COUNCIL PLAN OVERVIEW REPORT

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q1 2021 - 22

April – June 2021

 

 

 

Chief Executive:

Timothy Wheadon

Contents

 

Section 1: Chief Executive’s Commentary. 2

Section 2: Budget Position. 6

Section 3: Strategic Themes. 8

Value for money. 8

Economic resilience. 10

Education and skills. 11

Caring for you and your family. 14

Protecting and enhancing our environment 16

Section 4: Corporate Health. 20

a) Summary of People. 20

c) Strategic Risks and Audits. 23

 

Key

 

	Performance is very good
	Performance is causing concern
	Performance is weak
	RAG rating not applicable
	Missing data
	Missing target

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section 1: Chief Executive’s Commentary

 

1          Introduction

 

1.1          This report sets out an overview of the council’s performance for the first quarter of 2021/22 (April - June 2021).  The purpose is to formally provide the Executive with a high-level summary of key achievements, and to highlight areas where performance was not matching targets or expectations, along with any remedial action that is being taken.  It complements the detailed Quarterly Service Reports (QSRs) and is based upon the performance data that is available to all Members online.

 

1.2          As everyone will know the council continues to function in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and many Members and staff have been focused on leading our community response. This is the first quarterly report of the 2021/22 financial year, and it reflects the changes made to the list of service plan actions as part of our annual service plan refresh.  As part of this refresh, several new actions relating to the council’s Covid-19 response have been included under a new heading labeled Covid-19 in section 3. With the new actions in place, at the end of the first quarter progress showed:

 

▪    91 actions (88%) are green (4 complete, 87 in progress)

▪    11 actions (11%) are amber (1 complete, 10 in progress)

▪    1 action (1%) is red (in progress)

 

1.3          Section 3 of this report contains information on the performance indicators across the council for each of the strategic themes.  Again, the picture was positive particularly in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Of course, in a number of the “red” cases, the indicator is meaningless in relation to performance.  Obvious examples include number of events held at libraries which continue to operate at reduced capacity. The status for the key indicators in the Council Plan in the first quarter is:

 

▪    28 (80%) green

▪    2 (6%) amber

▪    5 (14%) red

 

21 further indicators have no set target or data is currently unavailable.

 

2.        Overview of Q1 and what went especially well

 

2.1       Putting these challenges to one side, teams delivered services to a high standard during the period, especially in response to Covid-19.  I have highlighted here a small selection of examples from across the organisation.

 

2.2       Staff continue to work effectively almost exclusively from home, though an increasing number are starting to return to the office periodically. Plans for a gentle return to the workplace have been in hand with the budget agreed to undertake remodelling works at Time Square to create a community and collaboration hub. This will be helpful to facilitate closer joint working across the different services and ensure a consistency of approach to the organisation.

 

2.3       Following the departure of Trish Barnard on health grounds earlier in the year, a national recruitment campaign was undertaken to fill the vacant Assistant Director: HR and OD position.  Having assessed a range of potential candidates, the Employment Panel unanimously agreed to appoint the internal candidate, Paul Young.  In parallel with this appointment, a revised structure for the HR and OD team was agreed in consultation with the staff and the Employment Committee endorsed a refreshed Workforce and OD strategy, which provides a clear focus for the team’s work over the period to 2024.

 

2.4       One of the immediate activities highlighted in the new Workforce and OD strategy is delivery of a Mindful People Management programme, which has been attended by 190 managers across all service areas.  Within the same broad strategy theme, attention has been drawn to the equality and diversity eLearning module, which has been completed by 144 staff since 1 April.  In order to help inform development of a comprehensive learning and development offer a skills survey was undertaken across the organisation.  The findings from this are being analysed and are soon to be presented for discussion with managers.

 

2.5       This quarter saw parts of the council adapting to the national changes in the Governments Covid Roadmap.  This included the gradual re-opening of the town centre, with the Forest Giants event planned for late summer.  The Look Out Discovery Centre has also moved towards increasing the access to services in line with national advice.

 

2.6       A key focus in this period was the cross-council approach to surge testing in College Town, Sandhurst which was led by the Public Health Team, and focussed on testing in the south of the Borough.  This was a key priority during this period and was successfully completed with the aim of managing increasing outbreaks across the borough.

 

2.7       Within Highways and Transport the team successfully completed the A3095 highway improvement scheme which has been the largest project we have delivered in recent years. Works on the A322 Sports Centre Roundabout improvement scheme have started and are currently on programme.

 

2.8       The property Joint Venture with Countryside continues to make good progress developing detailed delivery plans for the Coopers Hill and Market Street sites.  It is expected that a final site delivery plan including updated financial inputs and returns for Coopers Hill will be presented to the Council for formal consideration later in 2021, with Market Street following early in 2022, subject to planning approval being granted.

 

2.9       A major compliance milestone was achieved by legal services. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) completed their follow up audit of the council’s Information Governance arrangements and reported back that the council’s progress in strengthening our arrangements had continued in line with their expectations.

 

2.10     The Education and Learning team continue to work closely with colleagues from Children's Support Services to provide high quality support for the transition of children and young people with SEND. The Behaviour Support Team have provided schools with updated guidance and materials which schools are using with their vulnerable pupils to support personal development and wellbeing as they transition from Year 6 to Year 7.  Recommendations proposed by the Transition Working Party were approved by all schools, leading to effective and consistent sharing of key information to support transition from primary to secondary school, both pastoral and academic.

 

2.11     Standards and Effectiveness Partners continue to work directly with individual schools to support them in ensuring that the curriculum is well matched to the needs of pupils with SEND, and that they are well supported at key transition points, including through the sharing of effective assessment information as they move on to the next year group within the school. The Standards and Effectiveness Team have also provided additional support to schools on assessing pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage, so that key gaps in learning can be identified as they move into Year 1.

 

2.12     The discretionary Additional Restrictions Grant proved to be particularly time consuming for the Revenue Services team to administer, as it was aimed at businesses not previously known to the service, as they were not paying business rates.  With support from the wider Finance team, 100% of our £3.6m Additional Restrictions grant from central government was paid out to small local businesses including Taxi Drivers, Hairdressers, personal trainers, wedding photographers, beauticians and driving instructors.  As we were successful in distributing our initial grant allocation, the council has been provided with an additional £800k to help those small businesses most in need over the remainder of this financial year.

 

2.13     Finally, quarter one saw the first meeting of the Members Climate Change Advisory Panel.  The panel received their first report from the council’s Climate Change action plan. This reported that our food waste collection project continues to receive strong support from the community, that work to decarbonise continues at pace, with the council’s energy purchases completely moved over to renewables. In addition, that central governments funds have been secured for decarbonisation of schools and the completion of a retrofit scheme for domestic properties.  

 

2.14     In picking out these highlights there is a real danger of overlooking the special efforts of teams who are not mentioned.  The simple fact is that the whole organisation continues to adapt magnificently and is delivering effective services.

 

What are we doing about things not going so well?

 

3.1       The percentage of invoices paid within 30 days has fallen significantly during the first quarter of the year.  This is in part due to a review of the calculation methodology, which highlighted some anomalies in approach taken, but also reflects increasing delays in the process of registering and approving invoices before they can be paid.  Detailed investigations are on-going to highlight specific areas where improvements need to be made.

 

3.2       While returns being achieved on cash investments remain close to zero, the council’s current healthy cash position means that overall borrowings have reduced, and Treasury costs are therefore lower than expected.

 

Forward Look

 

Going forward, the council’s strategic objectives will continue to progress in the coming weeks albeit within the context of the council’s community response to Covid-19 which has been incorporated into department service plans.

 

Timothy Wheadon

Chief Executive

Section 2: Budget Position

 

REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING

The monthly monitoring returns are set out in detail in each directorate’s Quarterly Service Report (QSR). 

Due to the impact of the pandemic on the current years’ budget and the resulting uncertainty, a range of potential outcomes have been considered. The returns now include estimated best and worst case scenarios which reflect actual expenditure to date plus a range of financial predictions from Assistant Directors covering the remainder of the year. Across the Council, variances have been identified indicating expenditure is above the approved budget (£1.438m Best Case and £3.659m Worst Case) after taking into account the Corporate Contingency (£1.280m) and income compensation for the first quarter. This figure excludes use of the £3.417m balance on the COVID-19 Contingency which would produce an overall variance of -£1.979m Best Case and +£0.242m Worst Case.

Key information around directorate variances being reported follows.

 

 

 

 

Section 3: Strategic Themes

Value for money

 

 

Economic resilience

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education and skills

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caring for you and your family

 

 

 

 

 

Protecting and enhancing our environment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communities

 

 

 

 

Covid-19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section 4: Corporate Health

 

a) Summary of People

 

Staff Voluntary Turnover

 

    * This figure relates to the previous 4 quarters and is taken from the preceding CPOR.

 

Comparator data	%
Total voluntary turnover for BFC, 2020/21:	11.2%
Average voluntary turnover rate UK public sector 2016:	10.0%
Average Local Government England voluntary turnover 2016:	14.0%

    (Source: XPertHR Staff Turnover Rates and Cost Survey 2016 and LGA Workforce Survey 2016)

Staff Sickness

 

Department	Quarter 4 20/21 (days per employee)	Previous Financial Year (Actual Average days per employee)	2020/21 Estimated Annual Average (days per employee)	Notes
People	1.6	5.93	6.4
Delivery	1.14	7.67	4.56
PPR	0.53	2.47	2.12
Resources	1.32	4.65	5.28
Chief Executive’s Office	1.64	2.3	6.56
Total staff sickness excluding maintained schools	1.36	5.67	5.44

 

 

Comparator data	All employees, average days sickness absence per employee
Bracknell Forest Council (Non-Schools) 20/21	5.67 days
English Local Authorities 2017/18	8.6 days

(Source: Local Government Workforce Survey 2017/18)

 

People

Sickness absence has remained steady over the last quarter. Adult Social Care shows a substantial reduction from Q3 as does Early Help & Communities.  Education and Learning and Mental Health and Out of hours absence levels have increased this quarter.  Just over half (53%) of the absence for Q4 was attributed to long term sickness.

Covid related sickness absence stands at 1.8% of the total absence this quarter which has decreased substantially.

Delivery

Absence this quarter has decreased compared to Quarter 4.  All areas except Contract Services have reduced this quarter however Contract Services levels still remain low overall.  In total approx. 28% of the absence was due to long term sickness – this is a marked decrease from the previous quarter and there is now only 1 member of staff off on long term sick within the Directorate. There was no Covid-19 related sickness absence in the last quarter.

 

Central

Absence levels have risen slightly since the last quarter. 39% of the absence is down to long term sickness cases 1 of these staff have since left the authority leaving 2 who remain absent. Covid-19 sickness counts for less than 1% of the total absence this quarter which has decreased substantially.

 

 

b) Summary of Complaints

 

 

People: Adults

There were 13 complaints in quarter 1.  Compared to this time last year, this is one more.

 

People: Childrens

There were 25 complaints in quarter 1.  Compared to this time last year, the figure is up from 18. This is 7 more. 

 

Central

There were 6 complaints in quarter 1.  Compared to this time last year, the figure is down from 11.  This is 5 less. 

 

Delivery

There was 1 complaint in quarter 1.  Compared to this time last year, the figure is up by 1 from none.

c) Strategic Risks and Audits

During quarter 1 the Register was reviewed by the Strategic Risk Management Group on 18^th May 2021.  The following changes were agreed:

·         To remove the Brexit risks and incorporate any impact from Brexit in the remaining risks;

·         To reduce the COVID risk score.