Agenda item

(CSP: All)

Purpose:  To present the basket of key accountable measures and activities for 2015/16.

Resolved that progress against the key accountable measures and activities be noted.

This decision is not subject to call in as:

·      Report is to note only

therefore it will be implemented immediately.

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 6) concerning the Council's progress at quarter one against its key accountable performance measures and milestones. In doing so, it sought to provide assurance to Members that objectives laid out in the Council Strategy, and other areas of significance / importance across the Council, were being delivered.

Of the 27 reported measures, outturns were available for 19. 14 measures were reported as 'green', with the remaining five reported as 'amber' - behind schedule, but expected to be achieved by year end.

Councillor Gordon Lundie commented that four of the ‘amber’ measures related to targets within Children’s Services, which was in a process of rebuilding following the OFSTED inspection in March 2015.

Councillor Alan Macro remarked that at the last Executive meeting on 23 July 2015, he had criticised the empty homes target and did not see that this measure had been included in the report. Councillor Lundie responded that whilst the number of empty homes being brought back into use had not been one of the 27 measures reported to the Executive it was still a target measured by the Council. He offered to have a conversation with Councillor Macro regarding the measures which had been selected to be reported to the Executive outside of the meeting.

Nick Carter advised Councillor Macro that there had been a change to the measures which were previously reported to the Executive. Councillor Macro stated that it was premature to remove some of the reported measures.

Councillor Macro raised a query regarding measure 22 ‘percentage change in numbers of businesses registered for National Non Domestic Rates’, observing that Q3 of 2014/15 showed a sharp drop. Nick Carter agreed that the figures did not appear to be correct and suggested that numbers had been reported, rather than a percentage change. He agreed to clarify this issue with a written answer.

Councillor Macro questioned the narrative provided against the measure ‘to maintain a high percentage of (single) assessments being completed within 45 working days’ as the reason for amber was provided as ‘our performance against this indicator has improved since the start of the year (61%)’ however the 2014/15 year end figure was given as 70%. Councillor Lynne Doherty advised that she could not comment on the figure for 2014/15 but there had been an upward trend in the month-by-month figures she received as the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services. Councillor Macro added that if the correct figure was in fact 70%, a 1.2% increase was not much of an improvement. Councillor Roger Croft commented that there had been some teething problems with this new style of reporting of the Council’s performance which he hoped to see rectified at quarter two.

Councillor Lee Dillon observed that the commentary on page 20 of the agenda explained that the numbers of enquiries relating to Child Protection Plans (CPP) and Looked After Children (LAC) had reduced, so questioned the amber targets relating to CPP and Pathway Plans for LAC and said that if numbers were reducing he would hope to see more improvement in meeting the targets.

Councillor Dillon went on to suggest that the report would be clearer if figures were provided alongside percentages in order to help contextualise the data.

Councillor Dillon sought clarification on the reason for a ‘placeholder’ inserted under priority 6: support communities to do more to help themselves. The detail provided in the report was that an additional measure was to be confirmed for supporting a communities approach linked to Health Visiting and School Nurse services. Councillor Marcus Franks confirmed that the contract for provision of these services would commence in October 2015.

Councillor Lundie agreed to provide written answers on the further points raised by Councillor Dillon:

·         On page 21 of the agenda under ‘(iii) Affordable Housing’, further information regarding the causes for peaks in demand for homelessness prevention would be useful.

·         Page 22 of the agenda reported that capacity was an issue for Adult Social Care and Councillor Dillon asked if additional resources were required to reassess all existing clients.

·         On page 29 of the agenda there was a cut off sentence so the remedial action being taken was not clear.

·         Regarding page 34, Councillor Dillon disagreed that the maintenance of Discretionary Housing Payments enabled the completion of more affordable housing.

·         The reporting date for this information was 23 July 2015 and Councillor Dillon would have liked this information to have been received by the Executive sooner.

RESOLVED that progress against the key accountable measures and activities be noted.

Reason for the decision: This framework compiles and monitors progress in relation to the objectives laid out in the Council Strategy and on key activities and areas of risk from the Council's individual service delivery plans.

In doing so, it expresses the purpose and ambition of the Council and by extension the Council's main focus of activities and key measures of success against which the Council can assess itself and publicly report progress.

Other options considered: n/a