Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Leader of the Council

The Chairman referred to the timelines for Quarter 1 and 2 of the Performance Monitoring process, the timing of the Committee meeting, and how they did not align.  He commented that the setting of meetings in the next Municipal Year would need to be arranged for an appropriate period after the end of a quarter in order that the information could be brought to Committee within a meaningful time scale.

The Deputy Leader referred to the circulated report which outlined performance outcomes for quarters 1 and 2 of the financial year 2018/19. The report also contained details of the proposals for transforming future reporting of performance and would also bring reporting in line with the corporate strategy.

The team was working together with trialling new performance management technologies. The current performance management system gave an overview of performance once it had taken place which meant that a retrospective view was being provided. The new performance technologies being trialled provided live information and automatically updated thus enabling managers to view real time performance data. This was a more pro-active approach and would enable managers to meet the demands of customers as well as enhance increased agility and service delivery. Information collated this way would provide evidenced based decision making as well as identify market trends and enable effective planning for future service delivery. 

Work was underway to implement and make use of live performance reporting and predictive analytics. Once a prototype solution had been fully developed within Customer Services and within Revenues and Benefits the feedback from these services would be reviewed in order to identify effectiveness. The aim would be to extend this method across the organisation. 

Using predictive analytics within the dashboards would also effectively enable officers to model different scenarios which would provide better understanding and identify what impact any changes had.  SKDC was one of the first Council’s to look at using this type of technology.

Performance measures referred to were: The 94% occupancy rates of retail units in town centres and the introduction of higher levels of apprenticeships. Reference was also made to the progress of the delivery of broadband throughout the District and it was noted that Lincolnshire County Council continued to undertake the rollout of the programme with BT.  It was also noted that targets set against revenue collection obligations including Council tax, non-domestic rates and rent collections were on track to meet their targets. 

A Member queried whether the occupancy rate related to the District as a whole as he felt the occupancy rate was questionable in respect of Grantham. It was noted that the occupancy rates referred to the town centres in the District and had exceeded these targets for both quarters.

Members were informed of new higher apprenticeship levels that would be in addition to the current levels already available for young people.  This was to encourage a wider skill set and provide young people with an opportunity of learning alongside work experience at a variety of levels.

Discussion took place on whether the food trials would continue and it was noted that Lincolnshire County Council would determine whether the food trials continued. 

Reference was also made to the recycling figures and how the decrease in recycling was potentially as a result of an increase in certain types of plastics being disposed of for landfill due to recent national information regarding certain plastics, such as ready meal plastic trays, that could not be recycled.  A Member queried how South Kesteven compared to the national picture in respect of recycling figures statistics. Members also discussed the potential of visiting recycling sites that dealt with different ways of recycling both inside and outside the district, whether there was an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how the County Council undertook recycling and the continued communication and engagement with schools in respect of the recycling process.

Members queried whether the Cabinet Member for Environment could be invited to a future meeting to provide an overview on recycling and the separation process in respect of different types of plastics

Further discussions took place on the use of KPIs and how these would be updated to be more in line with the Corporate Strategy, simplifying terminology contained within the report, whether the new dashboard system would be available to Members and the, whether information in future reports could be broken down into departments and areas and the importance of re-directing specific issues to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee for further scrutiny.

Recommendations:

a)    Invite the Cabinet Member for Environment to a future meeting to provide details on ways of recycling, and separation of the different types of plastics

b)    To understand where recycling in South Kesteven fits in respect of the national statistical picture

c)    The Committee to consider visiting a recycling centre outside the district

d)    That the timelines for the meetings in the new Municipal Year be arranged to take account of the end of each Quarter for the Performance Monitoring

e)    The Committee notes the content of the report.