Members considered performance outturns against the key council priorities for Quarter 4, 2015/16. The Deputy Lead Member for Policy explained that 15 of the 27 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were on target; 5 KPIs were off target.  The Chairman stated that there was a need to focus on those KPIs that were not hitting target. The report would be presented to Cabinet three times per year in future.

The Lead Member for Environmental Services highlighted that the target relating to the number of underage sales operations undertaken was off target, with only 8 of the target of 12 completed. Following a recent restructure of the Community Protection and Enforcement service, licensing and trading standards had been combined under a single lead therefore he proposed to combine the target and to determine an appropriate target going forward, which was likely to be in the region of 60.  

The Lead Member for Planning highlighted that 57% of planning appeals had been lost, which was an underperformance. This was partly a result of professional officer recommendations being overturned by Development Control (DC) Panels, which were then lost at appeal. Additional training would be provided for Panel Members to address this issue. The Lead Member also commented that the borough Local Plan was on track for submission to the Inspector by September 2016. The one Neighbourhood Plan in place (Ascot and the Sunnings) had been used to robustly defend the council’s position. The Chairman commented that DC Panels would in future be streamed on Periscope to improve transparency. He highlighted that if applications were approved on appeal the council did not receive any New homes bonus.

The Lead Member for Highways and Transport explained that he would like to amend the KPI in relation to potholes to reduce the time take to deal with them to 3 hours.

The Lead Member for Culture and Communities highlighted that grass cutting was slightly behind target due to recent adverse weather and the suspension of the contract manager. It was anticipated that this would be resolved soon and the target would be back on track.

The Lead Member for Adult Services and Health commented on two targets related to the completion of support plans (AS5 and AS6). The council had not had sufficient staff to undertake the work, however this problem had now been resolved. A Fundamental Service Review had also taken place which had helped to identify blockages, including the length of the form. Reducing the length would improve performance.

The Lead Member for Customer and Business Services explained that all KPIs in his area were on target,. One secondary target was slightly behind. The target for answering calls within one minute had been raised from 75% to 80%, which had been met. However calls answered in over 5 minutes had suffered. A new digital channel had been soft-launched the previous weekend. Without any advertising 110 residents had signed up; 40 people had signed up to green waste online. The new service would help to relieve pressure on the call centre.  The Lead Member highlighted the excellent performance of the Housing Benefit and Council Tax claims team. Processing times had reduced from 27 days four years ago to just 4.8 days. Across the  UK the council was number one in terms of new claims and number 3 for change of event processing. He commended officers who wanted to push for number one status on both aspects.

The Principal Member for HR and Legal highlighted that staff sickness absence was off target with 9.63 working days lost per FTE compared to a target of 6. This would be a key focus for the HR department in the coming year. Proposals included increasing the use of stress assessments, personal resilience training, promotion of the free counselling service.

The Chairman commented that he had spent a few hours walking round council offices earlier in the week to meet staff on an informal basis. He encouraged all members of Cabinet to do the same.

The Lead Member for Children’s Services highlighted that target SG30 in relation to foster carers was below target.  Over 57% of children in care were aged over 13; it was much harder to recruit foster carers because of the children’s challenging needs. The council was working with other local authorities on a recruitment drive and was also looking at how foster carers for younger children could be provided with additional training. The Lead Member commented that she would be raising awareness later this year, as she had done in 2015, by undertaking half marathons.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Cabinet:

i.       Note the progress made against the performance measures listed in the IPMR Quarter 4 2015/16 report.