The improvement since last year - our Direction of Travel
report
Summary
Bath and North East Somerset Council is improving well and is a
3 star council.
The rate of improvement is accelerating, particularly in
priority service areas, and value for money for local tax payers is
improving further. Council tax is below the national average and
the Council’s spending is low, compared to others, on its three
largest cost areas of education, social services and the
environment, while service performance is generally high. Services
for older and vulnerable people are improving, for example reducing
the time taken to make arrangements for their care. Already high
performing services, such as waste recycling and raising education
standards, are getting better. However, these improvements are not
consistently reflected in some of the national performance measures
or in the residents’ satisfaction with services which has generally
fallen compared to other councils.
It is working on ambitious plans to deliver projects that will
further improve the quality of life for local people, including
physical regeneration schemes, new schools, better transport
infrastructure, and more homes that are affordable. It also
continues to implement its organisational change programmes to help
deliver its plans in all services and in partnership with other
organisations.
1 The
Council is improving the value for money and outcomes for local
people from its key services. It has exceeded the efficiency
targets it has been set, saving
£1 million more than its target. It continues to maintain low
levels of spending overall, compared to others, on its three
largest cost areas of education, social services and the
environment while delivering these to a high standard. While
keeping its council tax below the national average, it manages to
maintain these generally high standards of service delivery.
Although there are a few areas where costs have increased or
remained high, these do not represent a significant proportion of
the Council’s over-all spending. The improvement in value for money
is reflected in a higher score of ‘improving well’ judgement on
value for money in a recent Audit Commission assessment of the
Council’s use of resources.
2 There
is generally improvement in performance indicators that directly
relate to the Council’s local priorities for improvement including
educational attainment and waste recycling.
3
However, these service improvements are not reflected across all
areas of the Council’s services. For instance, while the rate of
improvement on some national performance indicators for key
services is improving, in some other service areas it is
below average Of these other selected indicators, 53 per cent
improved over the period. The number of these indicators that
compare to the best
25 per cent of councils is also below average for this Council.
There are relatively few, and isolated, examples of a strong and
sustained improvement in some of the lower performing indicators.
For instance, the government has recently assessed the Council as
being a high risk for not meeting national targets for the speed of
processing planning applications and the Council has made this part
of the service a priority for improvement.
4
Likewise, the Council is not consistently meeting its objective for
improving customer satisfaction. The latest national user survey
shows that over-all satisfaction with the Council since the last
survey three years ago has dropped. It now has one of the lowest
satisfaction levels relative to similar councils. In addition, the
survey shows that a high proportion of local residents, compared to
other areas, think that the way the Council runs things has got
worst over the last three years. This survey also indicates that
very few of the Council's services have managed to keep pace with
the improving satisfaction levels in other council areas. The
period of this survey coincided with a change to refuse collection
service that caused short term disruption and the Council feels
that this has influenced residents on their survey response.
Sustainable Communities and Transport
1 The Council
continues to advance the implementation of its vision for the
future of the area in the form of new building developments. The
new Bath (Thermae) Spa complex opened to the public in the summer
2006 and the Council’s own analysis is that a very high number of
customers are satisfied with the new facility. Plans are
progressing for major redevelopment schemes, with planning
application submissions being considered currently for building
development which will provide integrated public transport, new
homes, leisure, and work spaces, along with new employment,
learning and lifestyle facilities for local people. These new
developments include more affordable housing and the Council has
exceeded the target it set itself in 1999 to provide 600 units of
affordable housing over six years.
2 It is active
in its promotion of alternatives to car use and it has delivered a
range of initiatives to ease the City’s congestion problems. There
are indications that these schemes are having an impact on the way
that people choose to travel around the area although the latest
resident survey shows that concern about traffic congestion is
greater in this area than others and that the proportion of people
who think it needs improving is increasing.
3 In the last
year, the Council made further progress towards its zero waste
strategy. In 2005/06, recycling of household waste rose to 32 per
cent and is now approaching 40 per cent, exceeding both the
government and its own targets, and the proportion of waste to
landfill falling. It continues to receive positive public
recognition for this work in the press and it has even more
ambitious plans to continue to improve its waste management
services.
4 The Council
has made a significant improvement in the cleanliness of public
land with the proportion of space with unacceptable level of litter
moving from low to above average performance in the last year. The
Council subscribes to the Local Government Association backed
‘Reputation’ campaign and in the environment category it has been
recently assessed as delivering the ‘gold’ standard. This provides
the Council with an efficient and effective way of communicating
its policy and achievements to the public.
Safer and Stronger Communities
1 The
Council continues to expand its activities aimed at creating a
safer community. For instance, the number of areas covered by
its environment action days has widened to other areas where there
have been community safety issues. The Council sponsored Mentoring
Plus youth crime prevention project continues to provide 12-17 year
olds with an intensive community based mentoring and education
support.
2 It has
maintained its score of ‘good’ in the annual performance assessment
of its benefits service even though this is not a priority for
improvement. There are significant performance improvements in the
speed of processing of new benefit claims and in clearing a
substantial backlog of cases, although a recent benefit fraud
inspection identified that some weaknesses still remain in other
areas of claim processing and investigation.
Healthier Communities
1
Although community health is not one of the Council’s current ten
corporate improvement priorities, it is active in its involvement
with its partners on initiatives in this sector. A recent Sport
England survey shows that 24 per cent of local residents are
regularly active which is higher than the national average.
Nutritional standards and quality of food in the Council’s schools
have also improved.
2 While
the Council is starting to make some progress towards ensuring that
it is meeting the needs of all sectors of the community there is
still more to be done. In the last year, it progressed to level 2
of the Equality Standard for Local Government. However, physical
and electronic access to services still do not meet statutory and
national standards and there is little evidence of significant
initiatives aimed at understanding the needs of all sectors of the
community, engaging the participation of all sectors of the
community and shaping the delivery of services to meet their
needs.
Older People
1 The
Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) has recognised the
significant improvement in the Council’s social care service for
adults. Promoting the independence of older people is one of the
Council’s ten corporate improvement priorities and it is actively
involved with its partners in initiatives on this. Services for
older and vulnerable people are improving, for example reducing the
time taken to make arrangements for their care. The programme of
rebuilding of the care homes with modern facilities for older
people has continued with particular success in the development of
the in-reach nursing service, which is showing results in terms of
a reduction of admissions into hospital. CSCI conclude that
the Council is now serving most people well, a higher performance
grade than last year, and the capacity for further improvement is
promising.
Children & Young People
1 The
Council has maintained its score of ‘good’ in the annual
performance assessment of its children’s services. The majority of
these services demonstrate improving achievement including some
areas of social care which were weak last year. The Council’s
schools continue to maintain a high level of GCSE and key stage
attainment and it is consistently listed in a high position in
national league tables. The only area where there has been no
improvement is in the quality of education provided for 16 to 19
year olds, where there has been no improvement in the satisfactory
achievement and standards reported in last year’s Annual
Performance Assessment.
