Accessibility settings

In order to remember your preferences as you navigate through the site, a cookie will be set.

Color preference

Text size

Agenda item

Council Plan Performance Tracker and COVID-19 Recovery Tracker - Quarter Three 2021/22

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

Subject To Call In::No - Item to Note.

Decision:

That the findings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s review of the quarter three performance management and recovery information be NOTED.   

Minutes:

105.1         The report of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, circulated at Pages No. 18-109, asked Members to review and, if appropriate, take action on the observations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee following its review of the Quarter Three 2021/22 Council Plan performance tracker and COVID-19 recovery tracker information.

105.2         In the absence of the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Head of Corporate Services explained that the Committee had noted the performance management report, including areas where actions or key performance indicators were not progressing as smoothly or quickly as envisioned. Questions raised by the Committee could be found in Paragraph 2.1 of the report. Similar to quarter two, there was not one real area of focus but a range of questions across all the actions within the Council Plan and recovery plan. The key questions/observations to bring to the attention of Executive Committee were: the trade waste project -the March 2022 date within the tracker was a date by which the project plan would be up and running with the project lead appointed. The project was progressing well and the action would be carried forward into 2022/23 - the Overview and Scrutiny Committee received six monthly progress reports; the Joint Core Strategy timetable – as verbally reported to Overview and Scrutiny Committee, a revised timetable was being presented to the Executive Committee as part of the Local Development Scheme item; planning applications – speed of processing -the Interim Development Manager explained that Officers were working hard to address the backlog of applications and it was hoped that an upturn would be reflected in the figures over the next two months – he had provided assurance that new applications were being dealt with in a timely manner; review of licensing service – the continued shift of implementation dates was questioned, particularly as the date had now been moved to December 2022, and it was explained that the original action was in relation to moving certain aspects of the service to an online option, however, the scope had significantly widened since the initial action was introduced with a whole review of the service now being undertaken - the project contained four workstreams IT, governance, HR and the team structure, and finance with support for each element being provided by the relevant services; response to complaints - a Member had noted there was a downward trend with 80% of formal complaints answered in time during quarter one, 68% in quarter two and 65% in quarter three which was 73% overall against a target of 90% and it was explained that complaints could be complex and services were under pressure. The downturn had been discussed by Management Team and improvement was anticipated during quarter four. Top tips for dealing with complaints were communicated to staff, for instance, agreeing an extension of time with the complainant at an early stage if the complaint could not be resolved quickly. Although the demand on services was recognised, it was important that complaints were being dealt with in a timely manner. Overall, the picture was positive despite the ongoing challenge to recover from the pandemic. Early in quarter three, the Business Cell was re-mobilised to administer the Omicron related business grants. In addition to this, the Council Tax Energy Rebate Scheme had been announced which was a significant scheme and a dedicated team had been established to address that. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was also advised that both the Council Plan and recovery plan were currently being refreshed. Recognising the success of the recovery plan, it was the intention to integrate this back into one Council Plan strategic document. This would be presented to Executive Committee in June.

105.3         A Member indicated that he had a number of questions from a Member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and he would send them to the Head of Corporate Services following the meeting to ensure they had been picked up as actions from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.

105.4         Accordingly, it was

 

 

Supporting documents: