The report was introduced by Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) with further contributions from Ross Jago (Head of Governance Performance & Risk) and David Northey (Service Director for Finance).

Contributions were made by Councillors Blight, Stephens, Finn, Darcy, Murphy, Ricketts and Holloway.

Topics of discussion included:_­

a)    Timescales of these reports and temporal inclusion of items;

b)    Trends and the tracking of trends;

c)    Outcomes and data;

d)    Evictions, landlords and Section 21 laws and the impact of these on future risk reports;

e)    Homelessness and affordable housing;

f)     Cyber security engagement in coordination with schemes and pilots;

g)    Departmental breakdowns of sickness absence reports;

The Committee agreed to:

1.    Request an additional sitting of the Scrutiny Management Board to consider upcoming major contract renewals to take place before the subsequent City Council meeting;

2.    A request for increased granularity, including departmental breakdowns, in sickness and absence reports as well as future discussions around this issue to be brought forth to the panel at a later date;

3.    Note the report

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Co-Operative Development and Community) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     This was the final report for the 2023/24 financial year ending in March and provided Cabinet with an overview of how the Council was performing against the priority indicators agreed in the 2023 – 2026 Corporate Plan;

b)    More 16 -17 year olds were in education, employment and training since before the COVID-19 pandemic;

c)     In May 2023, 80% of pupils attended schools judged good or better, and that figure was now at 90%;

d)    There had been improvement in dealing with complaints with 88% being resolved within the specified timeframe, in comparison to 70% in 2022/23;

e)     In the last year the amount of adults registered to vote in the City had increased by 2,460 voters;

f)      The Trust Budget and the previous Government not dealing with Section 21 Notices meant more people had been at risk of homelessness as rents rose at their fastest rate since records began with tenants facing a 3.6% increase in their rent;

g)     In 2021/22 839 households were prevented from becoming homeless and the focus on homelessness in 2023/24 increased that figure to 929;

h)    There were continued challenges facing PCC and the Council would be working with the Labour Government and local partners to deliver economic stability, cut NHS waiting times and reduce Anti-Social Behaviour in line with the Government’s missions;

i)      The national missions were also local commitments, and the report set out the difference a Labour Administration had made in the past 12 months.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) added:

j)      A few indicators within the report were based on annual information which would be made available in the Q1 report.

Cabinet agreed to note the Corporate Plan Performance Report, Quarter Four 2023/24.