Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

To  consider  and  provide  comments  on  the  adoption  of  Council  keyperformance indicators for 2024/25.

RECOMMENDED:

2.1.      That Overview and Scrutiny recommend to Cabinet that the performance indicators set out in paragraph 8.3 be adopted for 2024/25.

2.2       The additional performance measure of Staff Satisfaction measures be incorporated into future reports.

Audio Recording – 2 hours 42 minutes and 27 seconds

The Service Director – Resources presented the report entitled ‘Key Performance indicators 2024/25’ and advised that:

·       This was a further evolution of the reporting of performance indicators, following previous changes which had been made and feedback received on these.

·       Key indicators were provided across a wide range of areas to help support the scrutiny committee, and Cabinet, to monitor how the Council was performing and that any issues were able to be picked up at an early stage.

·       Targets were measurable and meaningful and were indicated in red, amber and green.

·       The proposed indicators were outlined at paragraph 8.3 of the report and these would be reported to the Committee on a quarterly basis, with supplementary detail provided in the 3Cs reports provided on a half-yearly basis. 

·       Staffing was included as this was an important part of the Council and monitoring of this would relate to both staff wellbeing as employees, as well as the retention and recruitment of staff.

·       Two identified risks relating to Financial and Environmental Sustainability had been identified and included within the report for monitoring. More detail on the Financial Sustainability would be provided to the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

·       Key areas of Service Delivery had been identified and included where relevant and meaningful indicators were available.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Donna Wright

·       Councillor Jon Clayden

·       Councillor Claire Winchester

·       Councillor Matt Barnes

In response to questions, the Service Director – Resources advised that:

·       Qualitative reporting could be provided in future to add context to some of the areas being monitored, but these would not be as frequently available as the quantitative data provided on a quarterly basis. This would also include any staff surveys which had taken place.

·       Benchmarking against other authorities could be introduced, but there were often local issues which impacted on different rates across local authorities.

·       Short term sickness leave for staff could be benchmarked, and previously this figure had been around 3.5 days. It was more difficult to benchmark long term absences, as these were usually due to specific illness.

·       Providing corporate context to the performance indicators (i.e. what Council priority they impact) could be introduced for future reports.

·       Key Performance Indicators monitoring could be provided in the Members Information Service publication and would also be included on the Ideagen platform.

·       Many areas were contracted out to third parties, including leisure and waste services, and therefore monitoring was completed by the contract holders. It would need to be discussed with the relevant services areas as to whether further information could be included.

The following Members took part in debate:

·       Councillor Daniel Wright-Mason

Points raised in debate included:

·       The recruitment and retention of staff, as well as their wellbeing at work, was important to monitor regularly.

Councillor Matt Barnes proposed that the recommendations be amended to include a request to consider including performance indicators from third party suppliers in future reporting and that the Key Performance Indicators be included in Members Information Service publication, once made available for Cabinet. Following a vote, this amendment was accepted. 

Councillor Matt Barnes proposed, as amended, and Councillor Tom Tyson seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That Cabinet

(1)   Adopt the performance indicators set out in paragraph 8.3 for 2024/25.

(2)   Consider adding Key Performance Indicators regarding performance a third-party suppliers and staff satisfaction.

(3)   Agree that Key Performance Indicators are published to the Members Information Service when provided to Cabinet.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS: The Council had tried to move towards having indicators that were focused on our key projects. However, it was found that these do not generally give the level of Council oversight that Members would want. Therefore, these performance indicators are proposed to give that view of overall performance.