Agenda item

Corporate Plan 2018-22 - Quarter One 2018/19 Update

Minutes:

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and Andrew Loton (Senior Performance Advisor) presented the Corporate Plan 2018-22 – quarter one 2018/19.  The report provided analysis of quarter one (May to July) performance against the Council’s key performance indicators. The report was in a new format for the Corporate Plan to help improve transparency and clarity.

 

The KPIs had been reviewed with a view to embedding an outcome-focussed performance and learning culture which placed customers at the heart of all that the Council did. Over half the KPIs in the Corporate Plan were new with a specific focus on the Council’s contribution to the City and its impact on residents and businesses.

 

All service level business plans were in the process of being updated to reflect the new Corporate Plan and a refresh of service level balance scorecards would take place to support this.

 

The key areas of questioning from Members related to whether –

 

(a)

the new burdens funding (approximately £371,876) would take some pressure off the Council’s homelessness budget, considering the high level of homelessness within the City;

 

 

(b)

further information could be provided relating to the Plymouth City Survey such as, how many surveys were circulated, how was this achieved and the upkeep of the responses;

 

 

(c)

an additional performance indicator for rough sleepers could be included within the report to help clearly identify the number of rough sleepers as currently this was not clear within the report.

 

The Committee welcomed and supported the new format and the aim of the report. Whilst this was not a reflection on the report, Councillors considered that they were unable to question the appropriate Cabinet Members on areas of concern both within their respective remit and also providing an opportunity for the other scrutiny committees to be able to do the same.

 

Concerns were raised regarding the following issues –

 

(d)

‘statutory complaints completed within timescales’ - 77% of children and young people complaints received had not been closed within the expected timescales;

 

 

(e)

‘percentage of council tax collected’ – a gap in the council tax collected and the target of 28.85% had been identified, what was the monetary value of the gap and what was the impact on the overall budget;

 

 

(f)

‘average number of households in bed and breakfast accommodation’ – the use of bed and breakfast had shown an increase rather than a reduction;

 

 

(g)

‘proportion of residents who feel safe’ – 47% of 16-24 year olds felt unsafe after dark in the City.

 

The Committee noted the report.

 

The Committee agreed to -

 

(1)

request that a separate performance indicator is included within the report to clearly identify the number of rough sleepers in the City in relation to ‘number of households prevented from becoming homeless’;

 

 

(2)

provide an opportunity for the other scrutiny committees to scrutinise areas of concern within their remit;

 

 

(3)

circulate the Corporate Plan in a timely manner, in order to provide Members of the Committee sufficient time to identify areas of concern (within its remit) and request that the relevant Cabinet Members and officers attend the meeting, in order to be better able to undertake effective scrutiny.

 

Supporting documents: