Agenda item

To consider the Q3 Performance Report for 2021/22.

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 23 to 74, which gave details of performance against key performance indicators (KPIs) for the third quarter of 2021/22 (October to December).

Shahid Younis (Deputy Executive Member for Insight and Change) and Will Roper (Customer Insight Analyst and Performance Manager) attended the meeting to present the report and answer Member questions.

The report stated that performance in Quarter 3 had been consistent against the previous quarter, with 31 KPIs rated as Green (on target), seven rated as Amber (near target) and five rated as Red (off target). The following targets were rated as Red:

AS7 – Proportion of people receiving long-term care who were subject to a review in the last 12 months. This target had been set to be a challenging stretch target with the aim of. Although the target was rated Red, performance was one of the highest in the south east.

AS1 – Social work assessments allocated to commence within seven days of the requests (counted at the point of allocation). Again this was a stretching target. 93% of assessments were allocated within 28 days which was high performance compared to other councils.

CIC2 – Percentage of households for whom homelessness has been prevented – the service was experiencing increased demand with many households presenting at the point they became homeless which limited the Council’s ability to carry out prevention work.

CS4 – Percentage of Education, Health and Care Plan assessments completed within 20 weeks of referral. Timeliness declined in Quarter 3 in addition there was a rise in complexity of concerns and the timescale for receiving information from external partners.

RA3 – Usage of Wokingham Borough leisure centres. The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on attendance at leisure centres across the Borough. All leisure centres had reopened in Quarter 3 but then closed again. Usage figures are now starting to improve.

Appended to the report was an overview of progress made in each of the Council’s departments together with a detailed breakdown of performance against each of the KPIs. Also appended to the report was a breakdown of the KPIs reported to the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Corporate Parenting Board.

During the ensuing discussion Members raised the following points:

CIC2 – Percentage of households for whom homelessness has been prevented – the report stated that the service was experiencing increased demand with many households presenting to the Council at the point they had become homeless which limited the ability to carry out prevention work. It was proposed by Sarah Kerr that the performance against this KPI be referred to the Anti-Poverty Working Group for consideration.

CIC3 – Percentage of households who have secured accommodation available to them for the next six months. This KPI missed the target of 40% for the third quarter in a row. Would the appointment of two new Homelessness Prevention Officers enable the service to hit the target? It was confirmed that this query would be referred back to the service for a written response.

PG6 – Number of affordable dwellings completed. The cumulative number of completions was 133 in Q3 against a target of 150. What steps were being taken to bring performance back on line with a cumulative target of 201 for the year? It was confirmed that this query would be referred back to the service for a detailed response.

RA8 – Capital budget monitoring forecast position. The target for the KPI was +/- 1% or if there was any underspend. Should underspends raise concerns about performance and, if so, should be reported as Green? It was confirmed that this query would be referred to the service for a detailed response.

CIC 9 & 10 – Number of resident subscribers to Wokingham Borough Connect & Overall customer satisfaction across phone and web. Why was there no RAG status for these indicators? It was confirmed that CIC9 was a cumulative indicator of total interactions. CIC10 was currently being benchmarked to identify a suitable target. It was confirmed that progress against these two KPIs would be reviewed with the service.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Shahid Younis and Will Roper be thanked for attending the meeting to answer Member questions;

2)     the performance of KPIs relevant to the Committee be noted;

3)     the additional KPIs reported to the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Corporate Parenting Board and the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, be noted;

4)     further information be circulated in response to the specific queries raised by Members.