Agenda item

Members gave consideration to a report which presented recommendations from the Progress and Delivery Working Group with regard to a revised format for the Council’s Progress and Delivery report for 2016/17, for recommendation on to the Policy Committee’s for formal adoption.

By way of context and background it was noted that the working group had been established in December 2015 to: -

a)    Review the measures reported in 2015/16 and determine their on-going appropriateness

b)    Consider how these measures provide a performance framework for the organisation that allows Members to monitor progress against the Corporate Plan, service delivery and project development

c)    Consider the reporting format for future reports

The working group had met on three occasions and its Members had reviewed the current reporting format and content, scrutinised the Council’s current Corporate Scorecard, had sight of a proposed set of measures to oversee delivery against the new Corporate Plan priorities and were introduced to the concept of a measure definition sheet to be used internally so as to ensure consistency of reporting.

As a result the Working Group had expressed overall satisfaction with the Progress and Delivery format and content, however they had suggested some improvements, namely: -

·         Direction of Travel indicators to be used in reporting

·         Consistent usage of explanations and rectification actions where appropriate

·         Corporate Measures that would give members a sense of how the overall organisation  was performing

As a result, the format of the P and D report had been modified to include the working groups suggestions and the revised report format now had the following six distinct sections:-

·         Executive Summary: Provides the reader with an overview of the reports context

·         Corporate Health measures: Key performance measures which give the reader a high-level view of the Council overall. Full performance is to be reported (red, amber and green) within this section.

·         Corporate Plan measures: Reporting against performance measures aligned to the themes and priorities of the Corporate Plan. Full performance is to be reported (red, amber and green). Please note that these measures will be included in the P&D report on a six-monthly basis

·         Commercial Plan measures: Reporting against the measures contained within the Commercial Plan. Please note that these measures will be included in the P&D report on a six-monthly basis. 

·         Programmes and Projects: Identification of Council programmes and projects that are not progressing as anticipated and identification of actions needed to improve.

·         Service measures: Performance of services areas on an exception basis; red or green measures

Debate ensued and in opening Members commented on what they considered a much improved format. Some Members were of the view that where penalties were likely for not achieving targets, then such potentialpenalties should be highlighted, the example cited being Carbon Management.

In responding to Members comments regarding the frequency of some reporting measures, the Director of Resources advised that it was only intended to report on the commercial measures every six months as it was likely there would be little progress to report on if the frequency was more often due to the nature of the measures. It was considered that any changes to any other measure’s frequency should be made in agreement with the relevant service area and policy committee.

Note: Councillor Kinch arrived at 6.45

Members were of the view that if there was a service area of particular concern or public interest at any time, examples cited being land charges and planning, then the relevant policy committee should consider increasing the reporting frequency during periods of concern.

The Vice Chairman indicated that the inclusion of a “heat map” would be of assistance. The Director of Resources indicated his agreement to this and undertook to include an additional summary table as part of the executive summary, setting out the total number of red green and amber measures.

RESOLVED that the revised reporting format of the progress and Delivery report 2016/17 be agreed and RECOMMENDED to the Prosperous Communities Committee and the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee for formal adoption, subject to the inclusion of an additional summary table as part of the executive summary, setting out the total number of red green and amber measures.