Agenda item

Context

The purpose of the report is for the Adults Select Committee to scrutinise the 2016/17 performance information under its remit, this includes:

•           Reporting back on how well we did against the objectives which the previous         Council set for 2016/17:

•           Information on how we performed against a range of nationally set measures for Adults Social services used by all councils in Wales.

Key Issues

The council currently has an established performance framework, this is the way in which we translate our vision - building sustainable and resilient communities - into action and ensure sure that everyone is pulling in the same direction to deliver real and tangible outcomes.  This is shown at appendix 1. Further information on the council’s performance framework is available on the hub.

Over the coming years the shape of public services in Wales is likely to change significantly influenced by two very significant pieces of Welsh legislation, The Well-being of Future Generations Act and The Social Services and Well-being Act as well as financial pressures, demographic changes, changes in customer needs and expectations and regulatory and policy changes. Services need to continue to think more about the long-term, work better with people and communities, look to prevent problems before they arise and take a more joined-up approach.

The council has recently completed two substantial assessments of need as a result of this legislation and these are available on www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/our-monmouthshire. This information has provided a much deeper evidence base of well-being in the county and, as required by the Future Generations Act, this has been used to produce the council’s well-being objectives and statement  2017 available on www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/improvement.

The shift in focus in the well-being objectives means that activities will need to be focused on longer term challenges at a community level rather than some of the internal process issues and outputs that could sometimes be found in its predecessor, The Improvement Plan. When dealing with more complex societal challenges it will take longer for measurable change to come about and longer still to be able to evidence those changes in a meaningful way. In the short-term there will continue to be milestones that can be used to track our improvement journey. This will be supported by a range of performance reports select committee can request as part of their work programme and the structure of performance reports received by committee will be revised to reflect this emphasis.

Appendix 2 sets out performance achieved in 2016/17 against the actions and performance measures approved by Council in May 2016 as part of its Improvement Plan. As well as being presented to select committees the objectives will be included alongside a further evaluation of performance in 2016/17 that will be reported to Council and published by October. The Welsh Government have recently consulted on plans to repeal the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 which means this is likely to be the final plan and report in this format. 

Appendix 3 provides a report card on Adults social services performance in 2016/17. This presents data from the new measurement framework introduced in 2016/17 as part of the Social Services and Well-being Act and sets it within the context of the requirements of the act and contribution to the Council’s objectives. The performance measures are a blend of quantitative (numerical) data and qualitative data collected through questionnaires to service users and carers about their experience of social services and whether this has contributed to improving their well-being. A full list of the measures are provided at the end of the report card. Targets for 2016/17 were set where feasible and targets for 2017/18 have been  included where available and applicable, these will be better informed when comparable local authority data is available in autumn 2017. Appendix 3 also sets out some further key national performance indicators from other service areas that are under the committee’s remit.

3.7       Activity that contributes to the delivery of some objectives cross cuts select committee remits and these have also been reported to the other relevant committee(s).  Therefore it is suggested members particularly focus their scrutiny on the activity relevant to the committee with consideration of its contribution to the objective as a whole. In some cases there may be duplication of indicators already included in other sections of the report. Where indicators relate to the performance of services that are under the remit of more than one committee these will also be reported to the other relevant committee(s).

Member Scrutiny

In response to a question regarding a survey circulated to adult recipients of care, and carers, it was explained that there was a 25% response rate from adults.  It was also confirmed that officers were happy with the 79% response rate (44 responses) from the smaller cohort of carers.  

A question was asked about the information provided to people when, for example, a spouse enters a residential care home, as there can be confusion regarding losing the home and savings.  Whilst it was explained that there are carer support workers and social workers who can direct enquiries to the correct information and guidance, it was agreed to seek a full explanation from the service.   

A question was asked about the number of carers in the authority and responded that there is a Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations (GAVO) database that contains a register of approximately 900 carers who want to receive information, newsletters etc.  Considering the 44 responses, it was explained that the authority complied with Welsh Government instructions to send questionnaires only to those carers with a formal care and support plan.

A Member asked what measures are taken to support carers and also how much care at home packages have been explored before the option of a residential home.  It was agreed to seek responses to these questions for the Select Committee. 

A question was asked about the target measure for adult safeguarding enquiries and responded that the target for this year is 90%.

Considering the numbers of fulltime staff, a full breakdown was requested to include agency staff.

A Member challenged the figure provided for the average age of persons entering care (79) and asked how that compared with other authorities.  It was explained that the figures provided referred to adults of all ages and consequently, the younger adults would reduce the overall average age.  It was added that there are currently no comparison figures available for the rest of Wales.  A request was made for figures to include an age breakdown (numbers and percentages) and reason for going into care to provide clarity.

A Member queried the statistics for delayed transfer from hospital to care and it was confirmed that the figures were inflated last year due to the inclusion of figures relating to some patients in Maindiff Court Hospital who weren’t normally resident in Monmouthshire.  It was reported that assurances have been given that this issue is now resolved.

A Member commented that changes of carers can be difficult for recipients to cope with and promoted the need for more consistency.