The Strategy Manager opened the report and stated that this was the first corporate performance monitoring report for 2018/19. The report detailed the statistical evidence the council uses to monitor its progress and performance against the council’s priorities. The report provided a progress update in relation to the performance of those KPIs. She also stated that there were no longer any amber KPIs, and that targets had either been achieved (green) or had not (red). The Chair opened discussions by pointing out the KPI on page 41 regarding the proportion of bins emptied on the correct day, as this target had also not been met during the previous winter period. The Director of HR, OD and Transformation replied that this quarter, the lower collection rate coincided with the strike ballot, which had restricted the council’s ability to access agency staff, and therefore there were reduced staffing levels. The Chair then queried the large missed target regarding the satisfaction of housing tenants as the target was 75% satisfaction, and only 65% had been achieved. The Corporate Director of Adults, Housing and Health responded that if ‘fair’ answers had been recorded the satisfaction rate would have been 88%, but he felt it was disappointing the target had not been hit. He went on to say that the survey was run by an external provider, and chose people at random. He stated that he had seen the figures for July & August which had been almost 70% satisfaction rates, so an improvement had been made. He also said that there had been an issue this quarter with how operatives and housing staff communicate with tenants, and that the service were looking to improve this to ensure the council explain processes better to tenants.

The Chair then raised the failed KPI of timeliness to the response of complaints as the target had been 95%, but only 86% had been reached. The Director of HR, OD, and Transformation responded that the team were constantly working with services that they had already seen a positive direction of travel. She mentioned that complaints were escalated to senior managers more quickly if they did not hit deadlines. The Director confirmed that the target had remained the same at 95% despite reducing the deadline to 7 days. She went on to say this is now very ambitious, and whilst services strive to respond as quickly as possible, the nature and complexity of some complaints means that longer is required, and that the appropriateness of the overall target will need to be kept under review.

Councillor Duffin stated that he was happy to see the KPI regarding apprenticeships was now green, but asked a question regarding how many apprentices stayed on once their apprenticeship had finished. The Director of HR, OD and Transformation replied that it had been a positive change as 2017 was the first year of the apprentice levy and strategy. She stated that the council had run an apprentice recruitment day in which all the services had been represented, and had galvanized children in school to consider apprenticeships with the council. The Director informed the Committee that retaining apprentices was something the council was working on by making more junior posts available and approaching apprentices in different ways.

The Chair then discussed the KPI regarding staff sickness, as this was moving in the right direction. The Director of HR, OD and Transformation replied that it was good to see a positive direction of travel, and that this follows a national trend although absence levels remain higher than national comparators. She observed that a targeted project is assessing any further interventions that could improve health and attendance. She also underlined the council’s staff health and wellbeing package that was available.

RESOLVED: That:

1.    The Committee noted and commented upon the performance of the key corporate performance indicators in particular those areas which are off target

2.    The Committee identified any areas which required additional consideration