Maximising life opportunities

The Council faces a significant challenge during 2005/06 as it seeks to implement the key elements of the Children Act. The first stages of preparation are bearing fruit and two new Directors - of Children Services and Adult Services - will take up post in the Summer.

Promoting participation in learning

Starting from a high base, the Council set itself extremely stretching targets in its first Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) with Government to improve overall educational attainment and related activities. Although the LPSA targets have not been met in full, the results generally show an improving trend particularly against the national picture, which is borne out by the high quartile results for national performance indicators in 2003/04. However, the Council is aware of the pressing need to address problems with poor behaviour and the high number of exclusions.

Key performance results for pupils show that:

· Primary schools have maintained high standards at Key Stage (KS) 1 and have improved KS2 English and Maths to the best ever results.

· Secondary results at KS3 for English, Maths and Science compare well nationally

· GCSE results show a 2% increase across the county in pupils attaining 5 A* - C grades

· There is a 50% greater increase in attainment in the 12 targeted schools in deprived areas compared with the county average.

· The DfES assesses overall pupil attendance in Hampshire as good and still improving, while targeted support continues for some secondary schools.

· Although taking a national lead in the assessment of progress in special educational needs (SEN), exclusion results were in the 3^rd quartile of county councils for 2003/04 and a best value review of education other than at school identified lack of capacity as the cause of poor performance.

· There were 5% surplus places in secondary schools in January 2004 and the Council is ahead of its target to reduce surplus places in some primary schools which previously had levels in excess of 20%

The Council also aspires to ensure people of all ages benefit from learning and has developed a Lifelong Learning Strategy to work with partners in promoting an inclusive and consistent approach to learning across the county. The target for encouraging the number of parents involved in family learning has not been met, although it is not clear what the starting position for this work was. While the target for reaching young people (13 - 19 year olds) through youth work has been achieved, the percentage undertaking and being accredited for Personal and Social Education (PSE) development remains well below target.

Halting and reversing the long term decline in the use of public libraries is a key objective for the Council. Library visits fell again last year but this was affected by major refurbishment schemes that required the operation of temporary services at a number of key sites. Early indications are that the new improved facilities are beginning to have the desired effect. The opening of Gosport Discovery Centre in March 2005 marks a key milestone in the library transformation programme. Visits to and usage of the discovery centre have surpassed expectations. The national significance of this programme is recognised in the award of Cultural Pathfinder status. Cultural services are adding value to curriculum based learning in schools, providing less formal learning and development opportunities for children and young people and making high quality cultural and recreational activities available to many people who would not previously have been able to benefit from them. Arts and Museums work in residential homes for older people and outdoor programmes for children looked after by the Council are just two examples.

Protecting, caring for and empowering vulnerable people

The focus on increasing stability in the lives of vulnerable children has shown a 1.3% increase in the number of looked after children who are fostered with family or friends and a similar rise in the numbers of other children supported to live with close family members in a kinship care setting. The Council's approach to placing children in familiar surroundings has a perverse impact on the number of adoptions, with comparative performance in 2003/04 showing in the bottom quartile nationally and failure to meet the local target for 2004/05 . However, overall improved outcomes for care leavers is reflected in the number who move on to further education, employment or training - CSCI has recognised performance in 2004/05 as `very good', compared with very few young people remaining in contact in 2003/04. There has also been a marked improvement in the percentage of child protection cases that are reviewed, although this still falls short of the target 100%.

The Council included extremely challenging educational targets for care leavers in its first LPSA and these have not been met. However there have been improvements from the baseline position in English and Maths at KS 3, as well as in the number of young people leaving care with 1 or more GCSEs at A* - G. There has been a worsening of results for potential higher achievers, ie those attaining A* - C grades.

The Council remains a national leader in the use of Direct Payments across all client groups, with 102 users per 100,000 population in 2004/05 compared with 68 in 2003/04. This underpins the philosophy in the green paper on adult social care. Waiting times for occupational therapy (OT) services have been reduced through the nationally acclaimed OT Direct scheme, although the national measure of equipment delivered in 7 working days shows failure to meet the Council's own target in 2004/05 and performance in the bottom quartile of all county councils in 2003/04.

The Council has embarked on innovative approaches to providing better care and support for older people ands is:

· on schedule with more than 300 additional nursing care beds through the ENHANCE project, which is being delivered in partnership with health at a time of continuing financial pressures for the NHS

· also on target with pilot schemes to prevent hospital admissions of older people - reflected in the national measure of number of older people helped to live at home. However, the Council falls significantly short of its own target to deliver intensive home care where needed.

Stewardship of the environment

Shaping our surroundings

The Council launched the `Holding out for Hampshire' campaign to raise awareness of the potential impact of the South East Plan and to lobby for additional infrastructure and funding to support development above existing growth rates. In the meantime, although actual information will not be available from SEERA until later in the year, the target for 6,500 additional dwellings to be built in 2004/05 should be met and the Council has exceeded its target for processing major planning applications in 13 weeks. Preparatory work has begun on the collection of information to support land management and environmental management schemes and there has been no net loss of habitats and species arising from the Council's own development and planning policies.

Travel and transport

Overall performance in this area is measured by the score given to the Local Transport Plan (LTP) and subsequently to progress with implementing it. In 2004 the LTP received an improved (`above average') score and publication of the provisional LTP2 is on schedule.

Although the DfT and ODPM are currently validating data returns, the Council's LPSA in relation to road maintenance has been a catalyst in halting and reversing long term deterioration in road conditions. The percentage of B, C, and unclassified roads requiring improvement fell in 2004/05. Unfortunately lack of access to Government machinery has made it impossible to survey the condition of principal roads.

The Council's investment in Bus Quality Partnerships has led to a healthy improvement in the number of bus passengers on targeted routes.

Natural resources

There has been a dramatic reduction (58.3% in 2003/04 to 46% in 2004/05) in the proportion of waste going to landfill, due to the opening of the Marchwood Energy Recovery from Waste Plant. This is also supported by a general improvement in recycling levels from 27% in 2003/04 to 30% in 2004/05 and the improved amount of waste going to energy recovery, from 14.7% to 23.75%. These results are overshadowed by the significant amount of work needed to achieve the ambitious targets of 40% recycling by 2006 and 45% energy recovery by 2005. The Council has also been acting to reduce the creation of waste and the target for reducing energy consumption in its own buildings has been exceeded.

The Council has been proactive in its promotion of environmental business practices and trialled the Building Research Establishment's `Smart Waste' system with contractors in five major capital projects as well as encouraging the highest number of business candidates per county who were nominated for the Sustainable Business Award.

Achieving economic prosperity

Promoting economic wellbeing

Significant partnership funding and the introduction of prudential borrowing approaches have increased the Council's spending capacity and therefore inward investment in Hampshire's economy by in excess of £43 million. This information was collected centrally for the first time in 2004/05, however, many projects were already underway at the beginning of the year, so next year's figure will differ considerably. (The target is £5 million per annum.)

Many and varied schemes have supported the promotion and take-up of broadband technology with current take-up at 21.6% - ahead of the national average of 14.7% and on schedule for next year's target of £30%.

The Council is working at all levels to reduce the impact of congestion on the county's economic performance:

· Continuing to promote the implementation of the South Hampshire Rapid Transit (SHRT) scheme linking Fareham to Gosport and Portsmouth

· Encouraging all major development proposals to develop and adopt travel plans that help to reduce dependence on car commuting and promote wider travel choices. Travel plans are now in place at 59 major employment sites.

Support of businesses in Hampshire

Acting as a responsible purchaser, forthcoming council tenders are advertised on Hantsweb and a guide for suppliers has been published. The Visit, e-tourism service has set a national lead in supporting local hotels and the tourism industry in Hampshire and the Hampshire Farmers Markets continue to be the most successful farmers markets in the UK, generating £2.5 million for local producers.

Access to skills and employment

35 apprentices have begun working with the Council, with a variety of service managers taking up the initiative to provide potential posts and working towards the overall target of 46 apprenticeships for 2005.

Building strong and safe communities

The Council places great emphasis on consulting with with local communities and engaging in many community events ranging from toddler groups to the New Forest Show to promote public services. The percentage of residents feeling well informed about the council's services has improved from 42% in 2002 to 47% in 2005, although this was below the target set of 55%.

Working together with Hampshire communities

The Council has worked to increase its national profile and lobbying power in a number of ways including the Leader's chairmanship of the County Council's Network, engagement with the ODPM and Ministers and through the Innovation Forum of `excellent' councils. Similar work has continued through the Council's international networks. Targeted work through `Hampshire Debates' engaged a wide range of stakeholders in February 2004 in issues relating to the South East Plan.

Contributing to the council's review of democratic structures, pilot Area Committees were held in Test Valley (3) and Havant (4). These pilots were evaluated by INLOGOV and work on how to roll out area committees across the county is ongoing.

Local Strategic Partnerships form a cornertstone of working with key partners in Hampshire and the Hampshire Strategic Partnership development plan has been produced and the Community Strategy published in June 2004 and distributed to 700 stakeholders.

Work with others to build strong, safe and sustainable communities

The Council aims to reduce crime and the fear of crime and in 2005 57% of residents said they feel either `very safe' or `fairly safe' walking outside after dark. This is was slightly short of the 60% target but since the question had not been previously asked it is not certain how ambitious this target was. In support of this aim there has been an increase in take-up of the significant range of diversionary activities that have been arranged for young people, and the Trading Standards Quick Response Team was established in 2004 to combat rogue traders who target vulnerable individuals, particularly older people. Working in co-operation with Hampshire Constabulary, the team have saved Hampshire residents considerable distress as well as many thousands of pounds in unnecessary expenditure (£45,000 from June - November 2004). 36 Accredited Community Safety Officer posts established . The scheme has been well received with all but one officer appointed.

The Council has recognised the need to focus resources on deprived areas of the county. Stretching targets for improved educational attainment and reducing pupil absence were set for two schools in Gosport. However, with the exception of reducing permanent exclusions at these schools the remaining results have worsened.

Promoting health and well-being

The Council has responded to new proposals to establish health scrutiny arrangements and has set up and carried out a programme of reviews. In depth health scrutiny reviews improved service delivery of podiatry services for diabetics, access to therapy for school age children and access to medication in schools.

There has been a significant fall in the number of people killed and seriously injured on Hampshire's roads, showing an 8% drop in all people killed or seriously injured since last year. It is unrealistic to make comparisons year-on-year given the volatile nature of this measure and therefore encouraging to note the longer term downward trend of -18% since the 1994-1998 average figure.

Improving services

Improving our performance

The Council has maintained its `excellent' status for the third year running and is justifiably proud of the external validation of the calibre of its services and overall management of resources. The Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) has generated a national emphasis on performance, with all local authorities striving to improve their rating. The Council aims to have a high percentage of its national performance indicator (BVPI) results in the top quartile compared with other county councils. Starting from a base of 43% BVPIs in the top quartile in 2000/01, this has slowly dropped to 34% in 2002/03 and to 26% in 2003/04. This is against a backdrop of achieving top quartile status for residents satisfaction levels and maintaining the level of Council Tax in the lowest quartile.

The cross-cutting Cabinet priority groups achieved their aim of targeting specific aspects of the corporate Strategy and delivering service improvements related to `older people', `transportation', `education and skills' and `crime, youth and deprivation'.

Providing access to employment and services in a way that suits the community and our customers

Varied projects have achieved improvement to front-line services through the use of information technology and the Council has ensured 78% of public buildings are accessible by disabled people - above the target of 75%.

Work on the Council's progress with achieving the Equality Standard has been taken forward by a Best Value review, which has ensured a fundamental examination of options to move forward that also embrace race equality, although this has postponed achievement of level three of the standard.

Managing our resources

Significant work has been carried out to improve the infrastructure to support front-line services:

· The restructuring of Human Resources Department, coupled with the introduction of new technologies should improve strategic and operational input as well as improve efficiency.

· Performance management frameworks have been strengthened through the corporate service planning and performance reporting regime and backed up by departmental approaches to scrutinising and challenging plans for services.

· The implementation of SAP is beginning to bear fruit and £800,000 savings across finance, purchasing, IT and HR were identified in 2004/05, exceeding the target in the Corporate Strategy which refers to savings in financial processes only.

Aim 6: Developing councillors & staff

Creative and innovative use of technology and e-government has enabled good progress to be made in building the capacity of councillors and staff. The Learning Zone has provided a single and central portal for learning with new e-learning packages to complement corporate learning and development activities, most recently service planning and equalities and diversity. The Members IT Plan has also been implemented introducing opportunities to use broadband at home and all county councillors now have email access. Work is also underway for members to have their own websites. In addition, IT Services was successful in winning `Best place to work in IT' for the public sector.

A number of innovative initiatives have been launched to build capacity. The foundation degree in Public Services Information Management was launched in February 2005 gaining a `Best Practice' observation under Charter Mark. A member/officer group has been formed to formulate a training and development strategy for members and the Futures Group has been established to consider future challenges for the Council.

A Training and Change Strategy for Individual Performance Plans (IPPs) is under development with the IPPs intended to include a development section to complement performance management and the pay and benefits project. This will support the Council in retaining Investors In People and an assessment approach to post recognition review is being piloted. The Leadership Skills Programme continues and had been rolled out to the first three management tiers (330 managers). A review of attendance aims to ensure consistent performance across the Council, although the Council has also reduced absence to 7.34 days per full-time equivalent staff in 2004/05, exceeding the target of 9.45 days.

A key challenge for the Council will be further investment in affordable housing for key workers. Some progress has been made including approximately £0.8m investment in affordable housing for key workers although this is below target (£1m).