Hampshire County Council

Cabinet

Item 11

20 March 2006

Annual Report of the Major Achievements of the County Council in 2005/06

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.

Major Cross-Cutting Corporate Achievements including Chief Executive's Department

Corporate Aim

1.

Hampshire County Council rated a Four Star authority in the CPA (Comprehensive Performance Assessment) Harder Test.

All

2.

Established the new Children's Services and Adult Services Departments.

1, 5

3.

Delivered the first Annual Efficiency Statements and process to address efficiency agenda established across the County Council.

All

4.

More frontline services achieved/retained Chartermark:

Pensions Service

The Outdoor Service

Hampshire Record Office

Library and Information Services

Museums Service

Arts Service

Sport Hampshire and Isle of Wight County Sports Partnership

Governor Services

Student Support

5

5.

36 Community Safety Officers now in post, dealing with over 1,000 incidents per month. In parts of the County, vandalism has dropped by up to 55%, and minor arson by 45%. Officers also engage with local groups and have developed an education resource that they deliver to promote good citizenship.

4

6.

Hampshire Broadband Project, a three year partnership programme to provide a support system and knowledge network for broadband users launched - 147 businesses received grant aid and advice sessions promoting community access to and take-up of broadband.

1, 3

7.

The Local Area Agreement (LAA), negotiated with Government and key local partners. This prioritises and co-ordinates partnership activity across Hampshire, with all major partner organisations working to agreed outcomes. LAA board established and governance arrangements agreed with all partners.

All

8.

Hampshire County Council's local public service agreement (LPSA1) with the Government ended in March 2005 and resulted in improved performance across stretching performance targets. The council is claiming a reward grant of approximately £10m. The LPSA2, running until 2009 alongside the LAA, currently identifies 16 targets of stretched performance negotiated with Government.

All

9.

Guardian Public Service Award for the quality of the emergency response provided by the County Council in the wake of the tsunami in Sri Lanka.

1

10.

Public consultation undertaken on housing development (South East Plan) both within Hampshire and the South East and produced a special Hampshire Now supplement, focusing specifically on the impact of the South East Plan on Hampshire and the South East.

2

11.

Economic Development Office, with support from IT Services, launched e.volve - a new database and website which provides a complete picture of voluntary and community organisations across Hampshire.

5

12.

ISO 9001:2000 quality accreditation achieved by the Democratic Services team.

5

13.

Local e-Government Excellence Efficiency Award.

5

Seq. No.

County Treasurer's Department

Corporate Aim

Treasurer Services

1.

Acted as Expenditure Coordinator for the Local Government Association on behalf of all councils, and as lead negotiator on Children's Services.

All

2.

Saved £250k (bringing savings to date to £500k per year) through SAP benefit realisation.

All

3.

Set up new Payroll Service Centre jointly with Human Resources.

6

IT Services

1.

OT Direct won the `Best Project-Government to Citizen' at the Government Computing BT Awards for innovation.

1, 4, 5

2.

Facilitated Broadband access for schools - Implementation of the Schools network (Synetrix) and various broadband initiatives such as extending broadband to hard to reach rural areas.

1

3.

Supported launch of the e-recruitment system to provide information on all job vacancies within the Council and the facility to apply on-line.

1, 3, 5

4.

Selected to mentor two other local authorities under the ODPM capacity building and support for struggling local authorities programme - a major endorsement of the standards and capability of the County Council's IT Services department.

5

Seq. No.

Property, Business and Regulatory Services

Corporate Aim

1.

Through the ENHANCE project, six new nursing homes have been completed providing 312 beds.

1

2.

78% of public buildings now accessible by disabled people - above the target of 75%.

1, 4, 5

3.

Review of school meals completed, resulting in the launch of a new menu with balanced meal choices for children. Hampshire school meals are the first and only to be awarded the Highest Award for Excellence in School Catering by the Hyperactive Children's Support Group.

1

4.

Received RIBA Award for `high architectural standards and substantial contribution to the local environment'. Also RIBA South Conservation Commendation 2005 for Gilbert White's House and The Oates Museum, recognising best practice in the field of conservation.

2

Seq No.

Human Resources (HR)

Corporate Aim

1.

SAP savings of £100,000 counting as cashable efficiencies achieved in 2004/05 and £150,000 in 2005/06.

5

2.

Shared service centre including payroll and transactional HR work has been successfully set up in new offices in Eastleigh.

5, 6

3.

Successfully established Corporate Resourcing Centre delivering on-line recruitment facility.

5,6

4.

To help meet legal requirements under the Race Relations Amendment Act 400 people have been training on impact assessment across all council departments. To promote partnership working, support on impact assessment has also been carried out with district councils and Hampshire Constabulary .

1, 4, 6

5.

The Corporate Health & Safety Annual Public Report received industry recognition and was recommended to other organisations, both public and private as an example of good practice. The Council was one of only two Local Authorities who scored 10 out of 11.

4, 5, 6

Seq No.

Children's Services

Corporate Aim

1.

Received APA/CSCI rating for Children's Services - "Serving most people well with excellent capacity for improvement"

5

2.

2005 pupil performance in Key Stage 2 English and Maths tests at level 4 improved against the 2004 results. English, Science and ICT results for 14 year olds at KS3 also improved over the 2004 figures. Overall GCSE results improved, and for the majority of test and exam results the Hampshire average is above the average for similar authorities and well above national averages.

1

3.

Hampshire Music Service awarded the National Music Council (NMC) Major Award 2005 and organised 700 pupils representing 100 schools to perform to a capacity audience at the Schools Prom in the Royal Albert Hall.

1

4.

Over 250 children's residential unit staff trained together with local partners including police and youth offending teams to implement a Restorative Justice programme in Hampshire's Children's Homes and reduce offending behaviour.

4 6

5.

`Place2Learn' offers a real time on-line `classroom' for pupils unable to attend school. This includes children who are medically unwell, emotionally vulnerable or permanently excluded from school.

1,5

6.

Promotion of the Council's unique Rights, Respect and Responsibilities educational programme starting to reduce disruptive behaviours in the classroom while at the same time promoting respect for others and raising self-esteem among children.

1

7.

Established a policy for Kinship Care so that children unable to live with their own parents can be cared for by close members of their extended family with financial support if needed as well as support from social care professionals. An increasing number of children are benefiting from this policy which not only maintains family links, but keeps them out of the care system. The County Council also co-hosted a national conference with the Grandparents Association in June 2005.

1,5

Seq. No.

Adult Services

Corporate Aim

1.

Department retained its two-star rating for the fourth consecutive year. Performance overall is better than the previous year, with the department improving its position within the two-star band.

5

2.

'Innovations' project established in the south of the county, to bring together social workers and nurses working in the GP surgeries of four Primary Care Trusts (Fareham & Gosport, East Hampshire, Eastleigh & Test Valley South, and the New Forest). Project already improving the independence of people over 75 who live at home and reduce emergency admissions to hospital. The scheme will be extended to cover the whole county.

1, 5

3.

ENHANCE, the project to build ten new nursing homes, continues. Six new homes are now completed. Where the nursing home has been built alongside an existing residential home, the residential home has also been refurbished.

5

4.

All the department's social workers are now registered with the General Social Care Council (GSCC) the new regulating body for social care workers, meeting the national deadline for registration.

5, 6

5.

OT Direct, the department's fast-track phone line for occupational therapy advice and equipment, has won two national awards and one regional award.

5

Seq. No.

Environment Department

Corporate Aim

1.

Investment in quality bus routes has resulted in passenger numbers increasing by nearly half a million and development of the Cango flexible demand-responsive bus service for rural areas has continued with the number of bookings and enquiries for Cango increased from 8,400 to 9,500 calls per month and now some 300 passenger trips a day are organised.

2

2.

Winchester Station improved in partnership with SWTrains and highly commended in HSBC Rail Business Awards.

2

3.

The Recycle for Hampshire Campaign began in September 2005 has already led to improved levels of recycling by the 15,000 targeted households. A notable result of our long-term investment in waste facilities is that half of Hampshire's household waste is now used to generate electricity.

2

4.

There was continued success in reducing fatalities and serious road casualties and we remained on track to improve on the Government's national casualty reduction targets on our roads by 2010.

2, 4

5.

Received three awards for the excellence of road safety services

- Prince Michael of Kent Road Safety Commendation (partnership programme with Hampshire Constabulary for reduction in motor cycle casualties).

- Prime Community Safety Award (partnership programme with Hampshire Constabulary for reduction in motor cycle casualties).

- Award for advertising the awareness of the effects of drugs on driving (with Gcap Radio).

2, 4

6.

Selected by Government to lead the Rural Pathfinder for the South East involving the public, private and voluntary sectors in piloting new ways of working to achieve better outcomes for rural areas.

2, 4 & 5

Seq. No.

Recreation and Heritage Department

Corporate Aim

1.

Both Staunton Country Park and Queen Elizabeth Country Park received the Green Flag Award, a scheme which is managed by the Civic Trust and represents the national standard for parks and green spaces. The awards recognise those sites which have been judged to be welcoming, safe and well-maintained with strong involvement of the local community.

1, 2

2.

Record numbers of children participated in the libraries Summer Reading Challenge with 12,000 signing up in the first week and 20,669 in total.

1

3.

Over 1700 events were organised by the Arts Services, in council residential/nursing homes for the elderly and day centres.

1

4.

Gosport Discovery Centre opened in March 2005 - a key milestone in the library transformation programme with extensive local and national media coverage. Visits to and usage of the Discovery Centre have surpassed expectations.

2

5.

New Hub finding secured for the Museums Service from MLA for 2006-2008 (£470K in 2006/07, £970K for 2007/08).