Agenda item

Purpose of the report:To provide an overview of progress against a set of key performance indicators that fall within the remit of the Resources and Performance Select Committee, including HR&OD, customers, finance, transformation and risk management.

Witnesses:

Paul Booker, Corporate Health and Safety Lead Manager

Anna D’Alessandro, Director of Corporate Finance

Jackie Foglietta, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development (HR and OD)

Susan Grizzelle, Head of Customer Services

Marie Snelling, Director of Transformation

Gary Strudwick, Head of Business Intelligence

Rachel Wigley, Director of Financial Insight

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. Discussion began on the HR section of the report. A Member noted that there were a number of unmet targets and asked what steps were being taken to address this. Were witnesses content with the range of targets and progress? The Director of HR and OD stated that the targets were set at the right level. Some were set by government – for example, the target on apprenticeships (HROD 06) – and were therefore out of the Council’s control, while others were set through the transformation programme, and some took into account national benchmarking. Apprenticeships as a percentage of the workforce had stood at less than one percent 18 months ago, so progress had been made. She acknowledged that the target for indicator HROD 03 (percentage of staff under 30) was a stretch target, and the Council had been underperforming on that indicator for a number of years, but was continuing to work on attracting young people. Also, the public sector as a whole should be aiming for lower sickness levels (HROD 04). HROD 05 (off payroll workers as % of workforce) had been set up by the corporate leadership team in response to Members’ concerns on interim and agency workers. The number of off payroll workers increased slightly as a result of transformation work in SEND and the Agile programme.
2. The Director of HR and OD continued to explain that Councils had shown a one percent increase in their workforce from 1 March 2020 to 1 May 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. However, overall the Council had seen a steady decrease of employees in the last year (2019-2020). The Covid pandemic had also helped the Council to recruit to some areas where historically it had struggled, such as apprenticeships and healthcare assistant roles. On the other hand, colleges had been closed for some time due to Covid, so those undertaking apprenticeships had been unable to work on the qualification for some time.
3. A Member asked the director what could be done to continue to improve the uptake of apprenticeships. The Director explained that apprenticeship levy funding could only be used on training, so the Council still had to fund apprenticeship salaries. The Local Government Association (LGA) was lobbying government for more funding. She was of the opinion that the government had asked a lot of LAs by setting a 2.5% target for apprenticeships as a percentage of the workforce.
4. A Member stated that in 2018/19, there had been 407 employees earning over £50,000 per year; in 2019/20, this had risen to 558 employees. The Member proposed that the Council monitor the number of staff members on high salaries. The Director of HR and OD suggested that the People, Performance and Development Committee could look into this at their next meeting; however, it was noted that the Resources and Performance Select Committee should also remain updated on this, particularly with regard to the affordability of the transformation programme.
5. A Member observed that the indicator Customer 01 (ASC referrals to preventative services) had no target. She enquired when a target would be produced. The Head of Customer Services explained that it was difficult to formulate a target for this indicator, because in some cases referrals to partner organisations (as opposed to Surrey County Council ASC) were more effective and less expensive. A review was being conducted with Surrey ASC.
6. A Member asked whether all Health and Safety incidents were reviewed. The Corporate Health and Safety Lead Manager responded that all incidents reported should be reviewed. The reason the figure for indicator Health & Safety 04 (percentage of incidents reviewed) was only at 93% could be to do with timing and turnover of reviewing managers.
7. A Member noted that there were no targets for all but one of the Health and Safety indicators, and suggested that the target for these should simply be continuous improvement against the same quarter last year. The Corporate Health and Safety Lead Manager said that ideally the target would be zero incidents, but this was not realistic. He would take on board the Member’s suggestion and look into continuous improvement targets for the future. Another Member suggested that the target should be 100% or zero (depending on the indicator), and if this was not met, this should be explained in an annotation. It was agreed that this could be the long-term target, while improvement on the previous year could be a short-term target.
8. A Member proposed that employee injury lost time (Health & Safety 05b) should be shown as a ratio rather than an absolute number. The Corporate Health and Safety Lead Manager informed Members that the Council assembled data around injury and incident rates, and this could be supplied at the next meeting of the Select Committee.
9. The Head of Business Intelligence introduced himself. He was new to the role and was aiming to move toward a more digital, visual, live reporting style using a software called Tableau, helping to create a transparent performance culture across the Council. The ambition was for Surrey to be an example of best practice. The Head of Business Intelligence welcomed Members’ input into the new design and reset of performance reporting.
10. A Member said he would like to see the next level down of performance monitoring tools within services. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Support indicated that the new performance data style would allow Members to interact with and query data more easily; this could help the Select Committee stay up to date and identify areas of scrutiny. The Chairman suggested that Members should also look into the new performance style outside of formal committee meetings.
11. Moving onto the Transformation section of the report, a Member asked for reassurance that there was a system to ensure that staff working from home had an adequate internet connection, desk set-up and other equipment. Did the Council cover staff’s internet costs? The Director of Transformation said that she recognised the swiftness with which staff had been asked to work from home, and it had not been perfect for everyone. Corporate leadership was discussing the issues mentioned and thinking about the next steps as part of the Agile programme.
12. A Member remarked that if the Council was going to transform and become more agile, it had to find suitable platforms to conduct business and broadcast to the public. Even today’s meeting had been delayed in starting due to issues with the webcasting. The Director of Transformation replied that while there had been some issues with WiFi and bandwidth during the period of working from home due to lockdown, there had been examples of good use of technology, such as the outbound calls to shielded people. There was much further to go in developing the technology to enable agile working.
13. A Member questioned what system would be used to measure performance on the pathway of care programme. The best performing county council seemed to be Rutland; what could be learned from them? The Director of Transformation replied that that improvements would continue to be made on this programme, and there was a focus on supporting independence.

Recommendations:

1. The Select Committee is to be consulted on the new format of the report and a private workshop for members be arranged by the service area;
2. The Select Committee is to receive the Organisational Portfolio Risk Register as part of the aforementioned workshop, including details of how the Council is embedding a new risk management culture.

Actions/further information to be provided:

1. The Corporate Health and Safety Lead Manager to look into the possibility of having continuous improvement compared to the same quarter last year as a target for Health and Safety indicators;
2. The Corporate Health and Safety Lead Manager to provide data on injury and incident rates at the October meeting of the Select Committee.