Agenda item

To receive and respond to the findings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee‘s review of the quarter one performance management information. 

That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s comments on the Performance Management Report for Quarter One of 2016/17 be NOTED.   

41.1           The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 15-51, asked Members to review and, if appropriate, take action on the observations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee following its review of the 2016/17 quarter one performance management information.

41.2           Attention was drawn to the observations made by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, attached to the report at Appendix 1, and the Council Plan Performance Tracker, attached at Appendix 2 to the report. 

41.3           The Overview and Scrutiny Committee Chair explained that this was the first review of the new Council Plan. As such there had been quite a few questions from the Committee across the whole of the Plan. One good recommendation from Members, and to aid the robustness of the tracker document, was for a target date of implementation to be added to each action. There had been a lengthy discussion around the planning service as a result of the planning processing times which were presented to the Committee. Councillor Awford indicated that he understood planning was an emotive subject, and Members recognised the difficulties and challenges facing the Council’s planning service, but felt that, ultimately, everyone wanted a good and customer focused service. It was pleasing that the Development Manager had been present to answer the Committee’s questions and he had confirmed that there were still a number of posts to fill but generally the morale of the team was good with the new recruits bringing energy to the team. He was also confident that the target for major applications would be achieved. The Committee had received a presentation at a previous meeting on Phase 2 of the Planning Services review and the Chair thought that Officers probably needed the space to deliver the action plan before planning was subject to further scrutiny from Members. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had also been informed that the service may need to consider a different business model and comparisons with One Legal had been mentioned.

41.4           With regards to commercialism, a Council Plan action was to undertake a review of the trade waste service. It had been explained to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee that this review was part of the overall commercial programme with an implementation date yet to be agreed. The Committee had been pleased to hear that the way forward regarding the letting out of the top floor was drawing to a conclusion and there was ongoing dialogue with Gloucestershire County Council with a number of options being considered. If these were viable a report to Executive Committee was expected by the end of the calendar year. To support these proposals Members had been advised about an exciting project involving the Council’s bid to the Local Enterprise Partnership Project to host a growth hub within the public services centre. In addition, linked to economic growth was the new Economic Development and Tourism Strategy which was being developed by an Overview and Scrutiny Working Group; Working Groups were an area where the Overview and Scrutiny Chair felt the Committee added real value. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had also been informed of nearly £400,000 of grant monies that had been obtained to support improvement and development around Junction 9 of the M5. A large proportion of this was from a Tewkesbury Borough Council bid.

41.5           With regard to specific service performance, it was noted by Overview and Scrutiny Members that there had been a reduction in performance of Revenues and Benefits processing times. It was noted, however, that processing times were still in the top quartile nationally. The Committee had welcomed the views of the Head of Service who confirmed there had been periods of sickness absence coupled with a small increase in claims but that performance was now back on track. With regards to sickness absence, there had been an increase in the average number of sick days across the Council services. This was mainly through a combination of long term physical illnesses but there were some short term absence issues in certain services which were subject to change and assurance was given to Members that these were being closely monitored.  The Chair explained that Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members who were Support Members had been keen to give a message to the Executive Committee that they would welcome closer working with Lead Members so that when they went to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee they were better informed. They would also welcome Lead Member attendance at Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings as appropriate.

41.6           Referring to the sickness absence rate, a Member questioned whether it was possible to differentiate between the services; he thought this would be helpful information as it would show whether there was a correlation with what the staff were being asked to do. In response, the Chief Executive advised that he could provide more detailed information; however, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members did monitor this closely, as did Managers. It was generally found that sickness rates were not specifically related to the nature of the services, particularly now that the Council no longer had the depot service in-house but because the Council was a small organisation a small number of absences tended to make a significant difference. The other issue for the organisation was that changes within a service sometimes resulted in sickness absences – this was also monitored carefully. In terms of the information requested by the Member, the Chief Executive advised that he would ask Officers to look at the information available and how that could be provided to Members without individuals being identified.

41.7           In response to a query about the challenge made by his Members, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Chair indicated that the Committee was now becoming more robust and focussed and was more challenging than it had been previously. He felt that pre-reading of reports was good and he was starting to look at new ways of doing things i.e. reports rather than lengthy presentations; he was of the view that these measures were making the Committee more effective. One of the Lead Members indicated that she had attended meetings of the Committee previously and she had not been very impressed with the Committee’s questioning skills at that time. She felt that the pre-meetings were extremely useful but this had not translated into the actual Committee. She did agree though that less presentations and more challenge would be preferable. The Chief Executive indicated that scrutiny was really important but, generally speaking, was not a role that came naturally to most people; he did, however, feel the Committee was improving and there was a need to continue to build on that progress so Officers would keep working with Members to provide the tools they needed in this regard. The Chair agreed with this and indicated that he was considering whether more training was required. In addition, the Head of Corporate Services advised that Anne Reader from Frontline Consulting had attended a meeting to offer a critique and her report would be shared with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee as well as the appropriate Lead Member. That report contained some actions with regard to things like effective questioning and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s role in relation to the Executive Committee.

41.8           The Executive Committee Chair thanked the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for its work and, accordingly, it was