ANNEX A
Children Services: / Children & Young People’s Integrated; Strategy Quality & Improvement and Social Care Services // Measures of success / Mid year progress / Commentary on performance /
Developing a dynamic economy
Adults and Young people in Poole have the skills they needs to participate and succeed in the modern workplace / The number of 16-18 year olds who are not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETS) / 6.3% / This compares to a figure of 7.6% for 16-18 year olds « nationally but is likely to increase.
Recent national figures released show an average of 15.6% of 16-24 year olds are not in employment, education or training with up to 25% in the north of the country and around 10% in southern areas.
Supporting children and young people
Children and young people in Poole are kept safe / Assessments of children referred to Social Care carried out within 7 working days of referral / 75% / The number of assessments being carried out within 7 « days is constantly changing but the overall trend is improving towards the target of 80%
Child becoming the subject of a protection plan for a 2nd or subsequent time / 11.3% / Although performance has dropped from 9.4% at the end «
of last year it is still within the target 12.5%
Other updates: «
· Poole’s Anti-bullying strategy has been revised and is due to be launched January 2012.
· The new Safeguarding in Education post is providing Quality Assurance of Safeguarding in educational and other Children’s Services settings and training for school governors, staff and early year settings.
The life chances of children in Poole are transformed through providing excellent education opportunities and facilities across the Borough / Children who achieved 5 or more A*- C grades at GCSE or equivalent, including English & Maths / 56.8% / Poole’s target is 60% and the average performance for maintained schools nationally was 57.9%
Proportion of children who achieved Level 4 @ Key Stage 2 English & Maths / 75% / Despite being under the target of 80%, Poole children achieved the highest Key Stage 2 results so far, improving from 73% last year. The national performance was 74%.
Other updates:
· Improvements in attainment in reception classes by 6.4% to 62.5%, against 56% nationally
· Improvements in narrowing the gap between the median and bottom 20% in reception classes with 7 out of 14 schools achieving this in areas of deprivation.
· The Age of Transfer project is on schedule for implementation in Autumn 2013.
· A range of school building projects have been completed or are underway with the full number of primary places now secured and work starting to secure secondary places.
- Building projects at Poole Grammar, Parkstone Grammar and Poole High schools have been completed.
- The rebuilding of the Quay School in Herbert Avenue is complete offering short stay educational programmes from 6 weeks to 2 terms for young people who are at risk of exclusion.
- The additional works at the old Turlin Moor First School are in progress which will provide a Key Stage 4 and vocational learning centre.
· The Children Centre’s Programme is now complete and all eight centres are now operatonal.
· 17 young people in Poole have achieved the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. This is the best achievement ever in Poole.
· The recent Ofsted inspection of the Quay School judged the school as Good and the inspection of Hamworthy and Turlin Moor Children Centre judged the centre as satisfactory.
Inequalities for vulnerable children and young people are reduced and all children have equal chances of achieving their potential / Care leavers at 19 in suitable accommodation / 100% / This is against a national figures of 90% «
Care leavers at 19 in Education, Employment or Training / 67% / This is against a national figure of 61% «
· The Child Poverty Strategy has been implemented «
Children with complex needs are well supported and achieve better outcomes / SEN assessments requiring statements are completed and issued within 26 weeks / 100% / No time limit exceptions were applied to any of the cases.
Secondary School Persistent Absentee rate / 5.7% / This is measured by a specified number of half-day sessions missed by pupils in a year and under the target figure of 7%
Primary school absence / 4.84% / All authorised and unauthorised absence in primary schools
which is under national average of 5.14%.
Secondary school absence / 6.37% / All authorised and unauthorised absence in secondary schools which is under the national average of 6.52%
Numbers of short breaks provided for disabled children, 0 – 19 years old / 350 / This included 114 children participating in 40 Short Break holiday activities during the summer holidays. «
· Continued working with schools, pupils and their parents/carers has seen permanent exclusions remain low despite a slight increase between 2009/10 & 2010/11.
· Fixed-term exclusions have reduced by 17% between 2009/10 & 2010/11 to 935 and halved since 2006/07.
· The Family Information Directory website was launched in May and has been a big success with parents and professionals accessing information on early year’s provision, services and activities. There were 2,600 sessions on the website in September, with the most popular search that month being for Branksome Children’s Centre which had had its official opening by the Mayor in July.
Children in care are supported to achieve their potential / Children in Care achieving 5 or more A*-C GCSEs / 27% / «
Ofsted’s annual overall assessment of all Children Services was Good. The result of the Children’s Safeguarding is expected in early December. Adoption rates in Poole were amongst the top 10 in the country last year and all were completed within the 12 month timescale.
All 19 year old care leavers are in suitable accommodation and 67% are in education, training or employment, compared to 61% nationally.
The percentage of the total Children in Care who had 3 or more moves during the year / 10.5%
The percentage of the total Children in Care who have been in the same placement for at least 2 years / 65.9%
Children in Care who achieved Level 4 at Key Stage 2 English & Maths / 75% (Eng)
50% (Maths)
Percentage of half-day schools sessions missed by Children in Care / 5%
Children in Care – percentage of children gone missing from care / 2%
Strengthening our Communities
People from different backgrounds in Poole get on well together / · Prejudice Incident work has been linked to anti bullying to improve school’s reporting of incidents. «
· 6 prejudice incidents have been reported by schools.
People contribute actively to their communities and influence local decision / · Young people’s survey has been undertaken by the 14-19 team which will help providers and schools define the most appropriate provision of services.
· Anti bullying forums are in place and the scope and actions of the Anti Bullying strategy have been refined.
· All schools have school Councils where children and young people discuss issues in their school and attend a forum each year to share ideas and issues on how to improve their schools.
Communities: / Housing & Community Services; Financial Services (Housing Benefits); Culture & Community Services /
/ Measures of success / Mid year progress / Commentary on performance /
Developing a dynamic economy
Adults and Young people in Poole have the skills they needs to participate and succeed in the modern workplace / % of 19 – 65 year olds learners who completed an accredited course / 91% / 2,749 learners undertook these courses and they achieved an 85% success rate
Satisfaction with Adult Learning courses / 93.8% / Improved on July ’10 satisfaction levels of 90.1% in the July ’11 learner satisfaction survey.
Percentage of courses that were advertised which have been delivered / 74.1% / After brochure publication the Skills Funding Agency narrowed the eligibility of fee remission and coupled with the economic climate this has resulted in higher course cancellations than might have been expected.
· There were 4,432 course enrolments from Sept 10 – July ’11 and an 87% success rate.
· 75% of the learners were female and 16% advised they had a physical or learning disability. «
· Current enrolments for 11/12 academic year @ 1/12/11 are 3982 of which 1860 are on accredited programmes aimed at progressing people into employment.
· A wide range of vocational skills courses (219) equip people to enter employment or become self-employed. These include Bookkeeping and Accounting, Teacher Training, ECDL, Beauty Specialist, Holistic Therapies and Hairdressing Diplomas.
Promoting Health and Well-being
People in Poole lead healthier and more active lives and the effects of poverty and inequality are reduced / Days taken to process new benefit claims / 17.09 / «
During the first half of the year we processed 3,438 new benefit claims, a reduction of 134 for the same period last year.
Processing times are within or just off targets and although there is a slight improvement in the time taken to process new claims, overall it is taking slighlyt longer to process all claims.
Days taken to process changes to existing benefit claims / 10.3
Days taken for new and changes to existing benefit claims (combination of the above) / 11.41
Supporting children and young people
The life chances of children in Poole are transformed through providing excellent education opportunities and facilities across the Borough / Numbers of issues (borrowing) from libraries by Children & Young People / 129,810 / «
Mid year indications show a 3% increase on young people borrowing from the libraries for the same period last year.
Improving Housing for Local people
New housing contributes to the creation of sustainable communities where people enjoy living / · At the half year point no new affordable homes have been created and this together with increased demand for «
housing has led to an increase in the number of people in temporary accommodation. The economic downturn has led to a reduction in the number of new housing units over the past year and the reduced viability of development significantly reduces the opportunity to secure affordable housing from the private sector. In recognition of the need to find ways of providing affordable housing the Council has committed itself to delivering 100 new affordable units over the next 4 years from its own assets.
· A county wide allocations policy has now been agreed by the Council and will be implemented in the spring. This will give greater priority to need over time and was the result of extensive consultation.
People can live in homes that meet their needs / Numbers of families in temporary accommodation / 84 / The quarterly target for the number of people in temporary accommodation is 57 which is currently being exceeded. The increased use of bed & breakfast has added to budget pressures. We are constantly reviewing the demand for B&B and using all available homeless prevention options.
Number of households where homelessness has been prevented or relieved / 261(2nd quarter) / This is against a quarterly target of 246. Preventing and relieving homeless is a major challenge as the private sector becomes more expensive and harder to access. The Council makes maximum use of its tenancy deposit and bond budget to help households in need. There is an officer dedicated to work with private sector landlords and letting agents as this is a key plank of the Homelessness Strategy.
Homelessness applications / 68 (quarter 2) / This exceeds the previous quarter of 60 and the quarterly average of 2010/11 of 45.
· The temporary closure of Hamworthy Lodge for refurbishment has impacted on the number of families being housed in temporary accommodation. It is expected that this will come down in Nov ‘11 when the refurbishment is complete and 14 units will become available.
· Housing register applications remain constant at around 4,000 but this consistently changes as households are added, reviewed or removed.
People feel supported to live safe and independent lives / Disabled Facilities Grants Approved / 53 / 108 DFG applications were received between April – Sept ’11 « and 53 were approved, at a total cost of £254,665. This is slightly down on the same period last year.
Other updates:
· The Borough Operations centre received 42,701 calls and responded to 627 lifeline callouts between April and Sept ’11.
Strengthening our communities
Poole remains one of the safest places to live in the United Kingdom and people living, working and visiting feel safe and secure.
Poole remains one of the safest places to live in the United Kingdom and people living, working and visiting feel safe and secure. / Reduce the number of repeat Domestic Abuse referrals to MARAC / 21% / Performance is on target. MARAC steering group is « implementing changes to processes following a review carried out by the co-ordinated action against domestic abuse (CAADA) across Dorset. Many of the actions planned will have a positive effect on the repeat referral rate to MARAC
Increase the proportion of domestic abuse offences brought to justice in court / 13.89% / Not at the target at quarter 2 but the recruitment of an Independent Domestic Violence Adviser is hoped to have a positive impact on this figure.