Agenda item

For the Committee to consider and comment on the Quarter 1 Integrated Performance Report 2024/25.

Pete Sidgwick presented a summary of the Council’s performance at Quarter 1, which covered the period April to June 2024, against the strategic priorities and areas of focus set out in the Council Plan 2022-2027. The report provided a combined picture of the Council’s delivery, performance, finance and risk, enabling scrutiny and transparency for the organisation, partners, and the public.

The detail of the report and supporting appendices comprised:

•        Progress against the Council Delivery Plan (CDP)

•        Performance assessed against the Key Business Measures (KBMs) contained within the agreed Performance Management Framework (PMF)

•        Management of financial resources; and

•        Management of risk.

The Committee was able to monitor performance via a performance portal in the Power BI platform. A training session had taken place immediately prior to the Committee meeting on Power BI and the revised CDP and PMF.

Of the 61 activities listed in the CDP, nine were attributed to Adult Social Care and Health. The quarter one results showed a strong start to the year with 89% (8) of these being on track and 11% (1) at risk. Appendix one and subsequent sections of the report gave more information about progress. The 2024/25 PMF contained 67 KBMs. There were nine KBMs within the remit of this Committee, and eight were available for reporting this quarter, the remaining measure being due for reporting later in the year. The trend information was also positive.

The KBM ‘not on track’ concerned the percentage of people open to Adult Social Care with eligible needs, living in the community with support who were over the age of 65. The trend had been declining and the forecast position for the next reporting period was to remain stable. The overall position was positive, and context was provided of the challenges of the current operating environment.

Looking at finance, at the end of quarter one the services were forecasting a cumulative net service overspend of £15.105m, equivalent to 6.1% of the revenue budget. Saving targets were forecast to be underachieved by £0.422m or 6% of the current year’s target. The delivery of the planned capital programme remained on track.

In terms of risk, these were monitored at both the strategic and service level. For the Council overall, there were nine strategic risks, with three rated as ‘red’ or high level. This included one highlighted for this committee, on a mismatch between demand and resources. It was not distinct to this service area but was more directly related to it. At a service level there were 15 risks and no key risks highlighted which were ‘red’ (high risk).

The Council continued to operate in a challenging and rapidly changing environment, with the financial outlook in the short to medium-term impacting on the Council’s resources. Performance reporting would continue to track and highlight delivery and performance to inform prioritisation of activity and resources.

Questions and comments were invited, with responses provided as indicated:

• Further information was sought on the indicator which was not on track, related to the proportion of eligible people with service needs, where support provided at home. The target was for 60% of people to be supported at home, with 40% supported in a residential care setting. Officers were seeking to understand why the numbers were changing and more people were opting for a residential care placement. It was not considered that the current target level needed to be changed. Related aspects were the number of people who self-funded their care and the number being supported by the NHS.
• It was important to compare the data to other similar areas and also the changes in the data for those areas. A lot of analytical work was taking place. This would also be an area of focus for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) when undertaking the assurance process.
• The care needs of each person determined whether they required residential care. From a practice perspective, it was necessary to assess if the appropriate support could be provided in the community. One option may be extra care housing. By people moving into accommodation that better met their needs, earlier in their health and social care journey it could assist independent living for longer. Whilst this was a complex area, the aim was to understand the reasons for the current data and to develop a narrative on proposed actions. On an individual level, people moving into residential care placements needed that level of support. The councillor agreed with the aims of providing assisted independent living, rather than people going into care.
• It was asked if the outcome of this study would result in a report for  members. The Council’s business analysts were looking at the data currently. An offer was made to provide a briefing paper.
• On the same performance indicator, the latest data on the Power BI platform showed the position to be fairly static at 56% rather than the target of 60%. Given that more people were seeking support, the fact that the data was static showed good performance. Officers agreed with this statistical perspective and confirmed the considerable growth in the number of people supported each year. However, the current focus was on the national benchmark, against which Warwickshire’s position had declined. Officers were looking at this in detail to understand why the demand for care home placements had increased locally. 
• A point that the performance reporting was binary giving a red or green performance indicator of whether each target was being met. From the above example, the position could be nuanced and whilst it prompted a conversation both amongst officers and in committees, the organisation may wish to look at this more broadly.
• The management of finance showed a £15.2m overspend at June 2024. This was the current forecast position at Quarter one of the current financial year. 
• Further information was sought on the 322 ‘concern decision making’ forms received each month. This was the number of adult safeguarding forms completed. It was hard to estimate what was deemed to be a good level for this indicator, with the target being set at 300 per month.

It was agreed that the above comments be submitted in response to the Quarter one 2024/25 performance report.