Hampshire County Council

Cabinet

Item 6

21 March 2005

Annual Report of the Major Achievements of the County Council in 2004/05

Report of the Chief Executive

Aim 1

Maximising life opportunities

Aim 2

Stewardship of the environment

Aim 3

Achieving economic prosperity

Aim 4

Building strong and safe communities

Aim 5

Improving services

Aim 6

Developing councillors and staff

Seq. No.

Cross-Cutting / Corporate Achievements

Corporate Aim

1.

Retention of `Excellent' status for third consecutive year.

All

2.

Continued to secure positive comments from the Audit Commission on financial performance and a top mark of 4 on the resources aspects of the Corporate Performance Assessment (CPA) refresh exercise.

3, 5

3.

Cross-cutting performance information provided for the first time through implementation of the Corporate Performance Report (CPR) which enabled progress with corporate aims to be maintained and appropriate action to be agreed.

All

4.

Appropriate training and development has been provided to ensure that staff are aware of their responsibilities under the Freedom of Information and the Data Protection Acts. From November 2004, procedures and processes were in place to meet the requirements of the FoI Act. This has since been supplemented to incorporate further legislation published in December 2004, in advance of implementation on 1 January 2005.

5, 6

5.

The Council has played a leading role in the development of sub-regional strategies and provided technical support and advice to the Regional Assembly in preparing the South East Plan (Consultation Draft). The Council's contribution has focussed on the impacts on quality of life and highlighted the need for important new infrastructure in Hampshire.

4

6.

Set initial arrangements in place to respond to Children Act including establishment of a Children's Services Board.

1, 4

7.

The County Council's first round LPSA concluded in March 04. A number of key performance targets are on track to attract significant reward grant, recognising major improvements in performance in priority areas such as waste, road casualty reduction and road maintenance. Lessons learned from the process are being used to develop the second round LPSA in partnership with District Councils and other public sector organisations including health, police, fire and voluntary bodies.

All

8.

The County Council, with the Hampshire Strategic Partnership, published the Hampshire Community Strategy in July 2004 setting out priority areas for action for partnership working.

All

9.

The Health Review Committee considered the reorganisation of health services in Fareham and Gosport at the request of Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust. In the light of the PCT's decision, comments on the recommendations and other representations, the committee made its first decision to refer the proposals to the Secretary of State for Health with a request that they be investigated by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel.

4, 5

10.

In relation to the Councils' role within the Innovation Forum for 'excellent' authorities, a partnership project with Primary Care Trusts in Hampshire has been launched which aims to give vulnerable older people the support they need to reduce their call on emergency GP services and especially their need for emergency hospital admissions. The project brings together nursing and social care staff to work with older people and their carers to ensure that appropriate support is in place.

1, 5

Seq. No.

Chief Executive's Department

Corporate Aim

1.

Establishment of e.VOLve - a new database-driven website containing the details of thousands of voluntary and community organisations across Hampshire, giving public access to a wide range of services.

1, 3

2.

Launch of the Hampshire Broadband Project, a three year partnership programme to provide a support system and knowledge network for broadband users in Hampshire and to encourage take-up.

3

3.

Hampshire recognised as the leading area for local food initiatives -10 years of Hampshire Fare and 5 years of Hampshire Farmers' Markets - Hampshire has the largest food festival and the most successful farmers markets in the UK in 2004/5 generating £2.5million for local producers.

3, 4

4.

In December 2004, the Legal Practice maintained its accreditation of Lexcel, the Law Society's Practice Management Standard.

6

5.

Chartermark received for Information Services for the third successive year.

Seq. No.

Education Department

Corporate Aim

1.

Education received a 3 * rating for the third time in the government performance ratings.

1

2.

HCC has now had full approval for three new Children's Centres. These are at Warren Park (in Havant), Haven (in Gosport) and Lanterns (in Winchester). These centres are part of a major Government strategy to provide high quality early education and childcare in local communities.

1

3.

Secondary schools' 5A*-C at GCSE increased by 2 percentage points. In the 12 target schools in areas of relative deprivation, where the LEA has been focussing additional support, the GCSE improvement is 50% higher than that for the rest of the county.

1

4.

Hampshire is leading the way nationally in the assessment of progress for children with special educational needs, through the development of specialist testing and `P' levels.

1

5.

The 14 schools in the Leigh Park area, with Wildern School in Hedge End have been awarded Hampshire Excellence Cluster status. They will receive £660,000 pa additional funding from the Department of Education and Skills from January 2005 until March 2007. A further £740,000 to implement a Behaviour Improvement Plan (BIP) will also be available to the cluster during this academic year.

1

6.

After having received an Achievement Diploma from the National Music Council for the last three years, Hampshire Music Service has now been awarded the top award, the Major Trophy, as the best music service in the Country in 2004 by the National Music Council.

1

7.

The County Education Officer as National President of Confed took a leading role on schools funding, standards, inspection and developing a new relationship between DfES and local education authorities.

1, 6

8.

44 Clerks have qualified for the Clerk to School Governing Body accreditation programme, a nationally recognised accreditation developed by Hampshire. This programme has been adopted by Oxfordshire, Surrey and Portsmouth and provides support for the work of each school governing body.

1, 5, 6

9.

The Youth Service development and training team alongside Southampton University is supporting sixteen members of staff to gain nationally qualified status. The Southampton foundation degree provides a valuable contribution to recruitment and retention strategies across the youth service and is having a major impact on recruitment and reducing staff turnover in the youth service.

1, 6

10.

Education have contributed to the SAP project by installing a technical solution to enable the schools administrative IT systems to run SAP software. Also EdICT, the education department trading ICT service with schools, developed and installed EdICT Net, a whole school networking standard to help schools adopt all the latest e-learning initiatives.

1, 5, 6

11.

Governor Services a fourth successive Charter mark.

5, 6

12.

Retained Investor in People accreditation.

6

Seq. No.

Education Department

Corporate Aim

Seq. No.

Social Services Department

Corporate Aim

1.

In November 2004, SS achieved a 2 star rating for the third time.

1, 5

2.

In October work started on a £1m state-of-the-art day services building for adults with learning disabilities in the Alton area.

1, 5

3.

In November Hampshire County Council took part in a European review of services for older people. The review is one of a series being undertaken by RETIS (the European Trans-Regional Network for Social Inclusion).

1, 4, 5

4.

Hampshire's 500 bed nursing homes project ENHANCE has been held up as a national showcase of excellence and was presented as an example of best practice to a summit of `excellent' rated councils from across the country.

1, 5

5.

A major recruitment drive is underway to recruit the 500 staff needed for Hampshire's ten new state-of-the-art nursing homes. Recruitment to date includes :

· 4 Nurse Managers

· 46 nurses (inc the Indian adaptation nurses)

· 54 Care Assistants (inc international recruitment)

· A number of administration/domestic and catering staff.

20 nurses were recruited from India last year in a Department of Health recruitment campaign.They completed adaptation courses in the UK and are available for deployment in the new nursing homes being opened this year.

1, 4, 5

6.

OT Direct phone service reduced waiting lists for access to occupational therapy services by a third in its first six months of operation.

1, 5

7.

Supporting older people at home. Using additional HCC resources, there has been a steady increase in the numbers of people receiving intensive home care, thereby often avoiding a move into residential care.

1, 4, 5

8.

Completed the £2m refurbishment of Malmesbury Lawn older persons home in Havant

1, 5

9.

More than 180 social care staff and 12 foster carers were awarded a range of vocational qualifications during 2004 with 10 senior staff gaining the highest NVQ award, achieving level 5 in Management.

6

10.

The launch of a new graduate trainee scheme for social workers as part of a wider strategy to combat national shortages in qualified social workers.

5, 6

11.

Successful introduction of the Swift system - the main case recording system for social workers, care managers and other operational staff. Executed in partnership with IT Services Department and with Anite, the suppliers of the system. It provides a single system for all our fieldwork staff to use which is comprehensive, up-to-date and meets the Government's requirements for case recording as expressed in the Department of Health 'Information for Social Care' document.

1, 5

Seq. No.

Environment Department

Corporate Aim

1.

In partnership with Project Integra, continued to deliver top performance nationally with waste recycled, composted or processed for energy recovery. The level of household waste recycled or composted has risen to 29% with 22% sent for energy recovery. The Council is on course to meet its target to remove an additional 40,000 tonnes of waste from landfill through partnership working, to use reprocessed construction waste in road maintenance.

In order to deal with the remaining 80% of waste not produced by households, the Council and other stakeholders have produced the `More from Less' document which looks at all materials from extraction to final disposal and proposes stretching targets for recycling and accompanying investment in facilities.

2004/5 saw the completion of the following new waste recycling and processing facilities:

· Alton Material Recovery Facility

· Little Bushy Warren composting site between Basingstoke and Alton

· New innovative Household Waste Recycling Centre in Winchester

· Energy from waste recovery facilities at Marchwood and Portsmouth

2, 3

2.

The Council has achieved its challenging targets to stem the decline in highway condition through putting more investment into highway maintenance. This is despite the damage resulting from severe flooding and droughts in recent years.

2

3.

Against a background of general decline in bus use, the Council has continued to develop Bus Quality Partnerships to invest in key bus routes in partnership with bus operators and others, resulting in passenger number increases on the targeted routes of up to 20%.

5

4.

Launched in 2004, the Solent Travelcard, allows travel on any bus service throughout south Hampshire in a zone that was recently extended to include Winchester and the Solent waterside.

5

5.

Additional investment in local road safety programmes is leading to reductions in fatal and serious road casualties ahead of the Government's national targets.

4

6.

In July 2004 the Council and its partners, won the European Award for Road Safety in recognition of its recent successes in reducing serious road casualties.

4

7.

Recognition of improved performance of local transport policy and delivery of the scheme by the Department for Transport (DfT) resulted in the improvement of the DfT's assessment of our Local Transport Plan to `above average' and specific financial support for the A3 bus priority scheme.

3

8.

In view of its excellent track record in delivering rural services, the Council has been selected as the key partner in the SE region, to conduct an 18 month Rural Pathfinder pilot study. This will look at how a range of diverse services provided by different public bodies, can be more effectively and efficiently delivered.

5

Seq. No.

Recreation and Heritage Department

Corporate Aim

1.

A successful bid was made to achieve Cultural Pathfinder status as part of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Local Government Association 2 year development programme beginning in April 2005.

1, 5

2.

The library investment and refurbishment programme has seen the opening of Gosport Discovery Centre and a new Alton Library and refurbishments completed at Odiham Bridewell, Fleet, Chandler's Ford, Yateley and Farnborough libraries. All report significantly increased visits.

1, 5

3.

Opening of a new accommodation block at Tile Barn Outdoor Centre (Sept 2004) allowing more young people to enjoy environmental and outdoor challenge activities all year round and work began on the £1.2m residential accommodation (The RJ Mitchell Building) at Calshot Activities Centre enhancing the capacity by a further 60 beds.

1,5

4.

Increased participation in cultural activities and visits achieved including; 4,859 participants in the Mini, Parallel and Youth Games with a 50% increase in the number of disabled participants; 20,000 children at all 54 libraries participating in the Reading Rollercoaster summer reading challenge;3% increase in visits to our Museums in 2004.

1,5

5.

The Arts Office organised 1,400 workshops and 700 performances in the county's 26 residential homes and day centres, and 55 Hog the Limelight events in libraries.

1,5

6.

Successful external funding investments have been secured during the year for developing services including; £30,000 sponsorship of the Mini/Parallel/Youth Games; £37,000 to prepare four WWII 60^th anniversary exhibitions for summer 2005; £40,000 development funding to set up a Heritage Bursary Placement scheme to train Museum engineer/conservators; £100,000 secured from English Nature, HLF and SEEDA for a variety of work on the Blackwater Valley Country Park; £44,000 HLF grant for the purchase and display of the Tichborne Trial Collection; and central government funding for the implementation of the Museums Regional Hub Business Plan and a variety of Museums projects

1

7.

Promotional opportunities have seen the restoration work at Odiham Castle feature in television programmes, three "Walks through Time" at the Royal Victoria Country Park broadcast by the BBC and the park appearing on the BBC's `The British Isles: a Natural History' series presented by Alan Titchmarsh.

1, 2

8.

The Countryside Service managed the implementation of the new rights of `open access' to our countryside and has published Access Plans for the Forest of Bere and Eversley Forest with 5 more plans due for consultation in 2005. This is part of the County's duty to prepare Rights of Way Improvement Plans.

1, 2

9.

Queen Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfield became the first country park to receive a `Green Flag' - national recognition for being sustainable and environmentally-friendly.

2

10.

Strategic reviews of the Arts and the Museums and Archives Services have been completed with recommendations to ensure services are structured to deliver improved services in the future, completing the current programme of full service reviews in the department.

5

Seq. No.

Property, Business and Regulatory Services

Corporate Aim

1.

Completed work at over 100 schools using New Deal for Schools Condition Fund monies, providing improved accommodation for school children in Hampshire.

2, 5

2.

First Discovery Centre building completed in Gosport and opening March 2005, providing much improved accommodation and facilities for residents in Gosport and surrounding areas.

1, 2, 5

3.

Successfully achieved the delivery of a £120m capital programme, providing significant improvements to the County Council's built estate, particularly in the school sector.

2, 5

4.

New library at Alton completed and opened providing new and up to date library facilities for residents in Alton and surrounding areas.

1, 2, 5

5.

Community Safety Service launched and 36 officers trained and accredited. Operating in 4 pilot areas and working in partnership with the police to reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour.

4

6.

ENHANCE Nursing Care Scheme - first seven projects let with two sites at Ticehurst, Aldershot and Coldeast, Fareham with completion for February 2005.

2,5

7.

New Sports Halls provided at four schools using New Opportunities Fund (NOF), providing sports halls where facilities did not previously exist.

2,5

8.

Take up of school meals in Hampshire has risen by 2% in the last two years and now stands at 35.9%. Also, 145 schools are now operating pre-ordering systems for school meals which helps to ensure that pupils are able to have a meal of their choice and to minimise waste.

3, 5

9.

Increased `Buy with Confidence' membership by 50% making it the largest scheme in the UK, providing an increased number of recognised businesses for the community to select from across a range of disciplines.

4

10.

Six national awards/commendations for Architecture and Design Services demonstrating the continued excellence in design.

5, 6

Seq. No.

County Treasurer's Department

Corporate Aim

1.

Completed implementation of new financial and related systems and decommissioning of all mainframe systems. This involved roll-out and training for 5,000 budget managers across the County. In addition, the 2004/05 budget successfully incorporated the first £0.25m of savings in the finance function as a result of benefit realisation.

3, 5, 6

2.

Co-ordinated the efforts of managers across the County Council which enabled accounts to be closed in line with new timetable requirements and spend to be very close to budget (overall 0.15% underspend) in 2003/04.

3, 5

3.

Successfully negotiated with Customs and Excise that income from the hire of videos and electronic games should be a non- taxable supply for VAT purposes, generating a refund of £440,000 and increasing future library income by £170,000 per year.

3

4.

The new prudential code for borrowing was implemented, enabling more flexible approaches to be taken to capital financing.

3, 4

5.

Both ISO9000 registration for Audit Services and the Charter Mark for Pensions Services and Student Support were confirmed by re-assessment.

5, 6

Seq. No.

Human Resources Department

Corporate Aim

1.

The HR department has undergone a major structural reorganization including the forming of new service units and the relocation of staff to alternative accommodation.

5, 6

2.

New recruitment website published on Hantsweb facilitating e-recruitment

1, 5, 6

3.

HR metrics/ workforce reporting developed together with internal performance monitoring to ensure the commercial awareness of the implications of the services provided.

3, 5

4.

Programme developed for Cabinet Members, in parallel with the Leading Success programme.

6

5.

Development section of Integrated Product Policy (IPP), to complement and support performance management and Remuneration and Benefits Project designed.

3, 6

6.

Training and Change strategy for roll out of IPP developed

6

Seq. No.

IT Services

Corporate Aim

·

The Enterprise Project SAP rollout programme has been completed.

5, 6

·

E-learning pages on Hantsnet (the intranet) are now in place to help with technology support and use, especially for staff working remotely.

5, 6

·

A wide range of tools and services are now in place to support e-government.

1, 5, 6

·

All County Councillors have access to laptops, broadband from home (where possible), IT training and email.

6

·

The first two phases of the Social Care system implementation have completed to time, budget and quality in a joint programme with Portsmouth City Council.

1, 5

·

Investment in security infrastructure and changes are now allowing secure access to other networks providing a more efficient scope for partnership working.

1, 5, 6