Agenda item

To consider proposed Key Performance Indicators for 2019/20 and the Quarter 1 Performance Report.

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 21 to 50, which set out proposed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for 2019/20.

Laura Callan (Strategy and Commissioning Support Manager) and Jim Leivers (Interim Assistant Director, Education) attended the meeting to present the report and answer Member questions.

The report stated that, for 2019/20, the Council’s KPI measures had been reviewed to focus on the current objectives for each service. The revised 36 KPIs were appended to the report together with a list of indicators that were no longer being measures. Some new indicators were also being developed to align with the Council’s key priorities over the coming year.

For Quarter 1 of 2019/20 22 KPIs were reported as Green (assigned targets achieved). One KPI was reported as Amber (marginally off target) and seven KPIs were reported as Red (assigned targets not achieved). The Red KPIs were:

·           New KPI – Safeguarding timeliness – concerns completed within two working days;

·           New KPI – Safeguarding timeliness – enquiries completed within 28 days;

·           New KPI – Proportion of people receiving long term care who were subject to a review in the last 12 months;

·           KPI VP1iii – Delayed transfers of Care (delayed days);

·           KPI VP9 – Number of initial care assessments completed;

·           New KPI – Percentage of Education, Health and Care Plan Assessments completed within 20 weeks of referral;

·           KPI CE10 – Percentage of Calls Answered.

The report gave details of measures being implemented in order to improve performance against the Red indicators.

The report stated that the new five year Council Plan was being developed with a target implementation date of March 2020. A new set of KPIs was being developed to support the Council Plan. The new indicators would be submitted to the Committee in March 2020 and would then be measured for reporting from April 2020 onwards.

In the ensuing discussion Members made the following points:

New KPI – Percentage of Education, Health and Care Plan assessments completed within 20 weeks of referral – what measures were being implemented to improve performance? It was confirmed that, following agreement to increase the budget for the service, the SEND Care Management Team was now fully staffed. Consequently, it was expected that this indicator would move to Green early in 2020. It was also confirmed that this service had previously been funded by a time-limited Government grant. There was a time-lag between the expiry of the grant and the delivery of additional in-house resources (£230k in 2019/20). There had also been a nationwide increase in the number of referrals for this service.

KPI EA9 (Supplementary Performance Indicator) – Percentage of children who received a 2-2.5 year review - this indicator had been reported as Red for some time. What progress was being made in improving the service? It was confirmed that further information on the performance of the service linked to this indicator would be circulated to the Committee.

New KPI – Overall satisfaction of people who use services with their care and support – this was the only KPI which measures satisfaction with Adult Social Care. Were other measures under consideration? It was confirmed that other measures, such as satisfaction surveys, were under consideration. The potential for developing measures of satisfaction for all services was also being examined.

KPI R4 – Return on investment in commercial properties – in addition to the % net yield, what was the financial return to the Council. Was there any benchmarking to assess whether the yields were competitive? It was confirmed that the KPI targets and RAG thresholds were provisional and subject to change. The Committee’s comments would be fed back to the department for consideration.

KPI CE10 – Percentage of calls answered – the report stated that the RED RAG was due to a significant increase in the volume of calls in April 2019 due to a number of factors including annual Council Tax Billing and the introduction of food waste collection. Did the service managers forecast the increase in call volumes and deploy additional staff resources to cope? It was confirmed that the service would be asked to provide a written response to this question.

KPI CE10 – Percentage of calls answered – the KPI measured call volumes. What measures were used, if any, to measure customer satisfaction with the handling of calls, e.g. in relation to the length of waiting times? It was confirmed that further information would be provided on this issue.

KPI SC7 – Percentage of Household waste reused, recycled and composted – did the 2019/20 target (42%) reflect the Council’s aim to achieve 50% by 2020 to avoid Government fines? It was confirmed that the Committee’s comments would be fed back to the department for consideration.

KPI T1-6 – Percentage of Highway Infrastructure Schemes on track for project delivery – could the commentary include a clearer explanation on the make-up of the highway infrastructure schemes included? It was confirmed that the KPI was under development. The Committee’s comments would be reported back to inform the development process.

KPI VP8 – Percentage of child protection visits completed on time – was the RAG status (Green) accurate? It was confirmed that the RAG status would be checked with the service and reported back to the Committee.

KPI VP10 – Percentage of housing stock which meets the Decent Homes Standard – why was the target not 100%? It was confirmed that there would always be a small number of Council homes that were empty or subject to renovation/improvement. Consequently 100% would not be a SMART target.

KPI VP14 – Number of affordable dwellings completed – was it possible to show the number of affordable houses completed as a percentage of the total number of houses completed? It was confirmed that this would be discussed with service and reported back to the Committee.

In relation to future reporting arrangements, Laura Callan stated that Appendix A (new performance indicators) would be submitted to the Committee on a quarterly basis. Appendix B (supporting performance measures) would be posted on the Council website. Appendix C (archived performance indicators) would no longer be reported.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Laura Callan and Jim Leivers be thanked for attending the meeting to answer Member questions;

2)     the proposed Key Performance Indicators for 2019/20 be noted;

3)     the Quarter 1 Performance Report be noted;

4)     the narrative for the Red performance indicators, set out in the report, be noted;

5)     the additional information, clarification and answers to questions on the key performance indicators, set out above, be circulated to the Committee.