IMPROVEMENT PLAN 2015/16
w w w. p e m b r o k e s h i r e . g o v. u k
IMPRO V E ME NT PL AN 2 0 1 5 /1 6 Where to get more information and compliance statement This plan discharges our duties under the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 to produce an Improvement Plan.
For a copy of this document in large print, Braille, audio tape or an alternative language please contact: Jackie Meskimmon on 01437 776613. For further information please contact:
Dan Shaw Corporate Planning Manager Pembrokeshire County Council County Hall Haverfordwest Pembrokeshire SA61 1TP
Tel: 01437 775857
policy@pembrokeshire.gov.uk www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk
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CONTENTS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Introduction
Our principles
Developing our Improvement Objectives
Children
Economy
05
08
11
15
21
Environment
25
Health
28
Safeguarding
32
Safety
34
Our Medium Term Financial Plan
42
Cross cutting themes Reporting back
Glossary
3
36
45
46
FOREWORD I am pleased to introduce Pembrokeshire County Council’s Improvement Plan for 2015/16.
This Plan is our main forward looking document and sets out our objectives for the coming year. It provides us with an opportunity to set out our understanding of the issues that are important to you and share how we propose to address them.
The Council has been through some significant changes over the course of the past year. I am pleased to say that while these changes involved a considerable amount of debate and discussion by Councillors, our Officers have continued to deliver high quality services and improved outcomes for people and places in Pembrokeshire.
Overall, I was satisfied with our performance last year. We made some excellent progress in achieving our Improvement Objectives to review Adult Social Care Services and reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill. We also made good progress towards securing improved educational attainment for children and young people, though we recognise that we have more to do in this regard.
We achieved this progress against a backdrop of increased financial pressure. Over the course of the last year we achieved a budget saving of £12.9 million. For the most part this was achieved by modernising our approach to service delivery and by improving the efficiency of our support services. Inevitably, some of the changes we made impacted upon our service users. However, I am pleased that to date we have been able to mitigate some of the more significant impacts.
The forthcoming year will be no less challenging from a financial perspective. We need to save a further £12.3 million to ensure we remain within budget this year. Many of the savings we need to make have already been identified. Elected Members will be considering whether or not we should implement these changes, or whether we need to consider other options, over the coming months. We recently embarked upon a series of public meetings with communities across Pembrokeshire. The discussions we had at each of the sessions were generally positive and constructive. The information gathered from this exercise will help to inform future priorities and budget decisions. More than that though, these meetings mark the beginning of our efforts to rebuild trust in the Authority and in local Councillors. I look forward to continuing these discussions over the forthcoming year. Cllr Jamie Adams, Leader
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INTRODUCTION 1.1.
1.1 1.2.
1.2 1.3.
1.3 1.4.
1.4
The purpose of this Plan is to describe what we will be doing to deliver on our duty to secure continuous improvement1. It sets out the areas of improvement we will be focusing on during the coming year and explains our rationale for doing so. The Plan has been written with residents, businesses and visitors to the County in mind. All of these stakeholders use our services and have an interest in our approach to delivering continuous improvement.
The Plan is the public facing expression of our approach to performance management. Our performance management framework describes the annual cycle we follow in planning, monitoring and reviewing everything we do.
Broadly speaking, there are four steps in our framework. Between December and March each year we focus on identifying objectives for improvement. During March and April we finalise our objectives and set out our plans for delivery during the forthcoming year. We monitor performance throughout the whole year and seek to identify what impact our service delivery has had on the community. Finally, during September and October we begin to review our progress so that we are in a position to refine our objectives for the following year.
Section 2 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 places all local authorities in Wales under a general duty to “make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of [their] functions”.
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5
1.5.
1.5
This year’s Plan, like last year’s one, has been structured around the six key outcomes included in Pembrokeshire’s Single Integrated Plan, This is a partnership plan that reflects the aims for public service as a whole for Pembrokeshire. The six key outcomes identified in the Single Integrated Plan are: • Children and Families: Children, young people and families have the opportunity to fulfil their learning potential and to live healthy and happy lives • Economy: Pembrokeshire has a competitive, productive and sustainable economy • Environment: People in Pembrokeshire enjoy an attractive, sustainable and diverse environment • Health: People in Pembrokeshire are healthier • Safeguarding: Children and adults are safeguarded • Safety: Communities in Pembrokeshire feel safe
1.6. 1.6
1.7.
1.7
We have delayed a planned revision of the Single Integrated Plan as Welsh Government is taking legislation through the National Assembly to substantially revise how we develop longer term planning with our public sector partners2. This ties the production of a new plan to our electoral cycles and we anticipate that a new plan will be in place from April 2018. We are currently renewing the membership of our Local Service Board3 and it is possible that a new, broader partnership may choose to review the Single Integrated Plan during 2015/16. In addition to identifying our contribution to the achievement of these key outcomes, this Plan describes:
• • • • •
2 3
our principles as an organisation, our approach to sustainability, equalities, poverty and the Welsh language, our Improvement Objectives for 2015/16, a summary of our Medium Term Financial Plan, and how we will report on and review our progress in the future.
This legislation is the Future Generations Bill. Local Service Boards are partnerships of organisations responsible for preparing Single Integrated Plans in each local authority area.
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HOW OUR PLANS FIT TOGETHER 1.8.
1.8
This Improvement Plan fits within a hierarchy of plans, all of which play a significant role in our service delivery arrangements. It is good practice to be able to draw a ‘golden thread’ between the plans and identify how individual members of staff, teams, service departments and partner organisations will work towards the key outcomes set out in the Single Integrated Plan.
Si n gl e In t e gr at e d Pl an Imp r o ve me n t Pl an Service Improvement Plans Te am Pl an s Pe r f o r man c e Ap p r ai sal s
1.9. 1.9
During 2015/16, we will continue to develop our corporate performance framework. At the beginning of the year, Wales Audit Office (WAO) will undertake a Corporate Assessment of the Authority which will test whether we comply with requirements to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement. We will engage positively with any recommendations that WAO may make on how we might improve. We will also increase the proportion of employees who complete performance appraisals and improve how we monitor and record the outcomes of appraisals. In addition, our future priorities and plans will be better informed by our commitment to increased public engagement.
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OUR PRINCIPLES 2.1
Since the inception of Pembrokeshire County Council in 1996, our approach to service delivery has been underpinned by three cross cutting principles. We are currently in the process of reviewing these principles. We have recently launched a consultation process called Pembrokeshire County Council is Changing and this feedback and on-going engagement with residents and local communities will inform the development of a new vision for the Authority. Our future Improvement Plans are likely to be underpinned by a new set of principles and perhaps some different terminology – for example, we have been informed recently that some residents object to the term ‘customer’ and would prefer to be referred to differently. In the mean time we will continue to abide by the following principles:
C U STO ME R F O C U S
VALU E F O R MO NE Y O NE TE AM
2.2
2.2.
Treating customers (the people who use and benefit from our services) courteously and fairly is a principle that has served us well. We take note of and monitor the basics; issues such as how quickly the phone calls and letters are responded to, as well as how complaints are handled and what lessons might be learned.
2.3.
We aim to provide simple and straightforward opportunities for customers to access our services. As information technology has developed, we have been able to broaden the channels through which customers are able to contact us. For example, we offer a range of opportunities for customers to access services and information via the internet. We have launched a My Account facility on our
2.3
8
website and we are steadily increasing the range of services that we offer via the web. 2.4.
2.4
2.5.
2.5
implications of this feedback over the forthcoming year.
We were one of the first local authorities in Wales to have a dedicated customer telephone contact centre. We perform well for answering the telephone in comparison with many other authorities4. Although the vast majority of our customers continue to use this channel in preference to face-to-face contact, we have maintained a range of facilities that enable customers to access services over the counter. Achieving good value for money has always been important to us. For many years we have set the lowest Council Tax of any local authority in Wales. Our Band ‘D’ Council Tax charge for 2015/16 will be £801.04, which is around £300 below the typical Band D charge for other Welsh councils. The increase in Band D Council Tax between 2014/15 and 2015/16 was 4.5%, a high increase compared with those that we set in the past and we anticipate that we will need to apply similar increases in the next two financial years. Some of the early feedback from our community engagement events has suggested that residents would not mind paying more Council Tax for improved local services. We will be considering the
2.6
2.6.
The financial pressure that we will face over the coming years is unprecedented in the history of the Council. Section 11 explains how the priorities identified in this Plan have informed our budget decisions. We will need to save £12.3 million in the financial year 2015/16. We estimate we will also need to save a further £24.4 million between 2016/17 and 2017/18.
2.7.
Achieving value does not always mean limiting our expenditure. There are occasions when investing in services will help us to deliver savings in the longer term. By analysing the longer term impacts of our spending, we are able to improve the sustainability of the services we provide. We aim to reduce the number of buildings that we occupy and make more efficient use of the space in the ones that we do.
2.7
We collect benchmarking data to compare our performance with a range of other local authorities. On average, we answer the phone within our contact centre in 19 seconds. The average for the other authorities in our benchmarking group is 35 seconds. 4
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2.8
2.8.
Our final principle is that of working as one team for the benefit of all people in Pembrokeshire. Local authorities are large and complicated organisations, but we have always tried to minimise internal divisions for the benefit of our customers.
2.9
2.9.
For example, the governance of our services is organised in such a way that it cuts across departmental boundaries. This enables Elected Councillors to look beyond parochial issues and retain a broad strategic perspective.
2.10
Working with our partners (across the public, private and third sectors) is an increasingly important area of work and we expect to increase collaborative working at both the Pembrokeshire and regional level over the next 12 months.
2.11
As well as our principles, our work reflects the importance of a number of cross cutting themes. Section 10 describes how we build the principles of sustainable development, equality and diversity, mechanisms to tackle poverty and support the Welsh language, into our work. We have given a greater emphasis to this work by setting an Improvement Objective for 2015/16 that focuses on our anti-poverty work.
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DEVELOPING OUR IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVES 3.1.
3.1
3.2.
3.2
3.3.
3.3
HOW WE CONSULTED ON OUR IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVES
The Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 requires us to publish a list of Improvement Objectives each year. Welsh Government has produced statutory guidance to help us achieve this. We have used this framework to identify Improvement Objectives that are ambitious, but also achievable. The guidance describes how Improvement Objectives should be worked up in greater detail. For example, it makes reference to the need to balance national and local priorities, to take note of the results of inspection reports, to build in the need for efficiencies and to exploit opportunities arising from the development of new technologies.
3.4. 3.4
We took advantage of a variety of opportunities to generate interest and comment on our draft Improvement Objectives. These included encouraging press coverage and using mailing lists. We consulted directly with residents through our website and also supplemented this with a questionnaire to our Citizens’ Panel. We timed our consultation activity so that it coincided with engagement work we undertook concerning our budget proposals for 2015/16.
3.5.
We canvassed views on twelve proposed Improvement Objectives. The list of proposed Objectives covered the following areas:
3.5
For 2015/16 we have continued with the approach we adopted in previous years of adopting a smaller number of more focused improvement objectives. The five objectives we set for 2014/15 reflected longer term priorities for the Council. Four of the five Objectives we have set for this year build on last year’s list. However, for the forthcoming year we have also opted to select a cross-cutting Improvement Objective which focuses on our work to tackle poverty.
• • • • • • • • • •
Adult Social Services Coastal Defence Economic Regeneration Efficiency Savings Housing Improving Access to Council Services School Improvement Tackling Poverty Town Centres Training and Recruitment for Young People in Pembrokeshire • Vulnerable Children • Waste Management
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3.6.
3.6
The feedback we received during our consultation helped us to narrow down this list. The questions we used with the Citizens’ Panel were also used in our web based public consultation. We combined the results of these exercises and analysed the results5. Different groups of respondents gave a slightly different weight to different areas. The five areas ranked consistently as being important by respondents to the consultation were:
• Adult Social Services • Tackling Poverty 3.7.
3.7
• Vulnerable children • School Improvement
• Economic Regeneration
Broadly speaking, these results reflected our own views about appropriate priorities for the Council. Consequently, we have identified the following set of Improvement Objectives for 2015/16. IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVE 1:
SCHooL ImpRoVEmENt We will challenge and support our schools to consistently improve learning outcomes and help children and young people reach their fullest potential, particularly at Key Stage 4 (GCSE). IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVE 2:
VULNERABLE CHILDREN We will build the capacity of schools and services to enable vulnerable children and young people to be safe at home and in school and reach their potential. 5
Detailed results from our consultation are available on request
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IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVE 3:
REgENERAtIoN & toWN CENtRES We will enable, facilitate and deliver schemes that contribute to a competitive, productive and sustainable economy.
IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVE 4:
RECoNfIgURINg ADULt SoCIAL CARE SERVICES We will continue to change how we provide adult social care services to improve efficiency and sustainability. IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVE 5:
tACKLINg poVERtY
In line with Wales’ national priority, we will take a Pembrokeshire wide, co-ordinated approach across all departments to help to prevent poverty, help people into work and mitigate the impacts of poverty. 3.8.
3.8
A more detailed explanation of why we chose these Objectives is included within the relevant sections elsewhere in this document.
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3.9.
3.9
In identifying our Improvement Objectives, it is important that we are able to draw strong links with Pembrokeshire’s Single Integrated Plan. We have identified Objectives which contribute to three, and in part to one other, of the key outcomes described in the Single Integrated Plan. Our tackling poverty Objective cuts across all six key outcomes. The relationship between the Objectives and these key outcomes is depicted below:
KEY oUtComE Children: Children, young people and families have the opportunity to fulfil their learning potential and to live healthy and happy lives Economy: Pembrokeshire has a competitive, productive and sustainable economy
Environment: People in Pembrokeshire enjoy an attractive, sustainable and diverse environment
ImpRoVEmENt oBjECtIVE
School improvement: We will challenge and support our schools to consistently improve learning outcomes and help children and young people reach their fullest potential, particularly at Key Stage 4 (GCSE).
Vulnerable children: We will build the capacity of schools and services to enable vulnerable children and young people to be safe at home and in school and reach their potential. Regeneration and Town Centres: We will enable, facilitate and deliver schemes that contribute to a competitive, productive and sustainable economy. No Improvement Objective
Health: People in Pembrokeshire are healthier
Reconfiguring adult social care: We will continue to change how we provide adult social care services to improve efficiency and sustainability.
Safety: Communities in Pembrokeshire feel safe
No Improvement Objective
Safeguarding: Children and adults are safeguarded
All Key Outcomes
3.10
No Improvement Objective (however, this is partly supported by the Improvement Objective concerned with vulnerable children).
Poverty: In line with Wales’ national priority, we will take a Pembrokeshire wide, co-ordinated approach across all departments to help to prevent poverty, help people into work and mitigate the impacts of poverty.
The remainder of the Plan describes each Improvement Objective in greater detail and explains what else we will be doing to contribute to the key outcomes identified in the Single Integrated Plan.
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CHILDREN ImpRoVEmENt oBjECtIVE
1: SCHooL ImpRoVEmENt
We will challenge and support our schools to consistently improve learning outcomes and help children and young people reach their fullest potential, particularly at Key Stage 4 (GCSE).
ImpRoVEmENt oBjECtIVE
2:
VULNERABLE CHILDREN
We will build the capacity of schools and services to enable vulnerable children and young people to be safe at home and in school and reach their potential.
4.1
Our services for children, families and schools account for approximately half of our total spend each year. Although we provide many services ourselves, we do a considerable amount of work in partnership with other agencies. Attainment and attendance are critical issues for the County as a whole, but these challenges are even more acute for children and families on low incomes. We have chosen two Objectives this year because we want all children and young people in Pembrokeshire to achieve the very best results they can.
4.2.
As a result of the improvements we have made in previous years, our Education Service is no longer in Special Measures. We are committed to sustaining the improvement in the performance of the service and to supporting our schools to improve attainment. We have made progress though recognise there is still much to improve. Results for the examinations taken in 2014 demonstrate that some improvement has been achieved for younger children. However, it is also clear that GCSE results need to improve much further. There is still too much variation between the results achieved between our schools and other similar schools in Wales.
4.3.
The consultation we undertook indicates strong support for our school improvement and vulnerable children Objectives.
4.2
4.3
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4.4.
4.4
We have set ourselves five actions under the School Improvement Objective. These actions are a development of the ones that we set in 2014/15 and are more sharply focused on improving standards in schools, rather than making improvements in the structure of the Education department.
people in Pembrokeshire to achieve the very best results that they can and be amongst the highest performers in Wales. 4.6.
4.6
• Increasing the capacity that schools have to improve themselves, in particular to raise the overall standard of leadership and classroom teaching. • Focusing on the achievement of pupils entitled to Free School Meals (eFSM), with the aim of improving their attainment at a faster rate than that of non-FSM pupils. • Working with schools to deliver targeted interventions that will continue to improve pupil attendance rates. • Making progress with our plans to improve learning environments as part of the 21st Century Schools Programme. • Implementing our programme of school re-organisation to improve outcomes for learners. 4.5.
4.5
The impact of achieving this Objective will be that outcomes for children and young people from Pembrokeshire will be improved and that they will be better prepared to make a positive contribution to society. We want children and young
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We will measure the impact of our progress under this Objective by monitoring a number of performance indicators. One of our key measures of success will be the percentage of students achieving the level 2 threshold, including English/Welsh and Maths at Key Stage 4. This indicator is frequently used to compare levels of attainment at a national level. Performance in this area has not improved as quickly we would have liked and performance has dropped below the Welsh average for the past two years. Although our performance increased slightly in the June 2014 examinations, our relative position compared with other Welsh authorities got worse. We will be working closely with our schools and want to establish sustained improvement against this indicator by supporting and challenging our schools more effectively.
KS4 LEVEL 2 INCLUDINg ENgLISH/WELSH & mAtHS
SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Foundation phase indicators, which analyse the outcomes of pupils at Years 1 and 2 LLC=Language Literacy & Communication MD=Mathematical Development FPI=Foundation Phase Indicator
Key stage 2 core subject indicators, which analyse the outcomes of pupils in Year 6
Key stage 3 core subject indicators, which analyse the outcomes of pupils in Year 9 Key Stage 4 level 1 monitoring how many year 11 pupils achieve 5 GCSEs Key Stage 4 level 2 including English/Welsh and Maths
Monitor attendance rates in Primary and Secondary Schools Percentage point gap between the attainment of young people eligible for free school meals at KS4 and those who are not Percentage of 16 year olds not in education or employment (NEET)
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LLC 91.8% MD 92.6% FPI 90.0% 89% 82% 97%
63.6%
Primary = 96% Secondary = 95%
Foundation 16 KS2 14 KS3 27 KS4 27
2.8%
4.7. Our second improvement Objective under this key outcome area will ensure that improved outcomes are achieved by all children and young people, including vulnerable children. We have set ourselves five actions under this Improvement Objective. • Making sure that staff from a range of professional backgrounds work together to make sure that children and families get early help, to prevent issues becoming serious and reduce the need for action to be taken under the law. • Maintaining operational capacity to ensure the effectiveness of child protection services. • Helping schools to meet vulnerable pupils’ needs by doing things that we know have an impact, and holding schools to account for their effectiveness. • Integrating services for children with a disability across Education and Children’s Services, to deliver a better service and better support as children grow into young adults. • Further developing a service that can meet all the needs of our most vulnerable looked after children.
4.8. The impact that we hope that this will have will be that children in Pembrokeshire will be safer and vulnerable children will be better prepared to live healthy, happy and productive lives.
4.7
4.8
4.9. We will measure the impact of our progress under this Objective by monitoring a number of key indicators. Further details are provided below.
4.9
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SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Social Worker vacancy rate
5%
Social Work Manager vacancy rate
a) Percentage of final statements of special education need (SEN) issued within 26 weeks, including exceptions b) excluding exceptions
Rate of exclusion per 1,000 pupils aged 5 and over for a) 5 days or less b) 6 days or more
Percentage of pupils in local authority care, in any local authority maintained school, aged 15 as at the preceding 31 August that leave compulsory education, training or work based learning without an approved external qualification
The average external qualifications point score for 16 year old looked after children, in any local authority maintained learning setting
Percentage children looked after at 31 March who have experienced one or more changes of school, during a period or periods of being looked after, which were not due to transitional arrangement, in the 12 months to 31 March
Percentage of children looked after on 31 March who have had three or more placements during the year
Percentage of young people formerly looked after aged 19 a) with whom the authority is in contact b) known to be in suitable, non-emergency accommodation; c) engaged in education, training or employment
Percentage of initial assessments that took place during the year where there is evidence that the child has been seen by the Social Worker Percentage of statutory visits to looked after children due in the year that took place in accordance with regulations
10% 85%
91.7% 60 1
0% 280 10% 9% 100% 100% 73% 90%
100%
4.10. There are a range of other actions that we will take during 2015/16 which, though not directly relevant to these two Improvement Objectives, will contribute towards the related outcome in the Single Integrated Plan: children, young people and their families have the opportunity to fulfil their learning potential and to live healthy and happy lives.
4.10
4.11. We will formulate plans for how the Music Service will continue to be delivered following the reorganisation of secondary education in the County. We will also take steps to ensure that a greater proportion of the cost of providing the service is covered by service users.
4.11
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4.12
4.1
Last year we reviewed our Youth Service and realigned our resources to focus on delivering a comprehensive service as opposed to maintaining service provision in particular buildings. During the forthcoming year we will develop an attractive Community Youth Work oer for organisations and individuals delivering activities and opportunities within local communities.
4.13
4.1
Our Learning Pembrokeshire service was inspected by Estyn in November 2014. The inspection was positive and the service was rated as good. However, the inspection also highlighted some areas where we need to improve. We have developed a post inspection action plan which commits us to establishing a Pembrokeshire Learning Network Scrutiny and Strategic Board. We will also increase basic skills take up.
4.14
We will continue to implement the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework action plan. This work reects national and local priorities to tackle disengagement from education. As a result, we expect the
number of young people who are not in education, employment or training to remain at low levels. We will also implement a service level agreement process for the funding and performance management of sixth forms.
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ECONOMY ImpRoVEmENt oBjECtIVE 3:
REgENERAtIoN & toWN CENtRES
We will enable, facilitate and deliver schemes that contribute to a competitive, productive and sustainable economy.
5.1
Pembrokeshire’s economy reflects its peripheral geography, predominantly rural society, low population density and ageing demographic profile; wages and skill levels tend to be lower than elsewhere and, in the main, reflect the continued reliance on tourism and agriculture as the major employment sectors. Developments in the energy sector have helped Pembrokeshire’s economy over the past decade. Despite the closure of the Murco refinery, unemployment only fell slightly last year. The recovery from the recession is proving to be slow, and there are still uncertainties over the prospects for Pembrokeshire’s economy.
5.2
5.2.
The Objective we have chosen this year is a development of one we set in 2013/14 and 2014/15 concerning our desire to improve our town centres. We focused on town centres for the past two years because Pembrokeshire is a rural county in which a number of key towns play a critical role as service hubs and visitor destinations. We always envisaged that this would be a medium to long term programme of work and progress is proving to be rather uneven. We have decided to broaden the Objective for the forthcoming year to make clear how our work to improve town centres fits into a wider framework of economic regeneration.
5.3
5.3.
Economic regeneration was a popular choice for an Improvement Objective in the consultation we undertook, with town centres ranking much lower. Some of the comments we received highlighted the importance of organisations working together to improve town centres.
5.4. 5.4
We have set ourselves seven actions under this Objective:
5.1.
• Promoting the benefits of Enterprise Zone status and facilitating development and investment through our property, regeneration and planning functions. • Working with the Swansea Bay City Region Board to enable infrastructure improvements and support projects in the key sectors of tourism and energy.
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• Continuing to support Town Teams and town centre improvements by accessing funding, delivering projects and facilitating third party investment. • Delivering a range of employment and skills projects to reduce unemployment and economic inactivity levels. • Increasing occupancy (and employment) of knowledge and technology based companies at the Bridge Innovation Centre. • Leading and supporting a range of European Funding applications to improve economic competitiveness. • Establishing a Fabrication Laboratory at the Bridge Innovation Centre, rolling out associated educational programmes and encouraging the innovation economy.
5.5
5.5.
The impact of achieving this Improvement Objective will be to improve our economic competitiveness, support diversification, increase employment and retain more retail spend within the local economy. We will use assets such as the Bridge Innovation Centre to support the creation of more employment opportunities. There will also be more opportunities for skills training and the creation of a larger pool of skilled workers for potential employers.
5.6.
We will measure our progress in relation to this Objective by monitoring a number of performance indicators.
5.6
SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Percentage of let (PCC owned) floor space at the Bridge Innovation Centre Percentage of shops (class A) vacant :
Percentage of THI grant spent in Haverfordwest
a) Fishguard; b) Haverfordwest; c) Milford Haven; d) Narberth; e) Pembroke; f) Pembroke Dock; g) Tenby
Numbers supported on employment and skills projects Percentage occupancy of PCC owned industrial units Installation of Wifi in town centres
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95%
a) 9% b) 17% c) 21% d) 2% e) 6% f) 15% g) 5%
8%
1396 90%
3 town centres
5.7.
5.7
In addition to the success measures described above, we will continue to review our impact on town centre performance through our Overview and Scrutiny Committee. We are committed to producing an annual monitoring report as well as holding an annual conference to bring together the town teams in order to share best practice.
5.8
5.8.
There are a range of other actions we will take during 2015/16 which, though not directly relevant to this Improvement Objective, will contribute towards the related key outcome identiďŹ ed in the Single Integrated Plan: Pembrokeshire has a competitive, productive and sustainable economy.
5.9.
We will facilitate the development of a master plan for Haverfordwest so that all stakeholders (such as the Town Council and Chamber of Commerce) can present a clear vision of what a regenerated Haverfordwest could look like. This will give potential developers greater certainty of what stakeholders want to achieve. This approach could be adopted for other towns, as well as sites that will require regeneration such as Cawdor Barracks, Brawdy which will be vacated by the Army after 2018.
5.9
5.10. We plan to relocate the County Library to a more appropriate location. We will use the opportunity provided by this capital investment to increase footfall in the heart of the town.
5.10
5.11. Tourism remains a major employer in Pembrokeshire. We will review how to maximise the beneďŹ ts of our investment in the sector and we will commission advisors to review alternative governance structures for Destination Partnership Pembrokeshire, our local tourism partnership structure. We will also work with Dwr Cymru on progressing a feasibility study into the potential for a national water-based recreational facility at Llys-y-Fran reservoir.
5.11
5.12
5.12. We will continue to promote, market and dispose of key development sites in order to facilitate economic development in the County. Progress on this action is dependent on a number of external factors including the strength of the property market in Pembrokeshire. Certain sites, such as the former primary school in Fishguard, are a priority.
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5.13. We will also be making improvements in our planning services that will have a positive impact upon the local economy. We will improve the speed with which we determine planning applications by adopting more efficient and effective internal processes and we will improve the responsiveness and quality of our pre-application advice. We will also publish revised Supplementary Planning Guidance on planning obligations. These actions will increase certainty and reduce cost for developers.
Ways of Working’ study (2015) and the Food Business Park Feasibility Study (2014/15). Support for the fisheries sector will continue through our work as secretariat for the Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG).
5.13
5.16. We will start work on preparing an economic regeneration strategy for the County. This work will be led by a sub-group of the Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The strategy will provide a context to generate our future work programme.
5.16
5.14
5.14. We will continue to work and lobby to improve the county’s road, rail and communications infrastructure, both by working with the Welsh Government (through the Swansea Bay City Region) to promote improvements to the TEN-T Trans European Network trunk roads and by working with BT and other network providers to support the roll-out of Superfast Broadband and install wi-fi in town centres and tourism areas. 5.15. In terms of the rural economy we will work with the Pembrokeshire Local Action Group (LAG) to support a suite of European and Welsh Government funded rural regeneration projects. The projects will be informed by recent studies such as the Mid-Pembs Rural Revitalisation Plan (2015), the ‘New
5.15
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ENVIRONMENT 6.1
6.1.
Like all areas, Pembrokeshire’s environment faces significant challenges. One of the most critical of these is that as our climate becomes less predictable, and more extreme, we will need to adapt how we deliver services. While many of the factors that are likely to contribute to climate change are beyond our direct control, some risk factors can be tackled locally; especially those relating to how we manage the waste we produce.
6.2
6.2.
As previously indicated, we decided not to set an Improvement Objective under this key outcome for this year. In recent years we have made significant progress in relation to increasing recycling and reducing the amount of waste that is being sent to landfill sites. We have also reduced the cost of our Waste Management Service. We will continue to focus on improving our performance in this area, but we do not think it needs to be identified as an Improvement Objective for the forthcoming year.
6.3
6.3.
Waste management was one of the lowest ranked priorities in the consultation that we undertook. Some of the comments we received (especially from our Citizens’ Panel survey) highlighted that residents value high quality local environmental services. Some respondents also suggested that we should look at incineration as a way of treating residual waste.
6.4
6.4.
There are a wide range of actions that we will pursue during 2015/16 which will contribute towards the related key outcome in the Single Integrated Plan: people in Pembrokeshire enjoy an attractive, sustainable and diverse environment.
6.5.
We will monitor the financial and environmental performance of a new waste disposal contract that we have entered into. This will result in black bag waste being transported from Pembroke Dock by sea to Sweden, where it will be disposed of at an ‘energy from waste’ facility. As well as being cost effective, this has considerable environmental benefits as it diverts waste from landfill and extracts additional recycled material. We will also explore the potential for generating additional income by entering into formal agreements with other authorities to treat their waste through the same process.
6.5
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6.6.
6.6
6.7.
6.7
We will optimise waste collection routes following the successful introduction of fortnightly collections of black bag waste in order to improve efficiency. This will allow further savings to be made. We will consult on withdrawing free black bags; we are aware that many customers are not happy with the quality of the ones that are currently provided. We will also improve cost recovery in relation to our trade waste services, especially the collection of recyclable materials. We are currently consulting on the implementation of revised opening time arrangements for civic amenity sites. Financial pressures mean that we need to look at new ways of saving money on local environmental services. This includes services such as street cleaning, grass cutting, routine highway maintenance (such as cleaning road signs) and the provision of public toilets. We will consult with town and community councils and other stakeholders to explore whether the costs of providing these sorts of services can be shared between a number of organisations. We recognise that this is unlikely to improve the appearance of the environment, however, these savings will allow us to maintain or improve services in other areas.
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6.8
6.8.
Severe storms last year highlighted the need for us to mitigate against the impact of the increasingly stormy weather that we are likely to experience in future. We will encourage communities to develop their own community emergency plans and develop an emergency planning exercise to assist with this.
6.9. 6.9
We will support the implementation of Welsh Government’s National Strategy for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management in Wales. Much of this work is longer term, such as the adaption plan for Newgale. We also intend to produce a flood risk management plan for Pembrokeshire. Smaller scale plans include progressing flood alleviation schemes at Little Haven and Newport Parrog. We also aim to complete protection works at Amroth sea wall.
6.10. We will continue to develop and construct paths for walking and cycling. These will help us meet our duty to provide a network of routes for active travel under Welsh Government’s Active Travel Bill. By September of this year, we will have completed mapping existing walking and cycling facilities in the areas designated under this legislation. We will also improve how public transport facilities such as Pembroke Dock and Fishguard rail stations link to the rest of the transport network.
6.10
6.11. We will continue to implement a range of road improvement schemes during the forthcoming year. These include the Maidenwells Relief Road which is part of a wider scheme to improve access to strategic employment sites on the Haven. A proposed community housing development at Glasfryn Lane in St Davids would require road improvements, subject to funding. We will also aim to complete the Bulford Road improvements which we commenced in 2014/15.
6.11
27
H E A LT H ImpRoVEmENt oBjECtIVE 4:
RECoNfIgURINg ADULt SoCIAL CARE SERVICES
We will continue to change how we provide adult social care services to improve efficiency and sustainability.
7.1
7.1.
While many older people are in good health, a growing number will require social care support. The quality of these people’s lives depends on good quality adult social care.
7.2
7.2.
In common with other local authorities, we need to make savings within our adult care budget. We are making progress. At the beginning of this decade, our net spending on adult social care was increasing by 10% year on year. By contrast we anticipate that our net spending in 2014/15 will be 1.6% lower than in our spending in 2013/14. The budget we have set for 2015/16 is challenging but realistic; we plan to spend around £100k less in net terms than we spent in 2013/14.
7.3
7.3.
These achievements have only been possible because we have started to change our model of service delivery. We will need to continue this work in 2015/16 and we are confident that by the end of this year the majority of the structural changes that we need to make to the service will be complete.
7.4.
Around three quarters of respondents to our consultation agreed that adult social care should be an Improvement Objective. Around half of the comments we received suggested that we should either enhance the services we provide or ensure they are provided to a greater proportion of people. Around a third of respondents expressed a view that the level of service provided was about right. Some of the more general comments we received related to the health service, including comments on the future provision of health services in Pembrokeshire.
7.4
28
7.5.
7.5
We have set ourselves four actions under this Objective for 2015/16.
7.7.
7.7
• Improving service quality by implementing the Quality Assurance Framework • Ensuring services are targeted at early intervention and prevention e.g. providing good quality information to customers and working with local communities in the third sector to build capacity. • Continuing to review all of our current contracts with the independent, community and voluntary sectors to ensure they are strategically relevant and provide value for money. • Continuing to develop targeted reablement services to ensure people are enabled to maximise their independence. 7.6.
7.6
The impact of achieving this Improvement Objective will be that a greater proportion of those customers in receipt of support are living in settings that are appropriate to the level of care they require, thereby improving their quality of life. More people will be supported within their communities and will be able to help themselves. The overall cost of providing adult social care services will become more sustainable.
29
We will measure our progress in relation to this Objective by monitoring a number of performance indicators. One of the most significant of these measures is the amount of money we spend on adult social care. The graph overleaf shows what net spending on social care would have been if the trend of increases in expenditure seen between 2009/10 to 2013/14 had continued.
ADULt SoCIAL CARE SpEND (£ mILLIoN)
SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Deliver savings that equate to 4.5% of 2015/16 net budget The percentage reduction in planned domiciliary care hours of customers who have completed a period of reablement
The percentage of adult clients who are supported in the community during the year
The rate of older people aged 65 or over whom the authority supports in care homes
The rate of delayed transfers of care for social care reasons per 1,000 population aged 75 or over (partnership working with NHS)
Those surveyed who agree their quality of life has improved because the service they received has made things better for them
No overspend on 2015/16 budget 47%
90% 16 per 1000 0.5 per 1000 90%
7.8
7.8.
There are a range of other actions we will take during 2015/16 which, though not directly relevant to the Improvement Objective, will contribute towards the related key outcome identified in the Single Integrated Plan: people in Pembrokeshire are healthier.
7.9.
We will review some of the social care services we currently provide directly to customers such as day care, residential care and supported employment services. In all these cases, we want to make sure that we have the right models in place to support people’s needs into the future. We want to make sure that these services promote independence, help prevent needs escalating and make the best possible use of resources.
7.9
30
changes in how this works were introduced prior to this year. We will have more income to invest in our council housing services.
7.10. We will continue to work with the voluntary sector to build community capacity following the evaluation of the intermediate care project. We intend to develop a brokerage function for early intervention and preventative support. This work will support us in delivering our duty to promote early intervention and prevention in partnership with the third sector.
7.10
7.13. We will strengthen our tenancy management service to deliver a more responsive service. We will improve how we deal with properties that are hard to let (also known as void properties). For example, we will target our investment to make properties more attractive to customers. We will also commence longer term work to agree priorities for investment into our own housing stock.
7.13
7.11. Leisure Services make a significant contribution to improving health and wellbeing. We will complete the refurbishment of our Tenby Leisure Centre project including the expanded gym facility and a new community room by September 2015. We will also complete the new climbing wall at Haverfordwest in May 2015. We are concentrating on developing an inclusive charging structure to help increase income in order to maintain the current level of service in the context of reducing budgets.
7.11
7.12. Quality housing is a key contributor to good health outcomes. During 2015/16, we will make a number of improvements to our housing services. Council housing has its own system of finance and substantial
7.14. We will also be undertaking a range of actions to support housing more generally. For instance, we will improve the delivery of adaptations in customers’ homes. This action will enable us to improve the speed with which these adaptations are carried out. Our performance in this area needs to significantly improve.
7.14
7.12
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SAFEGUARDING 8.1
8.1.
Although we have not set an Improvement Objective for this area for the past two years, we have continued to embed the policies and practices we have established. Furthermore there are a range of other actions we will take during 2015/16 that will contribute towards the key outcome identified in the Single Integrated Plan: children and adults are safeguarded.
8.2
8.2.
We did not consult on a specific safeguarding Improvement Objective this year. However, the issue of vulnerable children was consistently cited by all respondents as a high priority. In practice, there is a cross-over between vulnerable children and safeguarding.
8.3
8.3.
We will improve the quality and consistency of our care plans so that they are clearer about the outcomes that we want to achieve for children within the care system. We will do this by adopting practice that is consistent with the Signs of Safety approach. Our Quality Assurance Team will establish monitoring arrangements to report on compliance.
8.4
8.4.
Last year we adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This framework will assist with safeguarding as it will encourage everyone who works for us or with us to listen to the voice of the child. We will continue to develop a rights-based approach to our work by implementing the Pembrokeshire Rights and Participation Strategy. We will publish an annual report on what we have achieved.
8.5.
Good safeguarding practice is dependent on having a skilled workforce. We will work with other local authorities to deliver a coherent regional workforce development programme. We will also use the social work qualification database and our Continuing Professional Education policy to prioritise social worker training and development. This will take account of the re-registration requirements of the Care Council. We will commission and deliver a range of training in line with the Signs of Safety delivery plan and ensure that related training is reflective of the Signs of Safety approach.
8.5
32
8.6.
8.6
Our safeguarding work covers all vulnerable people; adults as well as children. Adult safeguarding practice in Pembrokeshire is based on the Wales Interim Policy and Procedures for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults. We are currently revising our internal procedures to conform with the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act. We are in the process of developing an Adult Safeguarding Framework which will strengthen our safeguarding practice. This will be supported by a quality assurance framework and will provide a tool with which we can engage with providers and other stakeholders in order to highlight areas for improvement.
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SAFETY 9.1
9.1.
Pembrokeshire is one of the safest places to live in the United Kingdom, with low levels of crime and disorder compared to other areas. Despite the low levels of recorded crime, fear of crime is still a signiďŹ cant concern for some residents. Activity to promote community safety is heavily dependent on partnership working. The majority of the relevant services are provided by the Police.
9.2
9.2.
We did not receive any suggestions that community safety should be included as an Improvement Objective during consultation. We know from other consultations that some equality communities are concerned about hate crime. We will continue to work with Victim Support to increase the reporting of hate crime in Pembrokeshire.
9.3
9.3.
Though we have not set an Improvement Objective for this area, there are a range of other actions we will take during 2015/16 that will contribute towards the key outcome identiďŹ ed in the Single Integrated Plan: communities in Pembrokeshire feel safe.
9.4.
We will continue to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB). The Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives us new powers including Community Protection Notices, Public Spaces Protection Orders and Closure Powers. We will develop process and procedures to best implement these and will continue to work with partners including Housing Associations to support them do the same. For instance, we will restructure our Tenancy Management Team which will strengthen the focus on proactive ASB management and ensure that issues are appropriately recorded and will work in partnership with the Police to review the eectiveness of the Dispersal Order at Brunel Quay. We will develop a corporate system to respond to Community Trigger requests and will work with partners locally wanting to do the same.
9.4
34
9.5.
9.5
We will continue to work with the Police on the Cleddau Project, which aims to reduce re-offending especially amongst those who regularly offend. We will also work with Wales Community Rehabilitation Company and the National Probation Service Wales to help reduce the risk of people re-offending. We will improve practice quality in our Youth Justice Team and will focus on education, training and employment opportunities and outcomes.
9.6
9.6.
We will be concluding and evaluating our Home Office supported Local Alcohol Action Area project. We will aim to implement any recommendations that arise from this evaluation with our partner organisations. In partnership with Dyfed Powys Police we will review the Designated Public Place Order operating in Tenby.
9.7.
We will continue to work to reduce domestic violence. Our work will be linked to Welsh Government’s priorities in the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Bill to: prevent incidents and, protect and support victims; strengthen the strategic leadership for this issue and provide services that are consistent with those in the rest of Wales. We will
9.7
continue to work with partners to develop a sustainable operating model for the new Pembrokeshire Domestic Abuse One Stop Shop based in Haverfordwest.
9.8
9.8.
We will develop a strategy to protect vulnerable consumers from scams. This will build on the work we have already completed to make people (especially older people) aware of scams and other frauds. We will also provide advice and assistance to local businesses in relation to web based trading.
9.9.
We will continue to support the road safety framework for Wales and implement safer routes schemes in order to reduce the risk of collisions on our roads. This will be achieved by continuing to deliver education and training programmes, as well as by implementing specific road safety schemes. We will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of Safe Routes in Communities and monitor their impact.
9.9
35
CROSS CUTTING THEMES 10.1. Sustainable development, the equalities agenda, our work to tackle poverty and the promotion of the Welsh language cut across all the work we do and all three areas of work depend on effective engagement with the public. This year, we have set an Improvement Objective to frame our anti-poverty work.
10.1
10.2. We seek to promote sustainable development, wherever possible, by supporting projects that address social, economic and environmental issues. This helps to ensure that the decisions we take today do not have an unacceptable impact on future generations. Like other councils across Wales, we have a good track record of improving our practice in this area. Many of the Objectives described in this plan demonstrate our commitment to sustainability.
10.2
10.3. The Future Generations (Wales) Act received Royal Assent in April 2015. This will strongly influence our approach to sustainability and the long-term goals we set for prosperity, resilience, health, equality and culture, including the Welsh language. We plan to expand the membership of our Local Service Board in preparation for it becoming a Public Service Board. We will develop mechanisms with our partners to plan more effectively.
10.3
10.4. Over the course of the coming year, we will continue to reduce the amount of energy we use by a further three percent. We have a good track record of reducing energy usage. We will continue to achieve this by adopting more energy efficient technologies and by managing our building stock more effectively. We have developed a ‘long-list’ of projects and we have prioritised those projects with the best rate of return. We have strengthened our approach to partnership working in this area and in the next year we will work through the Local Service Board to reduce carbon emissions from public services as a whole and support a community energy network.
10.4
10.5. We have witnessed a marked increase in planning applications for renewable energy developments during the past three years. During 2015/16, we will produce Supplementary Planning Guidance for renewable energy schemes6. This will provide developers and communities with more certainty on the sorts of proposals that will be acceptable in planning terms. The large scale combined heat and power scheme planned for South Hook (linked to liquefied natural gas installation) has been deferred due to
10.5
36
market conditions. We do not anticipate that signiďŹ cant progress will be made on this scheme in the short term. However, we are hopeful that we will make progress on securing a developer for land at Blackbridge and Waterston and that the resulting development agreement could include a renewable energy scheme.
updated our equality objectives in February 2015 and we will develop a new action plan to support this work during the forthcoming year. We will also take the opportunity to report back on progress on equalities during 2014/15 within our broader Improvement Review. 10.8. We will also be developing a new approach to how we promote the Welsh language during the forthcoming year. We are committed to working with the Welsh Language Commissioner and Welsh Government on proposals for new standards of conduct relating to the Welsh language. The Standards will gradually replace the existing system of Welsh language schemes.
10.8
10.6
10.6. We are committed to improving our approach to the equalities agenda. During the forthcoming year, we intend to develop further our approach to engagement and build upon the work we started in 2014/15 to establish the public forum Pembrokeshire Voices for Equality. We will further develop our approach to impact assessment and take into account lessons learnt from screening decisions associated with the 2015/16 budget. We will also need to consider how compliance with new Welsh language standards is built into the tool. We anticipate that the new standards will be agreed by the National Assembly at the end of March 2015. 10.7. Like all public bodies, we are committed to ensuring our customers do not experience discrimination. Our Strategic Equality Plan sets out our plans for ensuring our customers have equal access the services they require. We
10.9
10.9. We started to improve how we engage with local residents last year. We will continue the conversation we commenced with our Your Council is Changing events during the forthcoming year. We are committed to encouraging as many people as possible to engage with the Authority.
10.7
We had hoped to produce this guidance during 2014/15, however, it has been delayed due to pressures of other work and reduced sta resources. 6
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10.9. Our action to tackle poverty cuts across the whole organisation and is driven by our Single Integrated Plan. We have appointed anti-poverty Champions within the Cabinet and the Corporate Management Team to lead this work. In order to give more impetus to this work we have set an Improvement Objective for this area for 2015/16.
10.10
10.12
mAp to SHoW RELAtIVE DEpRIVAtIoN of CommUNItIES IN pEmBRoKESHIRE
ImpRoVEmENt oBjECtIVE 5:
tACKLINg poVERtY
In line with Wales’ national priority, we will take a Pembrokeshire wide, co-ordinated approach across all departments to help to prevent poverty, help people into work and mitigate the impacts of poverty.
10.11
The following map shows the proportion of our local areas that are in the bottom 10%, 20% and 30% of most deprived areas in Wales. Whilst there is a geographic component to poverty in Pembrokeshire, there are people on low incomes in all communities in Pembrokeshire. Some of the approaches we have adopted are geographically targeted, while others are thematic.
Average incomes in Pembrokeshire tend to be lower than in the rest of Wales. We estimate that around 36% of households have an income that is below 60% of the median income for Great Britain. Median incomes in Pembrokeshire have fallen by almost 5% since 2007, a larger fall than the equivalent all Wales figure of 3.5%. Pembrokeshire also has some pockets of significant deprivation.
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10.13
10.14
The consultation we undertook showed strong support for the proposed tackling poverty Improvement Objective among Elected Members.
•
We have set nine actions under this Improvement Objective • Extend ‘Flying Start’ provision to Neyland, giving more children a head start in life. • Undertake a review of Families First projects in order to ensure the best outcomes are being achieved to address Child Poverty. • Continue with support from the Pupil Deprivation Grant, to provide free and informal learning opportunities to engage adults and children in targeted areas through Learning Pembrokeshire Springboard and Essential Skills in partnership with schools. • Continue with our programme of investment in council tenanted properties with the aim of ensuring improved energy efficiency through the installation of new boilers, double glazed windows and insulation to combat fuel poverty and support healthy living. • Work in partnership with Job Centre Plus and CAB to deliver Basic ICT and Information Literacy skills for customers
•
•
•
39
referred from Job Centres, including customers in long term unemployment and those most in need of ICT assistance. Co-location with Job centre Plus to provide more modern, visible convenient and solution based services in key areas such as housing, jobs, benefits and social care advice to our customers who are most in need. In partnership with schools and with support from the Pupil Deprivation Grant, we will extend the ‘summer learning programme’ to a school in Haverfordwest (within the Communities First area), helping to address the attainment gap which grows in the summer holidays. Ensure that training and recruitment opportunities are created for young people who are not in education, employment and training (NEETS) by building them into PCC contract requirements through community benefit clauses. Through our supporting people services, we will enable partner organisations to provide support to customers identified as being in need to improve their money management abilities.
10.15
10.16
The impact of this work will take some time to filter through to wider social and economic activities but they are designed to reduce levels of inequality across the County. The developmental milestones of children living in areas covered by the Flying Start programme will be on a par with children living in the rest of County when they are five years old. In Communities First areas, children with the greatest educational support needs will not slip back during the summer holidays. Young people from all backgrounds will have the same opportunity for training and employment opportunities. We will also help people’s money go further, by making Council owned homes more fuel efficient. We will measure our progress against this Objective by monitoring a range of performance indicators that are linked to the three key aims of preventing poverty, helping people into work and mitigating the impacts of poverty. Some of these measures apply in particular areas, others across the whole County. We have split the measures into three categories.
1. Preventing Poverty
in Flying Start areas:
SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Take up free quality childcare places by eligible children (2-3yrs)
90%
Percentage children reaching their development milestones at 3 years of age
90%
Percentage of children will achieve the expected level for Foundation Phase development for 90% language, maths and social development
In Springboard areas:
SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Number of learners engaged on Springboard courses
Number of qualifications achieved through Springboard courses
400 100
In Communities First areas:
SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Number of children will benefit from a targeted programme of bespoke summer learning activities using library and other cultural services resources.
40
30
2. helPing PeoPle back to work SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Number of traineeships provided to young people aged 16 – 18 years old
5
Number of work/experience placements taken up by young people
25
Number of apprenticeships taken up by young people
Number of referrals as a result of Job Centre Plus / Citizens’ Advice Bureau (JC+ CAB) run ICT sessions at libraries Percentage of JC+ referrals attending job clubs in the libraries achieving at least 1 of the 3 mandatory requirements* for entitlement to Universal credit
5
200 60%
Percentage of JC+ referrals attending library job clubs 60% who feel better prepared to deal with job search
3. Mitigating the iMPact of Poverty SUCCESS mEASURES
tARgEt 2015/16
Overall energy efficiency rating of our housing stock
73
The average number of days to process new housing benefits claims
22
Percentage of supporting people service customers who are assessed as needing support 50% to manage their money will demonstrate an improved ability to manage their money independently, as a result of the support provided The average number of days to process changes in circumstance to existing housing benefit claims
9
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10.17
During 2015/16, we will develop an anti-poverty action plan. The plan will aim to create prosperous, learning and healthier communities, help people into work and mitigate the impact of poverty. In line with national priorities, the areas upon which we will focus particular attention will be reducing the number of young people not in education, training or employment, promoting health and well-being and increasing attainment.
OUR MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL PLAN 11.1. This Plan identifies those areas of service where we will be focusing our improvement effort over the course of the coming year. We have always sought incremental improvement across all our services, but this commitment must be seen in the context of our declining overall budget.
11.1
11.2. In June 2013 Welsh Government announced that local authorities in Wales would receive reduced grant settlements until March 2018. As a result of this reduction, and the impact of pay, price and demographic pressures, we have revised our savings target to around £50 million, to be delivered between 2013/14 and 2017/18. In order to balance our budget and continue to deliver high quality local services, we will need to make savings or raise income in the order of £12.3 million during 2015/16.
11.2
11.3. It will not be possible to achieve these savings without having some impact on front line services. Our ambition is to deliver the majority of the required savings by changing how we deliver services, by managing vacancies more effectively and by reducing back office costs. A high level breakdown of where we intend to reduce our net spending in 2015/16 is shown below, along with our net expenditure budget for 2015/16.
11.3
CoSt REDUCtIoNS/EffICIENCIES Education Services Social Care – Children Social Care – Adults Housing General Fund Highways & Transportation Services Culture & Related Services Planning & Development Services Environmental Services Other Central, Corporate & Democratic Services Vacancy Management & One-Off In Year Savings Sub Total Cost Reductions/Efficiencies 2015-16 Council Tax Additional Income Total Cost Reductions/Efficiencies 2015-16
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£000s 2,176 960 1,970 59 765 795 321 881 944 1,200 10,071 2,200 12,271
11.4. Our budget for net revenue expenditure for 2015/16 is shown below:
11.4
2014-15 original Net Expenditure £000’s
88,641 14,100 42,482 1,487 8,814 7,695 2,310 12,016 7,536 4,337 198 (1,000) 188,616 6,952 (400) 12,069 207,237
SUmmARY Education Services Social Care – Children Social Care – Adults Housing General Fund Housing Revenue Account (Ring Fenced) Highways & Transportation Services Culture & Related Services Planning & Development Services Environmental Services Council Tax Reduction Scheme Other Central, Corporate & Democratic Services Court Services Vacancy Management & One-Off In Year Savings TOTAL SERVICE BUDGETS Levies Net Investment Income Capital Financing Costs COUNCIL BUDGET REQUIREMENT
2015-16 Estimate Net Expenditure £000’s
86,745 13,343 43,389 1,254 – 8,397 6,905 2,030 11,161 7,511 4,140 210 (1,200) 183,885 7,019 (488) 12,371 202,787
11.5. We have sought to prioritise spending on those services that will play a key role in delivering the Objectives described in this Plan. In percentage terms, the Children & Schools Directorate (including schools) accounts for 49.4% of the Council’s overall net expenditure. Within this, the Individual Schools Budget has been increased by 0.6% after allowing for adjustments and specific grants. This reflects the fact that we have identified two Improvement Objectives to be delivered by the Directorate. However the total budget for the Directorate is 2.6% lower than last year’s and is a reflection of planned savings of £3.1m.
11.5
43
Planning, culture and related service expenditure accounts for 4.4% of our overall net expenditure. During 2015/16, we intend to deliver a net saving of £1.1 million in this area.
11.6. The second most significant area of our budget in terms of percentage spend is our Adult Social Care Directorate. The Directorate accounts for 21.4% of our overall net expenditure. The budget for 2015/16 incorporates savings of £1.97m. Inflation and demographic pressures mean that the 2015/16 budget is £0.9m higher than the one we set last year. Again, this reflects the Improvement Objective identified in this Plan to review our Adult Care services. In this instance, our Improvement Objective is designed to assist us in reducing spend, with a view to ensuring the services we provide are cost-effective and sustainable over the long term.
11.6
11.9. In addition to the savings described above, we are committed to saving £2.1million from other sources over the course of the coming year. Further information about these savings, and a more detailed breakdown of the service specific savings mentioned above, is available on our website: www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk
11.9
11.7. Our final two Improvement Objectives relate to regeneration and tackling poverty. Whilst these areas are not immune from making savings, services have been given greater protection than other services to allow the identified improvements during the forthcoming year.
11.7
11.8. Transportation, Housing and Environment net expenditure accounts for 10.3% of the Council’s overall net expenditure. We intend to deliver a net saving of £1.7 million in this area during 2015/16.
11.8
44
REPORTING BACK 12.1. Improvement planning does not stop with the implementation of actions. As was indicated in the introduction to this Plan, it is a cyclical process during which we constantly revisit and revise our plans in light of the changing circumstances in which we work.
12.1
12.2. Later this year, we will publish our Improvement Review. This document will describe, in broad terms, whether or not we achieved the Objectives we set ourselves for 2014/15. It will include important evidence such as performance statistics and progress reports on the completion of projects. It is an opportunity for us to assess our own performance and to share that evaluation with our customers and regulators. This document will also report back on our equalities objectives for that year.
12.2
12.3. The Improvement Review also helps to plan our activity for future years. It helps us to establish whether or not we are tackling the right issues and whether we are going about this in the right way.
12.3
12.4. Finally, the review process will provide us with a further opportunity to reect on the comments we have received from individuals and community groups. We are always happy to receive comments about our objectives; we have included our contact details on page 1 of this plan.
12.4
12.5. We will publish the Review relating to this Plan by the end of October 2015. However, the actions and performance measures set out in this plan will be monitored on a quarterly basis by Senior OďŹƒcers and Councillors. For example, our Overview and Scrutiny Committees will review the areas that are relevant to them. Dates of meetings, agendas and all relevant papers are published on our website.
12.5
45
G LO S S A RY Average external qualifications point score
A measure of pupils’ results in relation to GCSE or work-based qualifications.
Band ‘D’ Council Tax charge
Council Tax charges are split into different bands depending on the value of the house. Band D represents the national average and is used when making comparisons between councils.
Community benefit clauses
These are contractual clauses that build a range of economic, social or environmental conditions into the delivery of contracts. An example might be asking for employment and training opportunities to be provided as part of a building contract.
21st Century Schools Programme A Welsh Government scheme to invest in school building stock.
Core subject indicator
Delayed transfers of care
Domiciliary care Enterprise Zone Estyn
The percentage achieving the expected level in English or Welsh (first language), Mathematics and Science at Key Stage 1-3 and at least GCSE Grade C at Key Stage 4.
This is sometimes called bed-blocking. This can happen when someone has been in hospital and no longer requires medical services, but requires additional services to be in place before they can go home. It is often our responsibility to ensure that these services are in place.
Care provided to people within their own homes, such as help with washing, dressing or other personal needs. Welsh Government economic development programme that encourages growth by providing incentives for businesses in a particular area.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales. The purpose of Estyn is to inspect quality and standards in education and training in Wales.
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Flying Start Programme
Flying Start is a Welsh Government Early Years programme targeted at families with children under 4 years of age in some of the most deprived areas of Wales.
Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009
Power to legislate for community planning and local improvement in Wales has been devolved to the National Assembly for Wales. A Measure is the term used to describe legislation drawn up by the National Assembly for Wales.
Local Service Board
Local Service Boards are partnerships of organisations responsible for preparing Single Integrated Plans in each local authority area
Looked after children Reablement Supported employment Sustainable Development United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
Children that the Council has taken into care. Looked after children are placed with either foster carers or adoptive parents. However, the Council retains a legal responsibility for their welfare.
A package of services for people who need support to live in their own homes. These services encourage and support people to do as much as they can for themselves, doing tasks with them rather than for them. Supported Employment services help people with disabilities to secure and retain paid employment.
A document which publicises an organisation’s commitment to making decisions that take long term social, economic and environmental issues into account. The Convention says that every child has the right to a childhood, education, to be healthy, be treated fairly and the right to be heard.
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