Issue - meetings

Members gave consideration to the quarter four and year end Progress and Delivery Report for 2024/25. It was explained by the Change, Projects and Performance Officer that as the final report of the year, subsequent reports would change to reflect the measures and targets approved by the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee in early 2025.

Members heard that overall performance showed 87% of measures were either exceeding or within tolerance of their targets. This was an improvement from 83% in quarter four 2023/24 and 78% in quarter three 2024/25. The number of measures in the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) had been reduced from seven to six year-on-year.

There were two changes reported from the previous quarter within the Performance Improvement Plan. The percentage of Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) completed within 20 working days had reported below target in quarter three, however performance had improved and was reporting above target for quarter four. This had therefore been removed from the performance improvement plan. Additionally, the percentage of Food Standards Agency inspections completed had reported below target all year, before finishing the year only 1% off target. This was within tolerance and had been removed from the performance improvement plan this quarter. A total of 334 food inspections were completed throughout 2024/25, with 114 of those conducted in quarter four. In comparison, 229 inspections were completed in total during 2023/24, which was a 46% increase this year. Performance had been expected to improve with additional resource in place and Members heard that this had carried on into the current reporting data for 2025/26 with the team already exceeding target for April and May.

With regards to Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs), the position was clear and it was not expected that the performance of associated measures would change given the budget position. In relation to the percentage of households spending more than 42 nights in B&B accommodation, this was expected to remain in the PIP as the target was set at zero. This was in line with guidance and what needed to be aimed for, however it was not currently achievable with only limited temporary accommodation available. The project to provide an additional eight units was underway and would improve the performance data over time.

It was explained that the measure relating to the Local Land Charges market share had reported below target, however, this had been removed from the measure set for 2025/26 as it was considered out of the control of the team, due to others undercutting on fees. It had been agreed to retain the statistic to maintain visibility, however the team would continue to focus on maintaining high-performance in-service delivery.

In relation to market stalls data, the Tuesday markets continued to feature, with updated information to include the updated stall infrastructure and layout to be delivered in Summer 2025, alongside the opening of the new cinema and leisure scheme. Officers were starting to receive some positive community feedback for the Tuesday offer which was being monitored. Finally,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8

Members gave consideration to the Progress and Delivery Quarter Four Report and Summary of Year End Performance for 2024/25, presented by the Performance and Programme Manager. He highlighted to Members there had been some updated figures since the report had been published, those being under Corporate Health: 

·         COF01 - Budget variance -£1.126m

·         COF03 - Overall Council budget forecast outturn -6.68%

The changes came from £56k from minor variances (each under £10k) and £175k windfall government grants. However, both figures were still subject to final audit of statement of accounts.

Additionally, further to the report having been presented for the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee briefing, a requested amendment was for Saturday market data to be included in the performance improvement plan alongside the Tuesday figures.

It was explained that with regard to the overall performance for the quarter, 87% of KPIs were either exceeding or within the agreed tolerance and this was compared to 83% in Q4 of 2023/24 and 78% in the previous quarter.

Members heard that, with regard to the performance improvement plan, there were six measures included. Two measures related to Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs), those being the average number of working days from DFG application to completion of work, and the percentage of DFG referrals completed within 120 working days. It was not expected the performance of those measures would change given the budget position. The third measure was HME07, the percentage of households spending more than 42 nights in bed and breakfast accommodation. This was also expected to remain in the performance improvement plan as the target was set at zero, in line with guidance and what was striven for, however, it was not achievable with the limited temporary accommodation available. Members heard the temporary accommodation project was now in motion which would provide eight additional units, with two of these being outside the Gainsborough area.

With regard to the measure for local land charges market share, it was explained that whilst it was reporting below target, it was accepted that this measure was outside the control of the council. As such, the approved measure sets for 2025/26 had it removed as a target data set, however the detail would remain as a visible statistic within the report. It was also confirmed that the team would continue to focus on maintaining high performance and service delivery.

In addition to markets figures being included in the performance improvement plan, the information had been updated to include updated stalls and layouts, which were due to be delivered in the summer, alongside the opening of the new cinema. A weekly breakdown of markets was included in the year-end report.

The final measure in the performance improvement plan was the Together24 savings delivered, which was an annual cumulative target which was being monitored against the current position.

Members were provided with the details of those measures which had been removed from the improvement plan, including the percentage of Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) completed in 20 days, which was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5