Report No. 36/2017 from the Chief Executive was received.

The purpose of the report was to provide Cabinet with strategic oversight of the Council’s performance for Quarter 3 of 2016/17.  Members were accountable for the delivery of the Council’s Corporate Plan and this monitoring information reported on progress and highlighted any key challenges.

During discussion the following points were raised:

i)                 That paragraph 3.8 of Report No. 36/2017 summarised the key areas where performance had deteriorated compared to the previous 12 months.  It was noted that actual figures concerned were low.

ii)               The Council would look to work with Job Centre Plus to encourage employers to become Disability Confident Employers.

iii)              The Director for Places (Development and Economy), Mr Philipson and the Portfolio Holder, Mr Clifton, to form a scoping group to address the problems encountered in the county due to the low numbers of claimants claiming the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Incapacity Benefits, following the shortlisting of providers in April 2017.

iv)             The increase in the number of days lost to sickness: It was acknowledged that the number of days lost was lower than the national average.  The Director for Resources, Mrs Mogg, undertook to provide further analysis of sickness absence.

v)               The way that IT was supplied had changed since the Audit recommendation concerning the finalisation and communication of the ICT Disaster Recovery Plan with LiquidLogic and Agresso now provided externally.  Plans were being finalised to move the system backup site.

vi)             Safeguarding: When inspected by Ofsted the completion rate for single assessments was 100%.

DECISION

1)    Cabinet NOTED the overall position in relation to performance for the third quarter of 2016/17 and the actions being taken to address areas of underperformance.

Reasons for decision

1.     81% of indicators measured during Quarter 3 were on or above target, with 66% either improving or unchanged when compared to the previous quarter.  14% of indicators were below target and main areas of concern had been highlighted in the report and the remedial action being undertaken to improve performance had been identified.

2.     Overall performance based on activity in the third quarter was satisfactory.