Agenda item

The Committee is asked to consider the content of the report and highlight any areas for further scrutiny which will be reported back to the Committee at the next meeting.

Mrs Shaw, Head of Corporate Development, Engagement and Communications presented the Council Plan Performance Report Q2 2015/2016 and highlighted the key performance indicators relating to Resilient Communities.

The Committee noted the red indicator for ‘percentage of opiate drug users successfully completing treatment who did not re-present to treatment within six months’ and queried what was being done to improve performance. Councillor Collett advised that performance against the indicator had previously been higher, but had reduced in quarter two of 2015/2016. He added that a number of measures had been put in place to make improvements, but acknowledged additional work was required.

Members queried the potential impact of the closure of the two hospitals offering reablement services on the key performance indicators namely the ‘proportion of older people being offered reablement services’ and the ‘proportion of older people still at home 91 days after discharge to reablement or rehabilitation’. Councillor Collett advised that he did not foresee an impact and that the changes to service provision could be managed within resources. He reassured the Committee that regular monitoring would take place of the indicators.

The Committee discussed the concerning level of ‘prevalence of excess weight in Year 6 children (10 to 11 year olds) and queried if the food provided through free school meals at schools and the free school breakfasts provided by the Council had negatively impacted upon weight. Councillor Collett advised that the breakfast provided was a healthy breakfast and the meals offered by schools had been evaluated. He surmised that sugary drinks were a key cause of excess weight and were not offered by schools. Mrs Shaw added that an analysis had been undertaken and demonstrated that there was no correlation between the introduction of the breakfast scheme and an increase in weight. 

The Committee further discussed excess weight of children and Councillor Collett reported that a programme was in place in schools in order to educate children about healthy eating. However, Members were concerned that excess weight in children was not a new problem and that no progress had been made to date in reducing levels. In response, Councillor Collett advised that the Declaration of Healthy Weight had been made to provide a whole system approach to tackling childhood excess weight.

In response to further questions, Councillor Collett advised that there was a link between attainment and attendance at a good or outstanding school. He added that local authorities had limited jurisdiction to assist schools to improve once they had become academies, but advised that he had been involved in a number of promising meetings regarding school improvement.

Members considered that further work was required to consider targets, benchmarking against other authorities and how to track performance and suggested that a short panel meeting be held to undertake the work. Additionally, the Committee considered the data provided within the performance report and requested that targets be made clearer in future reporting in order to allow Members to measure progress more effectively.

The Committee agreed:

1.             To establish a scrutiny panel to consider targets, benchmarking against other authorities and how to track performance.

2.             That future performance reports include clearer target information in order to allow Members to measure progress more effectively.