continually evaluated and changes and improvements are made where required to ensure a high standard and value for money. PDR completion – monitoring exercises were carried out in May and July to coincide with when senior leaders and people managers were due to have had their PDR. Improved management information now means that non-compliance can be identified and any problem areas targeted. Monitoring will continue on a quarterly basis. Overall, the cultural climate, confidence and morale risks remain high and are anticipated to remain so over the year as changes to structures, service delivery, further staff reductions, budget implications etc. all continue, plus the imminent launch of the „Doncaster 2017 – A Council Looking to the Future‟ Improvement programme.

Because the changes the Council must make will inevitably impact upon this objective.

Linked Performance Indicators Status Current Value Current Target Short Trend Long Trend

(P6 Obj 1) No. of days lost due to sickness absence (Whole Authority excluding Schools)

9.33 9.80

(P6 Obj 1) % of staff who are proud to work for the Council

50% 55% New PI New PI

(P6 Obj 1) Response rate for completing staff survey

30% 40%

(P6 Obj 1) % of staff who rate training/development as satisfactory/high standard

100 85

(P6 Obj 1) Corporate Completion rates for PDRs (council wide)

75% 95%


P6 - Obj 02 Well focussed Council and partnership plans, which recognise the wider national picture relating to the public sector, are adopted and implemented

Position Statement The Council Plan for 2013/14 is in place and being progressed, with specific monitoring reports produced on a quarterly basis. The partnership projects agreed at last year's Stock-Take are progressing well and the Strategic Partnership receives regular updates. The refresh of the strategic partnership is nearing completion and the plan is to have the new arrangements in place by the end of November. A partnership "Healthcheck" is currently underway and initial results indicate that the partnership is healthy and that trust between partners is strong. It also identified that partners feel that we could communicate our accomplishments better. Results will be communicated in due course and be used to strengthen our partnerships. The annual partnership Stock-Take event is planned for the 8th November 2013 and will be larger than previous events, with a much wider spectrum of invitees. A new Partnerships Team has been formed to get the maximum possible benefit for Doncaster from our partnership arrangements The refreshed CYPS Improvement Plan was formally approved by Cabinet on 2nd October A new "Children & Families Strategic Partnership Board" is now in place and will have a significant role in driving forward the improvement agenda. An engagement event with the Voluntary & Community Sector was arranged for 21st October and this will be followed by a specific "time out" event for the members of the new board, geared towards agreeing ambitions for children and families over the coming year.

The priority has been rated green because all necessary plans are in place. Recovery Board has noted though that the Council and Partners must ensure that planned objectives are delivered.

There are no performance indicators linked to this objective.

P6 - Obj 03 Increase member commitment to the Council's change agenda and their engagement in driving improvements in Children's services and other key priority areas

Position Statement The new Member Development Framework was agreed at Full Council on 25/7/13. The Framework will be invaluable in improving Members involvement in the key improvements and changes that the Council needs to make. It contains a schedule of training on key Council issues such as Safeguarding, Equalities and Data Protection. Member engagement sessions on safe guarding were held on 24th (day time) and 30th (evening) July 2013, attendances at each session were 33 and 13 respectively. The first training session on performance management for Scrutiny Members was undertaken in September. This session was specifically aimed at the Schools, Children & Young People Panel and was attended by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Further sessions have been arranged and are planned for individual panels and all members for key issues. Two cross party member working groups have been meeting; one looking at Council size and the other reviewing the O & S function in Doncaster. The Centre for Public Scrutiny has held training sessions with Elected Members. Members are about to take part in the “networked Councillors – skills for the future programme “ The Children‟s Services Lead Cabinet Member has a Peer Mentor and is engaged in the National Children‟s Services Leadership Programme.

Because the Mayor is leading the Council‟s change very effectively, Cabinet is working well and positive steps continue to be made on member Development.



P6 - Obj 04 Control spending during 2013/14 and robustly prepare the 2014/15 to 2016/17 Budget

Position Statement The Quarter 2, Finance and Performance Monitoring report was presented to Cabinet on the 20th

November. It shows an overall projected underspend of £0.2m. There is still considerable concern about Children‟s Services which is projecting a £3.6m overspend, although this has reduce from £4.3m in Quarter 1. The projection for Adult Services shows an underspend of £2.9m, which is in addition to £2.6m of on-going savings that were returned from the directorate in Quarter 1. Customer Services reductions have not been fully met (£2.7m across the whole council) and there are procurement savings yet to be delivered of £1.8m. The Council has also been able to set aside £5.6m of centrally held funds to help to deliver the savings in future years for one-off costs associated with staffing reductions, funding for potential delays and funding for upfront costs to make the necessary changes. The overarching budget strategy has been produced which has an outline plan for £70m out of the £109m savings required. This was released as part of the “budget conversation” in October 2013. Meetings with informal Cabinet are progressing well. Further work continues to produce the detailed budget proposals.

Because, given the current level of savings required, a robust budget for the next 3 years will be difficult to achieve


Council-Wide Budgets Revenue Variance

-£154k 0

Service Budgets Revenue Variance

£446k 0

P6 - Obj 05 All Services Reviews completed that identify scope for service change and maximise Value for Money

Position Statement All Services have now been reviewed as planned. The Council is now in the process of implementing those changes that could be immediately executed. The ASR programme of work has also helped to identify the Major and Minor programmes of work and projects to be implemented over the next 3 years as part of the financial strategy. Cabinet and senior officers are working closely to identify additional savings using the outputs from the All Service Review process.

Because the reviews have been completed as planned and used to identify future change opportunities. These opportunities must be exploited as part of the 2013-2017 budget setting process.



P6 - Obj 06a Implementation of the Customer Service and ICT Strategies

Position Statement Comprehensive work has been progressing to greatly improve the experience of our residents/customers, open up more cost efficient channels, modernise the way we work and realise significant efficiencies. Major advances and “firsts” for Doncaster include; the implementation of a new and rationalised integrated front office for the whole organisation (one-stop-shop), a much improved and fully transactional website, a mobile app and a new telephone contact centre model. These advances have been made using improved processes and technology such as a the Customer Relationship Management System, a work scheduling tool, mobile working, a single account for all residents and joining up with relevant service systems providing the automated, monitored, quick and efficient routing of customer enquiries/requests to mobile devices used by staff out in the borough. Other key deliverables for this year are the transfer of the Council's connectivity to a modern cloud based ICT network and infrastructure, the introduction of an Enterprise Resource Planning System to improve all resource management, the decommissioning and rationalisation of old technology. A Channel Shift Strategy is also being developed and a Digital Assumed proposal for the whole authority will be under consideration shortly. The total efficiencies assigned to the Customer Access Programme delivering much of the Customer Service Strategy is £3.7 million in total, £0.88 million has been achieved, £1.6 million is now in progress this year with the rest to follow in 14/15. Most of the key deliverables within the current ICT Strategy have been achieved or are progressing.

Because, although progress has been made, the required savings are not being realised quickly enough


P6 - Obj 07 Political leadership drives improvement and implementation, learning from others

Position Statement Better engagement with LGA; Evidence of improvement within Portfolio areas; Evidence of involvement with other Local Authorities. The whole Council is now engaging better with the LGA from mentoring and advice to Cabinet Members to use of LGA facilities such as LG Inform. Cabinet Members are making use of their specific LGA Mentors and the Mayor is also building relationships with the Greater London Authority via Len Duvall. The Cabinet Members with specific responsibilities for Children‟s Services and Health and Adult Social Care are visiting other South Yorkshire Authorities and have plans to increase their links to other Councils. The Lead Cabinet Member for Children‟s Services is currently undertaking the National Children‟s Services Leadership Programme at Warwick University. The current budget process (2014/15 to 2016/17) is an important measure of political leadership. The process has started much earlier this year and is progressing well in a much more open way and with full recognition of the financial problems the Council faces and finding solutions to resolve them.

Because the new political arrangements have only been in place a short while. It is clear that if the current progress continues this objective will very shortly be rated as

green.



P6 - Obj 08 Improve the use of intelligence and information to inform strategic planning and service delivery

Position Statement Through a combination of the Policy, Performance and Research (PPR) review and the associated Data and Intelligence review the Council will shortly have all it needs to improve the use of intelligence and information. The PPR review will put the relevant structures in place and the Data and Intelligence review will provide an effective model to ensure that ALL Council data is effectively used and combined with wider partnership information through a "hub and spoke" model and revised Data Observatory arrangements. The Doncaster Partnership Chief Officer Group has endorsed a new Data Observatory approach that includes the production of strategic needs assessments across a wide range of service areas together with a "knowledge management" role and the ability to commission specific intelligence reports. In addition, a revised Data Quality Strategy has been produced and was approved by Cabinet in November. This includes a new Data Quality Toolkit that will be combined with policy compliance arrangements to improve accountability for the quality of the data used. Two new strategies have been approved by Cabinet that will improve how the Council uses information. They are; the Adults & Communities Commissioning Strategy and the Corporate Commissioning & Procurement Strategy. All of the above will vastly improve the Council's ability to commission services more efficiently and effectively and ensure that strategic and operational decisions are evidence based.

Because the Council continues to move forward to ensure effective use of intelligence, though it is acknowledged that more speed is now required.


P6 - Obj 09 Create financial viability in Children & Young Peoples Service

Position Statement CYPS is forecast to overspend by £3.6m, a reduction of £652k since quarter 1. The key overspend variance is mainly due to increased children in care placements, where the budget set was based on Children in Care numbers forecast by the service. CYPS are still heavily reliant on agency staff and at this time have 88, although this is a reduction of 21 since quarter 1. The refreshed Improvement Plan has been approved by Cabinet and work is well underway with iMPOWER to do a detailed analysis of the above areas and put in place an effective strategy to align services with the required resources. In addition to this, actions to bring down the current overspend are being progressed, including looking at halting all discretionary spend, speeding up the appointment of staff leading to the reduction of agency posts and speeding up the various steps to reduce the number of children placed in care or moving children in more appropriate and better value placements.

Because an overspend of £3.6m is predicted for the 2013/24 financial year.


CYPS Total Revenue Variance

£3,632k 0


P6 - Obj 10 Maximise Public Health contribution to wider Doncaster objectives

Position Statement A procurement plan timeline was presented to cabinet 5th July as part of the Public Health Way Forward paper. Public Health programme 3 year financial plan options presented to informal cabinet on 26th July. The Public Health Governance Processes established. An Internal Audit on this process has taken place - timescales of work and formal feedback awaited. Further work continues on a forward plan for Health Improvement through a series of 'well programmes', delivering the 'public health offer' to the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, a high level statement on public health assurance and integrated commissioning plans with other directorates within DMBC are all ongoing. The LGA will be undertaking a “peer review” of our health and wellbeing arrangements in November.

Because the integration of Public Health into the Council and the arrangements for Health & Wellbeing in Doncaster have been acknowledged as good practice.


Life Expectancy at Birth: FEMALE Data Only 81.4 Data Only

Life Expectancy at Birth: MALE Data Only 76.8 Data Only

Percentage of children aged 4-5 classified as overweight or obese Data Only 23.9% Data Only

Percentage of children aged 10-11 classified as overweight or obese Data Only 33.5% Data Only

P6 - Obj 11 Fewer Council buildings, used more efficiently and effectively

Position Statement Good progress has been achieved during Q2:-

An Assets Board has been established

A delivery model has been developed (for Assets Board and Cabinet consultation/approval)

Quick win disposals have been identified and are to be progressed imminently

At the end of Q2, only £40,000 savings have been realised against target. It would be normal to expect more activity to take place towards the end of the financial year than during the first two quarters, however the amount realised to date is below expected levels. A number of issues have been identified in respect of buildings budget savings, including the retention of budgets by individual service departments as buildings are released and various external factors preventing the disposal of buildings.

Because, although progress has been made against the action plan, the savings are not being realised against target.


(P6 Obj 11) Revenue budget savings for Assets from Change Strand

£40,000 £300,000


Recovery Plan Update

Priority 2 Children are safe

Position Statement The Secretary of State for Education has issued a direction notice to establish an independent trust to deliver services to young people and children, which will be designed and commissioned by the Council, partners and the newly appointed Commissioner for Children‟s Social Care. The Mayor has stated that there must be urgency about providing services that are the best they can be and that progress must be accelerated. Some progress was made from January 2013, strengthened by the appointment of a new Director and the partnership with iMPOWER from July. A more objective view has been adopted supported by much stronger working with the Council‟s corporate services. There has been significantly better performance management and increased accountability and compliance within the CYPS service. The new quality assurance framework has been effective in uncovering problem areas. The main focus has been on changes to the duty and assessment service into social care (CMARAS) to improve its effectiveness and efficiency, better performance monitoring, identifying the barriers to recruiting social workers, reducing reliance on agency staff, and developing early help. A refreshed Improvement Plan was approved by Cabinet on 2nd October. It identifies the key strategic and operational issues that need to be addressed in CYPS, across the council and across our partner agencies if Children‟s Services are to improve. Cabinet Members have requested a progress update on a quarterly basis.

Because, although positive action continues to take place there is still much more to do and the majority of related performance indicators remain below target.


Percentage of young people (16-18 year olds) not in education, employment or training (NEET)

7.6% 6.7%

(P2 Obj 1) Timeliness of single assessment (replaces initial assessment and core assessment) - 45 days Improving 93.99% New – no target set

(P2 Obj 1) CIN per 10,000 population under 18

460.3 420.69 New PI

(P2 Obj 1) Rolling 3 month average number of CAFs

33 311

(P2 Obj 1)Percentage of Child Protection visits that have not taken place on time (within 4wks)

2.75 1

(P2 Obj 3) Number of case audits completed across the service

300 150 New PI

(P2 Obj 2) Percentage of substantive qualified social workers

74.2% 90.0%

(P2 Obj 1) Children on CPR per 10,000 pop aged U18

77.59 45.3

(P2 Obj 4) Children looked after per 10,000 aged U18

78.9 71.6

(P2 Obj 4) 06. Stability of placements of looked after children: number of moves (BV49) (PAF CF/A1)

8.2% 9.0%

(P2 Obj 1) Referrals to children‟s social care going on to initial assessment (KIGS CH143)

55.39% 78.2%


(P2 Obj 5) Achievement at level 4 or above in both English and Maths at Key Stage 2

72% 78.0%

(P2 Obj 5) Achievement of 5 or more A*- C grades at GCSE or equivalent including English and Maths

56.3% 58.0%

(P2 Obj 4) Percentage of care leavers age 19 in suitable accommodation

90.5% 85.0%

(P2 Obj 4) Health of children looked after - percentage that have had Initial Health Check

29.0% 100.0%

rt hon eric pickles mp contact: howard monk - doncaster and scrutiny management... · 1 rt hon eric...

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