Agenda item

Members gave consideration to a report which assessed the performance of the Council’s services and key projects through agreed performance measures.  A revised set of measures was appended to the report for approval.  Members were asked to review performance and recommend areas where improvements should be made, having regard to any remedial measures already included within the report.

The report summary was structured to highlight those areas that were performing above expectations, those areas where there was a risk to either performance or delivery and those areas where further work was required to either improve the quality of the information provided to Members or where work was already underway to address poor performance.

Areas described as performing well included: The Budget, Building Control and Local Land Charges.

Those areas described as risks included: Enforcement; Food Safety (Regulatory Team), Gainsborough Markets and Homelessness.

Future work would be undertaken regarding the measurement of customer satisfaction.

Further information was given on each of the above. 

Debate ensued and a number of Members expressed dissatisfaction at the market’s performance and the continued delay of the options paper for this service, despite the poor performance.

Concern was also expressed at the performance within Enforcement, particularly at the initial response time which could often be weeks as opposed to days.  This was not creating a positive image for the service.  Furthermore non response often meant Members were becoming involved in issues that should be for Officers to resolve.

Members were keen that further progress was made with the tenant passport scheme, in order that Selective Licensing achieved all it had intended to.  It was important that Selective Licensing offered benefits and support for those responsible landlords and the tenant passport scheme would go some way to achieving this. 

The current position with regard to Food Inspections was considered unacceptable with Members acknowledging that this was an important service function, with serious implications if it was not running effectively.

With regard to the dip in performance for the indicator “cost of Trinity Arts per user”, it was noted that the figures for the period, included some one-off annual costs and thus this was a financial profiling issue.  The indicator was expected to resume its normal position in the next period.

In responding Officers acknowledged Members’ concerns regarding Food Inspections and advised that this was the first quarter that the service appeared to be at risk of poor performance, this was thought to be as result of a number of short term absences, however a review of the service was planned for early August to ensure the service remained effective.

Officers were accepting of the comments around the performance of the Enforcement service.  In response to previous concerns, new resource had been allocated to the service since February 2017 and it was anticipated the benefits and impact of this additional resource would soon be evident.  It was expected that the indictors would be showing an improved position by the end of the next period.

Officers confirmed that progress was being made with the tenant passport scheme.

Again Officers were accepting of the comments raised in respect of the Markets performance.  Assurance was offered that an options paper would be submitted to the September meeting of the Prosperous Communities Committee.

On that basis it was:-

RESOLVED that: -

(a)     the new measures proposed, as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report, be approved; and

(b)     having critically appraised the performance of services and key projects, and having had regard to the remedial measures suggested in the report, and the information provided in response to Member questions, no further action be requested at this stage.

Note:   Following the above vote having been taken a Member indicated that the Committee should request a further report back on the position of food inspections.  The Chief Operating Officer indicated that the report was next due at the Challenge and Improvement Committee and the Committee’s comments and suggestions would be noted there.