Agenda item

Cabinet received a performance report which detailed the key performance measures reported through the Corporate Performance Framework for 2022/23. Cabinet also received the performance scorecard, which provided information on four key elements of performance for the Council covering Finance, Customer Service, Performance and Human Resources indicators.

Within the performance report and performance scorecard, outturns which were performing at or better than target were classified as Green, those which were within 5% of the target were Amber and those which were more than 5% of the target were Red. At the end of Quarter 2, 92 indicators had outturns reported with a Red, Amber or Green status. Of these, 62 are Green (67%), 12 are Amber (13%) and 18 are Red (20%).

RESOLVED -

1)      That the Council’s performance for the Quarter 2 period 2022-23 be NOTED.

2)      That the actions being taken to improve performance, where required, be NOTED.

Cabinet received a performance report which detailed the key performance measures reported through the Corporate Performance Framework for 2022/23. Cabinet also received the performance scorecard, which provided information on four key elements of performance for the Council covering Finance, Customer Service, Performance and Human Resources indicators.

Within the performance report and performance scorecard, outturns which were performing at or better than target were classified as Green, those which were within 5% of the target were Amber and those which were more than 5% of the target were Red. At the end of Quarter 2, 92 indicators had outturns reported with a Red, Amber or Green status. Of these, 62 are Green (67%), 12 are Amber (13%) and 18 are Red (20%).

Cabinet Members then provided comprehensive explanations for the performance marked as red (shown below) where performance was more than 5% off the target for each of their portfolio’s, these were as follows:-

Leader

Buckinghamshire unemployment rate as a percentage of National unemployment rate – the Leader reported that this was higher than it should be. However, many businesses in Buckinghamshire were desperate for staff such as Pinewood and Silverstone and a whole variety of other businesses. The Council was working with businesses to address this issue. A number of Deputy Cabinet Members were working on skills with employment workshops and also through the Opportunity Bucks programme where they were collaborating with key partners to ensure direct engagement with community groups in the worst affected wards.

Accessible Housing and Resources

Percentage of phone calls answered in the Customer Service Centres and Average Call Wait Time

The Service Area were outside target but an improvement had been made on Quarter 1. They had been impacted by the waste service reorganisation and also the £150 energy and council tax rebates. Mitigating actions were detailed in the report which included the recruitment and training of new starters and the development of a flexible workforce that could be brought in to deal with surges in demand. Last week the average wait time was below three minutes which was within target.

Average time for processing new Housing Benefit claims (days)/ Average time for processing Housing Benefit change claims (days)

This had been impacted by the new Revenues and Benefits System. The system was closed for a number of weeks so no changes could be made and they were now addressing the backlog. The service area should be back on target by the year end. 

Number of sickness absence days per FTE annually (rolling 12-month period)

This was marginally over target but there was an improvement on Quarter 1. If excluding the impact of Covid the Council was within target. The Council did provide targeted support to employees on health and wellbeing across the Council.

Climate Change and Environment

% of Missed Bin Collections

The Council was now back to the levels prior to the round reorganisation. There was an occasional day with a 100 missed bins and the service area had nearly completed a week below 100. There should be an improvement for the next quarter and the service continued to look for ways to improve the service. There had been an issue with the contractor but officers and members had been working hard to drive improvement. The Leader complimented the Cabinet Member on the good work on climate change and the environment which were covered by other performance indicators.

Education and Childrens Services

% of re-referrals within 12 months

% new Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) issued within 20 weeks (excluding exceptions)

% of initial Family Support Plans completed within 31 working days

% children who became the subject of a Child Protection Plan for a second or subsequent time within 2 years

% of Children in Need seen within 4 weeks

The Cabinet Member referred to an increase in demand including complexity of cases. The Cabinet Member reported that there was only one area that was concerning which was the number of re-referrals within 12 months and the most common reason for this was domestic violence. They were working in partnership to reduce the number of re-referrals through the Multi agency safeguarding hub.

Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

% of births that receive a face-to face New Birth Visit within 14 days by a health visitor in the quarter

There has been a slight dip which was due to team capacity across Aylesbury and Wycombe. 25 people have received no visit and staff had checked to see if they were vulnerable. Some of the reasons why the visit had not occurred was due to people refusing visits, babies in ICU, parents being on holiday or moving out of county.

% of service users due an annual review that receive their review

The service area was working hard to bring this on target. However there were over 1700 people to review and also staffing challenges.

Number of older people (65+) admitted to permanent residential or nursing care homes per 100,000 population

There were huge pressures around nursing care and the numbers admitted had increased particularly with the impact of covid.

% of carers who report that they have been included or consulted in discussions about the person that they care for.

The Service area were undertaking transformation work; they recognised that the carers offer needed to improve. The Cabinet Member was confident that they would meet targets by year end. It was important to involve carers and hear their voice.

The Cabinet Member reported that she had set challenging targets for her service area which exceeded CIPFA partners by some considerable way. There were also issues nationally.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

% of Building Control applications checked within 21 days

There was a change of legislation in July which slowed down the system since then the service area had increased resources and they continued to monitor the situation. The target had been set at a high level and the Cabinet Member expected to see an improvement the next quarter.

Cabinet Member for Transport

Highways capital programme % spend against forecast

This was due to a number of issues such as inflationary pressures regarding work programmes, working on designs and also the weather (both hot and wet weather) which slowed down delivery. The Cabinet Member expected to be on target year end.

RESOLVED -

1)      That the Council’s performance for the Quarter 2 period 2022-23 be NOTED.

2)      That the actions being taken to improve performance, where required, be NOTED.