Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received for the meeting.

No declarations of interests were made.

[For approval]

Resolved:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17 November 2014 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting]

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

[To receive and comment on the quarter two performance]

The Panel reviewed performance monitoring information on Wolverhampton Homes and the Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) management and maintenance of Council owned properties during quarter two of the 2014/15 financial year.

Kenny Aitchison, Service Manager Housing Strategy and Development reported that the monitoring report presented a good set of results. Five of the indicators were off target, but following identification of the causes none of the five areas were for concern. He also informed the Panel that because of the excellent delivery of the Decent Homes Programme additional funding of £895,000 had been secured from the Homes and Communities Agency to continue with improvements through the Strategic Construction Partnership.  Wolverhampton’s Decent Homes Programme was thought to be the only scheme nationally to have secured additional funding.

In response to the Panel’s questions the Service Manager Housing Strategy and Development also reported that the performance on the “satisfaction with Decent Homes” had been affected due to a new contractor starting and the bedding in period before they become familiar with the ways of working and standard required. He also explained the reason for the discrepancy between the number of non-decent homes made decent in the priority neighbourhoods and the target figure. 

Resolved:

            That the performance of the housing management agents for quarter two of 2014/15 be received and noted.

[To receive and comment on the quarter three performance]

Gareth Payne, Policy Officer presented the quarter three corporate performance report for 2014/15.

Cllr Val Gibson reported on the Looked After Children performance measure and informed the Panel that the numbers had remained stable over the last few weeks at around 788.  She reported that there was still more work to do in order to reduce the number of looked after children. Referring to the performance measure ‘average time between a child entering care and moving in with an adoptive family, for children who are adopted (days)’, she acknowledged that the indicator was off target but that this had to be looked at in the context of the Adoption Service trying to find adoptive placements for more harder to place children such as older children or siblings.  This had the effect of skewing the performance figures.

Cllr Roger Lawrence added that where a foster carer adopts a child who had been with them a number of years, for example eight years, this would count as it has taken eight years to place the child for adoption, which and  also had the effect of skewing the performance figures.  Cllr Val Gibson agreed with the point adding that it was a position that the Council was happy with in terms of the outcome for the child.

Cllr Elias Mattu commented that it takes a long time to place children aged under five.  Cllr Val Gibson agreed that the length of time could be long and she briefly outlined some of the factors that can impact on the time it takes from changes in a child’s care plan to delays in the court process. 

In response to the Panel’s request at its last meeting, Ros Jervis, Service Director, Wellbeing gave a brief PowerPoint presentation on the Public Health corporate indicators for 2014/15 and Wolverhampton’s performance against the England average.   The presentation also covered health inequalities; the top ten causes of death in Wolverhampton during the period 2008 to 2012 and the 2015/16 corporate priorities for health  of  infant mortality; smoking; obesity; and alcohol.

Cllr Sandra Samuels informed the Panel that the data on life expectancy over the last four years only showed a slight improvement over that period.

Cllr John Reynolds commented that Council needed to get the message out about the action it and its partners were are taking to tackle the issues highlighted in the presentation.

Cllr Elias Mattu added that more need to be done to promote sports in schools. He commented that there were not enough school clubs for children to participate in sports and that the charges to use facilities were too expensive.  He suggested that these areas needed to be explored.  The Service Director, Wellbeing acknowledged the point made and reported that Public Health was working on its relationship with schools.

Referring to the rate of infant mortality in the city, Cllr Roger Lawrence commented that there where discrepancies across the city that could not just be put down to geographical issues.  He requested more detail on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[To receive and comment on the two reports and approve the design and distribution of the executive summary]

Alison Dowling, Customer Relations and Complaint Manager presented two annual reports on the Community Directorate’s annual complaints and complements and briefly outlined some of the key points from the reports.

Cllr Val Gibson thanked the Customer Relations and Complaint Manager for the full report that was well presented and for the Executive Summary was well written and an easy document to follow.

Resolved:

1.    That the design and distribution of the executive summary of the Adult Social Care and Community Services and the Children, Young People and Families annual reports be approved.

2.    That the contents of the two annual reports be received and noted.

[To present the account which provides an overview of performance across Adult Social Care in Wolverhampton]

Amrita Sharma, Regulation and Business Support Officer presented a report on the Council’s fourth Local Account on the delivery of Adult Social Care services for 2013/14, and pointed out some of the achievements and progress made during the year. The Local Account also provided a brief insight into planned priorities for the next two years.

Cllr Paul Sweet congratulated the Regulation and Business Support Officer on the well written and easy to follow Local Account.

In response to a question, the Regulation and Business Support Officer confirmed that the Council promoted the adult social care or carer support services, such as the dementia cafes, to local communities and groups outside of those familiar to the service.  The Executive Summary of the Local Account was one way through which Adult Social Care reached out to new communities and new service users.

Resolved:

1.    That the 2013/14 Adult Social Care Local Account be approved.

2.    That the priorities identified for 2015/16 within the 2013/14 Local Account be approved.

3.    That Executive Summary of the 2013/2014 Local Account be approved for publication.

[To receive and comment on the performance for quarter three]

Adam Hadley, Governance Manager, Democracy presented a report on the performance of information governance for quarter three (October to December 2014) which showed sustained performance on the previous quarter’s results.

He also informed the Panel of welcome news, that the Council had achieved Level Two against the Information Governance Tool Kit.  This would have implications or the Better Care Fund.

Resolved:     

            That the report be received and noted.

[To approve a revised membership of the Board and the role description of the Chief Cyber officer]

Adam Hadley, Group Manager - Democracy presented a report on proposed revisions of the membership of the Information Governance Board as a result of the recent senior management restructure of the Council.  The report also proposed the introduction of a role description for a Chief Cyber Officer in light of cyber security becoming a more prevalent issue.

Resolved:

1.    That the revised membership for the Information Governance Board and the additional role description for the Chief Cyber Officer attached as appendices to the report be approved.

2.    That the terms of reference for the Information Governance Board and the associated definitions, roles and responsibilities as agreed by the Panel on 15 September 2015 be amended  in accordance with resolution 1 above.