Agenda item

Considered – A  joint  report  of  the  Chief  Executive  and  Corporate  Director  -  Strategic  Resources, bringing together key aspects of the County Council’s performance on a quarterly basis.

County Councillor Carl Les introduced the Q1 performance monitoring report, confirming it provided an overview on all of the ambitions of the County Council.

County Councillor David Chance provided a summary of the Executive performance report.  He confirmed the County Council continued to make progress in delivering its wide-range of ambitions, and drew specific attention to the ongoing challenges, which included:

·          External forces in the Care Sector continued to put Health & Adult Social care under sustained pressure, with hospital discharges averaging 13.8 per day - a 38% increase compared to the pandemic average of 10 per day;

·          An increase in short term placements to 278 since the end of 2019/20;

·          Pressure in Children & Young People’s Services, with the number of children requiring EHC Plans- a 12% increase since the same point last year;

·          The cost of living crisis food and fuel prices and a rise in interest rates;

·          A 24% increase in demand for support from the income maximisation team since the same period in 21/22;

·          The demand for Energy Vouchers had grown, with 1,581 vouchers awarded in this year’s Qtr1  compared to 697 in Qtr1 last year;

·          An increase in demand for the Customer Service Centre, with an increase in call waiting times and call abandonment;

·          Social Care calls made up a third of all calls to the Customer Service Centre so a separate call number had been introduced;

Finally, he confirmed the Q1 performance report demonstrated a relentless focus on the Council’s ambitions, with the continued development of a strength based approach to effective leadership.

In response to Scrutiny Board members’ questions, it was confirmed that:

·            The Authority was doing relatively well in regard to the number of NHS Health Checks compared to neighbouring Authorities, but there was still room for improvement;

·            A rise in the Authority’s carbon emissions could be expected as a result of more staff returning to working in the office, but in the medium term through the rationalisation of Council buildings as part of LGR, those emissions would again reduce;

·            Air quality monitoring points were situated not only where there were designated Air Quality Management Areas, but also in nearby locations where new issues may arise, all monitored by the District Councils who were responsible for environmental health;

·            The increase in staff turnover was not a result of the uncertainty with LGR, but was a common position across the country.  The figures reported did not included turnover within the District Councils. It had been agreed to bring forward any pay settlement not yet agreed nationally on the expectation that it would be agreed as a minimum, to help stabilise the workforce and provide the recognition they deserved;

·            School attendance was improving all the time and the aim was to ensure that all children on the school roll would be attending school at the start of the new term in September 2022 – it was noted the figures in the report did not include those children who were home schooled, and  that a growing number of disabled children who had chosen to home school during the pandemic, were now returning to school;  

·            Work was ongoing to encourage Free School Meal take up, and for those families on the cusp of receiving FSM, the Authority provided lots of online advice and information on other forms of cost of living support.

County Councillor Paul Haslam thanked officers for their work to date on climate change and noted the improvements since 2019.  He went on to suggest the Authority should write to all its suppliers regarding the coming introduction of a new NYCC Policy and its plans to start to measure their carbon footprints as from 2026/27.

He also drew attention to the work of the Adult Weight Management Service and suggested further work was required to focus on improving nutrition and healthy eating.  County Councillor Michael Harrison confirmed a review of the service was planned.

County Councillor Andrew Lee highlighted the government’s proposal to close the hotel in Selby where Afghan refugees were currently being housed and establish the same facility for asylum seekers, and questioned the numbers being proposed.  In response, County Councillor David Chance confirmed it was not an Authority decision, but it had made the Home Office aware of its view that the hotel was unsuitable for that purpose, in part due to its location. 

County Councillor Carl Les thanked officers for the performance report and it was

Resolved – That the report be noted.

County Councillor Simon Myers left the meeting at 11:25am