Agenda item

Members were informed the quarterly performance information reports provided a review of the actions taken to meet the Council Plan targets, the Local Area Agreement targets and National and Key performance indicators that each group used to manage and monitor performance.

Reference was made to the changes central Government had made in relation to the abolition of the Comprehensive Area Assessment and the Local Area Agreements which would impact on the performance information reporting for the Council. Officers had been asked to look at the performance framework for the Council to take on board these changes.

Deputy Chief Executive’s Office (DCEO)

The Head of Policy attended the meeting and provided Members with an overview of the performance within the Deputy Chief Executive’s Office. The main issues reported were:

• The DCEO was responsible for the monitoring of 12 National Performance Indicators, with 6 of these being part of the biennial Place Survey which had been placed on hold by the new government due to the comprehensive spending review
• Of the 12 local indicators which were linked to the Council’s objective of ‘serving our community and customers’ the target for involving people/residents/organisation in Overview & Scrutiny Committee reviews during 2009/10 was showing slippage. The target of 500 had been overambitious as the nature of the reviews which had been carried out by the Council’s Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees had not generated wide public interest
• Of the 9 local indicators which were linked to the Council’s objective of ‘achieving value for money’, 1 of these was showing slippage. This related to the Council-wide number of working days lost to sickness absence which was 8.45, with the target being 7.5 days. Members were informed that for DCEO this figure was lower
• In relation to local Performance Indicators, 1 of these had shown slippage. This related to the Council objective of ‘strengthening planning and performance’ and the preparation of draft council and committee meeting minutes within 4 working days of a meeting. New working arrangements within Democratic Services had contributed to this but the service had taken steps to ensure this target was achieved

Finance & Resources (F & R)

The Support Services Manager for Finance & Resources attended the meeting and provided Members with an overview of the performance within the Finance & Resources Office. The main issues reported were:

• National Indicator 14 – Avoidable Contact – this indicator was aimed at reducing avoidable contact between customers and the Council. Despite this being removed from the national indicator set, for 2009/10, the Council had an overall result of 22%, which was an improvement of 8% on the previous year
• Council Tax collection was slightly above its target with National Non Domestic Rates collected slightly below the target. Members would be provided with an explanation of the impact of the slight slippage on National Non Domestic Rate
• Member Enquiries and Customer Complaints – This had shown good progress, however customer complaints in Q4 had dipped and the target of 95% had not been achieved. Action had been taken to address this and the results for Q1 for 2010/11 were back above target (97%)
• Sickness Absence – This had improved on last year, but the set target had not been achieved, partly due to high absence in one area prior to outsourcing of the service
• Agency Staff - A considerable reduction had taken place with this with a reduction of £674,000 in spend on agency staff. Members were informed that this had been further reduced, with the directorate now only employing 13 agency staff

Members congratulated officers on the excellent performance across both the DCEO and F & R.

Resolved –

1.  That the contents of the reports be noted.