Agenda item

The Committee heard from the Change, Projects and Performance Officer regarding the quarter four and year end performance reporting. It was explained that, as it had been presented to the Prosperous Communities Committee the previous week, and there were several Members who had already had the full introduction to the report, the presentation at this Committee would focus on the data rather than the background information.

Therefore, the Officer presented the report as follows.

Overall Summary of Council Performance. Over 84% of all measures were either exceeding or within agreed tolerance of their targets, showing a strong end to the year.

Performance Improvement Plan. It was explained that this highlighted the measures under target, with the plan adding further context and providing the extra level of assurance that Members had previously requested. This was then scrutinised alongside the P&D report by Management Team before being presented to the committees. This was introduced in October for Quarter two last year and had been well received.

There were eight measures which were included in the plan currently and these would remain going into 2023/24 with the exception of COF02 – average time taken to pay invoices. It was explained that this measure had been amended following approval at committee in February to reflect the contractual payment terms.

The Officer then presented the portfolio summaries.

The first portfolio was Change Management, ICT and Regulatory Services. Out of a possible 18 measures, 16 were above target within the portfolio. The measure below target related to Local Land Charges Market Share, which was included within the Performance Improvement Plan. 

All measures within the Finance, Business and Property Services Portfolio were within target. The Homes and Communities Portfolio saw one measure reporting below target which related to the average days taken to complete a Disabled Facilities Grant. Extra information had been included for DFGs this quarter to round up following inclusion within the performance improvement plan. It was an opportunity highlight the positive work and the impact this had had. The graph within the report detailed the measure compared with the number of referrals received, with the table highlighting the increase in referrals over the past six years.

The Operational and Commercial Services portfolio saw five of its measures reporting above target, with the measures below target relating to average number of market stalls on both a Tuesday and a Saturday, and the recycling weights, all of which were included within the Performance Improvement Plan.

The Planning and Regeneration Portfolio saw all the measures continue to report above target.

On concluding the presentation of the quarterly report, Members were referred to Appendix A, the Year End report. It was explained this was presented annually, in the same format as the quarterly reports, but detailed performance cumulatively over the year rather than the quarter.

The Officer offered to meet with any Member on a 1-2-1 basis to go through any aspect of the report in further detail, and she highlighted that training was to be planned for all Councillors on performance management, with the plan to deliver this prior to the next P&D report coming to Committee. The Officer concluded her presentation and sought questions or comments.

The Chairman thanked the Officer for her presentation and sought confirmation that the details provided verbally at the Prosperous Communities Committee had been updated for the current version of the report, this was confirmed.

A Member of the Committee expressed his thanks and highlighted the reason for the Committee meeting on a Wednesday rather than a Thursday was due to the Council having been nominated for the LGC ‘Council of the Year’, with the winner to be announced the following evening, all being part of the demonstrable succuss of the Council. He further commended the work and success of the community grants match funding, noting that there was no way of capturing the invaluable asset volunteer time and input. He enquired as to whether there was a district wide launch of the grant funding scheme planned, this was confirmed to be the case.

There was wide spread support for the layout and presentation of the report, as well as praise for those involved in not only providing service improvements but also maintaining service performance. The specifics of setting the measure sets were discussed, with Officers confirming they were regularly reviewed, with some amended if necessary whilst others remained the same. It was explained that where there were service areas regularly underachieving, these were subject to the performance improvement plans as well as reviewing the measure sets in case the targets were unrealistic.

A Member of the Committee enquired as to whether there was scope for conducting polls of those attending the Trinity Arts Centre, for example to ascertain where they had come from and whether they planned further activities in Gainsborough, such as going out for a meal or similar. It was agreed that swift ‘exit-poll’ style questions could be used and the Director of Corporate Services undertook to raise this with the directorate.

With further thanks to all involved, and having been moved and seconded, it was unanimously

RESOLVED that

a)    the Committee had assessed the performance of the Council’s services through agreed performance measures and had indicated areas where improvements should be made, having had regard to the remedial measures set out in the report; and

b)    the Progress and Delivery Performance Improvement Plan for Quarter Two (January-March) 2022/23 be approved.