torfaen county borough council action plan for governance...

APPENDIX ONE

Torfaen County Borough CouncilAction Plan for Governance & Improvement

Prepared by the Corporate Improvement & Scrutiny Team, Strategic Services Unit

As at January 2016

Last considered by Audit Committee – September 2015Revised format agreed September 2015

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Prepared in response to the findings of the Wales Audit Office Reviews:

Translating Strategy into Action (September 2009) Good Governance Diagnostic (October 2009) Preliminary Corporate Assessment (August 2010) Annual Improvement Report (February 2011) Improvement Assessment: Council’s Corporate Assessment Update (October 2011) Annual Improvement Report (January 2012) Improvement Assessment Letter (September 2012) Improvement Assessment Letter (November 2012) Annual Improvement Report (April 2013) WAO Review of Scrutiny WAO Review of Service Based Budget Review WAO Review of Annual Governance Statement WAO 2013 First Improvement Assessment Letter (October 2013) WAO 2013 Second Improvement Letter (November 2013) plus feedback presentation (March 2014) WAO Review Collaboration (General) WAO Annual Improvement Reports of the Council WAO formal & informal feedback on the Council’s Improvement Plans & Annual Performance Reports

Also including actions proposed following training provided by the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS)

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Contents

PART ONE

Reports for noting by the Audit Committee and high level monitoring (in year monitoring performed by the relevant overview and scrutiny committee(s))

ESTYN Inspection & Monitoring Visit (Post Inspection Action Plan) WAO Review of the Gwent Frailty Project Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) Annual Letter WAO Review - Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training (local feedback) (February 2014) WAO Review of Whistleblowing WAO Review of Local Authority Arrangements to support Safeguarding of Children WAO Review of Corporate Safeguarding Arrangements in Welsh Councils WAO - Auditor General’s Report on Managing Early Departures across Welsh public bodies

WAO review delivering with less – the impact on environmental health services and citizens CSSIW - Safeguarding & care planning of looked after children and care leavers who exhibit vulnerable or risky behaviours ESTYN report – Improving schools through Regional Education Consortia WAO Report – Achieving improvement in support to schools through Regional Education Consortia - an early view WAO National Financial Resilience Report WAO Local Financial Position Report (Torfaen) WAO Report – Service Assessment of Waste Management Services

PART TWO

On-going actions and progress updates (in year monitoring performed by this Audit Committee)

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PART ONE - REPORTS FOR NOTING BY THE AUDIT COMMITTEE AND HIGH LEVEL MONITORING

ESTYN INSPECTION OF OCTOBER 2011 & 2013 ESTYN MONITORING VISIT

DATE NOTED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 2013

OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING LEARNING COMMUNITIES

TARGET DATE OF UPDATE TO AUDIT FOR ASSURANCE PURPOSES MARCH 2016

ACCEPTED RECOMMENDATIONS / PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVEMENT

1 Raise standards in secondary schools, particularly in Key Stage 4

2 NEETs – Take action to reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training

3 Improve the quality and consistency of the evaluation of services to inform planning more effectively

4 Improve the performance management of services to ensure a consistent approach in delivering improvement

5 Implement effective governance arrangements for the work of the CYPP to ensure that all services for children and young people in Torfaen are managed appropriately

In order to bring about the necessary improvements in a timely manner, the authority should review its post inspection action plan (PIAP) and increase the pace and depth of change in order to address the recommendations from the LAESCYP inspection of 2011. In particular the authority should:

Make sure the arrangements for delivering school improvement services challenge and support all schools effectively and support all learners and those in secondary schools in particular; and Improve the use of outcome measures for self evaluation and reporting by the education service, and partnership bodies in order to plan services better, to monitor performance more accurately, and to hold individual services more to account.

Additional issues were identified in both the Estyn 2011 Inspection Report and the subsequent 2013 monitoring letter. These have been grouped under the following headings: Increase the pace and depth of change; Make better use of statutory powers; Ensure the Local Authority carries out a more robust role in monitoring performance

in schools; Prioritise the strategic planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of Additional Learning Needs (ALN) service; Continue to address surplus places;.

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WAO REVIEW OF THE GWENT FRAILTY PROGRAMME

DATE NOTED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE DECEMBER 2012

OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES

TARGET DATE OF UPDATE TO AUDIT FOR ASSURANCE PURPOSES JANUARY 2017(FOLLOW UP REPORT RECEIVED FROM WAO JANUARY 2016 )


1Create a single suite of comparative performance information across Gwent Frailty based upon measures of outcomes for users, costs and sustainability. Develop consistent performance baselines against indicators

2 Develop a framework for joint scrutiny of Gwent Frailty across councils, supported by the Gwent Frailty dashboard performance reports, which will also support scrutiny by the Health Board.

3 Agree criteria for referral to, and acceptance by Gwent Frailty to target services more accurately at the intended user group. Engage with GPs and hospital clinicians to ensure referral systems are not bypassed and that referrals to Gwent Frailty are appropriate.

4 Address issues identified in the Gwent Frailty review of SPA’s first year of operation, including compliance with referral procedures; improving: SPA functionality; calls handling; records access; information processing; and also training and development for CRT and SPA staff as well as referrers.

5 Map out financial plans and demand projections beyond the initial three year plan for Gwent Frailty, to ensure it is sustainable.

6Undertake the review of Gwent Frailty and CRTs in operation anticipated for the end of year one, to evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches to delivering the service and identify the impact upon Gwent Frailty and its users of: variations in services within Gwent Frailty; and issues and constraints within the wider health and social care system, including seven day and out of hours working.

7 Undertake a fundamental review of the IT programme intended to support Gwent Frailty implementation, encompassing issues including: hardware; software; system integration; data capture; reporting; project scope; and progress.

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CARE AND SOCIAL SERVICES INSPECTORATE WALES (CSSIW) ANNUAL LETTER

DATE NOTED AND REFERRED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE RECEIVED ANNUALLY – 2013/14 FEEDBACK (RECEIVED BY FULL COUNCIL DECEMBER 2014)



AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

2012/13 Specific areas for improvement identified in the report -

Implementation of more preventative and early intervention services for children and families. Evidence of care planning at first placements for children in care. Care planning and permanence planning. Improve “marketing” and uptake of direct payments. Continue to address the high numbers of looked after children, ensuring that there is sufficient capacity to take action to revoke court orders in a timely way where

it is appropriate for an order to be discharged. Ensure that appropriate skills and resources are available to deliver essential and specialist training to the workforce. Implement recommendations made by the WAO to strengthen internal quality assurance and performance measures.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION REPORT 2013/14 (PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2014) Specific areas for improvement identified in the report. The council should: Make more progress on the proposed integrated mental health service. Consider why the levels of looked after children remains high. Review and make a decision about the future of Family Focus. Improve connectivity of Flying Start with the preventative agenda. Review the level of referrals in children’s services that did not proceed to initial assessment. Review the level of support and information to carers and consider the impact of reduction in service. Progress work in relation to strategic commissioning in children’s services based on identification of unmet need. Ensure appropriate information, advice and support is available for carers in the light of changes to eligibility criteria. Improve performance around Disabled Facilities Grants. Ensure the accuracy of management information in relation to children’s safeguarding matters. Take action to ensure the uptake of direct payments moves at a faster pace. Closely monitor the financial pressures which it faces and the affect on its ambition to drive forward the integration of health and social care services.

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WAO REVIEW - YOUNG PEOPLE NOT IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT OR TRAINING (LOCAL FEEDBACK)

DATE NOTED AND REFERRED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 2014



POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION

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The Council should consider:

• What can be done to ensure that the economic and social costs of NEETs are fully understood, in order for the benefits of investment to be properly recognised?

• How can the Council ensure that it monitors technological changes in order to take full advantage of the opportunities that they may yield, in this area?

• How can the NEETs agenda be incorporated, as a cross cutting theme, within other Council strategies and plans (for example, regeneration and the work of the Adult Learning Network)?

• How can the data available and an evidence base of 'what works' be used more effectively to underpin plans and practice?

• What needs to be done to improve the quality of data?

• What needs to be done to ensure that there is clarity, across the Council, as to who is responsible for leading in this area?

• What needs to be done to reduce ambiguity in terms of the role that partner agencies need to play? How can the effectiveness of partnership working be assessed?

• How can local employers be more involved in both the planning and delivery of changes?

• What arrangements are needed to support the ready tracking of young people, particularly post 18?

• How can the voice of the young person be central to the planning of service and evaluation of what works?

• Where employment is available, what can be done to 'sell' the opportunities where it is thought to be of low status?

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WAO REVIEW OF WHISTLEBLOWING

DATE NOTED AND REFERRED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE DECEMBER 2014

OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING RESOURCES & CORPORATE BUSINESS



1 Review and update the Corporate and Schools' Policy to ensure the Council has one well written and clear policy in place which is valid for all service areas, and the agencies for advice are valid and up to date

2 Introduce arrangements to monitor and evaluate the whistleblowing policy, including officer and member scrutiny

3 Ensure whistleblowing training is provided to all staff and members, both how to report and investigate cases

4 Develop a communications strategy for making staff aware of the updates and general arrangements

5 Introduce methods of checking staff awareness

6 Review and test compliance - update and change the policy based on these results.

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WAO REVIEW OF LOCAL AUTHORITY ARRANGEMENTS TO SUPPORT SAFEGUARDING OF CHILDREN

DATE NOTED AND REFERRED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE JUNE 2015

OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING JOINT MEETING OF ALL OVERVIEW $ SCRUTINY COMMITTEES

TARGET DATE OF UPDATE TO AUDIT FOR ASSURANCE PURPOSES JUNE 2016


1 Ensure there is a cohesive and consistent approach to safeguarding across the Council which covers all services that regularly come into contact with children.

2 Develop a Corporate Safeguarding Policy that clearly specifies roles, responsibilities and procedures for safeguarding.

3 Ensure appropriate and timely action is taken to address significant risks and under performance.

4 Develop a Council wide safe recruitment policy for staff and volunteers who work with children.

5 Ensure all elected members and staff who come into contact with children on a regular basis receive training on safeguarding and child protection issues and the Councils corporate policy on safeguarding

WAO REVIEW OF CORPORATE SAFEGUARDING ARRANGEMENTS IN WELSH COUNCILS

DATE NOTED AND REFERRED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE OCTOBER 2015

OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ALL OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEES

TARGET DATE OF UPDATE TO AUDIT FOR ASSURANCE PURPOSES OCTOBER 2016


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Improve corporate leadership and comply with Welsh Government policy on safeguarding through: • The appointment of a senior lead officer who is accountable for safeguarding and protecting children and young people with corporate responsibilities for planning

improvements; • The appointment of a lead member for safeguarding; and • Regularly disseminating and updating information on these appointments to all staff and stakeholders.

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2 Ensure there is a corporate-wide policy on safeguarding covering all council services to provide a clear strategic direction and clear lines of accountability across the council

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Strengthen safe recruitment of staff and volunteers by:

• Ensuring that Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and compliance with safe recruitment policies cover all services that come into contact with children; • Creating an integrated corporate compliance system to record and monitor compliance levels on DBS checks; and • Requiring safe recruitment practices amongst partners in the third sector and for volunteers who provide services commissioned and/or used by the council which are

underpinned by a contract or service level agreement.

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Ensure all relevant staff, members and partners understand their safeguarding responsibilities by:

• Ensuring safeguarding training is mandated and coverage extended to all relevant council service areas, and is included as standard on induction programmes; • Creating a corporate-wide system to identify, track and monitor compliance on attending safeguarding training in all council departments, elected members, schools,

governors and volunteers; and • Requiring relevant staff in partner organisations who are commissioned to work for the council in delivering services to children and young people to undertake

safeguarding training.

5 In revising guidance, the Welsh Government should clarify its expectations of local authorities regarding the roles and responsibilities of the designated officer within education services, and the named person at senior management level responsible for promoting the safeguarding.

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Improve accountability for corporate safeguarding by regularly reporting safeguarding issues and assurances to scrutiny committee(s) against a balanced and council-wide set of performance information covering:

• Benchmarking and comparisons with others; • Conclusions of internal and external audit/inspection reviews; • Service-based performance data; • Key personnel data such as safeguarding training, and DBS recruitment checks; and • The performance of contractors and commissioned services on compliance with council safeguarding responsibilities.

7 Establish a rolling programme of internal audit reviews to undertake systems testing and compliance reviews on the council’s safeguarding practices.

8 Ensure the risks associated with safeguarding are considered at both a corporate and service level in developing and agreeing risk management plans across the council.

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WAO - AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT ON MANAGING EARLY DEPARTURES ACROSS WELSH PUBLIC BODIES

DATE NOTED AND REFERRED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE APRIL 2015


TARGET DATE OF UPDATE TO AUDIT FOR ASSURANCE PURPOSES APRIL 2016

ACCEPTED RECOMMENDATIONS / PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO THE LOCAL AUTHORITY

1 Public bodies should use business cases to support all individual early departures. Business cases should identify the cost and service delivery implications of the individual leaving and take account of relevant wider workforce planning.

2 Working with local government, the Welsh Government should seek agreement on some common principles to underpin any early departure arrangements arising from local government mergers.

3Ensure that councillors or board members have the opportunity to examine the value for money of early departure schemes through established scrutiny/governance arrangements. Ensure that councillors and/or board members approve higher value packages, such as those for senior management. Consider using internal audit to provide assurance on overall management of early departure schemes.

4 Public bodies should ensure where settlement agreements are used, their records clearly identify whether a package includes an enhancement payment and if so, its value and the reason for the enhancement payment.

5 Public bodies should give due consideration to the equality impact of all early departure arrangements, in particular where a public body is running a specific scheme covering multiple possible departures.

6 Public bodies should monitor and report as part of their internal governance arrangements on expected and achieved savings as a result of early departures. This will help inform future cost reduction plans

7 Public bodies should review their record keeping for early departure arrangements, so that they can more readily identify key information including the number and costs of early departures in a given period, payback period information based on salary and employers’ National Insurance and pension costs, and settlement agreements.

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WAO REVIEW DELIVERING WITH LESS – THE IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND CITIZENS


OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING SAFER COMMUNITIES



1

Revise the best practice standards to: Align the work of environmental health with national strategic priorities; Identify the wider contribution of environmental health in delivering strategic priorities of Welsh Government; Identify the benefit and impact of environmental health services on protecting citizens.

2Provide scrutiny chairs and members with the necessary skills and support to effectively scrutinise and challenge service performance, savings plans and the impact of budget reductions.

3

Improve engagement with local residents over planned budget cuts and changes in services by: Consulting with residents on planned changes in services and using the findings to shape decisions; Outlining which services are to be cut and how these cuts will impact on residents; and Setting out plans for increasing charges or changing standards of service.

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Improve efficiency and value for money by: Identifying the statutory and non-statutory duties of council environmental health services; Agreeing environmental health priorities for the future and the role of councils in delivering these; determining an ‘acceptable standard of performance’ for

environmental health services (upper and lower) and publicise these to citizens; Improving efficiency and maintaining performance to the agreed level.

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Improve strategic planning by: Identifying, collecting and analysing financial, performance and demand/need data on environmental health services; Analysing collected data to inform and understand the relationship between ‘cost: benefit: impact’ and use this intelligence to underpin decisions on

the future of council environmental health services. Agree how digital information can be used to plan and develop environmental health services in the future.

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CSSIW - NATIONAL INSPECTION SAFEGUARDING & CARE PLANNING OF LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN AND CARE LEAVERS WHO EXHIBIT VULNERABLE OR RISKY BEHAVIOURS

DATE NOTED AND REFERRED BY AUDIT COMMITTEE JANUARY 2015



AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:

1

Did the authority effectively discharge its Corporate Parenting roles and responsibilities promoting stability, welfare and safety of looked after children and care leavers?

The effectiveness of service planning and identification of gaps in service provision could have benefited from a more cohesive collated profile of children and young people presenting with risky behaviours and/or complex and challenging needs being shared across partner agencies.

We did not see evidence of systems to evaluate the effectiveness of the authority’s permanency policy or commissioning strategy. Current documentation did not include a contemporary analysis of the needs of looked after children or care leavers nor did it outline what actions the authority had planned to manage future need. We noted however the more recently developed Market Position Statement for Children & Family Services in Torfaen as a positive step towards addressing this deficit.

Although the authority had some good mechanisms in place to seek the views and opinions of children and young people about their care, for example the Leaving Care Forum and LAC review consultation booklets we saw little evidence of how this feedback was used to plan and develop future services.

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Were care and pathway plans effectively informed by relevant assessments, including explicit risk assessments which supported a comprehensive response to the needs and experiences of children and young people? There was a gap in appropriate services to meet the emotional, psychological health or development needs of some children and young people, including those

associated with risky behaviours thus creating an over-reliance on social services. Specifically there is a recognised longstanding disconnect between the access threshold applied by CAMHS and the presenting emotional resilience needs of looked after children and care leavers.

The quality of care plans was variable. Most plans clearly articulated overarching objectives but very few of these were outcome focussed or clear about how risk was to be managed, within what timescales or by whom. The care plans of those children and young people who were looked after for long periods were often over-reliant on informal information exchange between professionals rather than updated written assessments; this was even in circumstances where there had been significant change.

Very few care plans explicitly included the child or young persons views nor had plans routinely been effectively shared with children and/or their families.

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CSSIW - NATIONAL INSPECTION SAFEGUARDING & CARE PLANNING OF LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN AND CARE LEAVERS WHO EXHIBIT VULNERABLE OR RISKY BEHAVIOURS

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Were operational procedures and systems in place that ensures responsive and co-ordinated action was taken to mitigate risk and achieve safe continuity of care? Risk assessments and on-going risk management arrangements, particularly when more than one agency was involved, needed to be more effectively recorded,

shared and coordinated. Discussion with staff and team managers suggested casework consultation about risk issues, including decision-making took place however we saw very little

evidence on case files to support this. Recording of this critical information could usefully be more explicitly prioritised by senior managers.

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Did independent Reviews and quality assurance arrangements promote safe care and best outcomes for young people? Independently contracted IRO did not appear to be formally supervised within the authority and it was not clear how their work was quality assured. IRO told us they were confident to challenge arrangements for children and young people although this was difficult to evidence from the case files we reviewed or

from discussions with social workers. Independently contracted IRO did not have access to the DRAIG system; this significantly impeded their ability to prepare for reviews in a timely manner. They were

reliant on hard copy reports from professionals on the day of meetings. This practice detracted from IRO capacity to routinely speak children and families immediately prior to review meetings. IRO capability to follow-up progress was also hampered by lack of access to ICT.

Frequency of tracking between review meetings by IRO was insufficient to ensure actions were completed and as such did not enhance the review process or help counter drift.

We saw some evidence of the authority’s commitment to consultation prior to review meetings but children and young people’s response to the offer of consultation was poor. The children and young people we spoke to told us that they preferred not to attend their reviews as these meetings made them feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. The reasons for this were often linked to the number of professionals attending the meeting and a perception that although they were invited to express their views these contributions weren’t valued.

Commissioning arrangements for children’s services were underdeveloped. Where services had been commissioned, monitoring arrangements were generally confined to contractual matters rather than focussed on broader quality assurance metrics based around outcomes for children and young people.

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Did care and pathway planning effectively promote the rights and voice of the child?

Limitations on placement choice for the most challenging and complex children and young people, including appropriate move-on Accommodation for care leavers sometimes militated against meeting the child or young person’s wishes and feelings and simultaneously keeping them safe.

Despite good relationships with current social workers, too many children and young people raised the significant impact that changes of social workers and placements had on their ability to form trusting relationships.

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ESTYN REPORT – IMPROVING SCHOOLS THROUGH REGIONAL EDUCATION CONSORTIA




ACCEPTED RECOMMENDATIONS / PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO THE LOCAL AUTHORITY

1 R6 Support their regional consortium to develop medium-term business plans and ensure that all plans take account of the needs of their local schools

2 R7 Develop formal working arrangements between scrutiny committees in their consortium in order to scrutinise the work and impact of their regional consortium

WAO REPORT – ACHIEVING IMPROVEMENT IN SUPPORT TO SCHOOLS THROUGH REGIONAL EDUCATION CONSORTIA - AN EARLY VIEW


OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING LEANING COMMUNITIES



1

To clarify the nature and operation of consortia.

• The Welsh Government should take full account of the statutory responsibilities of local authorities, and take appropriate legal advice, when considering changes to the roles it expects of local authorities and the regional consortia.

• Welsh Government should update the National Model to be less prescriptive on the structure under joint committees or boards whilst maintaining a focus on outcomes.

• The Welsh Government and local authorities should develop and agree a consistent approach to the role of regional consortia and the Welsh Government in school improvement interventions so that all parties are clear what they should be involved in and responsible for.

• Local authorities should clarify whether consortia services are jointly provided or are commissioned services (services provided under joint-committee arrangements are jointly provided services and are not commissioned services).

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2 To focus on outcomes through medium-term planning. As any possible local authority re-organisation will not be fully implemented until 2020, the Welsh Government and regional consortia should develop three-year plans for the further development, scope, and funding of regional consortia linked to appropriate strategic objectives.

3

To develop more collaborative relationships for the school improvement system

• The Welsh Government should develop the present ‘Review and Challenge’ approach (where the Welsh Government hold regional consortia to account) to establish a more collaborative but robust comprehensive ‘system review’ approach in which all partners in the system share progress, challenges and issues openly.

• Regional consortia should develop improved arrangements for sharing practice and supporting efficiency (for example, one consortium could take the lead on tackling an issue or have functional responsibility for the development of a policy).

• The Welsh Government, local authorities and regional consortia should recognise the interdependency of all partners fulfilling their school improvement roles and agree an approach to: - information sharing and consultation about developments related to school improvement; - developing collaborative relationships of shared accountability; and - undertaking system wide reviews, and an alignment of the understanding and position of regional consortia across all Welsh Government relevant strategies.

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To build effective leadership and attract top talent

• The Welsh Government should work with local authority leaders to improve capacity and capability in the system to support strategic development and effective governance.

• The Welsh Government and local authorities should collaborate to improve the attractiveness of education leadership roles to attract the most talented leaders for the school improvement system.

• Local authorities should collaborate to support the professional development of senior leaders and to ensure appropriate performance management arrangements are in place for senior leaders.

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To improve the effectiveness of governance and management of regional consortia. Local authorities and their regional consortia should:

• Improve their use of self-evaluation of their performance and governance arrangements and use this to support business planning and their annual reviews of governance to inform their annual governance statements;

• Improve performance management including better business planning, use of clear and measurable performance measures, and the assessment of value for money;

• Make strategic risk management an integral part of their management arrangements and report regularly at joint committee or board level; • Develop their financial management arrangements to ensure that budgeting, financial monitoring and reporting cover all relevant income and expenditure, including

grants funding spent through local authorities; • Develop joint scrutiny arrangements of the overall consortia as well as scrutiny of performance by individual authorities, which may involve establishment of a joint

scrutiny committee or co-ordinated work by local authority scrutiny committees; • Ensure the openness and transparency of consortia decision making and arrangements; • Recognise and address any potential conflicts of interest; and where staff have more than one employer, regional consortia should ensure lines of accountability

are clear and all staff are aware of the roles undertaken; and • Develop robust communications strategies for engagement with all key stakeholders.

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WAO NATIONAL FINANCIAL RESILIENCE REPORT





1

Councils should ensure that their corporate plan:• is the core driver for the service plans and other supporting strategies including workforce, information technology and capital expenditure;• maintains at least a three to five year forward view and is aligned with the medium term financial plan and other supporting strategies; and• should clearly articulate the desired role of the council in five years – the model for delivering priority services and the infrastructure and resources needed to deliver

future priorities within available finances.

2 Councils should ensure that their medium term financial plan identify the major financial risks and key assumptions and senior officers and councillors should subject them to effective scrutiny and challenge before adopting the plan.

3 Councils need to ensure that funding deficits are accurately projected and fully reconciled to detailed savings plans for each year over the life of the medium term financial plan.

4 Councils should regularly review the adequacy of the financial assurance arrangements that underpin the delivery of annual savings plans, including the level of scrutiny and challenge provided by councillors.

5 Councils should ensure that they have a comprehensive reserves strategy that outlines the specific purpose of accumulated useable reserves as part of their Medium term Financial Plan.

6 Councils should develop corporate wide policies on income generation.

7 Councils should strengthen budget setting and monitoring arrangements to ensure financial resilience; and review the coverage and effectiveness of their internal and external assurance financial systems and controls to ensure they are fit for purpose and provide early warning of weaknesses in key systems.

8 Councils must review their finance teams and ensure that they have sufficient capacity and the right skills to meet future demands.

9 Council officers need to equip councillors with the knowledge and skills they need to deliver effective governance and challenge by extending training opportunities and producing high quality management information.

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WAO LOCAL FINANCIAL POSITION REPORT (TORFAEN)





1

The Council needs to ensure that its MTFP remains fit for purpose to respond to its future financial challenges. In particular the Council should ensure that: Its corporate priorities maintain at least a three to five-year forward view and the MTFP and other supporting strategies are aligned to this; It sets out clear plans for its proposed model for delivering each of its services in the future and the infrastructure and resources needed to deliver future

priorities within available finances; It sets out informed assumptions about the future trajectory of central funding in the absence of definitive guidance that includes appropriate scenario plans and

sensitivity analysis in light of these uncertainties; and Savings plans are developed over the full period of the MTFP, giving the Council greater scope to consider and reflect the impact of savings from longer-term

transformation projects in addition to the annual savings measures identified.

2 The Council should develop clear corporate policies and plans on income generation with a view to identifying further opportunities to increase revenue streams across the Council and relieve future financial pressures.

3

The Council should review the adequacy of its arrangements that underpin the delivery of annual savings plans, including: The need for clear and separate reporting of delivery of savings plan achieved from its performance against council budgets; The extent and frequency of reporting to members on progress against savings plans; The level of scrutiny and challenge provided by members on delivery of savings plans; and Ensuring transparent reporting of any alternative projects and savings measures that are developed by service areas where initial plans are not achieved.

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WAO REPORT – SERVICE ASSESSMENT OF WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICES


OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING CLEANER COMMUNITIES



1

Develop a single integrated strategy for its Waste Management Service. The Council should: Set out a long-term vision for the service, beyond meeting Welsh Government targets. Develop a single integrated strategy which sets out:

- How the vision will be achieved; - What infrastructure is required; - How it will collaborate with others and its approach to contracting out; and

How it plans to educate residents and take appropriate enforcement action.

2Strengthen the governance and challenge arrangements. The Council should: • Clarify and apply the respective roles and accountabilities of officers, members and the Scrutiny function; and • Where appropriate, utilise the Scrutiny function to inform the decision-making process and not just post-decision review.

3

More actively promote the Council’s service standards and improve data quality relating to them. The Council should: • Ensure the importance of waste service standards are clearly communicated to staff so that they have an understanding of their role in these; • Ensure that performance against service standards is collated and reported in a timely manner; and • Report performance against the service standards and communicate the results to staff, members and citizens on a regular basis.

4Improve workforce planning and enforce consistent work practices across the service. The Council should: • Develop alternative options to manage its workforce and provide flexibility in order to meet demand and respond to unplanned staff absence; and • Develop and communicate appropriate policies regarding work practices and expectations for all operatives, and monitor adherence to these.

5Introduce service level agreements with fleet services for vehicle maintenance. The Council should: • Ensure that the service level agreements set out expectations on both parties; and • Make appropriate provision for alternatives in the event of delays.

6Improve the provision of contract monitoring information. The Council should:• Provide regular contract performance information to members; and • Utilise the performance information and Scrutiny function to inform future collaborations and contracting.

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WAO REPORT – SERVICE ASSESSMENT OF WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICES

7

Improve feedback to staff on performance. The Council should: • Ensure all staff have a regular review of performance; • Provide channels through which individual staff members can feedback to their managers in relation to performance issues; and • Ensure that the information gathered through this process is used to inform service improvement.

8Improve communication on waste management with residents. The Council should:

• Develop systematic and regular communication with residents relating to the service, any changes to it and relevant expectations; and • Target the communication at those groups who are least likely to be already engaged.

9Strengthen risk management arrangements. The Council should:

• Ensure that the corporate risk register is appropriately linked to the service risk register; and • Ensure that risk registers are up to date and reflect the totality of risks across the service.

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PART TWO - PROGRESS UPDATES ON PREVIOUS IMPROVEMENT PROPOSALS (MONITORED BY THIS AUDIT COMMITTEE)

IMPROVEMENT PLANNING

Proposal 1 – WAO 2013 Second Improvement Assessment Letter (November 2013)Service areas should formally document how they have considered and used comparative information and reflected on best practice and high performers to deliver continuous improvement.

Activity to be undertaken Reason for the activity Timescale of the activity Person delivering this activity

Extend the Council’s Annual Performance Report to include information on how service areas compare their performance to identify best practice.

To ensure the outcomes of any comparisons are formally documented as part of the assessment of the Council's

performance

October 2014 Corporate Improvement Team

New action added January 2014 No update required as yet.

Progress update as at May 2014This information will be requested as part of each Service Area’s annual progress update and self evaluation of the past year. It will then be included as part of the report to the joint meeting of the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committees in July 2014 and referenced in Council’s Annual Performance Report when it is published in October 2014.

Progress update as at August 2014As reported above, in July 2014, a joint meeting of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees received a progress update from each service area regarding their performance during the past financial year. This information is now being used to prepare the Council’s Annual Performance Report for the 2013/14 financial year. This will be presented to Council in October 2014 for approval.

Progress update as at November 2014As described above the Council’s Annual Performance Report was received by Council in October. During the 2015-16 Torfaen is trialling a new approach to service planning, the foundation of which will be a self evaluation framework. One aspect of this will be comparing the way we deliver services with others. This work will develop over the next couple of years.

Progress update as at March 2015 We have now received feedback from our External Auditors on our 2013/14 Performance Report (published in October 2014). Feedback will be used to determine how to improve the 2014/15 Performance Report.

Progress update as at June 2015 No further progress to report. Next report will be published in October 2015.

Progress update as at September 2015The Council’s 2014/15 Performance Report will be considered by Council on 20 October 2015. This report references the Council’s new self evaluation arrangements and recognises that more work needs to be done to refine this process to ensure it uses comparable performance information to effectively inform future service and financial planning exercises.

Progress update as at January 2016Feedback has recently been received from the WAO on the Council’s latest published Annual Performance Report. The identified areas for improvement will be considered in conjunction with the lessons learnt from the Council’s own self evaluation pilot to determine the most appropriate comparative performance information to publish to citizens.

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WAO Statutory Recommendation – 2015/16 Improvement PlanThe Council must ensure that it publishes its Improvement Plan as soon as is reasonably practicable after the start of the financial year to which it relates.


Amend service planning timetable to ensure Improvement Plan can be published earlier in the year.

To ensure the Council can meet its statutory duties under the Local

Government (Wales) Measure 2009January 2016 Corporate Improvement Team

New action added January 2016

A report proposing the Council’s actions to address the Auditor General’s statutory recommendation was received by Full Council in September 2015.http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/documents/s6414/WAO%20Statutory%20Recommendation.pdf?LLL=0

The Council has amended its service planning cycle so it meets its duties under the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 in the future. Draft Service and Team Plans for2016/17 have already been prepared and these are currently being internally challenged to ensure they clearly articulate the impact the proposed activities will have on the services provided.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Area for Improvement 4 – Annual Improvement Report (February 2011)Identify minimum service standards for all service areas against which performance can be monitored.

Activity to be undertaken Reason for the activity Timescale of the activity Team / Person delivering this activity

To work with Service Areas to review levels of performance for each of the Council’s statutory and regulatory functions

To establish and define an acceptable level of performance for the Council’s

statutory and regulatory functions

September /October / November

2011Corporate Improvement Team

Progress update as at June 2011 No progress as yet. Will commence as part of the 2012/13 budget planning process

Progress update as at November 2011 This work is on going and will form part of the work associated with the Council’s 2012/13 budget setting process and medium term financial planning work. Where service standards need to reduce, the minimum standard acceptable to the Council will need to be set and communicated to citizens.

http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/documents/s6414/WAO%20Statutory%20Recommendation.pdf?LLL=0

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Progress update as at June 2012 This work is continuing. Some very basic service standards have been published in the Council’s 2012/13 Forward Facing Plan. Development work will continue during the year. The Wales Audit Office has included some support for the Council in their 2012/13 Regulatory Plan.

Progress update as at December 2012The work with the WAO has yet to commence.However, it is anticipated this work will be completed in time to include more detailed information for citizens in the Council’s 2013/14 Forward Facing Plan, due to be published in the first quarter of the 2013/14 financial year.

Progress update as at July 2013

The WAO have recently completed their work with the Council to determine a methodology for determining service standards. The WAO focussed their review on our waste services and that service area is now preparing an action plan to address the recommendations made. It is recognised that defining the Council’s preferred level of services for citizens is ever more important given the financial outlook. This work will be progressed further as part of the Council’s four year fundamental review of spending and priorities.

Progress update as at November 2013

An update on the development of service standards in waste services is provided in section one of this action plan. All other service areas are currently considering their levels of performance as part of the formulation of the Council’s 2014/15 budget, particularly in light of their identified pressures and proposed mitigation measures. These measures were scrutinised by a joint meeting of the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committees in November 2013 together with the potential impact on service delivery.http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/CouncillorsAndCommittees/Meetings/MeetingofAllScrutinyCommittees/2013/11/20/Agenda/Agenda-20-11-2013.pdfOnce the 2014/15 budget is agreed, a comprehensive communications campaign will be undertaken to ensure citizens are aware of the levels of services that are going to be provided in the year ahead.

Progress update as at January 2014 Service standards are still currently being developed for waste services – a further update on the progress made is provided in part one of this action plan. Further reports on the setting of the Council’s 2014/15 budget have been received by both Cabinet and Council in January 2014.

Progress update as at May 2014The Executive Member for Resources undertook an engagement campaign throughout the formulation of the Council’s 2014/15 budget, which highlighted the impact the budget decisions would have on Council services. This active engagement with citizens will continue as part of the Council’s on going financial and service planning processes for the 2015/16 year.

Progress update as at August 2014 This work is being progressed as part of the Council’s 2015/16 service and financial planning and medium term financial planning.

Progress update as at November 2014 This work is being progressed as part of the Council’s 2015/16 service and financial planning and medium term financial planning.

Progress update as at March 2015 No further update at this time.

Progress update as at June 2015 This work is currently being progressed as part of the Council’s service and financial planning and medium term financial planning processes.

Progress update as at September 2015 No further update at this time.

Progress update as at January 2016

Work to agree levels of service will be progressed as part of the business planning processes to support the delivery of the Council’s new Corporate Plan.A report will be received by Council on 26 January 2016 seeking agreement on the content and wording of the new corporate plan priorities forTorfaen County Borough Council.http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/documents/s8427/Corporate%20Plan.pdf?LLL=0

http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/CouncillorsAndCommittees/Meetings/MeetingofAllScrutinyCommittees/2013/11/20/Agenda/Agenda-20-11-2013.pdf

http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/documents/s8427/Corporate%20Plan.pdf?LLL=0

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Proposal 1 – WAO Informal feedback – 2015/16 Improvement Plan A number of key outcome indicators, and supporting performance indicators had no target set for 2015/16. Instead, the Improvement Plan states that the indicators are demand led. Where key outcome and performance indicators are demand led, and targets cannot be set, this suggests that the Council is unable to take any action to improve its performance in these areas. Therefore, these outcome and performance indicators are not appropriate measures to support the Council in the discharging of its duties under the Measure


Review performance measures and set targets for all measures published to support the Council’s agreed improvement objectives

To ensure the Council can meet its statutory duties under the Local

Government (Wales) Measure 2009April 2016 Corporate Improvement Team

New action added January 2016

The issue was discussed in detail by the Council’s Leadership Team and Cabinet at the Corporate Performance Assessment Session held in November 2015. This year, all draft service plans are being internally challenged to ensure the performance measures selected by the service areas are appropriate to demonstrate the impact of their activities on the Council’s selected outcomes and key improvement priorities. This work also includes the setting of targets for all service plan performance measures.

COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT

Recommendation 1 – Good Governance Diagnostic (October 2009) New approaches to communication with citizens being established, but need to be clear about how best to communicate, and the way in which citizens can

influence policy and decisions – e.g. MyTorfaen – limited information currently and not formally launched. (Key Recommendation) How do citizens and stakeholders find out about strategic decisions?

Officer survey identified that 55% of respondents felt stakeholders rarely or only sometimes found it easy to find out about strategic decisions; Need to improve citizen engagement with council, cabinet & scrutiny.

Some concerns about links between front and back office – processes can take some time to deal with.Survey responses less positive about using stakeholder feedback on quality of services.


Utilise Torfaen Talks and The Word to provide early insight within the public domain of forthcoming key decisions and ensure additional context and evidence can be provided.

To engage and reflect public views in the decision making processes

On GoingThroughout the year

Head of Strategic Services

Head of Communications

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Progress update as at June 2011

Torfaen Talks is distributed to every household in Torfaen six times a year and the Word is distributed to Torfaen staff every quarter. The publications are widely read and provide citizens and staff with a wide range of information. The Corporate Work Programme, currently being assimilated, will offer us the capability to notify citizens of forthcoming decisions well in advance of the decisions being taken and will provide a further opportunity to offer appropriate background information about the reasons for forthcoming decisions. This additional engagement capability will be in place shortly.

Progress update as at November 2011Distribution of Torfaen Talks and The Word remains the same.The launch of the electronic decision management system is still awaited. Once this is operational, additional engagement on key decisions will be introduced.

Progress update as at June 2012 The launch of the electronic decision management system is imminent (August 2012). As soon as this system goes live, additional information will be provided to citizens on future decisions.

Progress update as at December 2012 The Decision Management System is now live with decisions being taken by the Executive Member for Resources. All remaining Executive Members and Scrutiny Members will now be trained to use the system before it is rolled out to other decision-making bodies

Progress update as at July 2013The decision management system is in use in the Resources Service Area and is now being expanded into Communities and Neighbourhood Services who are currently operating within a test environment. A commitment has been made by the Deputy Chief Executive that the system will be in use across the Council by Christmas 2013. Progress is on target.


The acquisition of a Committee and Decision Management System (Modern.gov) by the Strategic Services Unit in October provided the Council with an ICT solution that not only manages decisions (as per the DMS) but the entire democratic process. Having realised upon receipt of the tender from Modern Mindset Ltd, the extensive nature of the Modern.gov system that the Council had procured, Leadership Team agreed to commit no further resources to the progression of the DMS initiative. The rollout of Modern.gov is now the focus of both the Democratic Services Team and SRS Development and Infrastructure resources. The Modern.gov system will be fully operational early in the new year providing a secure, automated environment for Agendas; Minutes; Forward Plans; Document Packs; Decision Tracking; Call-In; Members Websites; Registers of Interests; Election Results; Webcasting integration; e-Petitions; web based calendars and smartphone and tablet applications. A Members Seminar has been proposed for the 20th January by which point the Torfaen environment should have taken shape.


The implementation of Modern.gov is progressing well. The server infrastructure has been procured and installed and the system will be configured by the end of January 2014. Historical committee information (reports / agendas etc) along with agenda templates have been uploaded. A training schedule is being prepared that will train Democratic Services staff (System Admin), Report Authors and those of general interest. It is expected that the system will be launched in either late Feb or early March 2014. The proposed seminar on the 20th January did not take place but Members will be invited to a training course as the implementation progresses.

Progress update as at May 2014Our work to implement Modern.gov (http://www.moderngov.co.uk/default.aspx) has continued. Internal officers have now been added to the system as users and the external committee distribution lists are almost complete. As soon as these tasks are complete we will go live with publishing agendas/minutes. Training for all service areas is currently being planned and will be delivered in the near future.

http://www.moderngov.co.uk/default.aspx

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Progress update as at August 2014

The Modern.Gov system is now live. It will support its first meeting, the Pensions Committee, on the 9th September 2014 and will extend to supporting all committees from this point forward. The Democratic Services Officers (DSOs) have all been trained in its use.The system has been integrated with the Council’s web site and Intranet site using existing style sheets, preserving the user experience. At present the system is populated with reports by the DSOs but these tasks will shift to service areas as report authors and service contacts are trained in its use. This will create capacity within Democratic Services. Alongside the task of training the service areas, work is now underway to migrate the Resources Decision Making platform from the Decision Management System (DMS) into Modern.Gov. Once this is live, all Exec Member and Chief Officer decision making will also run through the system. The remaining modules of the system, beyond Agenda and Decision Management, will then be implemented.


Implementation of Modern.gov is progressing well. The server infrastructure has been procured and installed and is now fully operational. Historical committee information has been uploaded and is now available on the Web. All Democratic Services staff have received training (System Admin) and all agendas and minutes are now published to the website using modern.gov. Report Authors and Departmental Admin Officers will be receiving training in the New Year so that all Committee reports can be uploaded directly onto the system. This will streamline administrative duties around committee management. The Resources Service Area is currently piloting a decision management process whereby members of the relevant scrutiny committee are given the opportunity to comment and call-in Executive Member decisions prior to the Executive Member making the decision. This will eventually be rolled out to all service areas. Members will be invited to training courses as the implementation progresses.As we continually expand our knowledge and experience of the system, our use of modern.gov will grow considerably, mainly by: Co-ordinating internal meetings such as Departmental Head’s Meetings Developing the decision management system by rolling it out to all service areas and allowing members to comment prior to decision making Allowing elected members to use the full range of tools available to them Publishing nominations and election results as they are announced Managing members’ appointments to outside bodies Using the report management system to its full potential and providing committee work programmes Further developing engagement, particularly around online e-petitions

Progress update as at March 2015

The Resources Service Area is now live on the new Modern.Gov decision-making process and all Scrutiny Members are trained and notified of forthcoming decisions to be taken by the Executive Member for Resources & Corporate Governance. Social Care & Housing and Neighbourhood Services are programmed to begin taking decisions this way next and training has been scheduled. Leadership Team are using the system to manage agenda’s and the distribution of supporting information such as reports and presentations. This is an example of an internal meeting making use of the system. The progression of devolved agenda management has also begun with single points of contact being identified within each service area to act as the responsible party for progressing departmental key decisions. This will provide further opportunities to devolve the creation of Executive Forward Plans as a direct result of the devolved agenda management.


The new Modern.Gov executive decision-making process is currently being rolled out to all service areas. All Scrutiny Members are in the process of being trained to use the system to its full potential. A facility for officer decisions to be uploaded by each service area and made available to all members is available within the system. Utilisation of this facility is subject to approval of constitutional changes.Training is in progress across all service areas for the submission of forthcoming decisions for Council and Cabinet which forms part of managing the Executive forward plans across each service area within the council. A report management facility is now available within the decision management function. Officers are being encouraged to use this facility upon submission of forth coming decisions. In support of this ongoing advice and assistance continues to be available from the democratic/members services team.

Progress update as at September 2015

Progress to roll out the use of the Modern.gov system across the Council has continued. All service areas are now submitting their forthcoming decisions for Council and Cabinet which forms part of managing the Executive forward plans across each service area within the council. A report management facility is now available and is being used within the decision management function.

A link to the Executive Forward Plan is now available to view on the Council’s website.http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=134&RD=0&bcr=1&LLL=0

This information is also being used on the Council’s social media channels to inform citizens of forthcoming decisions.

Progress update as at January 2016 The activities outlined above have continued to be promoted and embedded across the Council. Modern.gov is now being used by all service areas, but support is still needed to ensure its use is fully understood by all before the potential of the system is realised.

http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=134&RD=0&bcr=1&LLL=0

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DEMOCRACY GENERAL & DECISION MAKING

Recommendation 1 – Good Governance Diagnostic (October 2009) New approaches to communication with citizens being established, but need to be clear about how best to communicate, and the way in which citizens can

influence policy and decisions – e.g. MyTorfaen – limited information currently and not formally launched. (Key Recommendation) How do citizens and stakeholders find out about strategic decisions?

Officer survey identified that 55% of respondents felt stakeholders rarely or only sometimes found it easy to find out about strategic decisions; Need to improve citizen engagement with council, cabinet & scrutiny.

Some concerns about links between front and back office – processes can take some time to deal with.Survey responses less positive about using stakeholder feedback on quality of services.

Recommendation 2 – Good Governance Diagnostic (October 2009) Scrutiny Committees have not always held the organisation to account – quality varies:

Officer survey identified that for 73% of respondents only sometimes are the non executives effective at holding decision makers to account and 9% did not know;

Scrutiny Committees do not always have sufficient time to scrutinise all issues in the detail members would like. New Scrutiny Committees - will need clarity about cross-cutting roles and scrutiny of service performance (Key Recommendation 2). Member training and engagement - by all members. Clarifying externally the role of members – not always apparent to partners how things work and who does what.

Area for Improvement 4 – Preliminary Corporate AssessmentPut training in place to support inexperienced members to effectively discharge their remit.

Recommendation 4 – Good Governance Diagnostic (October 2009) Council prepared to take some difficult decisions – but decision making process can be difficult. Scrutiny and non-executive work is not seen as effective in policy formulation and fostering innovation:

64% of officer respondents thought that non-executives are rarely or only sometimes effective in assisting in development of policies. Role of audit committee in managing / monitoring risk – is questioning but not challenging (Key Recommendation 5): 33% of member survey respondents did not know whether risk management is used effectively.

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Launch the Councils Decision Management System to provide enhanced forward planning capability

To address WAO Regulatory Activity

To ensure elected members, citizens and staff are aware of forthcoming decisions

long in advance of them being taken

April 2010

On goingHead of Strategic Services

Prepare and update a monthly rolling Corporate Work Programme based on managing the impending decisions via various decision making bodies i.e. council, cabinet and links to pre decision scrutiny.

Enables a corporate overview of all impending decisions

Ensure coordinated and policy led decision making

April 2010

On goingHead of Strategic Services

To consider the benefits of extending the number of meetings run digitally and provide appropriate training to members.

To increase the number of members who are IT enabled

To improve the Council’s democratic function

Throughout the year


All lead officers andDemocracy and Scrutiny officers

Increase the use of pre decision scrutiny as part of the decision-making process by linking scrutiny work programmes to the corporate work programme and executive forward plans.

To ensure policy development and decisions are based on sound evidence

and information

April 2010

On going


Improvement & Scrutiny Team


The Council has been developing its Decision Management System over the last two years. The system is entirely bespoke and has been tailored to the Councils decision-making processes. The processes themselves are both complex and incredibly diverse and care has deliberately been taken to map them comprehensively and carefully. The system will ultimately support the full range of decisions being taken from Chief Officer right up to full Council. When introducing a system with this degree of prominence and visibility it is of the utmost importance we can be sure the system has undergone a rigorous testing regime and is entirely robust. At present, the system is undergoing a number of final refinements before it enters the user testing phase in full. This process will need to include a period of parallel running using live reports and decisions. Should the user testing prove successful, the Democracy and Scrutiny Team, Elected Members, Chief Officers and their Senior Managers and support staff will undergo training before the system is made live and launched.


The technical aspects of the application are now fully developed, subject to a number of final tweaks currently being introduced to ensure ease of use. A usability review undertaken by Corporate Communications has resulted in a number of design enhancements also being proposed and subsequently introduced. The system has been demonstrated to the Resources and Corporate Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Committee were impressed with the system and felt that its introduction would meet the needs of the Council and enhance the democratic process. All bar one Executive Member has received a demonstration of the DMS. All are comfortable and the system will be launched first into the Exec Member Resources decision-making in January 2012.

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The usability review combined with a number of technical enhancements identified during the final testing phase has delayed the implementation of this system. The additional time taken has not been wasted and has enabled a new version to be developed that is a significant step forward on the last one, with a fully functional user interface. This second version is now nearing the end of its testing period and being introduced into the live environment. It is anticipated the system will be operational in August 2012.

Progress update as at December 2012 As previously stated, the Decision Management System is now live with decisions being taken by the Executive Member for Resources. All remaining Executive Members and Scrutiny Members will now be trained to use the system before it is rolled out to other decision-making bodies

Progress update as at July 2013The decision management system is in use in the Resources Service Area and is now being expanded into Communities and Neighbourhood Services who are currently operating within a test environment.A commitment has been made by the Deputy Chief Executive that the system will be in use across the Council by Christmas 2013. Progress is on target.


The acquisition of a Committee and Decision Management System (Modern.gov) by the Strategic Services Unit in October provided the Council with an ICT solution that not only manages decisions (as per the DMS) but the entire democratic process. Having realised upon receipt of the tender from Modern Mindset Ltd, the extensive nature of the Modern.gov system that the Council had procured, Leadership Team agreed to commit no further resources to the progression of the DMS initiative. The rollout of Modern.gov is now the focus of both the Democratic Services Team and SRS Development and Infrastructure resources. The Modern.gov system will be fully operational early in the new year providing a secure, automated environment for Agendas; Minutes; Forward Plans; Document Packs; Decision Tracking; Call-In; Members Websites; Registers of Interests; Election Results; Webcasting integration; e-Petitions; web based calendars and smartphone and tablet applications. A Members Seminar has been proposed for the 20th January by which point the Torfaen environment should have taken shape.


The implementation of Modern.gov is progressing well. The server infrastructure has been procured and installed and the system will be configured by the end of January 2014. Historical committee information (reports / agendas etc) along with agenda templates have been uploaded. A training schedule is being prepared that will train Democratic Services staff (System Admin), Report Authors and those of general interest. It is expected that the system will be launched in either late Feb or early March 2014. The proposed seminar on the 20th January did not take place but Members will be invited to a training course as the implementation progresses.

Progress update as at May 2014Our work to implement Modern.gov (http://www.moderngov.co.uk/default.aspx) has continued. Internal officers have now been added to the system as users and the external committee distribution lists are almost complete. As soon as these tasks are complete we will go live with publishing agendas/minutes. Training for all service areas is currently being planned and will be delivered in the near future.

Progress update as at August 2014

The Modern.Gov system is now live. The Democratic Services Officers (DSOs) have all been trained in its use. The system has been integrated with the Council’s web site and Intranet site using existing style sheets, preserving the user experience. At present the system is populated with reports by the DSOs but these tasks will shift to service areas as report authors and service contacts are trained in its use. This will create capacity within Democratic Services. Alongside the task of training the service areas, work is now underway to migrate the Resources Decision Making platform from the Decision Management System (DMS) into Modern.Gov. Once this is live, all Exec Member and Chief Officer decision making will also run through the system. The remaining modules of the system, beyond Agenda and Decision Management, will then be implemented.

http://www.moderngov.co.uk/default.aspx

30


Implementation of Modern.gov is progressing well. The server infrastructure has been procured and installed and is now fully operational. Historical committee information has been uploaded and is now available on the Web. All Democratic Services staff have received training (System Admin) and all agendas and minutes are now published to the website using modern.gov. Report Authors and Departmental Admin Officers will be receiving training in the New Year so that all Committee reports can be uploaded directly onto the system. This will streamline administrative duties around committee management. The Resources Service Area is currently piloting a decision management process whereby members of the relevant scrutiny committee are given the opportunity to comment and call-in Executive Member decisions prior to the Executive Member making the decision. This will eventually be rolled out to all service areas. Members will be invited to training courses as the implementation progresses.As we continually expand our knowledge and experience of the system, our use of modern.gov will grow considerably, mainly by:

Co-ordinating internal meetings such as Departmental Head’s Meetings Developing the decision management system by rolling it out to all service areas and allowing members to comment prior to decision making Allowing elected members to use the full range of tools available to them Publishing nominations and election results as they are announced Managing members’ appointments to outside bodies Using the report management system to its full potential and providing committee work programmes Further developing engagement, particularly around online e-petitions

Progress update as at March 2015

The Resources Service Area is now live on the new Modern.Gov decision-making process and all Scrutiny Members are trained and notified of forthcoming decisions to be taken by the Executive Member for Resources & Corporate Governance. Social Care & Housing and Neighbourhood Services are programmed to begin taking decisions this way next and training has been scheduled.Leadership Team are using the system to manage agenda’s and the distribution of supporting information such as reports and presentations. This is an example of an internal meeting making use of the system.The progression of devolved agenda management has also begun with single points of contact being identified within each service area to act as the responsible party for progressing departmental key decisions. This will provide further opportunities to devolve the creation of Executive Forward Plans as a direct result of the devolved agenda management.


The new Modern.Gov executive decision-making process is currently being rolled out to all service areas. All Scrutiny Members are in the process of being trained to use the system to its full potential.A facility for officer decisions to be uploaded by each service area and made available to all members is available within the system. Utilisation of this facility is subject to approval of constitutional changes.Training is in progress across all service areas for the submission of forthcoming decisions for Council and Cabinet which forms part of managing the Executive forward plans across each service area within the council. A report management facility is now available within the decision management function. Officers are being encouraged to use this facility upon submission of forth coming decisions. In support of this ongoing advice and assistance continues to be available from the democratic/members services team.


Progress to roll out the use of the Modern.gov system across the Council has continued. All service areas are now submitting their forthcoming decisions for Council and Cabinet which forms part of managing the Executive forward plans across each service area within the council. A report management facility is now available and is being used within the decision management function.

A link to the Executive Forward Plan is now available to view on the Council’s website.http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=134&RD=0&bcr=1&LLL=0

Pre-decision scrutiny is also now in place electronically for all relevant decisions defined by the Council’s agreed Scheme of Delegation (i.e. Category A and B decisions).

Members have been continued to be supported in the use of their IT, with all members currently being supplied with smartphones.

Progress update as at January 2016 The activities outlined above have continued to be promoted and embedded across the Council. Modern.gov is now being used by all service areas, but support is still needed to ensure its use is fully understood by all before the potential of the system is realised.

http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=134&RD=0&bcr=1&LLL=0

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SCRUTINY

WAO Review of Scrutiny Proposals for Improvement - as identified by the Council’s Peer Learning Team

Proposal 1 – Further develop a joint understanding of the role of scrutiny across members, officers, partners and the public.


Develop a public engagement strategy for scrutinyTo ensure all Overview & Scrutiny

Committees regularly engage with the public and other external stakeholders in

planning and conducting its work

January 2013 Corporate Improvement & Scrutiny Team

New action added July 2013Progress update as at November 2013

All scrutiny reports are now publicised on the Council’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and citizens are invited to offer their views to the Committee prior to the formal committee meeting taking place. Scrutiny members are also undertaking visits to relevant establishments to gain the views of key stakeholders such as citizens, service users and officers delivering services.

Progress update as at January 2014 The activities outlined above are continuing and work has commenced on exploring the best ways to engage the public in scrutiny.

Progress update as at May 2014 No further progress to report. This work is still being explored and will feature as a strand in the training being supported by the Centre for Public Scrutiny in the autumn.

Progress update as at August 2014 As above. General Public to be consulted prior to visioning sessions in September / October via social media channels to get potential items for scrutiny.

Progress update as at November 2014 We have started developing a Draft Public Engagement Strategy in Scrutiny. This will be developed with Members in due course prior to it being agreed and finalised.

Progress update as at March 2015 Draft Public Engagement Strategy has been shared with scrutiny chairs in March 2015. Wider consultation with Cabinet members and Chief Officers to be progressed during March/April 2015. Public engagement strategy will be included as part of an updated scrutiny handbook.

Progress update as at June 2015 Public engagement strategy will be included as part of an updated scrutiny handbook, due to be published in summer 2015

Progress update as at September 2015 No further update at this time. A minor review of Executive and Scrutiny Portfolios is currently being undertaken which has delayed the publishing of the updated scrutiny handbook. This work will be concluded by the end of October.


A revised handbook containing a public engagement strategy for scrutiny has now been published on the Council’s website. http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/Related-Documents/Democratic-Services/Overview-and-Scrutiny/A-Guide-to-Overview-and-Scrutiny.pdf

An online facility is available for members and the public to suggest items for scrutiny; and the scrutiny visioning process undertaken by all overview and scrutiny committees this year included items suggested by the public. As a result of this, Cleaner Communities have already considered flood management and Resources & Corporate Business have added public engagement to their work programme.ACTION COMPLETE – RECOMMEND REMOVAL FROM PLAN

http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/Related-Documents/Democratic-Services/Overview-and-Scrutiny/A-Guide-to-Overview-and-Scrutiny.pdf

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RESOURCE PLANNING

Area for Improvement 2 – Preliminary Corporate AssessmentFormalise the medium-term financial planning process and publish the strategies for workforce planning and asset management to support the Council’s vision and priorities.

Proposal for Improvement 2 – Improvement Assessment Letter (September 2012)Improve the quality of information used to underpin key medium term financial planning assumptions and identify the likely financial impact of increasing demand for services and changing demographics.

Proposal for Improvement 3 – Improvement Assessment Letter (September 2012)Develop the funding plans, alongside refining and developing the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP), showing how the predicted financial deficits will be addressed and how service based pressures will be managed going forward.

Proposal 1 – WAO Service Based Budget ReviewImprove service efficiency and value for moneyContinue to improve efficiency and value for money by: Identifying and agreeing what each services statutory and non-statutory requirements are. Determining the ‘acceptable standards of performance’ for each service (upper and lower) and publicise these to citizens. Identifying and regularly collecting financial, performance and demand/need data on each Council service. Analysing collected data to inform and understand the relationship between ‘cost: performance: impact’. Identify further options for improving efficiency and maintaining performance to the agreed level through:

‒ collaborating and/or integrating with others to reduce cost and/or improve quality;‒ out sourcing where services can be delivered more cost effectively to agreed standards;‒ introducing and/or increasing charges and focussing on income generation activity;‒ using grants strategically to offset Council costs; and‒ reducing activities to only focus on core statutory and Corporate priority functions.

Proposal 2 – WAO Service Based Budget ReviewDelivering Savings TargetsEnsure approved savings targets are delivered by: Effectively scrutinising savings plans on an on-going basis; and Challenging and holding services to account for their performance.

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Fundamental four year review of prioritiesRecognising that to service and thrive will require a new approach to service

and financial planningOn going through-out 2013/14 Council’s Leadership Team

Action added December 2012Progress update as at July 2013

Review commenced in May 2013. One major report considered by Leadership Team and Policy Development Forum. Formal consideration of the financial model and approaches by Cabinet on 9 July 2013. All members seminar delivered on the financial model on 15 July.Further progress reports to be considered by Leadership and the Council’s Policy Development Forum before the end of July 2013. This work is progressing well.

Progress update as at November 2013All Chief Officers identified what 4% and 10% reductions would look like for both 2014/15 and 2015/16. Full data sheets have been completed for all services as well as functional analysis to aide the Policy Development forum (PDF). PDF have considered the financial plan on six occasions; latterly focusing on 2014/15. The 2014/15 budget is well advanced and attention in the New Year will turn to 2015/16 and the following two years.

Progress update as at January 2014 Cabinet and Council received reports including commentary on the medium term by way of an update in January2014.http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/CouncillorsAndCommittees/Meetings/Cabinet/2014/01/21/Agenda/Agenda-21-01-2014.pdf

Progress update as at May 2014The Council’s 2014/15 Budget was agreed in March 2014, containing an update on the four year review and our medium term financial plan. Next steps will be considered by the Council’s PDF (joint meeting of the Council’s Cabinet and Leadership Team) In June 2014, followed by Cabinet consideration and decision in July 2014.

Progress update as at August 2014 Financial scenarios and Approach for 2015/16 and following two years considered by Cabinet in July, as well as by PDF and a member seminar. All services are currently identifying mitigations and savings of up to 10% over the three years.

Progress update as at November 2014 Budget scrutiny has taken place on 19th November to consider mitigations for 2015/16. Cabinet consideration in December.

Progress update as at March 2015 Budget for 2015/16 and revised medium term plan agreed on 3rd March 2015.

Progress update as at June 2015 Leadership is currently developing a new approach to corporate and financial planning which encompasses clear linkages to medium term financial planning. A Cabinet report was received on 7 July 2015.

Progress update as at September 2016 The four year fundamental review has been superseded by the work outlined above. New activity suggested around the development and delivery of Corporate Plan 3.


Council in December considered and agreed a report on the emerging Corporate Plan priorities to guide spending decisions from 2016/17 onwards. Overview and Scrutiny budget workshops have been held this year to allow all non executive members to explore the full range of budget savings proposals put forward by service areas over a three year time horizon. This work resulted in formal recommendations being presented to Cabinet in December 2015. http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=134&MId=1376&Ver=4&LLL=0

Cabinet of the 9th February will be asked to consider detailed proposals for the next two years – 2016/17 and 2017/18. Council of the 1st March will be asked to approve the new corporate plan and the underpinning medium term financial plan so closing out this activity.

http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/CouncillorsAndCommittees/Meetings/Cabinet/2014/01/21/Agenda/Agenda-21-01-2014.pdf

http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=134&MId=1376&Ver=4&LLL=0

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SELF ASSESSMENT

Proposal for Improvement 5 – Annual Improvement Report (January 2012)Improve self assessment arrangements and performance reporting by: Reporting clearly on whether the actions planned to deliver the improvement objectives have been undertaken and whether targets for improvement have been

achieved. Establishing and reporting against outcome-focussed measures of success for each improvement objective. Presenting a balanced picture of how well the Council has performed in respect of each improvement objective. Including a clear self evaluation in its performance report of whether it has met or is progressing satisfactorily towards each improvement objective. Providing citizens with more comparative performance and benchmarking data to enable them to better judge performance. Reporting progress against targets to citizens.


Further develop and formalise the Council’s self assessment framework

To allow progress on the delivery of the Council’s short term improvement

objectives and CP2 to be reported on a regular basis to members and citizens

Throughout 2012/13 Corporate Improvement Team

Progress update as at December 2012

The Executive Member Performance Review Sessions are still in place and are effectively used by the Chief Executive and Executive Member for Corporate Governance to monitor progress and challenge performance across the Council on a six monthly basis. It is intended to introduce a process to ensure each Chief Officer provides a formal self evaluation of the progress made by their service area during the past year – to include both activities and performance measures. Overview and Scrutiny Committees will also be encouraged to play an active part in challenging the self evaluations of each service area through their joint meeting arrangements.

Progress update as at July 2013

The latest round of Executive Member Performance Review Sessions was held in July 2013. These sessions were used to review end of year performance for 2012/13 and review targets set for 2013/14. In June 2013, each Chief Officer provided an update on the progress made in delivering the Council’s improvement activities as published in the 2012/13 Forward Facing Improvement Plan. These progress updates were collated by the Corporate Improvement & Scrutiny Team who then undertook a simple self assessment of their reported progress. This information formed the basis of the information presented for scrutiny in July 2013. A joint meeting of all the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees was held in July 2013 to look at the progress made by the service areas in delivering the improvement objectives during 2012/13.The Executive Member for Corporate Governance also reported his findings to the Overview and Scrutiny Committees as part of their scrutiny activity.


The Council’s self assessment arrangements are strengthening. All service and team plans are built within the Council’s performance management system, Ffynnon. These are updated by service areas on a quarterly basis and members are in the process of being trained to access the system to review in year progress in delivering the Council’s agreed improvement objectives.Regular reports are now being produced for the joint meeting of the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committees on various cross cutting issues such as the progress made in delivering the Council’s agreed improvement objectives, and the service implications associated with the proposed 2014/15 budget mitigation proposals The Executive Member for Corporate Governance has recently concluded performance review sessions for the reported performance of all service areas as at the half year point of 2013/14. Work is now on-going to establish a clear reporting mechanism between the Executive Member for Corporate Governance and the Overview & Scrutiny Chairs to ensure areas of poor performance are scrutinised. Overview and Scrutiny Committees are focussing on in depth scrutiny and have selected a “basket of scrutiny items” for consideration throughout the year ahead. Their one item agendas are proving to be effective in making good quality recommendations for the Executive to consider. The Council’s Forward Facing Plan now includes clear actions, performance measures and targets for each agreed improvement objective and the Council’s Annual Performance Report includes an overall self assessment for each area.

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A protocol has now been agreed between the Executive Member for Corporate Governance & the Overview & Scrutiny Chairs to ensure service area performance is discussed following each Executive Member Performance Review Session. All service areas are now being encouraged to provide their self evaluation of progress against the Council’s agreed published improvement objectives through the Council’s Ffynnon Performance Management System. A suite of Ffynnon dashboards, which capture the activities and performance measures published in the Council’s latest Forward Facing Improvement Plan have been developed and are available for both officers and elected members to view and challenge. These dashboards are linked directly to the relevant team plans so as long as these are updated on a quarterly basis, then members and officers have access to up to date performance information and commentary about progress in delivering the published activities. The information held in to the Ffynnon performance management system will be used to prepare the Council’s Annual Performance Report in October 2014.

Progress update as at May 2014

The Council is working with the WLGA to further strengthen its self evaluation and internal challenge arrangements.Examples of this work are given throughout this plan, namely• New Corporate Improvement Assessment Challenge Sessions;• Service area self evaluations being scrutinised in July 2014;• Specific elected member dashboards established in Ffynnon;• Strengthening overview and scrutiny function.

Progress update as at August 2014 Work with the WLGA is continuing. Workshops are planned with the Council’s Leadership Team / Senior Managers Task Force / and Elected Members during September 2014 with a view to rolling out a new approach for self evaluation in November 2014.


Workshops on the development of the Council’s approach to self evaluation have taken place with all senior managers and elected members. The main sections from the revised service plan template have now been used to form the basis of the Council’s pilot self evaluation exercise. All service areas are currently being supported by an officer from the WLGA to complete a number of key questions that will collectively form a position statement for the Council at the end of 2014/15. This will be used to inform the budget guidelines and resource allocations for forthcoming financial years.

Progress update as at March 2015Service Areas are in the final stages of the pilot on Self Evaluation with Position Statements under development. Should the pilot be successful, the process will be formalised and introduced early in the new Financial Year (15/16) so that it can conclude ahead of the 2016/17 budget process being initiated.

Progress update as at June 2015Self Evaluation Statements have now been received from all service areas and a process of challenge is currently being undertaken by the Council’s Leadership Team. Once this challenge period is complete, an overall position statement for the Council will be prepared and presented to Council for their consideration to inform the Council’s 2016/17 financial and service planning activities.

Progress update as at September 2015Self Evaluation Statements have been received from all service areas and the challenge process has been concluded. An overall position statement for the Council is currently being prepared and will be presented to Council for their consideration before Christmas 2015 to inform the Council’s 2016/17 financial and service planning activities.

Progress update as at January 2015A report was received by Cabinet in December 2015 outlining the progress made to date and the proposed way forward.http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/documents/s7645/Self%20Evaluation%20Cabinet%20Report%20final.pdf?LLL=0

The lessons learnt through the pilot, as set out in the report are now being addressed to improve the process for 2015/16.

http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/documents/s7645/Self%20Evaluation%20Cabinet%20Report%20final.pdf?LLL=0

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WAO REVIEW OF SERVICE STANDARDS

Proposal 2 – Extend service standards to other Council services.The Council should review the pilot service standards in waste services and extend the approach to other Council services.


Through the Council’s Leadership team, identify other areas of service delivery that need to develop and publish service standards.

January 2014 Head of Improvement

Once other areas of service are identified, ensure action plans are prepared, monitored and delivered so service standards are developed; communicated; & evaluated.

To ensure citizens are fully aware of the standards of service they can expect to

receive from the CouncilFebruary 2014

Relevant Chief Officers

Improvement Team

Progress update as at November 2013 No update required as yet.

Progress update as at January 2014 As soon as the success of the Waste Service Standards has been evaluated, the methodology will be applied to other Council services.

Progress update as at May 2014 It is planned to evaluate the success of the waste service standards once they are fully embedded. This will then be used to identify other areas within the Council where service standards need to be developed and published.

Progress update as at August 2014 No further progress to report

Progress update as at November 2014 Following completion of the 2015/16 budget process, the Council’s Leadership Team will be asked to identify further areas of activity where service standards should be developed.

Progress update as at March 2015 No further updates at this time.

Progress update as at June 2015 Detailed work is currently being undertaken on a model for defining service standards for all services delivered by the Council. It is anticipated that this work will be progressed and rolled out as part of the Council’s 2016/17 financial and service planning processes.


Service standards for Waste Services were agreed and published in April 2014, and following a full year’s operation, their impact on service performance has now been evaluated. They have played a vital role in communicating the expectations and requirements of both the Council and the citizens, and as a consequence there has been a drop in the number of complaints received regarding this service. Given this success, work will now be progressed and rolled out to other services as part of the Council’s 2016/17 financial and service planning process, based on the priorities agreed in the Council’s next Corporate Plan.

Progress update as at January 2015A report is being consider by Council on 26 January 2016 seeking agreement on the content and wording of the new corporate plan priorities forTorfaen County Borough Council.http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/documents/s8427/Corporate%20Plan.pdf?LLL=0

Work to agree levels of service will be progressed as part of the business planning processes to support the delivery of the Council’s new Corporate Plan.

http://moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk/documents/s8427/Corporate%20Plan.pdf?LLL=0