Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Civic Office

Contact: Christine Rothwell  Tel. 01302 735682

Items
No. Item

9.

Apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Gemma Cobby, Leanne Hempshall and Majid Khan.

10.

To consider the extent, if any, to which the public and press are to be excluded from the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no items where the press and public should be excluded from the meeting.

11.

Declarations of Interest, if any.

Minutes:

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

12.

Public Statements.

[A period not exceeding 20 minutes for statements from up

to 5 members of the public on matters within the

Committee’s remit, proposing action(s) which may be

considered or contribute towards the future development of

the Committee’s work programme].

 

Minutes:

There were no public statements made at the meeting.

13.

DMBC 2021-22 Quarter 3 Finance and Performance Improvement Report pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Minutes:

The Committee received the 2021/2022 Quarter 2 Finance and Performance Improvement report introduced by the Assistant Director of Policy, Insight and Change.  Following the brief introduction, the Committee asked a number of questions as follows:-

 

Connected Council and Overview

 

Increase in Covid Cases/Staff Sickness – In terms of increases of Covid cases (Omicron) and staff sickness, it was recognised that Covid, in particular, had presented a constant challenge for the Council.  It was explained that this had been addressed through the Tactical Co-ordination Group bringing Team Doncaster agencies together to manage risks and their implications. 

 

Regarding staff sickness, it was noted that this had impacted across both the Council and Team Doncaster, particularly within the health system. It was noted that the increase in the Council’s sickness rate (since the previous quarter) had slowly reduced but further progress was required to reach its target.  It was commented that the types of illnesses were non-Covid and Covid related, which was in keeping with the winter period and relevant mechanisms had been put in place to support staff returning back to work.

 

Reference was made to the Council being able to respond to the pandemic whilst operating its normal business.  It was acknowledged that certain projects had been delayed due to the refocusing of resources.

 

In terms of businesses continuing to trade despite staff absence (due to sickness), it was recognised that this presented an additional challenge to that of recruiting and retaining staff.

 

Rise in Cost of Living – It was recognised that this was becoming more challenging with time. In terms of the partnership approach, it was explained that the following was being considered;

 

1. How can some of the impacts be mitigated?

2. What routes out of poverty will help support our residents and communities?

 

It was outlined that there was a Poverty Group (as part of Team Doncaster) in place to look at this issue.  Members were reminded that this issue would be further considered as part of OSMC’s workplan.

 

Regarding tackling poverty through one off grants, it was recognised that there had been a number of one-off grants introduced and that efforts were being made to ensure that they were communicated effectively.  The Assistant Director of Policy, Insight and Change commented on the number of schemes available which could create a challenge.

 

Agency Staff – A Member sought clarification about what Value For Money (VFM) had been achieved from using agency staff.  It was also asked about whether there had been progress in recruiting permanent staff within those roles and what future workforce planning there had been within the Council.

 

It was acknowledged that workforce planning was important as part of the Council’s Performance Management Framework and the Assistant Director of Policy, Insight and Change outlined a number of mechanisms, which supported this.  Reference was also made to specific targeted campaigns, some that had been for particular sectors such as Adult Social Care.

 

Overall, it was noted that turnover of staff across the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Performance Challenge of Doncaster Children’s Services Trust: Quarter 3, 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Minutes:

The Committee considered the performance challenge report of the Doncaster Children’s Services Trust for Quarter 3 2021/22.

 

Transition to Mosaic – Members heard that the Trust and the Council continued to work closely on improvements to the Mosiac case management system. It was reported that staff training compliance (in respect of Mosaic) had been an issue in the past, and targeted training for staff has already been implemented by individual service areas.  It was reported that the major risks to progress remained the lack of high quality performance dashboards, which allowed managers to interrogate both compliance and quality.  Members heard that individual service areas have created localised performance information to ensure that managers and leaders maintain line of sight, and this complimented by the completion of learning reviews, audits and the interrogation of audit information to identify practice issues and trends .  One of the best developed localised systems sits within the care leaving service IFT, which was has supported improvement in this area of practice.

 

However, the combined aim of both the Council and Trust leadership is to ultimately negate the requirement for localised systems, by continuing to engage and develop Mosaic with the support of all stakeholders and to maximise the usage of the existing system through rigorously monitored staff training, which is regularly reviewed.

 

Concern was raised by a member of the Committee around the potential problems from running 2 separate systems.  Members were informed of the previous decision taken to have a single case management system, and it was acknowledged that the transition has not been smooth.  It was commented that Mosaic should provide the appropriate capability once transition has taken place.  Members head how there was concern that performance through the system could not be reported effectively which was more apparent because of safeguarding element within the Trust.  Members were assured that work was being undertaken to amend the forms and make sure that pathways and workflows worked effectively. Need to make sure that reporting was undertaken to pull information from input by Social Workers and that the risk was being managed and overseen by Ofsted.  Members were informed that there was a Rapid Improvement Plan in place.  Going forward, it was hoped that performance would be in an improved position by Quarter 1 2022/2023.

 

Clarification was sought on whether home-working during the pandemic had created any further issues.  The Director of Learning, Opportunities and Skills noted that demands on Social Workers during this present time was immense, dealing with potentially quite complex number of cases safeguarding cases as well as trying to navigate a new system.  It was acknowledged that by not working next to colleagues would have some impact on implementing the system quicker.  It was recognised that this was not the only factor and other issues needed addressing such as report writing.

 

16+ Children in Care Placements – Concern was raised about the cost and increase of 16+ Children In Care.  Clarification was provided that the average weekly rate was c. £3.7k  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

St Leger Homes of Doncaster Ltd (SLHD) Performance & Delivery Update: 2021/22 Quarter Three (Q3) pdf icon PDF 884 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Impact of Ongoing Covid Issues – It was reported that there were currently 12 members of staff with Covid and the previous highest figure had been 15.  It was explained that staff members with Covid have been able to continue working.  It was noted that the main impact of Covid on the workforce was in respect of trade staff who were unable to carry on working or had been redeployed.  Other areas impacted have included repairs and the supply chain of materials where contractors were involved.  It was reported that the main issue resulting from customers with Covid, was refusing access to the property, which impacted on activities such as electrical inspections and reporting repairs, although post lockdown there has been a significant increase in the latter and this had remained consistent over the period of time that followed. 

 

Regarding the recruitment of the right level of staff, it was explained that it had been challenging to attract into certain trades such as electricians due to the competitiveness of the market.  It was added that there had been surprising difficulties recruiting into administration posts.

 

Rent Loss/Void Rent Loss (Lettable Voids) – Members were informed that Void Rent Loss (a subset of KPI 1 Rent loss) as referred to in the Value For Money report was when benchmarked nationally, performing well and was in the top quartile when compared to national data for  the end of the last financial year. 

 

It was explained that a challenging target had been set around void rent loss.  Members were informed that there was a great deal being undertaken around this area, such as how quickly those properties can be repaired and turned around to be let.  Members were informed about various issues addressed such as material supply issues and strengthening the supply chain.  It was reported that other issues included staff vacancies, staff sickness and lettings staff returning to the office and being placed next to void staff to facilitate better working together as teams.  Members heard that further work had been done to ensure that data reported was accurate by trying to assess properties prior to becoming void and undertaking viewings whilst void.  It was explained that in the region of 50-75% of all current voids were in fact let and waiting to be fully repaired or for the tenant to move in.  It was explained that reasons for the refusal of a property were being considered, and that consultation was being undertaken around the new Housing Allocation policy, which would include what can be done where particular customers continuously refuse reasonable offers. 

 

Regarding the Accessible Housing Register, it was outlined that there was an ongoing review about this.  It was also noted that there had been a significant fall in the availability of houses but that bungalow turnover had remained static.  It was explained that the process could take a long time due to waiting for individual assessments to be undertaken by Occupational Therapists.

           

Number of Homeless Preventions- Members were informed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

16.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan and Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions pdf icon PDF 705 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed comments from Members of the Committee who were Chairs or Vice-Chairs, and each provided an update of the work of their panels and summarised what they would be looking at over the coming months.

 

RESOLVED that:-

 

(1) the Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan be noted and approved; and

(2) the Council’s Forward Plan of key decisions, be noted