Agenda item

The Select Committee gave consideration to a report which presented a review of the Council performance as at December 2020.

The presentation of performance commenced with the provision of an ‘Oldham Profile in Numbers’ comprising basic data in respect of population, housing, education, crime, income and benefits, household information, health, and community in the Borough.  Performance against each of the three corporate objectives of an Inclusive Economy, Thriving Communities and Co-operative Services was then reported.  It was noted that 20 measures had achieved their target, two were within tolerance and ten were currently outside tolerance. A number of measures had been temporarily suspended and these were detailed at appendix VI to the submitted report.  An overview was also given to employment and budgetary issues.

It was noted that performance continued to be affected by Covid, with ongoing restrictions impacting on the achievement of a number of performance measures.  While this was expected, reporting against the measures had continued in order to demonstrate the impact and challenges the pandemic had presented locally.  A Covid Recovery Strategy had been developed to outline the priorities to support recovery and which would include revised performance measures. Performance measures and their associated risks were considered in detail at Appendices I, II, III and IV of the report as submitted. 

Members asked for and received clarification on the following:

·         With regard to measure M655 (percentage of children seen in the previous six months by an NHS dentist) and a query as to whether there was any means of picking up data regarding those choosing to use a private dentist, this issue would be referred to Public Health for response. It was acknowledged that performance of this measure had declined as dentists were not seeing patients during much of the pandemic.

·         It was commented that the report did not seem to reflect any urgency or action plan to address the above, or other, issue.  The Committee was advised that the M655 measure was a national measure the Council was obliged to keep, but under the Council’s refreshed approach to performance monitoring it was hoped that new target setting/action planning for 2021/22 would be seen for this and other issues.  The impact of the new approach would be seen in the 2021/22 first quarter report to be submitted to the Committee in September 2021.

·         With regard to the performance measures before the Committee, it was queried whether those rated ‘red’ were similarly rated prior to Covid, or whether the adverse rating was due to Covid.  It was acknowledged that impacts of Covid could be seen in several measures, such as young people in education, employment or training (EET) where programmes and opportunities had been impacted and Health Visitor Reviews undertaken due to issues of face-to-face contact; Council Tax collection etc.  Other issues where performance had struggled previously, such as Council Tax collection, adoption, and adults with learning disabilities in employment, had further struggled due to Covid-related issues.

·         In further considering performance generally, the Committee was advised that the Cabinet had recently recommended a Covid Recovery Plan to the Council against which the delivery and performance of services would be measured.  From the Quarter 1 submission, the Committee would be able to identify services that remained ‘red’ rated and have the opportunity to seek further information from the relevant Officers.  Referring to a Member query, the issue of Council Tax and Business Rates collection could be subject to further scrutiny, though there was a need to be clear as to the accountability sought given responsibility lay across the Portfolio Holder, the Director of Finance and the Unity Partnership.  The Committee was advised that the Portfolio Holder had asked for some specific performance monitoring in this area, and it was suggested that, if performance had not improved in say six months, the Committee might wish to seek a specific consideration.

·         A Member queried the reported figures for deaths in service and whether these resulted from, for example, accidents or Covid.  The information would be sought and forwarded to the Member concerned.   

·         It was noted that the measure M722 (percentage of pupils in good/outstanding schools) was listed as being suspended due to Covid and it was queried why this should be the case.  The Committee was advised that Ofsted had suspended their inspections due to Covid meaning that school rankings would not be subject to change.  Once Ofsted restarted their school inspections the measure would be re-started.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.