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HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL RESOURCES AND PERFORMANCE CABINET PANEL HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL RESOURCES AND PERFORMANCE MONITOR QUARTER 1 (Q1), 2020-21 Report of the Director of Resources Author: Alex James, Head of Corporate Policy
(Tel: 01992 588259)
Executive Member: Ralph Sangster, Resources and Performance
1. Purpose of Report
1.1 To present the Resources and Performance Report for the first quarter of the
financial year, 2020-21 to the Resources and Performance Cabinet Panel.
2. Summary 2.1 This report provides context and commentary on key areas of Hertfordshire County Council performance for the Resources and Performance portfolio.
3. Recommendation 3.1 The Resources and Performance Cabinet Panel is invited:
a) To comment on the recommendations on any performance, project, contract and
risk or audit matter outlined in this report.
b) To identify further actions to address any performance concerns raised in the
performance monitor
4. Background
4.1 The report provides an executive summary and a report highlighting key
performance issues for each Service area, ordered as follows: 1) Human Resources 5) Improvement & Technology
2) Finance 6) Democratic & Statutory Services
3) Assurance 7) Community Engagement 4) Property
5. Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA)
5.1 When considering proposals placed before Members it is important that they are
fully aware of and have themselves rigorously considered the equalities implications of the decision that they are taking.
Agenda Item No:
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5.2 Rigorous consideration will ensure that proper appreciation of any potential impact of that decision on the County Council’s statutory obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty. As a minimum this requires decision makers to read and carefully consider the content of any Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) produced by officers.
5.3 The Equality Act 2010 requires the Council when exercising its to have due regard to
the need to (a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct prohibited under the Act; (b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it and (c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. The protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 are age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation.
5.4 No EqIA was undertaken for this report because the Hertfordshire County Council
Quarterly Performance Report only provides historic performance information for the last quarter (Q1 2020/21). The report does not impact on equalities or affect any of the protected characteristics which would require an EqIA to be completed.
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1. Human Resources The rolling annual agency spend has reduced for the council and for the Resources department. Average sickness levels have also reduced for both the council and Resources, with Resources now at 3.7 days per year compared to 6.6 for the whole council. Voluntary turnover has reduced in Resources and is now down to 11.5%.
There were 44 apprenticeship starters across the council in Q1 which is close to the target of 47
2. Finance There have been larger variances than usual in the Q1 Budget Monitor due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Detailed information showing the impact by service is included in the Finance section. Likewise, performance for Budget holder completions has also been affected this quarter with decreases for both Resources and the overall council average since last reported in Q3
3. Assurance The delivery of the county council’s audit plan has continued to be significantly impacted by Covid-19. Consequently, the number of planned audit days was well below the profiled target. There were also fewer reported fraud referrals in Q1. Again, this is likely related to the current Covid-19 pandemic and lock down.
Lastly, there was a decrease in the number of notifiable health and safety incidents in Q1. This was expected due to the effects of the pandemic on working practices and the incident rate over the past four quarters is below the latest nationally available benchmark data
4. Property Income for Abel Smith House and the Rural Estates is in line with the profiled target for 2020/21. The Hertfordshire Development Centre is currently closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
All external preventative property maintenance, and the majority of internal works (except Fire Stations due to Covid-19 restrictions), continue to be performed to the required timescales.
5. Improvement and Technology There were 19,284 Cyber Security attacks on county council systems in Q1 and all attempts were successfully repelled. New email based threats are increasing so in response an awareness program has been launched with staff being reminded via the intranet to be alert. Key performance indicators for application and infrastructure maintenance showed mixed trends this quarter. Server activity was 100% but due to COVID 19 and the need to enable staff to work at home, some services were reduced to free up network bandwidth. Consequently, monitoring of desktop activity was suspended this quarter but will resume from July onwards.
Execu
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6. Legal, Democratic and Statutory Services The percentage of legal spend on locums increased slightly this quarter but is significantly lower than in Q1 last year. Both Subject Access requests and Freedom of Information requests met their timescales this quarter, hitting the 100% target.
7. Community Engagement (Customer Service, Communications)
The Customer Service Centre (CSC) saw mixed results for the 5 reported channel shift indicators this quarter. Performance for Blue Badge improved for the sixth consecutive quarter running. Free School Meals also increased in line with the sharp rises seen in people claiming benefits since Covid-19. However, bus passes saw a decrease in performance but is still above target level. Average call wait time increased slightly due to the increased demand on services. There was a slight decrease in performance for the Average Multi-Media Score. However, the average score has been consistently above target this quarter despite challenging timescales to prepare communications for local reopening plans and an increased number of enquiries from journalists.
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Highlight Report
For the key to colours and arrows see p27
1 Human Resources
1.1 Service Performance
HR Pay bill (RP30 and RP134)
£263.8m (Total)
£184.1m (Basic)
Increased from 260.9m last quarter
Increased from 181.9m as last quarter
The rolling annual total pay bill (excluding agency spend) has increased by £2.9m from £260.9m to £263.8m (year to May 2020). This is a 1.1% increase, which has reduced down from the 1.7% increases which have been seen for the previous three quarters. A reduction in business mileage expense claims since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the total pay bill.
The rolling annual basic pay bill for the council has increased by 1.2% from £181.9m in Q4 to £184.1m in Q1 (year to May 2020), in line with increased headcount in the period.
For Resources, excluding Hertfordshire Business Services (HBS) and Libraries & Heritage Services (LHS), the total pay bill has increased by £0.1m to £33.9m and by £0.2m for Resources including HBS and LHS. These increases in total paybill are much lower than the usual quarterly increases due to the reduction in business mileage and expense claims since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with headcount remaining stable.
Basic paybill has increased by £0.1m to £25.1m for Resources excluding HBS and LHS and also by £0.1m to £35.3m for Resources including HBS and LHS.
No
Target
Performance Data LNn/aNL
6
Agency Spend (RP13)
£10.2m
Spend
3.7% Of paybill
Decreased from 10.8m last quarter Percentage has improved from 4% last quarter
Agency spend for the council for Q1 has shown a third quarterly decrease, reducing from £10,857,085 in Q4 to £10,214,252 in Q1 (-£643k / -5.9%). Agency spend as a percentage of the total pay bill has also decreased further by 0.3% to 3.7%, this is a significant reduction on Q1 last year when it was 4.6% of pay bill.
Reductions in agency spend have been seen across the majority of departments, likely to be due to the closure of services due to Covid-19 and the use of redeployed employees to cover roles. Most notable reductions were in Adult Care Services (-£321,826), Children’s Services (-£303,231) and Resources (-£54,200). These reductions were offset by a £81,415 increase in HBS due to agency staff being used to support Operation Shield.
Agency spend for Resources (excluding HBS & LHS) has decreased by £54K. This is the third consecutive quarter it has reduced having been steadily increasing over the previous two-year period. The agency spend as a % of paybill has reduced from 3.7% to 3.6% in Resources (excluding HBS and LHS) and has remained level at 3.6% when including HBS and LHS.
Workforce Headcount (RP15 and RP16)
8,118 Headcount
6,515 EWT
Numbers have increased from 8,091 last quarter Numbers have increased from 6,464 last quarter
Average headcount has increased from 8,091 in Q4 to 8,118 in Q1 (+27 employees). This change was largely due to increases in headcount in Adult Care Services and Community Protection.
No
Target
Performance Data LNn/aNL
No
Target
Performance Data LNn/aNL
7
Average Equivalent Whole Time (EWT) has increased by 51 from 6464 in Q4 to 6515 in Q1. Headcount for Resources including HBS and LHS has dropped by 17 to 1,428 and excluding HBS and LHS it has dropped by 4 to 798. EWT has dropped proportionally in line with the headcount reduction. The majority of the reductions (12) were in LHS.
Resources – Percentage of voluntary turnover (HRRES1)
11.5%
Voluntary turnover has decreased in Resources from 12.5% last quarter
Turnover including HBSand LHS has reduced by 1.0% from 12.5% to 11.5%, whilst turnover excluding HBS and LHS has fallen to its lowest level down to 9.0%. This reduction has been influenced by a 4.2% drop in turnover in HBS and reductions in all but three service areas. Overall a reduction in turnover has been mirrored across the council due to the Covid-19 pandemic and voluntary turnover has fallen to 11.2%. This is unlikely to increase in the short term due to the downturn in the local and national economy causing an increase in unemployment.
Resources - Annual Sickness per employee (HRRES7)
3.7 Days
Performance has improved from 3.9 days last quarter
Sickness levels have dropped since Q4 in Resources – at 3.7 days including HBS and LHS and at 3.1 days excluding HBS and LHS, both down 0.2 days. This compares very favourably with the council departments average of 6.6 days which itself has dropped by 0.5 days since Q4.
The majority of service areas have had reductions in sickness absence, notably in Legal Services where sickness absence has reduced by 1.2 days and in HBS it has reduced for the third quarter running from 7.9 days to 7.4 days. The only service areas to have small increases (+0.3 days) in sickness absence since Q4 were Community Engagement, Information & Technology and Democratic & Statutory Services.
The actual number of sickness absence days taken in Resources has remained stable with just an increase in two days compared to the last quarter (5,294 days). 5,604 days were reported in Q3 and 6,273 days were reported in Q2.
No
Target
Performance
(Good to be low)Data
No
Target
Performance
(Good to be low)Data
8
Reductions in sickness absence have also been seen across other local authorities and have been impacted by changes in working practices due to the Covid-19 pandemic:
staff with significant health conditions who may have taken time off sick have been shielding on full pay
much of the organisation has been working from home leading to greater potential for employees to continue to work whilst feeling slightly unwell
hygiene has improved and there has been less illness spread by children not attending school or nursery settings.
‘Musculoskeletal absence’ continues as the highest reason for absence since overtaking ‘Stress/Depression/Anxiety/Mental Health’ (SDAMH) for the first time in 12 months last quarter. It makes up 26.7% (1,413 days) of time taken compared to 22.7% (1,203 days) for SDAMH.
Absence due to the pandemic accounted for 65 days lost across Resources, HBS and LHS, 1.2% of days lost.
At the end of Q1, Resources (including LHS and HBS) had 6 cases of absence over 20 days which has reduced from 14 at the end of last quarter – 4 were in LHS, 1 was in HBS and 1 was in Resources. The majority of the cases were due to ‘Stress/Depression/Anxiety/Mental Health’. These cases make up 6.0% of the total number of long-term absence cases across the council.
Number of Apprenticeship Starters (RP147)
44 starters
Performance has improved from 35 in Q1 last year
The revised target in 2020/21 is to recruit 187 Apprentices (up from 184 in 2019/20) which equates to 47 a quarter. In Q1 44 Apprenticeships were started with a further 70 identified to start.
2 Finance 2.1 Service Performance
Quarterly Budget Monitor Movements (RP206)
Data
APerformance
(Good to be high) L
9
23.897m Movement absolute
It is difficult to compare the 2020-21 Q1 figure to prior years due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The £23.897m forecast overspend includes a £22.963m forecast pressure due to Covid-19. The table below highlights the headline figures from each service before and after the impact of the pandemic and also includes the government grant funding announced in response to Covid-19:
Budget Holder Completion (RP207)
84.9% HCC
Completion rate
Performance has declined from 88.8% in Q3 19/20 (when last reported)
The budget holder completion % for the county council has decreased this quarter with an overall Q1 average of 84.9% compared to 88.8% in Q3, when it was last reported. Resources department completions has also decreased (76.1%) and remains below the overall council average. Performance will continue to be monitored to ensure completion rates improve in the coming quarters.
APerformance
(Good to be high)Data
10
3 Assurance
3.1 Service Performance
Delivery of the HCC Audit Plan Projects (RP46)
16/12% Total to draft
19/14% Profile
The Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) has delivered 12% of the 137 projects within the approved internal audit plan for 2020/21, this being 2% (3 projects) below the profiled performance of 14%.
In respect of the above performance figures, by the nature of the audit process, SIAS were significantly impacted by the social distancing requirements in response to Covid-19 and the council diverting focus to Covid-19 plans and activities thereby reducing officer availability to support the completion of outstanding audits in April and May 2020.
Based on the significant changes to the council’s risk environment, SIAS are currently working with Service Boards to review the 2020/21 Internal Audit Plan, with a revised audit plan scheduled to be presented to the October 2020 Audit Committee. It is expected that this will significantly change the number of projects and timing of activities within the audit plan.
SIAS Billable Days (RP46a)
11
191/13% Actual billable days
341/25% Target billable days
SIAS has delivered 13% of the 1,436 planned audit days (excludes unused contingency), this being 12% (150 days) below the profiled target of 25%. As above, this has been significantly impacted by Covid-19.
Following the period of Covid-19 disruption, SIAS’s total available resources for the year have been reduced. This is a result of lost time during Q1 due to not being able to mobilise audits, SIAS staff being re-deployed to support Operation Shield and Sustain and staff members being unable to work as a result of the closure of childcare settings. Whilst the above impacts are shared across the partnership, the impact on the council’s audit plan is likely to be a reduction is 252 days of assurance activities for 2020/21 (126 of which relate to staff re-deployed).
SIAS Resourcing – In House / External Partner (RP46b)
3 (2%) External partner projects
In House Provider External Provider Total
Total Projects 134 (98%) 3 (2%) 137 (100%)
Days 1458 (99.5%) 5 (0.5%) 1463 (100%)
As a result of the difficulties in progressing audits in April to June 2020, and the subsequent re-modelling of the 2020/21 Internal Audit Plan, SIAS has yet to allocate audits to BDO for 2020/21. The allocation in the table above represents activities required to complete outstanding 2019/20 work.
Customer Satisfaction Returns (RP46)
100% Client Satisfaction
3/3 (100%) Satisfactory
At the end of quarter one of 2020/21, performance was on target with 100% of client satisfaction questionnaires returned being at ‘satisfactory overall’ level.
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Summary of Internal Audit Opinions and Recommendations 2018/19 (RP46c) The table below provides details of final reports issued since the Q4 performance report, excluding final reports issued in respect of individual school visits. At the end of Q4 there were no additional ‘Critical’ recommendations issued.
Recommendations
Service Report Title Opinion Critical High Medium Low /
Advisory
2019/20 Audits
Resources Shared Managed Services Contract (Next Generation
Satisfactory 0 0 4 0
Resources Shared Anti-Fraud Service Good 0 0 0 3
Resources LEP Governance Arrangements
Not Assessed
0 0 0 0
Resources Creditors Satisfactory 0 0 0 0
Resources Payroll Satisfactory 0 0 1 1
Resources Treasury Management Satisfactory 0 0 3 2
Environment and Infrastructure
Highways Resilience Arrangements
Satisfactory 0 0 3 1
Adult Care Services Contract Monitoring Satisfactory 0 0 4 5
Adult Care Services Workforce Planning Satisfactory 0 0 3 0
Adult Care Services Aspects of Client Contribution Systems
Limited 0 1 6 1
Critical and High Priority Recommendations
11 Total Number of
Outstanding Recommendations
at the start of current Follow Up
Period
Of which Implemented (7), Not Due Yet (1) and Partially Implemented – Revised Date Agreed (3) & Partially Implemented – on track with previously advised revised target date (0)
High Priority Recommendations Not Implemented by Due Date
Total Number of Outstanding Recommendations at the start
of current Follow Up Period
Implemented Not Yet Due
Partially Implemented –
Revised Date Agreed
Partially Implemented – on track with previously advised revised target
date
11 7 1 3 0
% 64% 9% 27% 0%
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The above table has been extracted from the Internal Audit Progress Report that was submitted to the July 2020 Audit Committee (this reporting for the period up to 15 June 2020). A final audit report is issued when it has been agreed by management. This includes an agreement to implement the recommendations made. It is Internal Audit’s responsibility to advise the Audit Committee on progress of the implementation of high priority recommendations; it is the responsibility of officers to implement the recommendations by the agreed date. No critical priority recommendations have been made within the financial year 2020/21 to date. High priority recommendations relating to schools are excluded from the reported statistics given both the volume of schools within the county and the relative risk of any single recommendation to the council as a whole.
Medium Priority Recommendations
45 Total Number of
Recommendations Followed Up in
this Period
Of which Implemented (29), Partially Implemented – Revised Date Agreed (15) & On track with previous revised target date (1)
Medium Priority Recommendations Not implemented by Due Date
Total Number of Recommendations Followed Up
in this Period Implemented
Partially Implemented –
Revised Date Agreed
On track with previous revised
target date
No Update Provided by
Action Owner
45 (out of 66 outstanding recommendations)
29 15 1 0
% 65% 33% 2% 0%
The Audit Committee’s role in respect of medium priority recommendations is to be satisfied that there is a monitoring process in place and that agreed recommendations are being implemented. The above table has been extracted from the Internal Audit Progress Report that was due to be submitted to the March 2020 Audit Committee prior to its cancellation (reporting for the period up to 9 March 2020).
In order to minimise any impact on the planning and mobilisation of the council’s response plans for COVID-19, no follow up was taken on outstanding medium recommendations for the July Audit Committee, with the exception of the outstanding (now implemented) recommendation for Section 106.
Reported Fraud (Referrals) (RP208)
17
Numbers have decreased from 51 in Q4
RPerformance
(Good to be high)Data
14
Reported fraud is down on previous levels, probably due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and lock down. The Shared Anti-Fraud Service (SAFS) provided a detailed report and briefing paper to the July Audit Committee on its response to COVID-19 since March and staff working for SAFS on HCC projects have been redeployed to support Operation Shield. This redeployment will impact on the delivery of this year’s anti-fraud plan but at present all key performance indicators are still on target with the exception of alleged fraud reporting.
One of the big projects for this year is the National Fraud Initiative and SAFS staff are working with officers across the council to prepare for this two-yearly exercise.
Number of Notifiable Health & Safety (H&S) Incidents (RP10a)
7 Reportable incidents
Numbers have decreased from 10 last quarter
Figures remain provisional due to the lagging nature of accident reports. There were 7 reportable employee incidents to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to date in Q1 (including those from the Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service), a significant decrease from previous quarters and years as to be expected from the impact of the pandemic on working practices across the county council. This substantively reduces the incident rate over the past four quarters, which was 351.4 per 100,000 employees compared to the latest nationally available benchmark figure of 430 per 100,000 employees (Labour Force Survey data Oct 18). There are no observable trends requiring additional intervention.
H&S Internal Audit summary Routine H&S audits for Q1 were suspended due to Covid-19.
A key part of the H&S team’s role and responsibility has been the continued provision of competent H&S advice; during the pandemic meeting demands for this have been the priority. The H&S team have been providing ongoing advice and support to all services and schools on managing risk during the pandemic, providing template risk assessments and FAQs in addition to responsive advice.
As a key part of the workplace safety recovery work stream, the team are now heavily involved in ensuring suitable and appropriate risk assessments are in place for council services and sites.
For Q2, the H&S team will be focused on providing assurance on the Covid-19 secure risk assessments and controls for buildings which are now looking to open / open wider following the lockdown relaxation, rather than undertaking traditional cyclical H&S audits.
Compliance Rating
No
Target
Performance
(Good to be low)Data
15
Department Department Category Good Outstanding Requires Improvement
Significant H&S Management
Failures
Adult Care Services Day Service
3 2 0 0
Adult Care Services Supported Living
8 1 1 0
CP Regulatory services, Trading Standards
1 0 0 0
Children’s Services YC Hertfordshire
1 2 0 0
Children’s Services ISL
0 0 1 0
Children’s Services
IFST – East Herts & Broxbourne
0 0 0 1
Children's Services Children’s Residential
3 0 1 0
Children's Services
Adoption services (Rainbow Hse)
1 0 0 0
Children's Services Music Service
2 0 0 1
Children's Services
Target Youth Support (Downs Farm)
0 0 1 0
Resources Statutory Services 0 1 0 0
Resources Library 9 6 0 0
Resources Records Management; Legal Services
2 0 0 0
Resources HBS 1 0 0 0
Environment Active & Safer Travel Team 0 1 0 0
Environment Waste Management, Integrated transport unit
0 2 0 0
Environment
Spatial Planning, contract management &Economy Environmental Resource Planning, highways
4 0 0 0
Schools SCH: Primary 38 18 5 1
SCH: Special 0 1 1 0
Total 72 34 10 3
The 13 audits to date falling below our baseline are as follows:
Significant management failures St. John’s (VC) School (785) initial audit outcomes escalated to Children’s Services and Herts for Learning. Audit revisit undertaken Sept 2019 and progress made, action plan still not returned. However, the school has now undergone academisation thus the county council is no longer the employer. Mid Herts Music service - substantial failures in relation to property management and compliance, lack of H&S management systems recognised or embedded within the service. Ongoing work with the service has seen significant improvements, annual revisits to be scheduled to ensure these are embedded.
16
Intensive Family Support Team, East Herts & Broxbourne- generally poor standard of health and safety management, lack of risk assessment, monitoring, H&S policy etc.
Requires Improvement
Non Schools: Target Youth Support (TYS)- Downs Farm- a number of property compliance issues require better management / embedding locally. It was only marginally classified ‘Requires improvement’ and on return of the action plan and a reassurance visit these should be rated as sufficient. Integrated Services for Learning (ISL) -initial outcome was one of ‘Requires improvement’ but there was good engagement/willingness to ensure that H&S is managed correctly. Action plan returned January 2020 and revisit showed good progress. Welwyn Hatfield Supported Living, Paddocks House Building owned by Welwyn Hatfield Council and was managed by Clarion Housing Group before being transferred to Welwyn Hatfield City Housing Association (WGCHA). At the time of the audit the site was in transition, with the recent change of tenancy for the residents and refurbishment works. Many documents including water risk assessments, management of legionella, updated asbestos management plan and H & S policy were either due to be reviewed, or were not available as they are currently being updated. Once works are complete and information received there is every confidence that the service will achieve a ‘Good’ rating. The Oaks - Service needs to review and revise H&S paperwork and this had not been subject to routine review, evidently only recently reviewed in response to the H&S audit being scheduled. Lack of assurance that risk assessments accurately reflect the service deliver. Schools: Abel Smith School – Audit revisits have been conducted, action plan returned, and satisfactory progress now made. Amwell View - lack of suitable/sufficient risk assessment, issues over premises compliance and embedding statutory checks. Revisit made March 2020 and ongoing support required re premises management. Hertford St. Andrews - Officer undertaking the audit was happy that the School Business Manager is now being supported by the new Head and has had regular contact with the school since the audit. Legacy issues at play here with Governors and the previous interim Head which have led to this outcome. Little Munden School – lack of risk assessments and issues over premises compliance. Good progress made since initial audit. Action plan returned, no further follow up required. Strathmore Infant and Nursery School- lack of risk assessments at time of audit, revisit undertaken in March 2020 with progress evident. Awaiting further documentation to be sent before satisfactory assurance can be given. St Mary JMI (VA)School - County council not the duty holder, governing body are the employer. Audit conducted at their request due to concerns over previous management of H&S.
4 Property
17
4.1 Service Performance
Income – Abel Smith House (RP191a)
£162k Income has decreased from £282k in Q1last year but is in line with target
In Q1 £162K of rent income was collected for the period 25th March 2020 to 23rd June 2020. This has reduced from Q1 last year (282K) but is in line with the profiled target.
Income – Rural Estate (RP191b)
£273m Income is in line with the profiled target
The £273m income for Q1 is slightly higher than in Q1 last year (£269m) and is in line with the profiled target. All invoices have been raised on time with no significant unexplained debts showing.
Income – Hertfordshire Development Centre (HDC) (RP191c)
The Hertfordshire Development Centre is currently closed due to Covid-19. The centre is currently expected to re-open in September 2020.
GPerformance
(Good to be high)Data
L
GPerformance
(Good to be high)Data
L
18
Preventative maintenance and all statutory inspections are completed within required timescales (RP196)
93.5% (7,553/8,078)
Performance has decreased from 98.5% last quarter
All internal Preventive Property Maintenance (PPM) works continue to be performed to the required timescales, apart from fire stations where access has not been possible for non-statutory work due to Covid-19 restrictions. All external PPMs have been carried out during this difficult period resulting in the percentage overall of 93.5%.
5 Information and Technology
5.1 Service Performance
Availability of IT systems (RP160)
100% Platinum apps
Performance has remained the same as last quarter
Overall a good month, with 100% targets reached in all but one category - Platinum Applications - Out of Hours. The target was narrowly missed resulting in the 99.98% figure and Serco Hertford are working with Serco Lincoln to ensure this does not occur again.
Cyber Security (RP169)
100% of all attempts were successfully repelled
GPerformance
(Good to be high)Data
GPerformance
(Good to be high)Data
19
19,284 Attacks on HCC
Systems
The general trend of traditional attacks is downward. However, new email based threats are increasing. In response to this an awareness program has been launched with staff being constantly remind via the intranet to be alert in responding to emails.
IT Service Delivery (RP170)
100% 22/22
Number of calls to the service desk
Performance has improved from 96.6% last quarter
Daily calls to the Serco Service Desk have been gradually dropping since March 2020, March had a daily average of 411 calls, in June there were 223 calls per day. This drop is likely due in part to the result of the work done between Serco and HCC to provide easy to read and accessible information to our users to help them resolve some incidents themselves. A multitude of good work has been made by the Continuous Service Improvement Team within Technology to reduce calls to the Service Desk.
Application & Infrastructure Maintenance (RP171)
100% (855/855) completed server activity
0% (due to reduced services to free up network bandwidth) completed desktop activity
100% Completed server
activity
0% Completed
desktop activity
Due to COVID 19 and Technology providing network services to allow council staff to work from home, some services were reduced to help free up network bandwidth. One of those services was monitoring the number of desktops that were updated over the network, as users were working from home. From July onwards these numbers will be recorded again.
6 Legal, Democratic and Statutory Services
6.1 Service Performance
Data
GPerformance
(Good to be high)
20
Levels of Legal Service Provided (RP174b)
19,571 Hours
Hours have decreased from 20,242 hours in Q4 19/20
During the last 4 quarters, Legal Services delivered between 19,571 and 22,618 hours with a full time equivalent (FTE) fee-earning staff of between 64.2 and 66.8. The level of fee-earning hours in Q1 is in-line with previous quarters, with the figure being affected by the Covid-19 situation and annual leave taken after year-end.
Levels of Locum spend v Permanent spend in Legal (RP174a)
91% Salaried staff
9% locums
Spend on Locums as a proportion of legal salary budget has increased from 8% last quarter but decreased in comparison to 15% Q1 last year
The spend on locum staff has fallen across the last year, from 15% in Q1 2019-20 to 9% in Q1 2020-21.
Percentage of logged/complex requests for information to receive full responses within 20 working days (FOI compliance rate) (RP41)
100% (272/272)
Performance has remained the same since last quarter
This quarter has maintained the 100% compliance, but excludes requests relating to public health as agreed by the government due to Covid-19.
No
Target
Performance Data
No
Target
Performance Data
GPerformance
(Good to be high)Data
21
Percentage of Subject Access Requests (SARS) to receive full responses within 30 calendar days (quarterly) (SAR compliance rate) (RP42)
100% (112/112)
Performance remained the same since last quarter
This quarter has maintained the 100% compliance, but there was a slight drop in requests overall for the period.
Registration Services Income as a percentage of controllable expenditure (RP186)
47% Income received has reduced from 120% in Q4 19/20
The suspension of services during the lockdown has significantly impacted income. The service is currently in the recovery phase with the reintroduction of ceremonies, legal preliminaries (Notices) and birth registrations. It is expected that the service will recover some income however it should be noted that a significant amount of ceremonial work has been postponed by customers until Summer 2021.
Timeliness of completion of Inquest Cases (RP189)
5 weeks
Numbers have decreased from 16 last quarter
During the Covid-19 pandemic all inquest hearings were adjourned, with the exception of documentary cases. Hence the reduced number of cases and consequent reduction in completion times.
GPerformance
(Good to be high)Data
22
7 Community Engagement (Customer Service, Communications and Corporate Policy)
7.1 Service Performance
Channel Shift Indicators
5 indicators are reported in the Chanel Shift theme this quarter. See details below:
A mix of 5 indicators is being reported this quarter to give an overall impression of the county council’s progress on Channel Shift. They are: Blue Badge, Highways Fault Reporting, Free School Meals, Bus Pass and Birth Registrations. Headlines include:
Blue Badge –performance saw an increase in Q1 to 79.5% (77% in Q4) but it is still slightly below the target (80%). This is the 6th quarter running where performance has improved.
Highway fault reporting – Q1 performance (69.4%) has decreased slightly from Q4 (70%) but is above the previous year's figure (65.9%). Q1 shows a typical decrease in channel shift in the quieter summer period. A range of tree and vegetation faults being reported means this overtook potholes and other road issues to be the second most reported service after street lighting. However, there was a sizable decline in street lighting issues which had a strong online use. The council continues to promote Fault Reporting via its Twitter account.
Free School Meals (FSM) – an increase this quarter (89%) and above the target (85.0%) and also an increase in the number of applications on same quarter last year (77.3%). There has been a sharp rise in people claiming benefits since Covid 19 and additional communications have gone out promoting the Free School Meals benefit. Calls have increased into the Customer Service Centre from those wanting to know about entitlement and the new summer school vouchers system from the government.
Bus Pass – a decrease in performance in Q1 (57.4%) compared to Q4 (71.6%) though performance is currently exceeding target level (40.0%). There has been a decrease in applications made online for older person's and disabled bus passes over the last quarter, although the proportion is higher than Q1 last year. There has been improved signposting and promotion of the online service by the Customer Service Centre.
Birth Registrations – a small decrease this quarter (74.4%) and below the target (80.0%) but an increase in number of applications on same quarter last year (74.3%). Birth Registration appointments booked online continue to be approximately 75%. This has consistently been the case for several years. It has proved challenging to raise the uptake above the 3/4 mark. Direct contact has
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been made with both maternity units to further promote the online service and the online booking system is being reviewed to identify any barriers.
Full details can be seen in the table below:
Qtr1:20/21
% of online Target
Blue Badge 79.5 80.0
Highway fault reporting 69.4 70.0
Free School Meals 89.0 85.0
Bus Pass 57.4 40.0
Birth registration appointment 74.4 80.0
Customer Service Centre all contacts – Mystery Shopping Results (RP115)
0% Answered
satisfactorily
Performance has decreased from 92% last quarter
With lower call volumes, technical issues and support given from the CSC to Operation Shield (supporting vulnerable residents) a mystery shopping sample and exercise was not carried out this quarter.
Customer Service Centre (CSC) all contacts – average call waiting time (RP116a)
No
Target
Performance
(Good to be high)Data
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22 Seconds
Performance has decreased from 19 in the previous quarter
The CSC achieved the wait time target of 20 seconds in April (17) and May (18) though not in June (32). In April and May call volumes were approximately 50% less than 2019 and the CSC made 17,000 outgoing calls for Operation Shield (supporting vulnerable customers). in June there were telephony and system issues, as well as service demand increasing back to normal in a different pattern to that expected. Working remotely causes challenges at full volume and these are being mitigated and quantified where possible. CSC are fully staffed for July and cross training staff to fully respond to all demand.
Average Multi-media score total (RP105)
867 Average media
score
Performance has decreased from 934 last quarter
This quarter the average media scores have consistently been above target (800), due to the rapid response to the recovery of services during the easing of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions. The council was given very short notice by central government about re-opening, sometimes watching it live with the nation and at that point working at speed to push out and communicate local plans. This also increased the number of reactive enquiries from journalists that were returned. Building on the previous quarter’s success, where the public under lockdown had turned to national and local BBC for their news, the council continued to maximise opportunities to place senior staff and executive members forward for media opportunities.
Update Me Email Bulletin Subscribers (RP107a)
Data
RPerformance
(Good to be high)
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87,713 Subscribers
Performance decreased from 88,405 last quarter
The overall subscriber list has seen a steady decline since making the switch from GovDelivery to DotDigital, with the peak coronavirus months of March and April bucking this trend. This can be explained by a number of factors including: hitting a wall in terms of engaged users who are happy to receive emails, failure to recreate early successes in subscriber recruitment campaigns and the new system having a much more robust quarantine system where users are removed more quickly when emails bounce. In addition, a number of emails to the entire subscriber base on key topics like council tax and coronavirus will have led to some subscribers who had not necessarily signed up for this kind of information to unsubscribe. It is planned to address these issues by performing an audit of email sent to see which content prompts the most unsubscribes, refreshing that content and potentially engaging in some editor retraining to ensure that it remains as strong as possible. An unsubscribe feedback option will also be added to help mitigate any factors in the council’s control. In addition, best performing topics will be looked at to create best practice guidance based on that content. It is anticipated adding a further trial of a CSC based sign up process and an external advertising push in the next two quarters.
7.2 Corporate Communication Campaigns Type/ID & RAG
Description/Aim Reason
Growth & Infrastructure
This project is split across supporting both the county council & the county’s Growth Board including the development of a place narrative. The county council campaign seeks to raise awareness and understanding amongst residents regarding the extra 100,000 homes and jobs expected in Hertfordshire over the next 15 years. And will measure the number of people in the county who think the council are managing growth well.
Campaign will continue once capacity allows. However, the team have continued to provide strong support to the Hertfordshire Growth Board (HGB) i.e. with the launch of the website.
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Brand refresh & signage
An in-house project that is seeking a minor update and refresh to modernise the council’s corporate identity in line with the new council website. It also includes a new corporate policy (Feb 2019) on the branding and signage of capital spending.
A capital signage guidance document has been developed for project managers in property and relevant departments to refer to when capital signage is required. A quarterly review meeting group has also been set up, with key stakeholders from each directorate, where a list of projects requiring capital signage is regularly reviewed for progress.
External Channel Strategy
This project is part of taking the county council through a digital journey and reducing print publications based on resident's more modern communications preferences. This includes a saving of £100,000 per year from 2019/20.
This project has reduced the number of county wide printed publications to just one per year, called ‘Your Hertfordshire’. The team have continued to improve the reach of digital channels (including social media) and the engagement of Update Me (email system) remains high.
External Advocacy Strategy
This is a joint strategy with Corporate Policy and is aimed at increasing the County Council's profile amongst key partners and stakeholders, such as local MPs and Central Government.
This project is on track with revised strategy in light of the Covid-19 rapid response. During the outbreak regular councillor, stakeholder and MP briefings have been provided. National and local media coverage has been garnered increasing the council’s profile.
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Key & Notes 1 Indicators - Red, Amber & Green Explanation
Rating has improved Rating same as last time Rating has deteriorated
No target specified
