Agenda item

The Corporate Plan 2024-27 Key Performance Indicators: 2024/25 Mid-Year (Q2) Report was presented by the Cabinet Member for Corporate Governance and Licensing.

Appendix A presented the overall performance against the fourteen actions being presented in the session. Nine of the actions were rated Green (on or above target) and two were rated as Amber (off target by less than 10% or where milestone achievement was delayed but with resolution in place to be achieved within a reasonable timeframe). There were zero actions rated as Red (significantly below target). Three actions were rated as N/A where work had not yet meaningfully commenced.

During discussions, Members commented on the following:

-       As Appendix A demonstrated that 90% of Councillors had completed their mandatory training at the time of the report’s publication, it was queried what sanctions were in place for those Members that had failed to undertake the mandatory training. The Leader responded by expressing their disappointment that four Members were yet to complete their mandatory training and confirmed that they were unable to sit on any bodies or committees in the meantime. There were no further sanctions that could be undertaken. It was confirmed that Full Council was the exception and that a Member could not be prevented from attending and participating in this meeting as a consequence of not completing the mandatory training.

-       It was queried whether the four Members who were yet to undertake the training had been notified directly. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that not only had the Members been notified directly, but both discussions with group leaders and extra training sessions had also been facilitated.

-       The nature of the Councillor Development Strategy action within Appendix A was also queried. It was confirmed by the Monitoring Officer that the Councillor Development Strategy was an opportunity for self-reflection of Members to identify areas that they wished to develop within their role as a Councillor. For example, this could be a skill such as public speaking.

-       It was queried who identified gaps in the skills of a Member. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that this would be a self-assessment of the Member in consultation with their group leader.

-       A comment was made that a self-assessment may fail to be self-critical and therefore the strategy seemed to be a tick box exercise to work towards the accreditation. However, it was noted that the accreditation was gained for offering the service and whilst there may be some Members who fail to engage, the strategy could be a useful tool to support the growth and improvement of the Members that did engage.

-       A Member queried if more external training opportunities provided by organisations such as the Local Government Association (LGA) or East Midlands Councils could be exploited. The Monitoring Officer agreed to take this away as an ACTION.

-       It was queried whether there had been a new Complaints Administrator post, as implied by the report. The Director of Housing and Projects confirmed that this was an existing post but had been restructured so that the one individual was dealing with the workload that had previously been shared across their team.

-       It was queried whether the Complaints Administrator position covered housing-related complaints. The Director of Housing and Projects confirmed that the position covers all complaints across the authority.

The report was noted by the Committee.