Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Quality Assurance Manager.

Mark Bayley, Quality Assurance Manager, attended to the present the year end 2010/11 performance report for the Children and Families Service.

Mark Bayley explained how the previous year had seen a number of changes in the performance reporting landscape, and how the service had had to deal with substantial changes to the National Indicator set in which decisions were made about which measures to keep and those to discard. He reported that a number of new indicator demands had been placed on the service, most of which were difficult to quantify. Lorraine Butcher asserted that the challenge for the service was to move away from a target driven culture to create performance measures that were meaningful and designed to improve life for Cheshire East’s children and young people. It was reported that a newly developed scorecard would help in achieving this.

Mark Bayley concluded by saying that it was the aim of the directorate, in terms of performance, to be able to link performance management with changing practice and delivery so that it became a powerful driver of improvement.

A number of comments were made with regards to the difficulty of interpreting the information provided on a number of measures. For instance, it was described how some measures had a ‘red’ rating yet it appeared that the target had been met. Similarly, it was noted that it would useful if there was more meaning behind the ‘RAG’ allocation and if benchmarking information against other authorities was provided. Lorraine Butcher agreed that this information should be provided and the reason why it hadn’t been was that the large number and nature of the indicators had made it difficult to provide more nuanced information. It was confirmed that the slimmed down and more focused performance scorecard in development would provide this information.

It was queried whether there would be any implications of schools becoming Academies on the performance of Cheshire East. It was confirmed that there would be implications as most of the Borough’s stronger schools were now or becoming Academies.

RESOLVED –

a)    That the Children and Families 2010-11 performance paper be received and noted.

b)    That the Children and Families Scrutiny Committee acknowledged the work which has been undertaken in establishing an effective performance reporting system leading to improved outcomes for children and young people.

c)    That the newly developed performance scorecard be brought to the Committee on a quarterly basis for review.